In Whateverwhere, USA, in a busy entertainment district indistinguishable from anywhere else, another small-plates New American restaurant is soft opening to hard praise and fanfare. A gaggle of well-dressed folks giggle in this dimly lit, generically trendy place, feting the precious food.
These people will press themselves against a long, impressive bar, harrying unflappable wait staff for cocktails dead people drank long ago. They will squeeze into dining booths, ordering from an obscurantist menu. Plates will arrive, with more color than sense, Technicolor vegetables sitting in bewildered jus. Slivers and wrappers of greens and meat barely cover the naked plate, with just enough bites to be eaten in moments.
Whateverwhere, USA, is a place you know, privileged and beautiful in a dozen different ways. Most of its pockets are filled with middle-class joy and casual affluence. It is “resurgent” as clearly proven by the “explosion” in the number of new restaurants. Its current success has risen from a recent past of high crime, low property values, and a thinning population. Media, politicians, and suburbanites are all agog. And the legacy institutions of Whateverwhere, USA — its universities, colleges, nonprofits, big businesses, and civic organizations…
