Uh, Oh. Here Come The Tourists!

[Bags]

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
 i've also been told that entree prices in the mid-teens are fairly comparable to your average suburban chain restaurant such as Outback Steakhouse or TGI Fridays ...

I was going to say the exact same thing.  When a "Triple Jack Combo" at TGIF is $18 and spaghetti is $13, , you can't say that a $17 entree is beyond the pale and earns the designation as "expensive."  Granted, it's 'expensive' for some, but so is $4 for a happy meal.  We're talking 'relative' here, and when many restaurants around DC have ventured up into the mid-20s and higher for entrees, I don't think you can say U Street has become insanely unaffordable.  Especially for you, Rhett, whom I'm assuming would eschew all those fancy $8 and $10 drinks (which you can get just about anywhere, by the way).

[MindCage]

Originally posted by Fico:
   

Originally posted by Charlie Nakajima, Fired by Mascis:
  A U-Street resident of many, many years, I'm sure.      
 
   

Originally posted by Fico:
  Couldn't agree more with Hoya..as a Ust resident I for one am happy its being developed..its easy for outsiders to want the area to stay shitastic (for their indie credit).. but as a resident I can't care for that...and Creme is wonderfull..that pork shank Hoya mentioned is delicious and very fairly priced for its quality...don't people pay more for dry ribs at Chili's?...anyways...who cares, if you can't afford it stay out and find a new place...stop being such whiny bitches all the time...jeez...

[/b]

You are right Rhett. I have not been a resident of Ust for more than a year. But the other 2 neighbors in my building have been living in the are for 5+years, and my roommate's girlfriend has been living in the are for years as well..and the neighborhood has improved vastly and they all welcome it with open arms. So if my view is moot for my short stint at U, I think theirs is still valid. And I think few would argue a walk down Ust is far more pleasurable/safe now than 5-7 years back... [/b]

I'm sorry, but living in the U St area for just a year is nothing to really make your point valid but welcome to the neighborhood. Glad you waited until it was cool, hip and safer.
 
 The area is definitely safer than it was 7-8 years ago when I moved down to it. That didn't mean I wouldn't feel safe walking around at 2am by myself.  I feel the same now as I did back then.  Hell back in 98, I wouldn't have even thought to park my car on the block I live now when I'd come down to BOUND @ Bar Nun.
 
 I know quite a few people that have lived on my block since the 80s and they're not all to happy with some of the changes that have happened. Most of the people that are moving in, aren't very friendly or neighborly. Stuffy yuppies just wanting to live in the "hip" area and push all the businesses that have been around for 10+ years out for a trendy hot spot to go in.
 
 Sure bring your expensive cars down to the city and then bitch about it when your window was smashed because you left something visible in your car. I see it happen every weekend.  
 
 Btw...I have seen plenty of Ferraris around the 13th and U St area so they are coming around. Wouldn't have seen them there even 3 years ago parked even in the paid lot that use to be on U St before the Ellington took that land.
 
 MindCage
 Mindless Faith
 Deep6 Productions

[yinzer]

$17 for a hunk of burning meat is nothing to spend much time thinking about.  you can either afford it or you can't.  if you can't, i'd suggest you get a schwarma at 18th & U at the sudanese joint for $5.  the more troubling part of the article, at least for me, is that people would pay $250 - 1000 for a table at republik gardens (or anywhere else for that matter).  since it is "tax day," i'll just say that i'm enough of a pinko commie to state that the top marginal rates for taxes should return to the confiscatory levels before the reagan "tax cuts" (middle class people saw less of their paychecks after reagan than before due to the increase in FICA taxes) if people have thousands to blow on "a table" for a nite out on U Street.  iyiyi.
 
 vive la bush tax cuts.

Originally posted by Jaguar:
 Sorry about the length

Rhett has to say this to his disappointed wife every night.

[ledererk]

I don't know, I've been a productive working "professional" member of society for some years now, and I still cringe a little at paying 17-20 bucks for an entree.  Am I that far out of the mainstream here?  Maybe it's just that I usually only eat at thai/indian/ethiopian joints that rarely charge above 12 bucks for anything - and I consider that a good night out!  Huge plate of dumplings in chinatown for 4.95?  Even better.
 
 I don't think you have to be living in poverty to be like, 17 bucks, what?  If that's what they charge at Friday's these days, just one more reason not to eat there.  The 10 dollar drinks freak me out too...why drink those when you can have beer?  Guess I'm still a middle-class-bordering-on-white-trash girl at heart.
 
 Now, spending 25 plus fees on a concert ticket is par for the course, but we're talking about music there...priorities, people!

[Celeste]

Originally posted by kled:
  I don't know, I've been a productive working "professional" member of society for some years now, and I still cringe a little at paying 17-20 bucks for an entree.  Am I that far out of the mainstream here?  Maybe it's just that I usually only eat at thai/indian/ethiopian joints that rarely charge above 12 bucks for anything - and I consider that a good night out!  Huge plate of dumplings in chinatown for 4.95?  Even better.
 
 I don't think you have to be living in poverty to be like, 17 bucks, what?  If that's what they charge at Friday's these days, just one more reason not to eat there.  The 10 dollar drinks freak me out too...

I agree with you! I could afford it, but choose other options...

[eltee]

I'll have the side salad, and you can put it next to my water.

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by yinzer:
  $17 for a hunk of burning meat is nothing to spend much time thinking about.  you can either afford it or you can't.  if you can't, i'd suggest you get a schwarma at 18th & U at the sudanese joint for $5.  the more troubling part of the article, at least for me, is that people would pay $250 - 1000 for a table at republik gardens (or anywhere else for that matter).  since it is "tax day," i'll just say that i'm enough of a pinko commie to state that the top marginal rates for taxes should return to the confiscatory levels before the reagan "tax cuts" (middle class people saw less of their paychecks after reagan than before due to the increase in FICA taxes) if people have thousands to blow on "a table" for a nite out on U Street.  iyiyi.
 
 vive la bush tax cuts.

Yinzer, you are the only one who got my point! It's the excessive pricing that we all need to be weary of.
 
 Regardless of value or restaraunt, there are many of us who can't just plop down $17 on an entree plus extras any time we feel like eating out. I know a number of others on this board who can't do that without budgeting for such a treat but most of us won't embarass ourselves by broadcasting it to the world.
 
 But again, my point, as Yinzer understood, was the extravagance that was highlighted in the article.
 
 Personally, I'm glad the neighborhood is being cleaned up and made safer. I just don't want to be eventually forced out by the elite taking over and pushing the more affordable activities out.

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

All I can say is that if you people can't afford a $17 entree, you need to hire a better investment advisor!
 
 ps -- this is the funniest thread in a long time...

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Doomter Doc:
  All I can say is that if you people can't afford a $17 entree, you need to hire a better investment advisor!
 

Investment advisor!? More like a raise or a better job!!!
 
 Not all of us are making $60,000+/year. Especially those of us in Baltimore where the wages are much lower and the jobs much, much less available. Crap, I never even made $50,000/yr when I was teaching and that was with an Advanced Certification for K-12 (most are only K-6 or 7-12) that included Sp. Ed,  2 Master's degrees and many, many years of teaching!!!
 
 It appalls me how out of touch with reality some people are when it comes to others' finances. This is not a cookie cutter world.

[yinzer]

well, going from $17 for pile of meat to $1,000 for "a table minimum" in the article like the two are in any way comparable is just plain silly writing.  i mean, i have had and had not, so i have known budgeting for a decent meal for plenty of my adult years.  what i haven't known are the people who pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, "for a table" in a corny fucking lounge like it's somehow the hot shit thing to do on a saturday night.  although i did have some friends who somehow got roped into "the table" situation in miami and they were pissed as hell at the clown who took them there when they were presented with that bill.  what they thought the place was going to be priced like i have no idea.  people are free to do whatever the hell they want with their money, but i couldn't even look in the mirror if i behaved like that when there are homeless people standing outside the place hungry as hell.  nyc, dc, miami, la, or wherever should slap a sales tax on all "table minimums" of 100% as far as i am concerned and feed people with the proceeds.  anybody who needs to waste money like that to have a good time drinking is seriously warped.

[Bags]

Originally posted by yinzer:
 what i haven't known are the people who pay hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, "for a table" in a corny fucking lounge like it's somehow the hot shit thing to do on a saturday night.

I hear you....I have friends who make quite a lot of  money, and I can't imagine a one of them paying for a bottle of Crystal, much less just a table for hundreds of dollars.  I'm kind of fascinated by who these folks are (let the flaming begin, but I'm thinking international American U. and GW grads)...  Though I have to say, the emergence of these places on U doesn't bother me, because I doubt it will ever be more than a couple of places.  Hell, Republic Gardens has been around for like a dozen years -- it's hardly one of the 'new interlopers'.

[HoyaSaxa03]

Originally posted by Jaguar:
   

Originally posted by Doomter Doc:
  All I can say is that if you people can't afford a $17 entree, you need to hire a better investment advisor!
 

Investment advisor!? More like a raise or a better job!!!
 
 Not all of us are making $60,000+/year.[/b]

i would never tell anyone how to spend their money, totally understandable if you don't like to spend your dough on restaurants ... but you don't need to pull in $60k to be able to afford entrees in the mid-teens every once in a while, in my short time out of school (and before i went back into school) i never even made half of that in a year

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:
   

Originally posted by Jaguar:
     

Originally posted by Doomter Doc:
  All I can say is that if you people can't afford a $17 entree, you need to hire a better investment advisor!
 

Investment advisor!? More like a raise or a better job!!!
 
 Not all of us are making $60,000+/year.[/b]

i would never tell anyone how to spend their money, totally understandable if you don't like to spend your dough on restaurants ... but you don't need to pull in $60k to be able to afford entrees in the mid-teens every once in a while, in my short time out of school (and before i went back into school) i never even made half of that in a year [/b]

You still don't get it, do you? It's not about the one $17 entree. It's about the proliforation of more and more places pulling in $17+ and much much more while pushing out the more affordable meals. Not that I have anything whatsoever against these places because I don't. I tend to like them. Sure, I and the other lower enders could scrimp and save and enjoy a $17 entree once in awhile but only once in a very great while. Besides, it's not just $17 after you add tax, beverages, tips, etc.. It's really sad how out of touch some people are with other peoples' realities.
 
 Christ, it costs me almost $15 roundtrip in gas alone just to go to DC which is the real reason I end up missing most shows that I want to see. I just cannot afford it if I also want to pay my rent. And I know for a fact that there are many others on this board who can't throw that kind of money around everytime they'd like after all costs are added up. Most won't speak up though because it's embarassing. It's only those who are out of touch with us and don't really understand that we don't all have that much discretionary money to spend on a regular basis who are always saying that $$$ is nothing. We have to choose between shows, CDs, meals, gas, essentials, trips, clothing, whatever and a whole lot of those end up off of our lists solely because we have that much less money. I know that everyone has to budget but it really kills me how so many people here often automatically assume that everyone can afford any and everything that comes around at any time. The truth is, a lot of us can't!
 
 Hoya, I bet your parents paid for your tuition. Guess what. Mine didn't give me one red cent! Try making almost nothing and still having to pay back all those loans yourself. A lot of us know how that cuts into all of those $17+ entrees.

[you be betty]

Originally posted by kled:
  I don't know, I've been a productive working "professional" member of society for some years now, and I still cringe a little at paying 17-20 bucks for an entree.  Am I that far out of the mainstream here?  Maybe it's just that I usually only eat at thai/indian/ethiopian joints that rarely charge above 12 bucks for anything - and I consider that a good night out!  Huge plate of dumplings in chinatown for 4.95?  Even better.  

right on...they've all got better food, anyway.
 it is good to have just a nice dinner every once in a while, but coming from Bethesda (aka good restauraunt city)...i mean, wouldn't do it every night.  then again, i'm not sure that the people in here that expressed paying $17 for dinner do it every night.  so you can't blame them either.  i'd just personally rather, most of the time, spend that money on something else.  
 
 it's not helping anything radical happen and it's not helping anyone tear down the administration, but people are people.