Hey, I make over 60k a year, but after student loan payments, exorbitant DC rent, transportation expenses (and I don't even have a car), cable and phone bill, clothes for work, and on and on, 17 bucks still seems too much to pay for dinner at an overrated "martini bar," where I can sit next to a gaggle of hill staffers in butterfly tops getting wasted and screeching about how their boyfriends really wanted to come along tonight but they had to work, blah blah blah. Why do that when you could have better food at Ben's or Dukem or any number of places, in a less pretentious environment, for much less money? Like I said before, what extra spending money I have I'd rather spend on concert tickets. But if eating "fancy food" is more important to you, go for it, I won't try to stop you. Just seems like a waste to me, unless it's a special occasion.
But this, like dropping hundreds of dollars for a "table" at some club, is a matter of taste. Some people are born into money, roll around in it their entire lives, and like to throw it around meaninglessly. Those of us who had to put ourselves through school (or who just work for a living) don't do those things. And face it, most pre-2000 residents of U street don't fall into the martinis-and-table-fees category, and, while I'm sure they're happy at the reduced crime and increased police presence in their neighborhood, would still like to be able to afford and fit in at some neighborhood bars. But the tide of gentrification is unstoppable I guess.
