Chain Whore

Before moving to Savannah, I used to own a small coffee shop.  Luckily, the coffee shop was in New Orleans and the coffee culture is so important to New Orleans that Starbucks and CC’s and PJ’s – all chain establishments – were not really a threat to my business.  I do understand, however, the value of the independent business but here in Savannah, I find myself drawn to chain after chain. And this is a problem.

I didn’t notice I had a problem until a recent drive back to Savannah from Jacksonville.  My friend Mike is my road trip buddy and he has started calling me “chain whore” because of my uncanny knack for unconsciously making my way to a chain restaurant.  It is important to note that on a drive to Memphis last December, he swore he knew the best-fried chicken restaurant between here and there. 

“Restaurant” means different things to many people.  For me, it’s rolled up silverware in a white napkin, a server with an apron, a menu I can hold, and the little tray that appears with my check in it at the end. 

For Mike, a “restaurant” is more of a loose term.  In this case, “restaurant” was an independent gas station in the middle of the country with an old man making fried chicken that sat under a heating lamp.  I’ll admit the chicken was to die for; as was the fried okra that came with it.  Driving away from the gas station, I chose to ignore the fact that I didn’t see a health certificate or Servsafe® certification anywhere.

But I didn’t die of some horrible disease and now we are in Jacksonville and I decide to let him pick where we eat.  Neither one of us is familiar with Jacksonville so we park downtown – it is Sunday so the city isn’t as bustling as it probably is during the week.  We decide to forgo using Urban Spoon on his phone to find a restaurant and to just walk around and find some place that isn’t a chain.  We walk for what seemed like forever because we were hungry and it becomes clear that downtown Jacksonville is home to many chain restaurants.  And it is also not home many small business restaurants that are open on Sunday.

Jacksonville's "Downtown Ambassadors"

            Having no luck in finding a place on our own, we decide to ask a “downtown ambassador.”  Wearing a brightly colored orange shirt emblazoned with her role, we approach a young woman and ask her where we can eat that is not a chain.  She looks at me puzzled.  “Have you ever been to Hooters?” she asked. 

Mike and I sighed in unison.

“Someplace that’s not, you know, a chain?” I asked again.

“They have good chicken wings,” she replied.

I thanked her for her time and my friend noticed a sign for Chicago Pizza.  Seeing that neither one of us have ever heard of this place before, this is where we decide to go.  We figured if a chain whore like me hadn’t heard of this place yet, it was probably an independent restaurant. 

My friend is happy and I am happy though a bit apprehensive about stepping outside of my comfort zone in a new place.  But I remember the gas station chicken and approach with confidence.

Yay server with an apron.  Yay rolled silverware.  Yay menu.  Once we take our seats, I flip it over the back -  uh, oh.  The back of the menu lists several other locations of Chicago Pizza.  Four are in Jacksonville alone and another in Atlanta.  The chain whore strikes again.  Mike throws up his hands in frustration. 

Despite our best efforts at not eating at a chain, we did so anyway.  And what is the problem with eating at a chain?  What are the economic and social ramifications of choosing Chicago Pizza over Mom and Pop pizzerias? 

This blog will review more foray into independent restaurants in Savannah while also documenting my struggle to find quality restaurants that have only one location. I am not a foodie by any means, but rather a chain whore looking to find redemption one fork at a time.  That sentence is funnier if you make the “r” silent.  

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'Consumer Whore' Logo credit:
Image credit:www.pluckyoutoo.com/2010/11/starbucks-consumer-whore.html

Jacksonville image credit: 
http://downtownjacksonville.org/CleanAndSafe/Ambassadors.aspx