patronize more locally owned restaurants

I have been here before, but it’s such an enjoyable experience (and also very close to my home) that I keep returning. I have had the best guacamole and best refried beans ever in my life at this restaurant.

Chinese restaurant/buffet. Not a lot of veggie dishes on the buffet, but they did have shrimp!eggfooyung, which is the first time I’ve seen it offered on a buffet here in town. The usual favorites (beef and broccoli, sesame chicken, spring rolls) done well, everything hot and fresh, staff are lovely, and it’s affordable. A good find.

Let’s try something fun which can also help the local economy. I am challenging myself to eat at one new locally-owned restaurant a month for the next twelve months – otherwise, it’s oatmeal for two weeks for me (but better oatmeal than Big Brother House slop).

I’m already doing this, and I’m finding that it is so exhilerating and fun, and once the owners get to know you, sometimes they give you free food. It’s great!

The only draw back, sometimes, is that the customer service can be quite spotty. I’ve been to small “mom and pops” where the owners or the employees treat you as if they’re doing you a favor, but that does not happen too often, but when it does occur, I simply peruse their menus for a few minutes and then return them and leave.

Once you get a taste of real food, corporate chow that come in precooked packages on a truck and is served at “restaurants” where the only cooking is warming things up in plastic bags will never do again. And, it helps keep the money you spend in the community where you live, instead of concentrating it in the hands of the already-wealthy. Give your local Mom & Pop breakfast place or upscale non-franchise a try today. You’ll be glad you did.