As I sat recently at a French bistro in my neighborhood, sharing a cheese plate and a bottle of wine with a friend, I surveyed the varied restaurants and boutiques lining the street, which has become a restaurant row in my area of Brooklyn. Our conversation soon turned to buzz about a possible new addition to the scene.
A rumor on one of the area’s restaurant blogs has the burger giant moving into a spot just blocks away. Perhaps not surprisingly, the response from trendy Brooklynites, to whom McDonald’s is a culinary Darth Vader, was overwhelming. Posts on the blog’s message board bemoan the possible arrival of “McDungheap” and call for a petition to ban the chain from entering the neighborhood.
And so, as someone who has fallen in love with the one-of-a-kind charm of my neighborhood’s eateries, I take this opportunity to share my thoughts on the possible arrival of the chain:
So what?
You see, as a child growing up in Columbus, Ohio—a mecca for chain restaurants—I was exposed to this kind of thing all the time. “Fries” was one of my first words, and years later I drove past Wendy’s corporate headquarters every day on the way to my high school. Still, by most accounts I’m a relatively well-adjusted individual able to appreciate the value of both bistros and Big Macs, foie gras and Filet-O-Fish.
It’s not that I would welcome a business I thought might compromise my favorite neighborhood spots. It’s just that I don’t think one burger joint can diminish the appeal of the funky Peruvian restaurant with amazing ceviche or the no-name bar with the vintage Ms. Pac-Man console. Other chains on the same street, like Dunkin’ Donuts and Domino’s, have not seemed to dampen the local culture.
Having a diverse restaurant scene doesn’t mean artificially constraining an area’s image with bans or regulations, but rather accepting a wide array of concepts and letting customers vote with their taste buds and wallets. That’s part of the beauty of New York—the diversity that results from constant change, new faces and contrary ideas.
Even at the traditional French restaurant, that exact blend of old and new, quaint and flashy, was already occurring on a smaller scale. We sat outdoors at a rickety table and sipped water served in a wine bottle carafe, yet our waitress punched our order into a high-tech, handheld device.
So whether or not McDonald’s actually moves to the area, I know I’ll still be enamored with my neighborhood’s restaurant personality. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll continue to patronize my favorite local restaurants, especially that French bistro, even if it’s just for a burger and pommes frites.
