Every Restaurant on Broadway
In February 2020, I had the idea that I would do everything1 and try everything that was advertised in Highbury and Islington tube station2. I very carefully took pictures of each ad, put it all into a spreadsheet, and started planning out an exciting month or two of going to shows, reading books, and trying fake meat. But only two weeks later, COVID happened, and I abandoned the entire project as a bit pointless.
Walking on Broadway last night, I came up with my idea for a successor: eating at every restaurant on Broadway. The criteria is pretty straight-forward: it must be a restaurant (seating at the venue), must serve something approaching a full meal, and be less than about $75 per person including drinks.
This means that coffee shops or smoothie joints don’t count, since they do not serve a full meal. In addition, pure store fronts don’t count either, since there is no seating at the venue. This also excludes any restaurant that only has outdoor seating. (I’m doing this in November and December. I want to be at least slightly warm, not to mention the food.)
There is no requirement that I do this in any order. I can also go back to a place before I have gone to all the restaurants. Finally, I go to the restaurants that are there when I go; there is no requirement for me to worry about when restaurants go out of business or close for extended periods. The interesting part of these criteria is that it’s not clear how to tell that I am done with this project.
But that is part of the charm here: Broadway is ever-evolving. Deluxe is still there (and hopefully still does Burgerama), but Saigon Garden (with the lovely fiber-optic mural) is gone, as is Broadway Grill and Hana Sushi. The point of this is in part to find the new classics when they are the hot new thing.
Also, yes, of course I know about Ed Ruscha