Different take on “local” food

A recent comment by Not the LG mentioned that local businesses, and by extension, the community as a whole, suffer in competition with national chains. Although the comment was related to gas pricing, there were examples of mainland eateries pushing local restaurants out of business. This got me thinking since eGeekette and I probably eat out more often than we cook at home, so it’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart/stomach. However, I’ll admit that up until now I’ve never really thought about whether an establishment was locally owned or not.

I made a list of places I can remember eating at least occasionally in recent history and separating by local or mainland/chain ownership, as best as I know. I limited my list to middle-of-the-road, sit-down restaurants to simplify things. There are just too many fast food/plate lunch places (although you could argue that fast food joints tend to be national chains and plate lunch places are generally locally owned).

Next, I tried to put them into broad categories with chain and local “equivalents”, based on the type of food that each restaurant served. This was purely subjective and probably won’t necessarily align with your assessments, but bear with me for this exercise.

Finally, I tried to identify the restaurants that contributed to the community through fundraising opportunities or direct donations (indicated by “$”) or used local produce in their dishes (“LP”) thus supporting local farmers. Some of the mainland chain restaurants have community policies (”CP”) that detail their philanthropic activities, but not necessarily for organizations here in Hawaii.

Based on this list, I pondered whether if I was going to “eat local” would I be willing to forego the chain place for the local place? I dunno… Unlike products, where you’re comparing various prices for the exact same thing, food is pretty relative. When you’re jonesing for an Oldtimer Burger from Chili’s, a Zippy’s Primeburger doesn’t cut it and sometimes you just GOTTA have Original Pancake House french crepes with strawberries for breakfast…

For a different perspective, here’s a list of places I can recall closing in years past:

I definitely miss the local places more, for sentimental reasons as well as their unique culinary offerings. It was only after Not the LG’s comment that I thought about their other contributions to the community.

Bottom line time: Good food is still good food so I still don’t think I’m necessarily going to make dining decisions based solely on local or mainland ownership. However, I’m definitely going to be more aware of my dining out choices and try to patronize the restaurants I want to see stick around.

Now it’s your turn:

• What are your favorite middle-of-the-road, sit-down restaurants and are they locally owned?
• Do you think about whether a restaurant is locally owned or not when you go out to eat?
• Would you be more willing to patronize an establishment that supported the local community/economy over a restaurant that only served yummy food?

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  By the lone gunman, November 14, 2008 @ 9:21 am

  We go to the Koa Pancakehouse for breakfast about 2-3 times a month… It seems like it would ne locally owned. Also, since moving out to Central Oahu, we’ve frequented Chili’s (not locally owned), New Genki Ramen (seems local, Ginger House (Chinese food, seems local),
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  By the lone gunman, November 14, 2008 @ 9:24 am

  … oops… I’ll continue…

  … Long John Silver (not local)
  …
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  By the lone gunman, November 14, 2008 @ 9:41 am

  why? why would I press the same button twice when I’m clearly not done!

  OK , Get your hands off the mouse!

  … Phuket Thai… we’ve been going here for take out recently.
  … Tasty BBQ (both local I’d imagine)

  Actually, we cook a lot… so we mostly frequent the middle of the road or faster food places…

  I don’t think the fact that a establishment is locally owned or not is a factor in where we decide to eat. It’s pretty much all about the hunger jones. Sometimes it’s about convenience… Unfortunately, McDonalds is really really close… so one the days when we are in a hurry for food, we tend to head on over there.

  I suppose if we are craving a certain type of food and we knew about a certain establishment’s record for supporting the community we may opt to chose it over another similar establishment if we knew that place did not, BUT I don’t believe we would bend over backwards to get that food… So it it were a place in Hawaii Kai that supports the community verses a place in Waikele that does not… 9 times out of 10 we end up at Waikele.

  Definitely… Go to the places that you like, if you would like to contribute to them sticking around.
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  By the lone gunman, November 14, 2008 @ 9:44 am

  technically, all eateries support the local economy or community,it’s just a matter or how much extra they do or don’t .
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  By Not "The LG", November 19, 2008 @ 11:12 pm

  Luckily, for me, I actually prefer Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Asian influenced foods. So, I think most of them seem to be more locally owned than not. At the least, they are small businesses as opposed to chain types. Although, they could be funneling their money out of Hawaii (to Asia) just as well. Problem is, these type of restaurants don’t seem to accommodate groups as easily as the chain restaurants. Thereby, not the same social environment.

  Anyway, an immediate exception to the theory Asian influenced foods are local is Panda Express. It got rid of Patti’s in Ala Moana’s food court. When Panda first started competing against Patti’s, I would always choose Patti’s. But then, Panda started expanding to other locations that didn’t have Patti’s, so I would eat at those Panda Expresses. Soon enough, I became more accustom to the food from Panda or it really did taste better. Either way, when at Ala Moana, I stopped going to Patti’s.

  I do think about local versus not. But that’s it, I think about it. In the end, good food wins out. I just happen to prefer the food at those restaurants that are more “local.” But as you guys know, the Mac Grills, CPKs, and such can be found among some of my favorite restaurants too.
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  By Not "The LG", November 19, 2008 @ 11:13 pm

  Oh, if a restaurant was known to support the local community *and* had good food, I would patronize that restaurant more.
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  By Not "The LG", November 19, 2008 @ 11:19 pm

  Some of my non-Asian restaurants:

  Cafe Laufer (they serve pasta dishes now)
  The Greek Corner
  Olive Tree Cafe
  Koa Pancake House
  Bravo
  Boston’s Pizza (although we go to Papa John’s for 2 for Tuesday)

  Drawing a blank for other non-Asian places.
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  By the lone gunman, November 20, 2008 @ 8:28 am

  The Lone Gunman’s Cafe makes the best Beef Eggplant dish ever! Oh and the best Zucchini Katsu… ever!

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