Love and Hate

One of the things I have learned as I have grown up (and as my political sensibilities have matured) is how much one can love and hate capitalism. Capitalism allowed for the development of the craft brewing, brewpub, and microbrewing industry. It also allowed Granite City Food and Brewery to come into reality. I have always been a little wary of chain restaurants, but this takes the cake. For instance, if you come to my fair city and say you want to go out for Mexican food, I'm not going to take you to On the Border. I'm going to take you to Connie's, possibly the strangest name for a Mexican restaurant you have ever heard. Yet year after year, we vote it the best Mexican restaurants in town. Admittedly, you have to drive in the barrio to find it, and the building has been run into three times by various vehicles over the years, but the food is excellent and the atmosphere has an authentic feel to it. It's not the fake Mexican feel places like On the Border have. Wichita is full of interesting hole in the walls like Connie's, but the suburbs are dominated by chain restaurants. Sadly, much of the best food is found in decapitated buildings in less than desirable areas.

Getting back on track, who decided that creating a chain brewpub was a great idea? I am sure this has been said many different times by many different blogs (both on the left and on the right), but this goes against everything the brewpub experience is all about. It's not about having restaurants serving the same beers nationwide. We already have that. It's about men (and a few women) pushing the envelope and experimenting with different ingredients and trying new ideas. It's about pushing the envelope by reviving old styles and putting new twists to them. It's about being adventurous and seeing if your ideas are a success or a failure. It isn't about having 30 something different locations around the central US serving the same beer. We already have that. Everywhere.

I went there once when my parents bought my wife and I dinner there. It reminded my of Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage, except without the decent-priced beer. Maybe the beer would have been good, but at the price they were asking, there was no way I was drinking. The food was good, but overpriced. They were asking $9.99 for a half-gallon growler. I can get a gallon at the Glacier Brewhouse for $5.95. It wouldn't surprise me if Glacier has the better beer too.

(Crossposted at Random Intolerance)