Blog Thu May 08 2008

More Grumbling about the Check Please Effect

The Check Please Effect gets national attention today at Gourmet.com. David Tamarkin laments the fact that the Chicago public television show drains business away from lesser known restaurants and funnels it into the spots featured on the show. He concludes it's not so bad, though, to discover one's own favorites.

— Dana Currier / Comments (1)

Lee / May 9, 2008 1:25 PM

I'm not following the logic of the grumble. It's not as if those crowds are people who would just take a stroll down Kedzie like David and randomly pick a middle eastern restaurant. I'm guessing many of them probably never would go to Kedzie at all if it weren't for a specific recommendation. So I seriously doubt the influx of new customers is *draining* business from neighbors. Maybe the overlooked neighbors aren't sharing much in the same success, but that's hardly a valid complaint. Isn't it better for at least one of them to do great business than neither?

Feature Fri Oct 30 2009

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By Gemma Petrie

In May I traveled to Buenos Aires and spent a week eating and drinking in South America's second largest metropolis. Many guidebooks are quick to peg Argentina as the place to drink Malbec. While this is true, Argentina has much...
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