Interesting take. We agree to disagree. That’s cool.
To be clear I am 100% behind her social views.
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I get what you’re saying, but as someone who works in the service industry I would say that her responsibility is to her own employees, not those of other restaurants. Almost every special is to drum up business. Just about all of AC’s spots are full every night they’re open anyway. Dropping the prices lowers the overall prices, and therefore the tips or gratuity they would earn. Plus the people I know who work for her speak highly of the atmosphere and management, which can be pretty rare in restaurants.
Honestly, its probably more effective for a restaurateur of her status to keep prices as is, and become active and generous with foundations that focus on feeding less fortunate. I don’t know if that is something that she currently does. It also seems that this new quick serve idea could be a bit more affordable as well.
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I suppose I’ll just risk my ban from this board and dive in…I don’t think anyone really is getting me. Keep in mind my views are pretty liberal. However I still think preaching social equality from a perch of owning high end restaurants can come off as elitest to a lot of people. It certainly isn’t being heard by the vast majority of the economic spectrum, especially the less tolerant part, when she made her bathrooms unisex. Such a voice is very much broadened and impactful when your restaurants don’t just aim for upper middle class. In this article the quote “Our role as restaurant owners and workers is to make space for everyone in our community at the table” is great except that at $9 a burger with no sides or add-ons, lots of people cannot afford to sit at that table. I would have been more impressed if she straight up challenged Chik-Fil-A to do the same. Shoot…I would have put on a dress and sashayed into the mens room in one had that gauntlet been thrown. It just bugs me that she has this goddess stature for all this social change she’s helped create when really, it takes a fat wallet to enjoy the acceptance found in her restaurants.
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All I can do is eye roll at vendors like her (Ashley Christensen) who espouse these haughty social goals yet they’re selling this jacked pricing food and meat products (no compassion for animals, the vegans among us might say). But man, I’m totally ready to try her Project: Xtra Crispy sandwich. At least that will help end world hunger…
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Man I think this rain has gotten everyone on the board cynical today lol
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I certainly didn’t think any fan bois would agree with me. But I am reminded by my High School classmates regularly (mostly FB) that they stay out of downtown because its ‘too expensive (relative to the thread), no parking (relative to the thread), and too librul’. Raleigh is a bubble and its easy to shout out your progressive views from its spendy, tolerant confines. It might even get you a James Beard Award.
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Chuck’s burgers are all under $10. Not too crazy considering they are ground in house and come with amazing toppings. All chicken sandwiches at Beasley’s are under $10 too. To some degree you do have to pay more than at McDonalds to get more than McDonalds has to offer. But it’s nice to have the fast food drive throughs for a cheap option where you don’t have to park your car.
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Happy that we at least have “A Place At The Table” downtown.
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It’s true, we all have the right to lay our value quotient up against a given service or product. I appreciate the individual right and find it interesting where people choose to buy low, mid or high market (because most consumers play in all buckets depending on personal preference for a specific item / need / service). I find A_C interestingly polarizing locally. Some of it (seems to me) is finding her voice around ‘socio-political’ subject matter in interesting times from a media perspective, some might be earned by enjoying the fight and limelight - tough to say as I don’t know her. Seems more honest than calculating to me but I get the other perspective. Pricing in the marketplace has coalesced in some ways similarly across many threads on here and the middle ground is lost to an extent, which I get when discussing what her company / personal endeavors are about and she’s (in) the vortex of the "downtown expensive’ conversation. Still - she gives back, she pushes out a message about people that my Mom could appreciate (although still eat at DQ and love that more than Chucks) and her employees seem to value the organization - all of that with high bar for execution, service and thoughtful ingredient selection in most cases. That is F’n difficult.
How do you meet your measure of success for the restaurant if you want to explore heightened sourcing as well as culinary/service execution and still welcome ALL?
Maybe ‘Project X’ is her path to another tier of extending the message and opening up her passions to customers outside the current sphere, who knows…Hell, maybe it’s just a money play? Let’s see if that chicken joint is going into Smoky Hollow phase 2?? I bet her ledger still shows positive in the end from a personal, organizational and social perspective - that’s the best any of us could ask for.
If I’m letting someone else cook or serve me a beverage, I’m willing to give it a go at her place(s) over other ‘competition’ because I prefer the combination of inspired employees and level of execution her organization offers comparatively. But, thankfully she’s not alone. We’re lucky to have quite the community of local entrepreneurs around hospitality endeavors in town.
I understand others might lean another way. To each their own and support what matters to you.
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FWIW, there’s awesome $5 double patty burgers and fries (or another side) at Hibernian on Mondays! Just pay a little extra for things like cheese, sauteed mushrooms and bacon. It’s the best deal downtown.
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I too appreciate the different offerings and am glad that owners take an interest in bettering their community. I recently took a tour with Taste Carolina in Durham.
and on that trip we had a spiel from Bull City Burgers. As a ‘B-Corp’ operation, they strive to take care of their employees, and happy employees leads to happy customers. Burgers with a conscience!
Their Bull Beer Flight is pretty neat too.
The Taste Carolina tour in Raleigh is really good. They have standard tours (like on Saturday) or you can arrange a custom tour. My wife’s company has an annual meeting where the spouses also are invited; during the day when they’re at work, the spouses go out on some kind of tour. These ‘eating tours’ have been great fun. Everything is done by walking between 4 or 5 places. The owner or manager comes out and talks about their food and they provide small portions of their features. A fun to spend an afternoon.
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One of the best posts I’ve read here. Thank you.
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And should you venture all the way to CV, the Cameron Bar Grill has the same deal on Monday. With cheese!
Yep. Had that one too. I tend to like the atmosphere of being downtown better on Monday. Sit upstairs or outside and really soak in being downtown and eating on the cheap!
Looks like Growler USA has closed on Blount St (located in the base of the parking deck across from city market). Apparently an “amazing restaurant” is coming soon called R¿ddle Raleigh.
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C’est la vie. I wasn’t a fan and it’s a non-Raleigh chain. I didn’t really give it a chance from the start I guess. Too many local options in the vicinity. I do think with that area having a concentration of good restaurants that another good restaurant may be a good plan.
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There is a website, but no real info yet. They really need to engage a graphic designer for their branding, but I’m guessing this is going to be some kind of game bar.
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Growler was a weird fit for the space it was in. Obviously the beer selection was pretty good but the food was overpriced and unremarkable. If they had more outdoor seating I think it would’ve done better, but being shoehorned next to a parking deck entrance probably killed its curb appeal. But it’s good to see something filling the space this quickly.
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I didn’t think that Growler USA would last. I’m not going to miss it. The upstairs space was nice and we held a meetup there that I think worked out real well. The beer selection was fine but basically the same as a dozen other places. They offered nothing unique with their beer menu.
Their food menu certainly didn’t offer anything either.