The purpose of which is not really to eat good food, win dates or even to finally earn an excuse to have my own inane blog. The real purpose behind this venture is to check things off a list. A list as big as the world is something only a true neurotic can take on, and ladies and gentleman, I am your hero in arms. Now, the average person might enjoy herself a good meal, but she can never know the pleasures of a compulsive listmaker: the thrill of useless order, of formulating mental images of check marks, of displacing overbearing life-anxieties through meaningless accomplishments.
So I say now, I am no food critic. Not even an amateur one. But I am a critic in the common sense of the word-- that is, an asshole. Not the Yelp reviewing type of asshole, but the I'm-too-good- for-Yelp reviewing type of asshole. When I praise a dish or complain about service it will not be for the enlightenment of others but only to satisfy a deep urge to complain.
But all in all, I promise to keep the bratty complaints and displaced bitterness to a minimum. In a sense, this blog is a celebration and an ode to the Bay Area. Not just it's fine ethnic food (I consider the rest of the world ethnic) but its sunny vibrancy and soul lifting diversity. Living in Oakland and working in San Francisco will give me the chance to explore the Bay and all its intriguing micro-communities (condescending language intended). As any good white lefty, I am fixated on authenticity and bored to death with consumer capitalism--but only to the point where the ultimate aim remains the overcoming of boredom.
I started this adventure about six months ago and my first few posts will be retrospective. I hope to finish this whole thing in a year before I leave the Yay Area. I started in Mexico and am now working my way down the South American coast. Some of these restaurants I ate at a long time so I can't promise everything I wrote is is 100% accurate. I'm kind of full of shit anyway. Bon Apetit.
