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January 31, 2007
Thai Frown
I am constantly disappointed by the selection of good, mid-priced restaurants in downtown Chattanooga. Especially ethnic restaurants. Don't get me wrong, there are several great places to eat downtown if you're prepared to spend some money -- St. John's, Hennen's, Blue Water Grill, Hiroshi's, etc. are all great, but I'm not always prepared to part with $30-$100 to eat. And If you want to spend $10-$20 to eat downtown you are pretty much limited to bar food.
Tonight for instance, I was really craving some Panang Curry but there really aren't that many Thai restaurants in Chattanooga. There is Sweet Basil in Brainerd which is a little pricey, but very good. There is Sawasdee in St. Elmo which is reasonably priced and fairly good, but the women that run it kind of freak me out. Then there is Thai Smile 3 next to Rhythm & Brews downtown. Tonight I called in an order to Thai Smile 3 for some Panang Curry, go to pick it up...$13! Now if it was tremendously good it would be worth it, but it was made with Veg-All canned vegetables and was about as bland as mayonnaise. Really bad. Maybe that's why at 7:30PM I was the only person in the place.
I'm also confounded why fresh, healthy food is so much more affordable in California. I'm sure it has a lot to do with demand and transportation costs. But when I go into a Whole Foods store in the bay area the food is literally about half the cost of Greenlife. And I can find ten great Thai restaurants where I can get a great dinner entrée for less than $10 in one square mile...and it's made with fresh vegetables, not Veg-All.
It shouldn't be so expensive to eat a healthy diet in this town. I know it's unfair to compare Chattanooga to California's bay area, but if food can be so reasonably priced and tax-free there why can't it be here? No wonder we have an obesity epidemic here -- healthy food is prohibitively expensive to many, if not most of our residents. Our community should give incentives - in the form of reasonable prices and low taxes - to eat a healthier diet, not disincentives. Food here (unless sold ready for consumption) should be tax free and cheaper. Make up for the lost revenue with higher taxes on tobacco, alcohol, junk food, etc.
And for God's sake, let's get some good mid-priced Indian, Thai, Italian, and Japanese restaurants downtown.
| By Joshua Daniels | 08:53 PM
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