Chain Gang

Anyone who has traveled to New Jersey is familiar with its dumbfounding road layouts. Circles, jug handles and stretches of highway further than a tank of gas can take you. As you drive along these stretches your mind begins to wander. Once you regain consciousness you look around and think to yourself, "Am I driving in circles?" This treadmill-like highway phenomenon is one I like to refer to as "The Chain Gang."

No, you aren't driving in circles. But, yes, you are seeing almost the exact same scenario you drove by 25 minutes ago:

Taco Bell-Boston Market-WaWa-Applebee's-Outback.
Taco Bell attached to Long John Silver's-Boston Market-TGIFriday's-WaWa-Carrabba's (which is owned by the same company as Outback. Six of one, half a dozen chemically flavored bread sticks of another.)

One links to the other as you laboriously drag along the road. It feels like we have come so far but are getting nowhere. There have been loads of culinary movements and gastronomical developments but all I can taste is cold metal.

As the most densely populated (per square mile) state in the country, can we at least get a little variety out here? There are enough of us to sustain one's business. Perhaps restaurant developers, or should I say "concept" developers, think we are an uncivilized, barbaric, rustic cluster of the country that wouldn't appreciate good food. While that may be partly true, why must the rest of us suffer? Why should my only choices be "neighborhood bar adorned with knick-knacks," "steak house boasting mounted animals," or "italian trattoria in tuscany near the grape vines?"


I am a self-proclaimed foodie and dining expert and I can count on 5-10 fingers how many foodie-worthy restaurants are located in South Jersey. I'd need 5-10 dozen fingers to count how many times I have been to each of them. I need more options. Especially with my ADD and disdain for metallic flavors.