The Restaurant Con

In all the lazy media noise leading up to the new year, one story caught my attention. It's about a small NYC restaurant chain called Tad's that is nearly extinct. They used to be all over the place back before I was born, and there was one off Union Square when I was in high school, but now there is but one left, in mid-town. It s a restaurant concept that in all my days of culinary school, it would never occur to me -- the budget steak house.

Steak houses were anointed as money spinners in class because even though the menu was limited and such high end prices don't end up being for the masses, the mark-up on everything (think sides and drinks) are so high that you end up doing pretty well in that realm. The idea of Tad's runs contradictory to that -- it moves LOTS of cheap meat, fast, and things are sold in combos that destroy possible high mark ups on sides and sodas.

Cheap meat, post-Tad's

But the part that really resonated with me was how the author summed up the shift in the (restaurant) culture -- going from a short con to a long con.

As I ate, I experienced a certain elation, as did my lunch companion. And I wondered why I was so happy at Tad’s. I realized that it was the short con, of old America.
Anyone familiar with con-man movies knows the difference between the short con and the long con. The short con is a cheap steak, but extra for onions. The long con is artisan hamburger buns. The long con is artisan anything, it’s the big lie that special, expensive food can impart sophistication, instill morality and forestall death. The short con is the carnival midway, the long con is the totalistic impulse towards ideology, it’s Whole Foods and, ultimately Jonestown.


One con or another is unavoidable. Every nickel, on its way to becoming a dime, must pass through some trickery. Until the Rapture, there will always be opposition and a cash register to help us navigate it.
Tad’s way—the short con—may seem unpleasant or confrontational to people used to the cloying smarm of our current slate of Olympian “established brands.” But I find it less insulting.
At Tad’s, there are no adjectives on the walls, no promises that the cows have been “grass-fed” or that their flesh is “char-sizzled,” and no aspirational exhortations that you be a better you. It’s just a steak.
Tad’s Broiled Steaks may or may not make you a better you. But it will fill you up. And they will leave you alone, in almost every sense, which is nice. The steak may or may not be juicy. They never said it would be. But they'll ladle on some extra juice, no extra charge.

In a way, expensively produced food like cow flesh sold cheap IS a long con -- cattle prices (and grain and sugar prices) propped up artificially by government largess makes steak (and many other processed, unhealthy foods) artificially cheap, leading our diets away from "expensive" veg and whole foods and towards cheap, high-processed, health-harming but profitable dreck.

Hey Ratso, let's go to Tad's!

Tad's is a relic of a cheaper, down-on-it's luck city, as well as of a culture that still found novelty and excitement in cheap food done good. The long con of small batch artisanal everything has been upon us for a while, but it comes at a price. Literally -- who can afford a $20 baggie of granola? As the wage gap widens and more and more of us find us on the poor side of things, I wouldn't be surprised if the cheaper short-con came back in fashion (think fast food, minus the Chipotle-pretense) and Whole Foods devolves into something cheaper.

WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2812

Not as dramatic a drop  in increase of consumption and increase in vegetables as I hoped, but better to ease in than freak out.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2780

SLEPT: 10pm - 6am, 8 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1 : 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2 : 1pm, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 3:30pm, beef patty, momma salad, tomato soup, health salad, 710 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, French bread pizzas, poppa salad with dressing, 1060 cal

EVENIGN SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn,  +/- 400 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2750

SLEPT: 10pm-6am,  8hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am,  iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla,  450 cal

LUNCH: 2pm, steamed string beans, lentil curry, chicken meatballs, pickles,  680 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, cheezits, 310 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, lemon sole, asparagus, poppa salad with dressing, 750 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, peanut butter pretzels, rice crispies and milk, +/-400 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2870

SLEPT: 9:30pm-6am, 8.5 hrs

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 10:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 12:15am, fruit smoothie, 450 cal

LUNCH: 3pm, bacon, poppa salad with dressing,  440 cal

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, momma salad, 100 cal

PM SNACK: 6:15pm, streetza, +/- 300 cal

DINNER: 7:45pm, Chipotle Burrito, 920 cal

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, chocolate chip banana bread, +/- 500 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 3320

SLEPT: 11:30pm-4:30am, 5hrs

AM SNACK: 4:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST 1: 11am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 12 noon, steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 1:45pm, shrimp and mushrooms with oyster sauce and shiritaki noodles, poppa salad with dressing, 550 cal

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, momma salad and cheezits, 310 cal

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, cashews, 250 cal

DINNER: 5:45pm, mixed fried perogies, saur kraut, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACKS: 8pm, peanut butter pretzels, nutella, +/-800cal
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BIKE CREDIT: 660 cal
FRIDAY COUNT: 2340

SLEPT: 9:30pm-6:30am, 9hrs

AM SNACK: 6:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BIKE SNACK: 12:30pm, homemade granola bar, 370 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 2:15pm, Greek yogurt with honey, almonds, vanilla,  450 cal

PM SNACK: 4pm, momma salad, veggie straws, 270 cal

DINNER 1: 5:15pm, fish and chips, hot dog, ice cream, +/- 1000 cal

DINNER 2: 9pm, steak, potatoes, cheese & tomatoes, bread and oil, olives, 1 beer, +/- 750 cal