So I’ve definitely traveled to a city that is economically less depressed than my city in Michigan. For those from Michigan, this place is like Ann Arbor on steroids. All the same hippie mentality, all the same “do it green” practices, etc–but so much more intense and in your face.
This really got thrown in my face tonight as I was walking around looking for a place to eat. Everything here is made from grain directly shot out of Jesus’s ass and oil collected from the brow of Virgin Mary. Very sacred shit. And of course there’s not a lot of it and of course you’re supposed to pay your first child to eat it.
So working class me is wandering all over town (on foot, mind), desperatly looking for anything that resembles the fat drenched familiarity of home. The teeny little dive restaurant across the street is old, dirty, not open every day, about the size of my bathroom and can fit about three people in the dining area. The windows are dirty, the tags detailing the menu are old and missing letters–and right away I feel like I’m at home.
A place like that in Michigan means cheap, filling and simple. It means lack of presumption, people leaving you alone, and usually some people of color. So I go in, only to find out that a *sandwich* (two pieces of bread and a goddamn piece of meat) costs TEN DOLLARS. A full up meal costs twelve. In Michigan, at a place like that, a full up meal would be considered *expensive* if it was six bucks.
Dorothy, we’re not in Michigan any more.
So I spent the better part of the day walking up and down the street looking for a damn McDonalds. Which of course they don’t have–because this is “earth conscious” town and “corporate free zone” blah blah blah.
Oh, and all the working class people are SERVING the food, not EATING it–and probably all live in Denver or something.
Anyway, I did not find the McDonalds and thus was reduced to eating the sandwich made from the grains shot out of Jesus’s ass. And of course it made me sick.
super sigh.
- Share
June 15th, 2009 at 5:11 pm #
*Hugs*
June 15th, 2009 at 7:35 pm #
So I go in, only to find out that a *sandwich* (two pieces of bread and a goddamn piece of meat) costs TEN DOLLARS.
Holy motherfucking shit!!! TEN DOLLARS?!!??!!
Damn girl, you ain’t in Illinois, either!
(psst! don’t they have any restaurants run by folks’ whose last name ends in a vowel? I mean, the parmigiana sangwiches at my favorite joint here run close to eight bucks, but they feed two adults—or one adult and two kids. no shit—those things are HUGE.)
June 15th, 2009 at 8:01 pm #
one think i’ve done, if you ask the workers of the hotels and expensive ass delis & restaurants(often brown like me) where to get a decent cheap meal, they can point you in the right direction.
June 16th, 2009 at 9:10 am #
Yikes, I’m sorry. I believe SWPL addressed the sandwich issue: http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/11/63-expensive-sandwiches/
I was going to suggest the same thing as Noemi – although I hope you don’t have to go too far out of town to find stuff.
June 16th, 2009 at 12:48 pm #
I keep trying to think of what I would have wanted to hear when I was hungry and frustrated from such a small amount of $$ to address the hungriness yaers ago, so I could say it to you, but all that’s coming to me is wanting to go to wherever you are and tell people to cut the shit.
June 16th, 2009 at 2:35 pm #
Grocery store
June 16th, 2009 at 3:25 pm #
Classist m-fers. Sorry, had to say it. Everyone forgets that when they strive for environmentally friendlyness. You can’t screw the people who are at the bottom already, that’s just unfair!
hey wait I’m at the bottom too. At least I spent all my money on food. Too bad food doesn’t pay the bills
June 16th, 2009 at 9:01 pm #
ha! This sounds like a meltdown I just had while walking with a friend in her town. I, of course, read your Jesus’ butt comment outloud with some satisfaction.
My suggestion: ask the locals serving the expensive food where a good & inexpensive place to eat is. However, make sure you give them the woc eye so they know not to send you to yet another expensive “ethnic” tourist trap. I just ate at a “Mexican restaurant” w/nary a Latin@ or Mexican@ in it and food as bland as wonder bread on the rec of a poc here. (However, I did frown so much the chef came out to meet us, took my plate away, and brought back something delicious. So you could try that too, but why?)
Or you could just ask people where “the bad side of town is” and then use google maps to figure out where the restaurants are in that area and if there is a bus line. We all know “bad” stands for brown and poor in those kinds of towns, don’t we?
June 16th, 2009 at 9:53 pm #
Or environmentally trendiness. “Our cups are compostable! Which doesn’t actually make a difference, since they’ll be incinerated anyway! One million dollars, please.”
June 17th, 2009 at 5:19 am #
Shit.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:01 am #
Every Ann Arbor keeps its Ypsi nearby. Courage.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:39 pm #
the worst part about these people is they believe they are making a difference/ important/ not fucked up in every way.
saw a rich friend’s mom once buy everybody christmas cards which when opened were donations made in their names to hiefer internationl- only this rich woman doesn’t believe poor class people in other countries should use cows, so she paid for trees to be planted instead!
or the anarchist food not bombs here in my city- only vegetarian and vegan meals for the homeless.
or my friend yesterday telling me how her family isn’t that rich because her great-grandmother was the first woman in her law school and it was a really big deal. what? great-grandparents in law school?!?!? money and stability that far back?
it goes on and on. it kills me.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:41 pm #
Are you in Boulder? If so, you are, unfortunately, in the epicenter of trendy, conspicuous, environmentally-friendly yuppiedom. In my limited experience there is no such thing as cheap food. However, following the advice above (asking the folks who work at restaurants, stores, etc) maybe you will be more successful than I. There must be a little bodega/deli hidden away in a corner somewhere, right?
June 18th, 2009 at 7:22 am #
This is why I prefer Michigan to California
$10 sandwiches can kiss my big fat ass.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:31 am #
Whit–ahh, but in California you can get a $4 burrito that lasts two meals.
June 20th, 2009 at 7:56 pm #
Ex-Boulderite Naropa grad here. Cheap food in Boulder is tough to find, and non-snooty food nearly non-existent, but you might try Tra-Ling’s at Broadway and Pleasant for cheap and reasonably tasty Chinese food and Mustard’s Last Stand at Arapahoe and Broadway for a very tasty Chicago-style hot dog and fries. There’s a Taco Bell at Broadway and Baseline. For cheap pizza, try Blackjack’s at 30th and Walnut. Village Coffee Shop at Folsom and Arapahoe is good for breakfast all day. I’ve heard good things about Snarf’s, at 21st and Pearl — their sandwiches start at about five bucks.
For groceries, there’s a Safeway at Arapahoe and Folsom. It has a deli, too.
Good luck!
June 20th, 2009 at 9:09 pm #
thank you SO much kattyben! I’m heading over to the safeway TOMORROW!!!!!
(and yay for you, a graduate and everything!!! hope that things are good for you now, and that you have regular access to cheap ass good food!!!! :->)
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:45 pm #
I love Tra-Ling’s. The staff there knows me by name at this point (though I went more when I was a student).
Some other Boulder stuff, from a sitting-in-Boulder-right-now girl:
The farmer’s market is Wednesday evenings from 4 to 8, and Saturday mornings 8 to 2. There are usually quite a few vendors selling hot food there for cheap. It’s close to Naropa, too—13th street, between Canyon and Arapahoe (in front of the tea house).
Illegal Pete’s (14th and College; 15th and Perl) has a horrifying name, and also huge burritos for $6.
Snarf’s is amazing, but a little expensive (their small sandwiches are kindof small, and their large sandwiches are kindof $7). If you still want to check them out, the one closest to Naropa is at 14th and College (just up Broadway, on university hill, near Tra-Ling’s and Illegal Pete’s).
I’ve heard promising things about Efrains’s, located at 63rd St. and Arapahoe. Specifically, I’ve heard that it’s good, cheap Mexican food and that if I ask for something without lard, I will be laughed at. (I haven’t tried).
Food not bombs serves at the corner of Canyon and Broadway on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 3.30p until they run out.
There’s an Indian grocery in the shopping center at 28th street and Glenwood which sells hot samosas (and various other goodies) for about $1 each.
And of course, if you have any time for a day trip, Denver’s quite lovely (and home to SAME (and me)).