Eddiie Merlot's Steakhouse-Another Louisville Ramada

[Robin Garr]

Well, I do not know about the behave comment, but I have not felt that any of my criticisms of Louisville should ever be taken as a personal afront. If I have behaved badly on this Forum, I do apologize for my actions. Yet, I still do not understand the defensiveness that arises after an opinion is expressed in a manner that might be a bit unique or different.

Never mind, Phil. I wasn't really talking about the forum, just blovating about life and relationships in general.

Mary and I lived in NYC for four years and loved just about everything about it. There were some things I thought they could have done better, but I decided it would be a good idea to get to know people and their ways before I started instructing them, but I didn't see this as proving that New Yorkers were hard to get along with.

[Robin Garr]

I will say as a relative newcomer ( 12 years ), I still get questioned frequently about what high school I went to- which is very odd to me. ( where I'm from you'd ask colege not H.S.) But I put it down to a Louisville idiocyncrasy to find common friends- not necessarily that people are necessarily trying to determine your socio-economic group. As someone who has moved alot, I've never been any place where so many people stay in their home town and are still friends with bunches of people from High school.

Beats me, Deb. I believe you (and Phil), but I can't testify. There almost has to be something demographic about it, but damned if I know what. We get around in a few different circles, not being exactly hermits, but I can't say I ever either ask or am asked this question.

I disagree with you Robin. I think that the gentility expected in Louisville is often a veil for not being upfront and honest. I have experienced a whole bunch of snobbery from a lot of folks here in Louisville. Questions concerning one's pedigree are quite common. People do want to know where you went to high school and have a desire to place you in a certain socio-economic group by what you do and where you live. I some times feel that reaction to my strong opinions are doused with a certain dislike of "Yankees" and especially New York ethnics.

Phil,

I moved here from NJ, and never had anyone dislike me for being a Yankee. Only real cultural issue I've run into is that I talk WAY too quick and I'm sometimes abrupt , which can be interpreted here ( and other places( as cold and /or rude. If you are sensing reactions, maybe it's not because you are from NY but attributable to the fact that you say things like:" your myopic and insular view of your city".
Deb

Phil and that guy (sorry forgot his name and the thread title) who wanted to leave Louisville because it doesn't have a pro sports team should get together for a Louisville gripe session.

Many many years ago, I had a bumper that said: Vietnam, love it or leave it.
Maybe Louisville should have a new slogan: Louisville, love it or leave it
<=== note effective use of emoticons

I'm not suggesting Phil doesn't like Louisville.

I think there is a valid question regarding restaurant design here, but unfortunately lost in the "Louisville Ramada" reference. ( Personally I would have left it at "Ramada". ) Many restaurants go the safe route in design- because it's that: safe. This industry is a very risky business and sometimes it's perceived to be a safer bet to go with something more familiar. Lots of people ( not necessarily us) want an environment that feels familiar when they are dining.

I would argue however that we have several great restaurant designs in newer restaurants: 732 Social, Basa, The Mozz ( bar), Proof and the Blind Pig come to mind. All are evocative of their cuisine and an integral part of their dining experience.

Deb

I'm with Phil, I too have encountered folks who do not say what's on their mind, are passive aggresive, and cannot take constructive/destructive critique. I too have been asked where I went to High school, who I know, and when I tell them I am from New York,and where I live/lived in Louisville their demeanor changes.

By the way Robin, I thought you claim yourself as a "New Yorker", now your a Louisville boy?
Which is it?

If I meet someone roughly of my generation - somewhere in the conversation I'll ask if they grew up here. If they are local I'll more often than not ask them where they went to high school. This town isn't all that big and frequently I'll know someone they know or have some other connection. Placing someone in a social strata has nothing to do with this.

Asking someone where they went to high school is not code for "where does your daddy work?" and "how big is your diamond?" It's an acknowledgment of how interconnected we are here; it's a conversation starter. The first thing to know about Louisville is that you should throw "six degrees of separation" out the window. Here, it's seldom more than two or three. When you tell someone where you went to high school, then the inevitable, "Do you know suchandsuch?" ensues. That then leads to comparing acquaintances, family, friends and neighbors, and is usually pretty fun and interesting. Phil would not have had this experience because that follow up question would not come after he tells them he didn't go to high school in Louisville, so it probably does just seem like a way to determine one's socio-economic level.

If someone is asking you where you went to high school only to find out your "pedigree," whatever that is nowadays, then I just chalk that up to the reality that there are @$$#*|es everywhere.

For the record, my West-Coast native husband just tells people where he went to high school when they ask. He enjoys watching them furrow their brows, then having them ask, "Is that in Indiana?"

The only thing Phil does to rub me the wrong way is his poor, pitiful me defensiveness.

Either lob grenades or not, just own it without apology.

Antonia, I like your husband's style.

For the record, my West-Coast native husband just tells people where he went to high school when they ask. He enjoys watching them furrow their brows, then having them ask, "Is that in Indiana?"

I have one that is an unfortunate flip-side of that. In conversation, I'll share I went to school at "Cal"( remember, I think college)- which here gets misinterpreted as Christian Academy Louisville. I have to explain what the University of California-Berkley is....
Deb

Asking someone where they went to high school is not code for "where does your daddy work?" and "how big is your diamond?" It's an acknowledgment of how interconnected we are here; it's a conversation starter. The first thing to know about Louisville is that you should throw "six degrees of separation" out the window. Here, it's seldom more than two or three. When you tell someone where you went to high school, then the inevitable, "Do you know suchandsuch?" ensues. That then leads to comparing acquaintances, family, friends and neighbors, and is usually pretty fun and interesting.

I recall that very thing happening to us at Jack's.

I'm bored. When is this thread going to morph to pizza, craft beer, crappy service or kids in restaurants.

I'm bored. When is this thread going to morph to pizza, craft beer, crappy service or kids in restaurants.

Where did you go to high school?