I have long wanted to write a column in which the only thing reviewed is restaurants' background music. Sometimes the music makes the dining experience, and often it ruins it - bad choices, bad volume.
I have a few not too hard-and-fast rules:
The best music for upscale restaurants should be quiet, slow to mid-tempo: chamber music or smart jazz (piano solo works best - eg Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk), or perhaps smart ambient (Brian Eno). I've found Miles Davis' Kind of Blue pop up a lot of places. It always works.
The hipper places can get away with - again, slow to mid-tempo - more avante garde, post-rock stuff (Louisville is the birthplace of some of this stuff: Rachel's, The Photographic, David Pajo... I'd like to see local highlighted).
Ethnic restaurant should have music from the same country as the cuisine. There are dining-appropriate music types from all countries: Japanese shakuhachi flute, Chinese pipa, Indian sitar, sarangi, bamboo flute (actually I like to hear Bollywood stuff at an Indian restaurant), Middle Eastern ghazals, North African rai.
Of course, places aiming at younger crowds can turn up the volume and rock - but please make smart, hip, interesting choices.
Personally, I prefer instrumental music when I eat. Not much vocal music works - maybe Norah Jones, some blues... songs in a foreign language are fine.
And most of the time: turn it down one notch.
I know a lot of places buy music services... but this can be done wisely. Choose well... and don't just turn on the radio.
What experiences and observations do the rest of you have?
