My mom turns 65 today, and she likes to treat herself to the local faux-down-under place, Outback Steakhouse. As I have been repeatedly hammered with the knowledge from my Oz friends that "Paul Hogan does not represent us" and "Don't you dare order a beer beginning with F while here", I've also chuckled at my trips to "The Outback" when I visit my mom.
As if to pound the point home, the Wikipedia entry on the Outback Steakhouse currently contains this gem:
There are two franchises of Outback Steakhouse in greater Sydney, Australia, with a decor and menu almost identical to other branches around the world. Somewhat ironically, they provide locals with the opportunity to sample American cuisine not otherwise easily available in Australia.
I think I can relate to how Australians going to Outback might feel.
In Ellay's communities with large Chinese populations (more than just Chinatown), you can find some terrific restaurants with various styles of Chinese cuisine. One of them is "Chinese Western" style, which is what you might get if you went to a restaurant in Hong Kong that served "Western style" food. So, for example, you might get a hamburger on a plate (no bun), with steak sauce, on a bed of chinese broccoli. Not bad, just
I've only been to that style of restaurant once or twice -- it's OK, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. It also causes me mental anguish because it causes loops when I try to fit it in my brain's list of "world cuisines". It's western food, interpreted by Hong Kong cooks, who are
Happy birthday to mom!
"Western Style" bars in New York City
merlyn on 2005-08-25T15:50:14
Probably a similar experience I have when I go to "Coyote Ugly" or "Red Rock West" in New York City, which is supposed to vaguely emulate a cowboy bar from the west. Living in the west, and even having owned a "cowboy bar" in a cowboy town in Eastern Oregon for long enough to lose six figures, I can only chuckle at how Coyote Ugly merely parodies the "real" cowboy bars.On the other hand, if you could bring a Red Rock West or Coyote Ugly bar as it is to somewhere out in the west, it'd probably be packed, as a parody of the local cuisine.
