New Noms

It wasn’t that long ago that my husband refused to go out to dinner on Friday nights in Columbia. It didn’t matter where you went, there would be a wait. And no one took reservations. In recent years the number of restaurants entering the local scene has exploded. My husband has stopped begging off Friday night meals out.

And the restaurants keep coming. Howard Hughes recently announced a future Busboys and Poets, followed by word of GrillMarx and three other new establishments. I have moved from celebrating a decent choice on a Friday night to worrying whether Columbia can support this many restaurants. Columbia had one French restaurant, Petit Louis opened and basically put it out of business. And then even Petit Louis didn’t make it. Margin of profit in the restaurant industry is very thin.

One addition to the local food scene I’m not worried about is HoCoNomNom, a blog about local restaurants.

... this is not a review site. What I mean by that is that my goal is to provide information, announcements, impressions, and rumors of restaurants but I am not here to criticize or complain about a certain experience. There are plenty of sites that you can go to if you would like to hear about that. So I ask that if you are commenting, please stay positive and if you don’t have anything good to say, take it somewhere else.

The writer gives a tip of the hat to the much missed HowChow blog in his introduction, and his identification of his child as Little Nom is reminiscent of the “Little Chow” of his predecessor in food blogging. He is to be commended for his efforts in protecting the gender of said child. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean.

I’ve been pretty blunt recently about writers who aren’t willing to put their own names on their work. Traditionally an exception has been made for those in food writing, who wish to visit restaurants and give candid opinions. I can understand a desire to fly under the radar under the circumstances. It’s particularly understandable since it is clear that the writer has a young child whose identity he wishes to protect.

I also get the feeling from what I have read so far that HoCoNomNom is going to use his platform responsibly. Take a look for yourself. I think it’s a welcome addition to the blogging scene.

What newly announced restaurant are you looking forward to the most?