{"id":3920,"date":"2017-12-09T08:17:11","date_gmt":"2017-12-09T13:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/?p=3920"},"modified":"2017-12-09T13:21:20","modified_gmt":"2017-12-09T18:21:20","slug":"lessons-from-the-washington-d-c-dining-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/lessons-from-the-washington-d-c-dining-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from the Washington, D.C. dining scene"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GoGwUNHbncg\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/GoGwUNHbncg\">Can One Chef&#8217;s Approach to Global Fine Dining Catch on in Washington D.C.?<\/a> <\/center><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Contrary to what many people will insist, it\u2019s now possible to eat excellent Mexican food, including tacqueria-style tacos, in <a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/el-sol-restaurante\/\">D.C.<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/tortas-y-tacos-la-chiquita\/\">Northern Virginia<\/a> and nearby <a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/la-sirenita\/\">Maryland<\/a>. But this is not the result of a sudden influx of Mexican migrants \u2014 long an underrepresented group in the D.C. area \u2014 into the dining scene. Rather, earlier Mexican migrants are assimilating, opening larger businesses and spreading quality versions of their food to more parts of this country, just as hamburgers and pizzas earlier transcended their regional origins. This development is consistent with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nber.org\/papers\/w24067#fromrss\">research<\/a> showing that Mexican-Americans are assimilating more rapidly than previously we had thought. So the next time California, Texas or Arizona snobs complain about Mexican food offerings on the East Coast, tell them it\u2019s better than they think.<\/p>\n<p>The D.C. area also has some stagnating ethnic cuisines. Vietnamese food has continued to penetrate the market in Texas and Oklahoma, but in the Mid-Atlantic region mainstream Vietnamese restaurants seem to be in slight retreat. Vietnamese pho soups and banh mi sandwich shops are popular, and those dishes are feeding into fusion cuisine. But the full-menu restaurants don\u2019t compete well with <a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/elephant-jumps-update\/\">Thai<\/a> and Chinese offerings. I am reminded of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, which decades ago had fine and reasonably authentic German restaurants, but now they are mostly gone or are shells of their former selves. In the D.C. area, Bolivian is another cuisine that\u2019s holding steady but not advancing in either the number of restaurants or the popularity with non-Bolivian customers.<\/p>\n<p>The broader lesson is that America isn\u2019t going to become endlessly more diverse, whether in its culinary offerings or otherwise. There are natural limits to these processes, and some are self-reversing as immigrants either assimilate or reach a peak influence on the broader American culture. In dining markets for the last 10 years as a whole, I would say the biggest development has been the spread of high-quality hamburgers and pizzas to all price ranges and dining styles, not the growth of cuisines cooked by recent immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>Here is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/view\/articles\/2017-12-08\/how-s-immigration-going-check-the-menus\">the rest of the column.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/marginalrevolution.com\/marginalrevolution\/2017\/12\/lessons-wahington-d-c-dining-scene.html\"><em>Originally posted on Marginal Revolution<\/em> &#8211; click to see comments and suggestions.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/onWbXaRFge0\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allow=\"encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/onWbXaRFge0\">Fuchsia Dunlop on Chinese Food, Culture, and Travel<\/a> <\/center><\/p>\n<h3 class='related_post_title'>Related Posts:<\/h3><ul class='related_post'><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/southeast-impression\/\" title=\"Southeast Impression\">Southeast Impression<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/mum-aroi\/\" title=\"Mum Aroi\">Mum Aroi<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/hu-tieu-mi-lacay-cho-lon\/\" title=\"Hu Tieu Mi Lacay Cho Lon\">Hu Tieu Mi Lacay Cho Lon<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/pho-ga-vang\/\" title=\"Pho Ga Vang\">Pho Ga Vang<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/nue-elegantly-vietnamese\/\" title=\"Nue Elegantly Vietnamese\">Nue Elegantly Vietnamese<\/a><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can One Chef&#8217;s Approach to Global Fine Dining Catch on in Washington D.C.? Contrary to what many people will insist, it\u2019s now possible to eat excellent Mexican food, including tacqueria-style tacos, in D.C., Northern Virginia and nearby Maryland. But this &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/lessons-from-the-washington-d-c-dining-scene\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,153,156,9,20,3],"tags":[1701,1339,340,1345],"class_list":["post-3920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dc","category-economics-of-dining","category-general-remarks","category-maryland","category-mexican","category-virginia","tag-gogwunhbncg","tag-mexican","tag-thai-2","tag-vietnamese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3920"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3923,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920\/revisions\/3923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tylercowensethnicdiningguide.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}