Taste This, Bitches

By Erin in Food on Nov 9, 2005 8:38PM

Oh baby. Are there some uptight people roaming the streets in Andersonville or what?

Chicagoist heard the rumblings back in February of what the New York Times today calls "a nasty spat roiling the stroller set in Chicago's changing Andersonville neighborhood." At issue is the sign that Dan McCauley, owner of A Taste Of Heaven cafe, put up in his shop months ago in an effort to din the noise in his cafe. "Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices when coming to A Taste of Heaven," the sign reads.

What's the big deal? Well, for some parents up in Andersonville, it's being considered an affront to their parenting skills as they say the sign implies that they can't handle their kids. According to the Times article: "I love people who don't have children who tell you how to parent," said Alison Miller, 35, a psychologist, corporate coach and mother of two. "I'd love for him to be responsible for three children for the next year and see if he can control the volume of their voices every minute of the day."

Chicagoist sort of understands the indignation.

First off, we should admit that we're big fans of A Taste of Heaven. They did Chicagoist's wedding cake and we've been going there since the old location on Foster Avenue. Just the same, on a recent Sunday morning brunch with Chicagoist's best friend's Most-Well-Behaved-Child-On-Planet-Earth-
Who-Didn't-So-Much-As-Whimper-The-Entire-Meal garnered the most contemptible, snotty, totally undeserved looks of scorn from patrons and servers alike. What the fuck, people? Was she disturbing your groove that much? Why so sensitive over the mere presence of a kid? They've gotta eat, too, and really? How in the hell are they ever going to act like well-mannered adults if parents aren't given the opportunity to take them out to restaurants and teach them how to early on?

But on the flip side ...

Is it just Chicagoist or is there an influx of parents who are afraid to throw down the hammer on their childnre? Days were when Chicagoist's father had no compunction about giving her a good thwack on the ass if she was acting up in a public place and yes, we know that the PC Police will call Family Services on you so fast it'll make your head spin, but damn! Why are some of you all trying to reason with two-year-olds instead of telling them "no?" We're not sure we can blame McCauley if he's constantly barraged with a bunch of kids causing a raucous, no matter how normal the behavior. It's a disturbance to his business, any way how you slice it. And you know what they say: one rotten apple can spoil the whole bunch.

While Chicagoist sides with McCauley -- if for no other reason than it's not as if there aren't other cake-and-cookie options that are family friendly in Andersonville -- we have serious sympathy for the parental units out there. It's tough, we know. The extemes of the spectrum, however, garner the most attention and Chicagoist believes that this is what you're dealing with here: on both sides, you have a bunch of uptight, overly stimulated, overly pampered yokels with an inflated sense of entitlement.

Chicagoist thinks you all need to switch to decaf.

Picture Sally Ryan for The New York Times