Whatever Happened to Breaking up over the Phone?

By Anthony Todd in Food on Mar 12, 2010 4:20PM

We thought we’d seen every possible “best of” list out there: best hamburgers, best romantic restaurant, best light fixtures. You name it, someone has made a list of it - nothing could surprise us anymore. Humbly, we stand corrected. A couple of weeks back UrbanDaddy posted a list of the five best restaurants for breakups, or, as they put it “Five Spots to Let them Down Gently.” And by them, they mean the weeping, devoted people whose hearts you are about to crush and smother with soy sauce.

They suggest spots like Belly Shack (“the volume here is loud enough that the tears will be muffled”) and Tank Noodles (“the non-native English speaking clientele may not be familiar with some of the more choice words that will be thrown your way”) and threw in Sultan’s Market, Wang’s and Mercadito for good measure. Do we detect a subtle ethnic bias? Apparently breakups go better when fueled by noodles and tacos.

Far be it for us to dispute their expertise, but do people usually stage breakup dinners? Our biggest dating-related food problem is revisiting the sites of bad dates - if we start breaking up in restaurants, soon we won’t be able to go anywhere! Plus, this habit could get very expensive, depending on how much of a … romantic you are. Call us old fashioned, but we’ll stay home with a bottle of bourbon and a bad romance novel, and save Belly Shack for happier times.

Image by ArtsySF .