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| - R.I.P. Avenue Bar.
Food Fight, in a seeming effort to cater to younger professionals in the area, savagely murdered all the charm that was Avenue Bar as we knew it before. Sure, the food is fine and the drinks are well-made, but what does that matter? Before, the atmosphere inside that place reminded you that Madison was once a small Midwest town disguised as a city. You ate the delicious fish fry and drank an old fashioned like a gott-dayyum Madisonian. You sat there in the wood-panelled room like you belonged. Like you were part of something more important than yourself.
Now, you go in there and instantly feel like you've been hoodwinked. You've clicked on the top google result before you realized that the top link was just an ad. You aren't in Madison anymore; you're in one of any of the thousand hotel restaurants across the country. You sit in your high-back booth for "privacy." That is, you get to remain in your own little bubble with your own little world view. You order fish because you're in Wisconsin, but the food they serve lacks any authenticity it once had. Sure, the fish might be local, but it doesn't matter. It might taste great, but it doesn't matter. You're actually being fed the idea that your own individuality doesn't matter, that our community doesn't matter.
Don't let Food Fight or anyone else convince you that this is the quintessential Madison restaurant. It was once. It is no longer.
"We could all use the money, Brink. That's how it all starts, you know? First, you start doing something for love, then you start doing it for money and before you know it, you're just another sell-out." - Gabriella from Disney Channel Original Movie "Brink!" (1998)
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