The Grasshopper and the Ant

Perhaps it's just me, but all the restaurants that I have been to or strolled by on the Upper West Side seem to be full of drunken revelers.  The most popular spot is the bar area where cost conscious dinners drown their sorrows and order little plates or shared entrees.  They are squirreling away money from other luxury areas and scattering those hard earned nuts & berries, ironically, on a $10 glass of Pinot Grigio or a $15 Cosmo. It's a neat trick of self delusion that they think are spending less at the bar than if they sat down to a meal. But there is that human need to commiserate and smile through the tough times. Food and drink has always been a common leveling denominator. So eat drink and be merry at the bar for tomorrow we die. How true.