Hi there CTS friends and followers!
The following poll will run for a week.
The poll is multiple choice with a maximum of four answers.
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consider the sauce 
BYOs – I have raised this with you before Kenny – we need a grassroots movement to encourage more places to either move to BYO or if they are already licensed then allow BYO.
I know many pizza joints and Asian restaurants allow BYO but after that the choice is sparse. For instance where in the West can you marry up a decent feed of meat with a hearty red? Before I get deluged with others telling me this and that, I just can’t stomach drinking red wine with just about any Asian cuisine and it sure beats me how people drink red with a curry but each to his own …
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Hi Pablo! Maybe I’m a bit oblivious to this as I’m not much of a wine drinker and I don’t think it works good with all the various Asian (including Indian) food we do. In fact, off the top of my head, I can’t think of a BYO restaurant in the west! Will make a mental note for future reference!
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All Asian cuisine lends itself to white wine IMO and if a fiery curry looks like overpowering a wine then there’s always beer.
There just happens to be an unfulfilled niche in the market for an enterprising cafe owner wanting to build a business. For instance reading your blog and Mrs Baklover’s, I have drooled over some of the pics of african and middle eastern cafes you have visited and I have thought what a wonderful meal to be had if accompanied by a nice cab sav or shiraz. But in their current format I am unlikely to ever visit these establishments because I don’t do fast food or a sitdown lunch;;; nor dinner without a glass of wine to wash it down.
The word needs to get to these cafe owners that getting a BYO license might just give them the lift they need.
It really irks me that so many licensed establishments complain that without the significant mark ups on their liquor sales they just wouldn’t survive – apparently their already bloated menu prices are insufficient to provide a reasonable return on their investment.
So how is it that many cafes can stay afloat w/o liquor sales? How many could improve their viability by appealing to a wider demographic with a BYO sign?
The ‘market’ is supposed to be an efficient mechanism to meet demand. Well that is BS but I am just a retired socialist so what would I know?
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That’s admirably passionate, Pablo. But I think missing out such great tucker is a high price to pay for taking such a stand.
On a more fundamental level, I think you’re being a bit muddleheaded.
Were the kinds of places you’re talking about to make the switch you desire, then they would cease being what they already are.
Why not embrace them simply as is?
In a significant number of cases there are reasons – religious, cultural, social, traditional, national – why they don’t serve alcohol or allow it to be served.
The upside? Heaps … community, family, warmth, great people who often have a great sense of humour and a really good attitude towards life, big smiles, sharing, a window on the world and so on!
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Hi Kenny
As you know I’m an old fan! Since Pablo brings it up, it’d be very handy to know if restaurants are BYO.
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I wanted to vote for more than one category! Love all your stuff about the west and its eateries, but also like opinion pieces, interviews, non-food content about whatever, plus stories about markets and festivals.
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I think I can make it multi-choice! Let me have a look …
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Fixed now Caron! Multiple choice of up to four answers. But if you want to vote again you’ll need to delete your cookies!
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Urgh! How do I do that?
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Done and done. But what, may I ask, is “whorehouse piano”???
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In joke between me and Tony! He’s a bit of boogie woogie piano fan, and of course that falls into my musical interests as well. We’ve talked about an album I recently bought and happen to be listening to right now by pianist Robert Shaw, who really did play the Texas whorehouses back in the day!
http://www.arhoolie.com/blues/robert-shaw-the-ma-grinder.html
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Cool. That is then my fifth choice, though only four are allowed.
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I voted “other”. There was no whorehouse pianist category to choose from.
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Fixed!
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If you cover markets and festivals can you please tell us before they occur, so we can go too! (There are so many I see on your blog that I never knew about). Thanks Kenny.
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Hi Keri! Yes, good point that. I did do so a couple of times last year. But it’s a lot of work. Maybe I can get into the habit of doing it every Friday. But I find out about stuff like that in the suburban rags and “liking” heaps of groups on Facebook, such as Footscray Life, same as everybody else.
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