A ray of light?

In this horrendous economy there have been a lot of horror stories, restaurants closing, laying people off, stinting on portions. But this weekend two things I saw made me feel that maybe things aren't totally bad all over.

Friday, Mrs. Trpt and I went to Phoenix for dim sum, first time in a while. They were really hitting it, everything was fresh and tasty. Stuffed green peepers, shu mai (I love their version with shrimp, Shui Wah's pork only version doesn't do it for me), chicken feet, squid in shrimp sauce, all right on. I asked one of the managers how business has been; she replied that surprisingly enough they did better in January and February this year than last.

Today we took a friend newly arrived from two decades in Paris for lunch at Mixteco. Motulenos, tacos de pollo, enchiladas in mole, queso fundido, tacos ensenadas, and desserts. Stellar all around for $77, washed down with bubbly from across the street. Raul said business has been booming, now that the second room is fully operational they did 250 covers last Saturday. He's had to hire a couple of people. The place was rocking and rolling at noon, with the front room full and the back maybe 2/3rds. It was reassuring to see some deserving places not only surviving but doing well. Has anybody else had recent experiences of local spots doing all right?

I don't know if weekend dining is the very definition of a false positive, but on my walk home from a quiet dinner Saturday at Ginza--only one other table besides mine--I observed full houses at Weber Grill, Brazzaz, and Naha--and this was at 9:15PM. Perhaps a convention was in town, but that was more than likely offset by the miserable weather. All three of the above were as equally packed as Sunda.

The Grocery Bistro was wall-to-wall as well.