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Netzapper t1_j0lwhgc wrote

There's good food in this town (especially compared to other places), but not ethnic food and not fine dining.

We've got like 170,000 people in town. Every restaurant that wants to stay open needs about 100 of those people to come in and eat every day. That's 700-1000 people every week. I would estimate that to stay open, even the tiniest hole-in-the-wall restaurant here must be both affordable and appetizing to at least 10% of the population.

By American standards, Ethiopian food seems very unusual. I tried it in Philly, at the best joint in town, with an actual Ethiopian community to go eat there regularly. I found it very challenging food to enjoy, both in terms of presentation and flavor. And compared to most people I meet here in Springfield, I'm like Anthony Bourdain levels of adventurous in my eating. I don't think 10% of Springfield would eat Ethiopian food. Fuck, I can't get a lot of people to eat Indian food.

There's just no way for niche restaurants to survive here. There's not enough people, and there's no cultural push to eat adventurously.

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VaderTower t1_j0nm7zx wrote

Really good take and I'd agree.

I think Thai food, or at least Americanized Thai is popular here. Same with Americanized Chinese.

Vietnamese, Korean, and Indian hold a small niche.

I'm with you though, I like trying new food, tried Ethiopian in a restaurant everyone raved about and, I just couldn't get into it. From the bread to the meat it was just not the right flavor or texture for me.

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Globalksp t1_j0y7oc2 wrote

You nailed it on the head. I was fairly gung-ho to open a fairly tiny hole in the wall this coming year, but the numbers simply don’t work out well enough when you take all the variables you mentioned into account.

As for the question at hand, man I wish there was Ethiopian food here, but good luck. I don’t even know how far you’d have to drive to get even homemade Injera, let alone some kitfo and tibs.

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internationalkoala00 t1_j0m99l1 wrote

I love Indian food but I agree it's so hard to get people to eat it. India Clay Oven in Branson is very good imo.

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VaderTower t1_j0nmay3 wrote

Zayka has been my go-to for starting people. I thought I didn't like Indian for years until I had good Indian food.

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Glittering-Plum7791 t1_j0wtdud wrote

I love Zayka. I know I'm not adding anything to this conversation, but I just wanted to throw it out there that Zayka is awesome. Those samosas are killer

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