Is this just a couple restaurants, or do you feel like the overall culinary scene in Boston (assuming you're there...) is falling apart?

I feel like options where I live are actually getting better. Kansas City used to be a one-trick pony: barbecue. Now we have a wide variety of more modern, cosmopolitan choices that aren't centered around a huge hunk of smoked meat. We're not piling up Michelin stars yet, but a lot of national magazines are beginning to rate KC as a Top 20 (U.S.) type of food destination. Much of the credit goes to non-barbecue development. Quality here is light-years better than it was 20 years ago.

Of course we also have some restaurants that rest on their laurels. There are some older, widely-recognized barbecue places in town where quality is nowhere near what some newer places are doing. They bring people in because of name recognition only.