I'm the kind of person who loves the food in street fairs while at the same time enjoys top cuisine (assuming someone else is treating! ).

What I don't like are many of the things in the middle. National chain restaurants are too generic for me. The food tastes the same because of the uniformity demanded by the franchise owners. I prefer authentic food. I live in a city which allows me to have all kinds of authentic cooking. So an Olive Garden or Appleby's isn't going to do it for me. That said, I'm not about to eat "barbeque" in NYC because none of it is authentic. What a joke. Thus I prefer to enjoy the food of the region; that's about as authentic as you're going to get.

My one major exception to "chain" restaurants is one fast food joint in AZ and CA....Del Taco. I just LOVE their chicken quesadillas. So there shoots my argument.