Some news about a student favorite restaurant (especially THIS
student’s), The 2-9, has caused widespread upset among Trojans (especially this
Trojan).
Dear The 2-9,
I heard the news a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, it hurt
that I didn’t find out straight from you, but maybe that just speaks to some
differences in how we define our relationship that I haven’t really noticed.
Until Now.
I thought it was just a nasty rumor going around that you were
going to be closing, and thankfully when I asked you to your face, you denied
that you’d be closing. However, what you said instead did very little to ease
my feelings about this, and arguably hurt even more.
“We’re not closing, we’re just changing management.”
Changing management?
“And the name is going to be something else, and only
some of the menu items will stay the same. Oh and we don’t have dessert right
now and I don’t know when that’s coming back.”
2-9, what- How. Could. You!?
You might as well say “I’m not leaving you, I’m just changing
everything you loved about me.”
It’s like you’re trying to tell me that all of this is fine,
that you’re not going anywhere because you’re just making some changes, no big deal,
but I know better! Yes big deal! You’re not going to be the same! Now I won’t
be able to order my favorite things from you! And you’ll probably look
different too! And I’ll have to call you a different name! What’s wrong with The 2-9? The
restaurant I fell in love with?
Let’s just go back for a second. Back to the year 2009. “¨”¨It
was a cold rainy night, and my friends and I were really hungry. They suggested
we give you, The 2-9, a visit, because you were delicious. I had never heard of
you, but that seemed neat. You sounded like a cool, interesting, fun loving
place that liked to laugh. And probably had good food, if we got to know each other
better.
This is a little bit embarrassing, but this really was love at
first sight. When I walked up to your adorable front steps on Hoover and 29th
for the first time, and you had those beautiful year-round Christmas Lights
hanging around the patio”¦and don’t get me started on the giant cupcakes and
brownies you had on display. I just knew you were the restaurant for me. The
2-9.
I remember exactly what I ate that first time: a cheeseburger
with pickles and ketchup only, accompanied by the best sweet potato fries I
have ever had the pleasure of introducing to my mouth. And the atmosphere! It
was cozy and warm, with the lights twinkling outside and the intimate
arrangement of the tables and chairs. It was a beautiful moment between
restaurant and customer becoming something so much bigger than themselves, and
I’ll never forget it.
The place is a converted house for crying out loud, so it’s no
surprise I immediately felt at home. And if home is where the heart is, from
then on my heart was in YOUR home. I think that’s how that works.
For the next few years we had some incredible times together.
I introduced you to my friends, family, lovers, his family, other people’s families”¦ and pretty much anyone who ever
told me they were hungry. I was happy to pass along one of USC’s best dining
secrets. In a way, I felt like you were my secret that I happily told to anyone
within earshot.”¨So now, after all we’ve been through, you’re just deciding it’s
gonna be cool to change!? And you won’t even tell me why! This is just
somehow “for the best”? For whom, I ask, is this the best? This is the
worst!
I thought we had something special! But I guess I was wrong.
It was just another item on your long list of “specials” and it
wasn’t enough to you.
I don’t know how I’m supposed to get behind this “new you,”
because it’s not the restaurant that helped me build all these memories. These
sweet sweet, delicious tasting memories. It’ll just be a burger-serving shell
of what we had. With no foreseeable dessert plans.ӬClearly you have your
reasons, and there’s nothing I can do, but I just want to make sure you hear
this, or, read this, with your hypothetical restaurant eye balls.
If you were somehow worried about needing to keep up with
other food establishments, or to keep things exciting, I just want you to know
that you never had to change for me, because I loved you just the way you were.
The 2-9, and all that entailed.
And I’m really going to miss you.
Love,
Lia
P.S. You know the drink coaster I accidentally took that one
time? I’m keeping it. In my heart.
