“As It Ought to Be”

The other day an acquaintance posted on Twitter the following question, “I’m looking to indulge on some classic, cheap LA food spots. Sound off!”

My mind flooded with some of my favorite classics. Tito’s Tacos, The Apple Pan, you get it. 

These divey cult-classics aren’t “nice” restaurants. That’s the thing. But, they are incredible. The food is great, there’s a line out the door, and they have countless adoring fans. In some ways, it’s confusing to think both the $200 per person steak dinner with signature cocktail spot and the cash-only, wrapped-in-paper-on-a-plastic-red-tray joint are both “great”. 

How is this possible?

It’s possible because the criteria for greatness isn’t whitetable cloths and crystal stemware. Things are great when they are exactly as they ought to be. Imagine serving up hipster cocktails and adding a maître d’ to Tito’s Tacos. Um, what? Similarly, unmelted Smart and Final grated cheddar cheese absolutely cannot and will not appear on a dish at Osteria Mozza. Each place is great because they are truely, completely, passionately exactly as they ought to be. For Mozza, the cocktails and maître d’ are fitting. For Tito’s Tacos, the RC Cola with crushed ice in a paper cup is as perfect as the brown, unbranded cardboard boxes your meal comes in.

Of course, this article isn’t taking up space on the internet to defend Tito’s Tacos or simply give Mozza airtime. This alignment of subjective expectation and objective experience as greatness is true of seemingly all things. The perfect office chair for your home office embodies all of the criteria it ought to possess; nothing more, nothing less. The perfect pair of jeans? You guessed it. They are as they ought to be.

If you’re highly motivated to be “great”, I hope you can see that the path forward isn’t to put whitetable clothes and crystal stemware everywhere. Your greatness is in aligning who you project in the world with who you really are. We are “great” when we exactly as we ought to be.