Are the Best Restaurants Moving to Malls?

Mall food for most people includes "some inferior Chinese food, a taco booth, a pizza-by-the-slice stand, a 'healthy' smoothie option (often as not an Orange Julius), and a Cinnabon responsible for the vanilla and cinnamon odors wafting throughout the mall." But the new Time Warner Center in New York has signed some of the most famous and talented chefs to open restaurants there. The recent mega-casinos in Las Vegas began the trend of having fancy restaurants in part of a larger complex. However, despite some exceptions, some of the best restaurant gems can be found in the humblest of retail environments: the strip mall.

Thanks to Peter Christensen