The weather's way better than it should be this time of winter. You're feeling surprisingly happy. But wait. Think about how much better Morningside Heights was a few years ago. Here is a list of the five biggest letdowns to the neighborhood, commercially speaking:
1. Mel's Burger Bar replacing Tomo. Tomo was great: a centrally located place that didn't mix sushi up with other East Asian cuisine. Regardless of whatever you think of Mel's, you have to admit it's not nearly as great as it was hyped up to be.
2. Ricky's replacing Kim's Video. This would be by far the number one greatest tragedy, up there with Hamlet and Titanic, had Butler not acquired their entire collection. Still, the snobbiness of both the clerks and even the arrangement of DVDs (by director) was unbeatable, and you could even watch movies in the basement.
3. Il Cibreo replacing Campo. The food at Campo was certainly more crowd-pleasing and (correct me if I'm wrong) more reasonably priced than it is at Il Cibreo. More importantly, though, Campo's moving out has resulted in Mel's becoming the resident frat house on Broadway, which is a disappointment to all … except, I guess, frat boys.
