Wednesday's episode of the New York City public radio show Soundcheck examined the cacophonous issue of music in restaurants -- which is certainly not a local issue.
Open kitchens and lively bar scenes increasingly come with a soundtrack, but what's music to one diner's ears is cause for another's indigestion. Restaurateurs argue that music plays a crucial role in defining an eatery's image: A shared plate of oysters is that much more romantic when accompanied by Nina Simone's velvet vocal stylings, while a late-night hamburger date might be enhanced by the moral motif of Kelly Clarkson's "I Do Not Hook Up."
But when does a restaurant's choice of tunes cross that delicate line between agreeable background noise and ear-bleeding annoyance? Is a little music always preferable to dead silence (punctuated only by the sounds of chewing and murmured conversation)? Does a restaurant's choice of music influence your decision to eat there? Or is it less the choice than the decibel level that shapes your experience? And, most importantly, who do you want to provide the soundtrack for that late-night burger?
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