Do you know the Route 66?
For me, it seems the word "America " contains many meanings; huge, magnificent nature, consumer society, greatness , but the most impressive is...DREAM. And sometime, that dream is associated with a adventure that traveling across the US. My stereotypical image of America comes from a movie "Easy Rider(1969)". This is a one of the New HolIywoods and a story is about two men who try to travel across the US with Harley-Davidson. Imagine this huge trip. Driving far beyond the horizon, motels, hippies, Born to Be Wild, and the Route 66! Now I'm in America so I have to experience this spirit. But unfortunately, I do not have a Hippie-like long hair, enough time, and a Harley-Davidson. So I was searching the good place in Chicago, which is the nearest big city. Then, I found a surprising information. There is the starting point of the Route 66 in Chicago, and surprisingly there is also a very famous and popular restaurant for Route 66 travelers. It is "Lou Mitchell's".
After browsing the Internet, I knew "Lou Mitchell's" is the famous and traditional restaurant for the breakfast. It is near from Chicago's downtown, a train station, and the Route 66. Many travelers will have breakfast at this place. Here is a starting point of the huge trip to West Coast. I am very excited because I may be able to experience a just image of America. Like Al Pacino in a movie "ScareCrow(1973)", I may be experience a busy traveler's breakfast, in a noisy-crowded restaurant. Perhaps, the seat will be made not from a cushion but from a hard plastic, and in the air crossfire of waiters' yelling will be flying. In the kitchen many cooks will be flipping pancakes then a little dirty plate of omelette will be served me. During eating a plate, I will start to talk with a traveler sitting next to me to exchange the information about how many years we had been in a jail and how beautiful girls are in a next city. What an American dream. Even although I might have  exaggerated the stereotypes too much, am still excited.
One of my anxieties is that if “Lou Mitchell's “ will be modernized too much or not. Even though here is America and it is the starting point of Route 66, now is 2016. Hippies disappeared into the industrial society, some Harley-Davidson motorcycles can no longer exist because of “the eco-friendly emission laws”, and there are many Starbucks or McDonald's, which kindly serve us well-processed breakfast with exploiting an amount of Human Resources. If “Lou Mitchell's “ was modernized like fast food restaurants, I will be deeply disappointed. Also, it is some time happening in many famous restaurants that they act just like one of sightseeing spots. For example, in Tokyo, some Japanese Cuisine restaurants have huge vulgar signs for foreigners like “THIS IS NINJA SAMURAI”. Of course it is very good thing that many foreigners come to Japan, but these advertisements in the restaurants are too commercial-centered. There are no NINJA SAMURAI in modern Tokyo. Foreigners also are expecting not commercialized NINJA foods, but authentic Japanese cuisine. I want “Lou Mitchell's “ to serve not unnaturally exaggerated snacks, but the authentic daily breakfast for Chicagoan, even if it will be somehow mediocre.