Ongoing tensions in parts of this region tell us these are challenging times for some areas of the Middle East. In Lebanon's capital, Beirut, where a car bomb recently ripped through a busy street, residents are striving to live a peaceful life after enduring years of tumult. Now, however, the city has been rocked by another shock, albeit this time one of a culinary nature.
Last week, Beirut's branch of Hard Rock Cafe announced it will shut up shop almost 17 years after it opened. The news prompted Michael Karam to warmly describe its December 1996 opening as a "milestone" in "Lebanon's rehabilitation" in this newspaper's pages.
Earlier this year, Dubai's first Hard Rock Cafe was scheduled for demolition 15 years after it opened. The restaurant chain maintains a presence in Dubai Festival City, but it was the sight of their original restaurant's oversized crossed guitars being crudely dismantled by wrecking balls that provoked similar sentiments in many Dubai residents. What is it about an international burger joint that stirs such strong emotions? Food critics might tell you, snippily, it is not the fare they serve. Perhaps though it is the reminder that time passes far too quickly.
