A friend and I had agreed to meet for dinner at a new, well-reviewed restaurant. Since it was my first trip to the SouthSide Works, I left home early and arrived with time to spare.

After spotting the Hot Metal Grille, the place where we had reservations, I circled the complex to find on-street parking. Outside one building on this balmy Tuesday in September, crowds were milling around a brick plaza -- easily 70 or 80 people. What was the attraction?

The Cheesecake Factory.

At the Hot Metal Grille, many tables were full, but no one without a reservation would've had to wait.

The food was delicious, the decor casually elegant, and conversation possible even though a wine-tasting party was in full swing across the room.

Over dinner, it occurred to my conservative brain that for the sake of Pittsburgh, we may need to shake off our false foodie "conservatism." An identical experience in November made me a convert to my own idea. I hope this won't be a religion of one.

Thanksgiving weekend, after a matinee at the SouthSide Works, we decided to try The Cheesecake Factory across the street. The same crowds I'd seen outside in September were inside now, the din was overwhelming and the wait for a table was an hour and 45 minutes.

As we turned away, the kids requested Chinese food and named a popular place at The Waterfront.

But since we'd likely find the same crowds at that Arizona-based chain that we were fleeing at this California-bred clone, I countered by suggesting the Silk Pagoda, a decade-old Greenfield restaurant with scrumptious homemade dumplings on the menu and a Schroeder-sized piano for the owners' kids near the checkout.

And that's been my modus operandi ever since: To paraphrase our town's union heritage, "eat local."

Visiting a chain restaurant that's new to Pittsburgh doesn't qualify as "trying something new." Since 80 percent to 90 percent of restaurants fail within five years of opening, according to industry statistics, one that survives and grows into a chain has hit upon a formula that works and that will, by definition, be tried and true by the time it opens here.

Writers who describe a community's lemming-like rush to such a place as "conservative" aren't themselves conservatives, by the way; if they were, they'd either avoid the word altogether or recognize that the conservative heart values those interests that lie closest to home -- like the entrepreneurial chef down the block.

This isn't a bout of self-congratulation or a diatribe against mass market dining. Chain food is usually fair enough, if generic; a local kitchen offers a bigger gamble -- but a bigger reward.

It's just that I want more of my money to stay in the local economy than would be the case at a national chain. I want to reward a local entrepreneur who's taking a more personal risk than an absentee owner or a local franchiser.

Consider joining my "eat local" crusade, but if you spot me at a chain restaurant, don't have a cow.

There are two very good reasons this could happen:

One, because not every decision in life can be fraught with moral seriousness, and two, because I would love to put away a slab of cheesecake that could feed a family of four -- if I can ever get a table.