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Passage cue: In American Psycho, Patrick Bateman and his circle dine at Smith & Wollensky, where one companion snaps, "You don't come to Smith & Wollensky and not order hash browns." (litcharts.com) Why it matters: Ellis uses real restaurants as a vocabulary of rank, brand obsession, and emotional vacancy. Smith & Wollensky is one more credential in Bateman's dining itinerary, a place where taste is performed as status and conversation turns absurdly competitive. This is an inference from the chapter's scene and from critical readings of restaurants and reservations as a motif of consumer hierarchy in the novel. (litcharts.com)