This is Planet Money from NPR.

A few weeks ago, I found myself standing around the storied office water cooler,

chatting with my colleague Darien Woods from our sister show The Indicator.

You're telling me about this kind of fun new economics paper he'd just come across.

The researchers had used cell phone tracking data to map out socioeconomic diversity in America.

And they identified the place where the widest array of people from across the socioeconomic spectrum were most likely to actually rub shoulders in the same physical location.

And that place was pretty surprising.

It turns out that according to this cell phone data, rich and poor and middle class people are most likely to mingle not in public parks or in the pews of a church, but inside of moderately expensive chain restaurants, places like

apple bees or olive garden, or the Australian themed Outback Steakhouse.

Now, I happen to know that Darien is part Australian.

So when he then told me that never had he ever been to an Outback Steakhouse,

that got my attention. And when he reminded me that he was also a

vegetarian, I knew we didn't really have a choice. I had to take Darien the Australian Vegetarian on an adventure.

Darien Woods.

Alexi Horroitz-Gazzy.

Fancy seeing you here outside the Outback Steakhouse.

A few days later, we found ourselves at an outback steakhouse in Bayside Queens.

We were mostly there to cross an item off of my bucket list for Darien.

Right, reason enough, but we also wanted to get some

anecdote about whether or not it's true that people of all income levels

are hanging out together at the outback staygars.

But first, of course course we had to eat. So they're highlighting

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