Earlier quoted context omitted.
This really shows up in food. I always cringe when my suburban friends just rave over the meal they had at Maggiano's. There is just so much more in the world to discover outside the comfortable safe world of chain restaurants. That probably sums up the whole suburban experience to me. Comfortable, safe, predictable, beige. As someone who craves adventure (fwiw, I'm edging closer to 40) I just crave the authenticity…
This depends a little on the area and culture. Certainly there's always less variety in a suburb, but there's sometimes good quality and interesting things, there's just not the variety. Or maybe the places I'm thinking of are "great small towns"? What would you call Pleasanton? (I think it's pretty clearly a suburb, and not terribly much more, though certainly it didn't start out that way...).
People tend to think of "urban" as "City of San Francisco (Manhattan, Chicago, etc...)" To me urban is much of a characteristic. Many suburbs have a relatively urban component at their core. If you live on an actual city grid (no windy streets) with strong mixed uses (that you can walk to) throughout your neighborhood then you're living an urban existence in my book. Or at least non-suburban.
I can definitely identify with people living in central Pleasanton, but you don't have to get far outside the center city before it falls off the rails.