Yeah, when I got my Z6 18 months ago I did a lot of shooting at an open mic with ambient light. Amazed at how good that was compared to my older DSLRs.
That said, I get it. Well, depending on the film. Highlights blow slowly on black and white. And Portra an Ektar have ridiculous dynamic range compared to what I remember from when I was shooting film in the early 90s.
I don't think this is great art, but I used it to test -- first roll I shot of FP4+ -- and I just metered the tile behind the registers, put it 2 1/3 stops over, and then made sure the address numbers weren't more than 2 stops under. Lazy man's zone system. All the details are still there.
I have a digital image from a different night around here somewhere, and that In-n-out sign is not so crisp, and the details on the menu boards and the back walls are blown. Those lamps are WAY blown out.