How often do you dine out?

[RedPop4]

Oh yes, RedPop!

I'm thinking Commander's Palace, Court of Two Sisters, Galatoire's, Brennan's, Delmonico, Central Grocery...

Sadly, I've heard that one of my favorites (Brunings) was wiped out by Katrina.

Jessica
(Married a born and raised third-generation Nawlins Native (Brother Martin and UNO graduate to boot...the Marine Corps was the only thing that could pull him away! )

Hey, that's wonderful.
We can't afford places like that very often.When we eat out, it's more neighborhood, poor boy type places with decent plate dinners, fried seafood and gumbo. Or else Chinese.

My friend's extended family owns Central Grocery, man is that an experience. My Mom tells me my Sicilian side was too poor to shop there, but I can't help thinking that my grandfather, as a truck farmer when he was a boy, didn't go there once or twice when they brought their produce to the French Market. How old is your husband? When did he graduate from Brother Martin and UNO?

Sadly, they've become so busy, that they makethe muffalettas early in the morning, and only slather on the olive salad when you order. We go instead to Nor-Joe Import Company in Old Metairie They slice the meat when you order, and you usually have to wait five or ten minutes for it to be finished, but it's all fresh, and superior meats to boot. These are the best.


Bruning's original place was destroyed during Feroges in 1998, but the new location was right out front in what used to be Federico's. There is NOTHING out there at West End. It's all gone.

 

[Caledonia]

Make sure you vote in the poll. Thanks.

Move me if necessary. Just thought though - I've seen a few polls and there's never a "none of the above" options, or in other words, something where those of us who live to the outside of the margins of society and its expectations can tick a box. Any chance?

 

[magneto]

Proabably once or twice a month. Life is too short to eat so-so restaurant food when you can make it at home for better and cheaper...But I did go out to eat tonight, I had a craving for Sand Dabs (So if you saw a girl in a slate-blue 40s suit and black-ribboned hat eating at Tadich's counter around 6 PM, that was me!)

 

[Feraud]

My family eats out approximately 2-3 times a week. With both parents working full days and a child involved in music, Boy Scouts, doing schoolwork etc. there is no way we could..no make that WOULD want to prepare, cook and take care of the involved clean up that home cooking involves every day!

Sometimes you need a break from that chore. Also, how else could a child experience the vast variety of food styles out there unless you take them to a restaurant. Do not say, "make it yourself"!! Unless you are Italian, Greek, Japanese, etc. you cannot do justice to the culture's cuisine.

Because I live in NYC it would be criminal to not eat out at the many fine restaurants we have here.

 

[Lady Day]

I live in the citay

Home to an obscenely delicious ammount of foods from all over the world. I have 5 cultures to choose from just within a block of me

Sometimes here, its cheaper to dine out and about then shelipin' from the grocer.


LD

 

[Mike in Seattle]

It seems to run in cycles with us. Sometimes it's weeks or a month or two that we haven't eaten out, other times is several times a week. The several times a week routine's usually at end of term and we have to go to recitals for the other half's students, or they're in productions at the college, or in community theatre productions around town. So it's "We'll do brunch before we see this one in the afternoon, grab dinner, see this one's show, and tomorrow, we'll do the same thing with so & so's show and so & so's show."

I'm the one who cooks, and there are times when the other half comes home, after saying earlier in the day we'd go out, and I get the "I'm just so pooped! Can't you toss something together here? Everything you fix is so much better than going out!" Like at 7-8 in the evening, I'm really relishing the idea of an unplanned run to the market, trying to think what to fix and then fix it.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

Home to an obscenely delicious ammount of foods from all over the world. I have 5 cultures to choose from just within a block of me

Sometimes here, its cheaper to dine out and about then shelipin' from the grocer.


LD

Yah, that was my problem in Berkeley. It was economic and practical to eat out.

LA's still a better diner's city, in my opinion.

 

[magneto]

Sometimes you need a break from that chore. Also, how else could a child experience the vast variety of food styles out there unless you take them to a restaurant. Do not say, "make it yourself"!! Unless you are Italian, Greek, Japanese, etc. you cannot do justice to the culture's cuisine.

Because I live in NYC it would be criminal to not eat out at the many fine restaurants we have here.

Hey, no offence...after all as a former longtime prep cook, waitress, food-service JOAT, I'm very happy dining out is so popular

 

[G. Fink-Nottle]

Probably three times a week, more when I'm travelling. Working in Manhattan, it's tempting to eat out often. Lots of great places to eat and no dishes to clean.

 

[yachtsilverswan]

Atlanta has many fine restaurants, the top tier of which could compete with any white linen restaurant in the world.

I usually dine out twice a month, once for a Saturday dinner, once for a Sunday Brunch.

I value the service as highly as the food - service should be always available, always invisible. It should anticipate rather than respond. Service should be polite and charming, but a bit formal. If I want chatty and familiar, I call my mother. When I find a waiter that is particularly skilled, I reserve not only the table when I call for reservations - I reserve the waiter as well.

I should be able to whisper to my dinner companion and be heard. Noisy restaurants are mislabeled - they are pubs.

Dinner should be multicourse, paired with appropriate wines, and should be paced over about two hours. My favorite sequence is: amuse buche & champagne, soup & sherry, seafood and chardonnay, intermezzo sorbet, game and cabernet, salad, dessert & port, coffee and chocolate truffles, brandy & cigars. Courses should build from lighter fare initially to heavier game for the entree (my favorite - Bison Wellington). Dessert should always be chocolate based. I don't usually want a cheese course - it leaves my breath smelling like - well, cheese.

In Atlanta, I favor Bluepointe, Bacchanalia, New York Prime (best steak ever), Chops, Park 75 at the Four Seasons (veal wrapped in Foie Gras - amazing), Le Clos at Chateau Elan, the Cheaters' Booth at the Grill Room of the Downtown Ritz Carlton, and the Dining Room at the Buckhead Ritz Carlton. I've heard that Atlanta's new super-fresh seafood restaurant Oceanaire is top notch, and I'm looking forward to seeing for myself. Late night snack - Buckhead Diner. For Sunday Brunch I like the Park 75 (thirteen plated courses), or Buckhead Diner (superb Eggs Benedict). When I have uber-carnivores as guests, we trek to Fogo de Chao - a Brazilian Churrascaria where the gauchos just keep bringing skewer after skewer of spit-roasted beef, lamb, chicken, and pork.

Good Eats!

 

[Thunderbolt]

I dine-out for every meal!!

I go to the chow hall, which the Air Force likes to now call "The Dinning Facility". It's cafateria style, you slide your tray along and pick things up and tell the cooks what main dish you want. Give the cashier your I.D. and they scan the bar code and wahlah! After you're done eating, just get up and walk out, like in a resturaunt.

 

[matei]

We tend to eat out at least once a week. There are so many restaurants in our area of London that it would be a shame not to!

(That being said, we actually think the restaurants are better in Dublin, but that is another thread and perhaps a bit of bias on my part! fftopic: )

We like to take our time over a meal. One thing I dislike is when some waiters would start to hover around the table, kind of "encouraging" you to finish and get outta da joint.

Regardless of the frequency we dine out, it is always a special occasion and will never get dull.

As much as I love to eat out, I like my wife's cooking the best. She likes to cook, probably because her mother raised her not to do so. She was encouraged to pursue her studies and interests. As a result, she has had to teach herself.

While we don't have a garden, we do have access to a great farmer's market on Sunday, where we stock up on organic veggies, cheeses, meat and fruit. There are also quite a few small shops here in Islington that offer high quality ingredients.

 

[mysterygal]

For me, it's usually twice a week that I eat out. I agree with some of you that said, when eating at places, I feel I could make the same thing, just a lot better! There's a couple of restraunts around that make great food but for the most part the food is mediocre...I mostly like eating out just for the break of not having to cook!

 

[BellyTank]

Hygge!

Me and Mrs. Tank don't dine out very often- we prefer to cook and eat our own delicious meals. We're both excellent cooks and North Indian cuisine is our speciality- Mrs. Tank is a Danish-born Sikh/Punjabi lady.

Here in Denmark, as in much of Europe(especially Northern), there is a distinct culture of dinner-partying (Great Britain can be excluded here...)- many courses, and a wine to accompany each of course- which can add up to as much, or more than 5 hours at the table. I would enjoy it more if my Danish was up to scratch but I like the drinking anyway.

There is a Danish 'thing' called "Hygge", which is a vast part of Danish culture- the word can simply mean "coziness", or even styling a room but it has much wider and complex meanings- and it envolves many candles and lots of nice food and wine and of course beer.

HYGGE: http://www.linkdenmark.com/info/hygge.htm


But anyway, we don't dine out as much as we did when we were first together, which is a shame in some respects but not in others- we enjoy dining in. Strangely, we live in a street of bars and restaurants...

Velbekomme!

B
T