do you all eat out often?

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boomchakabowwow

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I think I am not a frequent flyer of restaurants. I wake up so early for work, I am in bed too early anyways. eating out just takes up too much time.

I am typing this as I am dressed for an early breakfast out. a rare treat with the wife. she has the day off, I have 9:00 am hiring interviews to conduct. we have a rare window of time we can eat out together.

in contrast: my BIL and his SO dont cook so they eat out all the time. at home it is processed food..or to-go things.

got me thinking (as my wife is getting ready) that I havent seen us discuss "eating out". I KNOW your all are proficient cooks. some pros, some very very talented home cooks. do you eat out? often?
 
as often as i can afford, and have time to.

apart from lunch (3-4 times a week), i'd say 3 times/month.

i happily skip eating lunch out for a month (bringing leftovers to work) in order to justify a 200€ tasting menu, or importing a few boxes of interesting wine.

i don't bring home pizza or sushi, i cook instead.

when i travel it is made a priority of course, and i make every meal a happening, be it street food or tasting menus. i go crazy when i'm out of town.

.
 
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We aim to eat out not-that-often but to go to nicer places when we do.

I'd guess we go about once or twice a month on average.
 
Our rule is, don’t order anything that we can cook better at home.

So, on our way home from the Apple Store today, we stopped at Newton Hawker Centre for some BBQ stingray, Tom Yum soup, popiah, and satay.

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We (me, wife, two kids) get dinner out 2-3 times a week. Friday is always pizza. Wednesday wife and kids eat out because of taekwondo practice that goes 5:30-7:30 and it's a 30 minute drive away (fast food, kids eat in the car). Sometimes a takeout dinner on a weekend day if it's busy. Breakfast and lunch almost never.
 
We get food delivered from a Chinese restaurant ~2 Fridays/ month and eat dinner out 3-4xs/ month.

My son eats at restaurants a bit more, as my dad takes him out one day each weekend and they usually have a late breakfast or lunch at a restaurant, and often dinner as well.
 
Nope

Same here, boondocks. I always have time to throw on a couple of burgers if its been a long day.

Same ... when I travel (work) I have to due to the hours (but I do make it a point of cooking at friends when I can) ... once I'm back I don't really think about eating out (except for a pizza and luckily we have a good one for that ...).

A meal I prep'd/cooked at friends a couple of weeks ago ... very happy how it turned out ... protein was grilled Kurobuta bone-in rib chops ... yummy piggy

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Same here, boondocks. I always have time to throw on a couple of burgers if its been a long day.

Same. I am in a college town in the boondocks, so lots of restaurants but they are mostly pizza and sandwiches or popular inexpensive items and beer. And I’m a Celiac (a dreaded word for pro chefs, I’m sure) so I can’t even eat the pizza and sandwiches at most places. One has GF hoagie rolls. Many claim to have GF pizza but it’s always the 10” frozen rice paddy crusts, which I consider completely inedible, and they have the audacity to charge extra! So I cook for myself, and I do it better than any mediocre restaurant. I make a really good GF pizza crust, and sauce. This keeps me from feeling like I’m left out. And aside from the restriction, I usually just feel like I could’ve done it better for a fourth of the cost. But this also makes me extremely appreciative when I do have an opportunity to eat excellent food at a great restaurant.
 

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i eat out way less when the weather/seasons cool off. maybe the main motivator for me to eat out is that it is too hot to cook.

winter is coming, and i will start my slow-cook campaign soon.
 
I think I am not a frequent flyer of restaurants. I wake up so early for work, I am in bed too early anyways. eating out just takes up too much time.

I am typing this as I am dressed for an early breakfast out. a rare treat with the wife. she has the day off, I have 9:00 am hiring interviews to conduct. we have a rare window of time we can eat out together.

in contrast: my BIL and his SO dont cook so they eat out all the time. at home it is processed food..or to-go things.

got me thinking (as my wife is getting ready) that I havent seen us discuss "eating out". I KNOW your all are proficient cooks. some pros, some very very talented home cooks. do you eat out? often?
Used to be big on going to restaurants as often as I could—lived above a row of restaurants for 18 years in my previous apartment. However, since the pandemic I’ve been very down on restaurants and a lotta pro cooks—Imho, menus and food simply haven’t caught up to pre-pandemic standards; staff stretched; I wouldn’t be caught dead eating in those dreadful, makeshift outdoor dining areas. I’d rather cook at home for now. I’ll eat out more when food and service gets better—this is not to say that ALL restaurants have declined.
 
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Our rule is, don’t order anything that we can cook better at home.

So, on our way home from the Apple Store today, we stopped at Newton Hawker Centre for some BBQ stingray, Tom Yum soup, popiah, and satay.

https://danielfooddiary.com/2022/06/03/newtonfoodcentre/View attachment 198835View attachment 198836View attachment 198837

To live in Singapore is such a dream! Hopefully one day it'll come true for me. We actually just got back from Singapore, our first trip since Covid. Loved every minute of it.
 
We cook most meals at home, but get Indian, Thai, or Chinese carryout occasionally. However, the wife and I do have a 'datenight' at least once a month. Sometimes that involves performing arts, but more often it is a fine dining joint. When we travel we eat out a bit more and usually have at least one fine dining experience. On a rare trip WITHOUT KIDS to Toronto last week, we capped our stay with a meal at Akira Back, Japanese fusion, it was just a perfect endcap to our tour of a great city. Photo credit to my wife:
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We usually cook at least 1 meal most likely dinner. I tend to buy a breakfast taco Tuesday through Saturday every day. They are closed on Sunday and Monday. Sometimes if it is late morning then I buy a fajita taco.
 
I’m proud to say I hardly ever eat out!

On a normal week, every single thing I eat I’ve made myself. If it’s socially required for me to go out and eat I will, or if I’m especially knackered and desperate, I may. However, even in those situations I can warm up my sous vide on the way home, grab something out of my freezer as soon as I get back and throw it in, and 20 minutes later I’m eating. Faster than UberEats for sure, and better tasting/better for me. It all boils down to being willing to scale recipes, and then having the ability/patience of bagging and sealing the portions.

That being said, I live in a very boring area with rather lackluster restaurant choices. I can make most everything better myself, so there’s really no point. Now if I lived in a more diverse area, with a more competitive range of fare… I’d change my tune quickly. South Florida is full of old people who think a little salt or spice is just too much to handle. Something like… “I’ll take a boiled chicken breast with three grains of salt, please.”
 
Yes. I live to eat, seems like I eat my paychecks sometimes. I like trying out new spots around town. Nice that I live in a pretty diverse 24/7 town since I work nights. I also enjoy cooking at home.
 
Well, it's been a biggish week for eating out... Fridge has been fairly empty this week, and our schedules have been pretty jammed. Took my son to a fancy diner on Thursday after his martial arts class (he wanted to sit at the bar and order a mocktail); I had a burger for the first time in quite a while. Then last night we hit a Mexican/ Korean taco place, which allowed us to have a much wider variety of food than if we had cooked. Tonight we are going to a new 'red sauce' Italian-American place that just opened in DC -- so the wife can have linguini with clams while my son and I try some pizza and other stuff. We have reservations next weekend for a fancy Italian place for a belated anniversary dinner, but we'll be cooking most nights this upcoming week. I sous vide'd some chicken breasts yesterday for my wife, and I will be making some lamg ragu tonight or after work tomorrow for my son and I to have pasta a couple nights. Mexican/ Korean leftovers will get us through one night as well.
 
Oh, that sounds so good, what/where is this?
On Route 7 just past Bailey's Crossroads, heading towards Seven Corners. It's in a strip mall on the left (it's near Peking Gourmet). It's called Taco Saam, and they have o0ne or two other locations in the area.
 
On Route 7 just past Bailey's Crossroads, heading towards Seven Corners. It's in a strip mall on the left (it's near Peking Gourmet). It's called Taco Saam, and they have o0ne or two other locations in the area.
Thanks, I might look it up the next time I'm down there. My wife and I used to live in Annandale. There are some places down there I miss, like Duck Changs in Annandale, and Obelisk in DC (Dupont) to name just a couple.
 
Duck Chang's is still around. Their sister restaurant Peking Duck, which was down Route 1 in the Hybla Valley area, closed last year, unfortunately. That was the one I went to the most, as I lived down that way for a couple decades. It was due to the chef's health issues. He works at the Annandale location now (I think he was the son of 'Duck' Change if I remember correctly).

Only ate at Obelisk once, and that was probably a dozen years ago. Tons of Italian places around DC these days, so lots of good choices.

Can probably pull together a couple of people for a dinner one of the times you and your wife are down here. We had a pretty memorable on a few years back at Zaytinya. Taco Saam would work, too!
 
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