Let's dine out..

[Mytical]

Ok we have the cooking game, so I thought I would try to gather some insight into food. Here is the gist..

IF you dine out, where and why?
If you never dine out, please say so, and what your favorite food is (and why if possible).
Please make a seperate notation for snacks and 'unhealthy' food you like.
I will start this off, and see how it goes.

Ok since I am a horrible cook (and some say because I am American but won't get into that) I do dine out a lot (when family doesn't gather to eat diner that is).

Here is my favorite places by food type, and why.

Rally's Hamburgers. Well I am not the biggest fan of McDonalds and Wendy's (reduced fat move) has started to gain my support, but Rally's has probably the best french fries out there. Yeah I know, I said Hamburgers, but their Hamburgers are good also, but I really go their for the fries .

Milkshake - United Dairy Farmers (Not a fast food place). Well besides the fact that they have about twice the selection of any other milkshake place, they don't skimp on the ice cream when making the Milkshake. Their chocolate peanutbutter shake is heaven on earth...

Pizza - Giavonni's (possibly bad spelling here). Their thin pizza has fallen out of favor in america but since it has really thick layer of cheese, possibly the best sauce in the pizza business, and taste at least 3x better then pizza hut or Domino's I am willing to pay the extra price and go out of my way to get it.

Chicken - KFC. What can I say, those original herbs and spices (despite the fact that looking at the chicken will clog your arteries) just melt in your mouth. The other things they serve I can do without though.

Fish - Hard call but Long John's for this..though some Giovanni's has some fish tails (breaded) that are so mouthwatering it is not funny. Price, selection, and quick service is why I go to LJS.

Buckeyes - Chocolate...surrounding peanutbutter...need I say more?! (note the candy not the Nut, which is poisonous).

Things my mother cooks that I can't live without (so to speak)

French Toast...one order of heart attack to go please, but geesh it is soooo good.

Biscuits - fluffy, preferrably buttermilk, even more a slice of heaven the buckeyes! Great with sunnyside up eggs!

Taco - mmmmm taco *drools*. Taco Bell can go jump in a lake, the woman can make a better Taco in her sleep!

Well you get the jist, how about it? Some of your favorite foods? Who makes the best? So on and so forth.

[Chai26]

Well i don't usually go out to eat(besides i don even earn money yet), but sometimes my family will go out and eat on Sunday morning(where we eat dim sum).

(The food mentioned above will kill you if u don't do something about it, if consumed in large amounts)

[Panda Tar]

I always have to lunch out. I just dinne at home. But when that happens, specially on weekends:

Bob's or Giraffa's - if I happen to be keen to eat hamburguers. Not really a fan of Quick'Donalds. Subway is also nice.

Disk Esfiha - when I want to eat beirutes (those I like a lot).

Macarronada Italiana - a fancy restaurant with very good pasta (I love any kind of pasta, macarrão, lasanha, tortelle, nhoque, talharim, bolognesa sauce, pizza etc).

Pizzeria di Italia - a good place with a juicy and tasty pizza (I like pizza, but don't like eating it too much. Once per month will do) since I loath Pizza Hut.

Chuvisco - the greatest place for sweets. I AM A HUGE FAN OF SWEETS, AND I COULD EVEN KILL (an ant) FOR A CHOCOLAT CAKE! There are these pies....I can't even talk about that without drooling.

Padeiro de Sevilla - the most wonderful bread I've eaten in my whole life. I like bread, eating with almost anything.

Delícias do Campo - good Brazilian food. If you like rice, bean (and the all famous feijoada!), steak, potatoes - the main food. Of course, a very wide selection of fruits, etc.

Só Natural - I like the salada, where you can choose the content between a wide list, ending up in some unusual and delicious combinations, like tuna/banana/toast/tomato.

[ScarlettP]

We eat more 'take out' than we should. Usually Papa John's Pizza, Arby's roast beef, or Taco Bell.

We don't do burgers alot because the closest one to my house is Micky D's and I only do them in small doses. When we do stop in at the Golden Arches, hubby likes the new Southern Chicken sandwich and I try to go for the Asian salad with the chicken and manderan oranges. If you haven't tried it, it's really pretty good... just go easy on that Ginger dressing! It's HOT!

My son is crazy for any kind of Chinese food, so he prefers Buffet King or China Moon. (Both local restraunts, not 'chains'.) I agree with him that China Moon has the best buffet in the area, but it's on the far side of town.

Hubby prefers Golden Coral when we can afford it. It's $12 each for the buffet with tea, but hubby eats so much steak that it evens out pretty well. We like it as a family because we can each get what we like.

As a family, we tend to prefer buffets. No nessisarily the "All you can eat" aspect as much as the "Wander around and see what looks good" part. See, I hate 'real restraunts' where you wait to be seated, wait for the waitress to come around and give you a menu, wait for her to come back for your 'drink order' before she will take your food order, wait for the food to come. This whole "WAIT A FRELLING HOUR to get fed" crap makes no sense to me at all. See, I work 6 days a week. I don't leave work until 6 pm on weekdays. By the time I get home, I'm hungry. The last thing I want to do is wait for my food at the end of the day. Just feed me and let me get on with relaxing and enjoying my evening.

For a special occation, when we really DO want to sit at the table and talk with our friends or celebrate, we go to Fridays. It's a very nice family resraunt with a bar. Sort of a "sports bar" decorations, but we can live with it. The food is good and not to terribly over priced.

When on vaccation, we tend to try to find one 'specialty' restraunt in the area. We had a GREAT time in a family steak house in Panama City! The place was HUGE! The food was great. I got a frozen drink in a hurricaine glass. We ate until I thought our eyes would pop out. The bill was $85 for three people and only one drink with alcohol in it. Oh well. It was fun and we only did it once.

[ThunderTitan]

Pizza Hut for the pizza, KFC for the Crispy Strips and a local shop that makes Shaorma. That's about it for places we go to regularly.

just go easy on that Ginger dressing! It's HOT!

Which reminds me, i have to go eat some garlic for my cold.

[[T]osHiro]

Pizza Hut for the pizza, KFC for the Crispy Strips

Yuck, and Yuck! Franchise are always the bad place to have a tasty meal, but good for gaining pounds.

I prefer Pizzas and Roast Chicken at some Italian restaurant I never heard of, at least they make good Mushroom Soup than the crappy 'Cream of Mushroom' in Pizza Hut.

People don't go to McDonalds for the food. We go there because we think it's cool.

[Panda Tar]

People don't go to McDonalds for the food. We go there because we think it's cool.

I thought it was because it's real damn fast food. I once wondered if the attendant knew me, since I could barely get next the counter and she was already holding my order. She was also wearing a smile not of her own.

[Corribus]

My wife and I cook about 80% of the time, mostly because it much healthier and less expensive. And because we enjoy cooking. I've got dozens of cookbooks and subsribe to Bon Appetit and Cooking Light. I like cooking savory dishes but I'm a baker at heart. Though, I don't do it too often because most of what I bake is very bad for you. I almost always pack my lunch, usually leftovers (today I'm having cod chowder).

We try to eat as healthy as possible, avoiding fatty meats (somewhat successfully) and processed foods (almost completely successfully). We incorporate lots of whole grains, veggies and fruits. We also try to cook with oils instead of butter or animal fats. Though sometimes you have to use butter or bacon for flavor, but only in small portions. It's not always easy to do this when eating out because you KNOW they use lots of butter, even at fine restaurants. I have a sweet tooth, too, but I try to curb it and not eat too many deserts. Tonight I'm making a farro salad with white beans and artichokes, served with grapes and fresh-baked bread. I try to plan out our whole menu on the weekends, as we are more likely to eat out when we "wing it".

Unfortunately, since we both work, eating out is sometimes a necessity. We try to do it as sensibly as possible but I admit that when I eat out, I often toss health to the winds. But I do my fat-fest in style: I avoid fast food like the plague. If I'm going to splurge, I might as well splurge well. About all I can tolerate is Arbys, since they have good sandwhiches with suprisingly fresh ingredients. Of the chains, I guess my favorite right now is Applebys (sp), Olive Garden, or Macaroni Grill. Local favorites include one of several excellent sushi restaurants near us, a bar/grill called Solaris that has excellent burgers, or Chinese (Beef with Broccoli, or Kung Pao, is my favorite). When I'm at the university I like Indian, Thai, or the famous ubiquitous philly trucks, where you can get the unavoidable cheesesteak (not low-cal). Of course, Philly is the location of some of the best restaurants in the country, so we are blessed with that. Can't eat at them too often because they are mostly expensive. However, in Philly the so-called BYOB restaurants are very popular, which cuts a lot into the cost, making dinner very affordable. There are a few such very good italian restaurants where they make their own pasta and such. These are among our favorites.

Wow I guess that was really long, but I do love good food.

[DaemianLucifer]

I preffer cooking my own food,or food prepared by my parents.

First,theres the quantity factor:I remember when there was 2 for 1 sale on cheezburgers in mcdonalds.After school once,I went there with a couple of friends,and the three of us ate around 20,with about 5 fries and 3 milkshakes.Even though it was a sale,it was pretty expensive(yeah,its weird to some of you,but mcdonalds is extremelly expensive here),not to mention it didnt fill us completelly.

Second,theres the quality factor.Aside from very few stands and restaurants in the whole city,most of the stuff you can buy out are pure crap.In taste as well as in health.

Third,the price,of course.There are a few places that you can eat very cheap,but they are out of the city,so I dont frequent them often.

And fourth,I love experimenting with food,and that I cant do when I eat out.

[Caradoc]

I am about to embark on a massive diet program to get my weight down to where it needs to be. This means a liquid diet for a month, followed be a severely low calorie regimen for at least three more.

But tonight I eat my 'last supper' and I will be going to Margarita's for Mexican food. After that, it's cold turkey -- literally.

[gravyluvr]

Being a bachelor, I tend to eat out a lot.

I did make an effort to kill fast food from the diet and I think Arby's two months ago was the last Fast Food place (PS: McDonald's is not cool in the States).

I like Brewpubs / Steak Houses and tend to enjoy the Microbrewery Restaurants around.

Ray's the Steaks (Virginia)
Sweetwater Tavern (Virginia)
Mike's American Grill (VA)
Appalachian Brewing Company (Pennsylvania)
Trailhead (St. Charles, MO)
Silverado (VA)
Schlaflys (St. Louis, MO)
Capital City Brewpub (DC/VA)
Rock Bottom (MD/VA)

And just about any Steak house in the Midwest - especially in Kansas City.

[theLuckyDragon]

I only eat out when I'm too lazy to cook for myself. I go to this quaint little chinese restaurant called Shanghai where the people are very nice (not Chinese, though) and the food is very good.

[Panda Tar]

Being a bachelor, I tend to eat out a lot.

I suppose you cook a lot of Lamen?

[Gaidal Cain]

When at school, I buy lunch every workday there - the price is OK, and it's usually quite good food. I sometimes take their hamburgers, if I don't fancy the other stuff. At weekends, when the restaurant I frequent at school is closed, I go for Pizza if I'm at school. Apart from that, I coook food myself. I almost never eat at any chains- there really aren't any here in Sweden, save for MacDonalds and Burger King.

[Kristo]

The place I go to most often is Panera Bread, usually for lunch on the weekends. If I'm in Chicago, by far the best place to eat is Gino's East, where they make pizza correctly.

Around here, people love them some Taco Bell. I have no idea why. I don't go there at all, but nearly every time I drive past one there's a line of 6+ cars at the drive-thru.

My wife and I cook about 80% of the time, mostly because it much healthier and less expensive.

In my experience, that's the best way to both save money and lose weight. Just stop going to restaurants.

We also try to cook with oils instead of butter or animal fats. Though sometimes you have to use butter or bacon for flavor, but only in small portions.

Butter has gotten a bad rap for some reason. As long as you're not eating several sticks of butter per day, I don't see anything wrong with it. I'd rather have real butter over something that kinda sorta looks and tastes like butter (i.e., margarine).

[ThunderTitan]

at least they make good Mushroom Soup than the crappy 'Cream of Mushroom' in Pizza Hut.

Why would i even go near soup that's made out of mushrooms?! And did i not mention exactly what i eat where?

In my experience, that's the best way to both save money and lose weight. Just stop going to restaurants.

Maybe in America (damn, when's the next episode coming out?), here i know plenty of ppl that get fat of their own food.


And no matter how much you eat at McDonalds 30 min later you're hungry again. One of the reasons i haven't been there in a really long while.

[Elvin]

I rarely go out to dine. When I do it can be either a tavern or a restaurant depending on my company and the overall wishes. Usually it's a salad and pasta or something grilled. Or whatever catches my fancy at the time!
Of course I also go for fast-food occasionally but it's not something we plan. That's when me and my friends happen to be hungry when we are in the vicinity for instance. I love Goody's golden burger! You probably don't know it, it's a greek chain.
Speaking of greek, the souvlaki or pita gyros if you have heard is a necessity at times!
I almost never go out for pizza. Always better to get a delivery at home but that's rare as well because my mother makes a delicious pizza

[DaemianLucifer]

Butter has gotten a bad rap for some reason. As long as you're not eating several sticks of butter per day, I don't see anything wrong with it. I'd rather have real butter over something that kinda sorta looks and tastes like butter (i.e., margarine).

Prepare to be amazed:

I can make french fries using only a soup spoon of oil.And it isnt dry at all.Even more tastier then when made the regular(read:soaked in oil)way.

[gravyluvr]

The place I go to most often is Panera Bread, usually for lunch on the weekends. If I'm in Chicago, by far the best place to eat is Gino's East, where they make pizza correctly.

You're in St. Louis... you should call it the St. Louis Bread Company.

Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza is awesome. We have a place in the DC area called Armands. I can't eat chain-delivery anymore.

[[T]osHiro]

Being a bachelor, I tend to eat out a lot.

I don't understand... The menu at the bottom of your post sounds tasty to me. I thought you area good cook.

Man, looking at your post again makes me hungry. POTATOES!!!!