Home Cooking Spoils Restaurant Experience

[CaptainTime]

I am a decent cook - not a great one. But, more and more, when I go out to restaurants I am disappointed with the food.

Does anyone else have this problem or are the restaurants just bad where I live? Or is it because, as I get better at cooking myself, my palette is more discriminating?

 

[paintflinger]

I am a decent cook - not a great one. But, more and more, when I go out to restaurants I am disappointed with the food.

Does anyone else have this problem or are the restaurants just bad where I live? Or is it because, as I get better at cooking myself, my palette is more discriminating?

50/50. I love cooking and find I can prepare dishes that rival or surpass good restaurants. That said, there are restaurants around here that put me to shame. Some are just that good at what they do, but more often it is simply because I've never attempted to cook a certain meal and lack the knowledge to do so or the methods are beyond my means.

 

[DesertJake]

Depends on the type of food. There are some dishes I've been very disappointed in. "I just spent $20 for that and it's nowhere near as good as what I make at home."

There's other stuff that I'm just not good at yet. Thai curries are still not very successful for me, but for a noodle dish like Pad See Ewe, I've liked mine better than 75% of the restaurants I've had it in.

I've made some good pizza, certainly better than a lot of mediocre places, but nowhere near as good as the top pizza joints I've been to. And so on.

Of course, Nanaimo isn't exactly a mecca of restaurant choices! Beautiful though. Wish I lived someplace half that pretty!

 

[DoctorShavegood]

There are some foods that I like to cook that are offered at restaurants. These foods I will tweak to make them how I like them. A good example is chicken wings. I make better wings than my favorite sports bar. When I go back and order wings I judge them against mine. Most of the time I win.

 

[NotNick]

We are largely spoiled by the fare produced in our own kitchen. Thanks only to my wife, who can rival any gourmet. However, if I were in Nainamo, and I have been once, I would be heading to Spinnakers in Victoria right now for a brew and light dining. Is that still there?

 

[BSAGuy]

We go out for variety, atmosphere, change of scenery, and no dishes. My wife is a good cook, but not gourmet.

 

[mretzloff]

I do not mean to offend anyone, but in my opinion, the majority of good reviews that restaurants get are from people who have no clue how to cook. If you know how to cook, it takes a lot more to please you and those "homestyle" restaurants will no longer amaze you.

 

[Tim_McD]

I have to agree that as you become a better cook, the thrill of dining out wanes considerably. The chains that had things you used to like become places you only go to because you have kids in tow - even then, my 14 yr old daughter's palette has outgrown most of the national chains.

The second tier challenge: find a place where you can get something that you cant / wont cook at home. For me; this is easy w/Asian, tougher with continental and very difficult to find with Italian. I dislike dining out at most local "red sauce" joints because I can make those dishes at home as good or better than the restaurants.

The flip side of the coin; when you do order something and you are amazed at what they have done. This happens from time-to-time and I am so impressed with either how they prepared it or the courage it took to pair ingredients that I would have never thought go together.

This only happens when my wife and I go to "real" restaurants, without kids, so it is very rare indeed.

 

[YetiDave]

I've not been to a restaurant in a good while where I've not thought "I can do this, and probably better"

 

[redrako]

I do not mean to offend anyone, but in my opinion, the majority of good reviews that restaurants get are from people who have no clue how to cook. If you know how to cook, it takes a lot more to please you and those "homestyle" restaurants will no longer amaze you.

+1

I'm amazed at how many people have no clue how to cook anything. I know that people are busy and that learning to cook can be a daunting prospect, but the simple fact is that we all eat food. Why not learn how to make food that we enjoy? It will almost always have better ingredients, be less expensive and as others have pointed out usually taste better plus you'll have some fun learning how to do something new.

A good place to start is on our own Mess Hall forum. Recently I've followed great thread on making corn bread, I have gone back to a recent forum on Pinto Beans. Based on my readings I now have more tools in my kit and broadened my diet.

 

[ZeroGravity]

We almost always have the same conversation when we go to a restaurant. It is OK, usually never over exciting because we eat well at home.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

With all cooking shows on TV you would think we all would be great cooks. I guess Most people watch the shows for entertainment value only. Not me, when I see something I think would be good, I write it down and give it a try. If you cook a lot I think it's only natural to be more discriminating when eating out.

 

[MrSpeedy]

I think it depends on the restaurant. If you go to a chain restaurant, expect to be disappointed. If you go to an Italian-American, Mexican-American, etc. restaurant, lower your expectations. If you go to a local place where the chef is doing interesting and innovative things, or at least preparing good food consistently, you'll probably have a good experience.

 

[Edcculus]

There are all kinds of restaurants. If you go to Applebee's or another chain, and you know how to cook, expect to be disappointed. Most of their food is microwave anyways. I used to work for a company that printed the rebranded Stouffers labels for places like that.

There are plenty of awesome local restaurants out there making amazing food. Maybe they use interesting combinations, or hard to source ingredients. I'm never disappointed with these experiences. Plus, they wait on you and clean your dishes when you leave.

 

[langod]

I can replicate or come close to most any dish I get at a restaurant that doesn't use ingredients I can't get or or techniques I can't replicate in a home kitchen.

That said, my wife and I enjoy going out. But we never go to chain restaurants and mostly stick to the more highly rated restaurants in the area. We don't mind spending $100 or more for two of us for dinner if the food is good and has a nice ambience or vibe. It's one of our few "going out" expenses -- we don't often go to movies, shows, concerts, etc., so dining out is our entertainment.

There is one place we go often that is a fairly inexpensive neighborhood place and has been around for 20 years or so. We've been going there for most of that time. It's not a great restaurant, it gets firmly middle-of-the-road reviews. But it's comfortable and we know many of the people who work there. It's not "gourmet" or high-end, but most everything is made there very little comes pre-packaged. The food is good, the drinks are good and it's about a mile from my house. I can -- and have -- made many of their menu items myself. But we still find ourselves there often, just because it's comfortable, we know what to expect, and it's a "safe" choice. ("Safe" as familiar, not as in worried about kitchen conditions.)

 

[Edcculus]

Also, since I live in SC, even the high end restaurants have their take on some of the Southern classics. Shrimp and Grits, meatloaf etc.

I never waste my time with Shrimp and Grits at any restaurant. I know I can do it just as good at home. In the same vein, I usually avoid the steak at a restaurant. That rule has been bent more since we switched to eating mostly vegetarian at home.

Here is the current menu of our favorite restaurant here in town

Shrimp & Grits* - 16 / 22 creamy white grits, bell peppers, tomatoes, Low Country spice, apple smoked bacon and scallions

Skilled Seared Carolina Mountain Trout* - 24 rock shrimp & white acre pea succotash, local squash casserole, aji dulce pepper puree

Grilled Eden Farms Pork Chop* - 25 bourbon smoked peppercorns, BBQ braised greens, Adluh Mills cheese grits, green tomato relish, applewood bacon jus

Stella's Duck Sampler Plate * - 27 collard green duck spring roll, crispy confit, breast, sausage, smoked onion soubise, crowder peas, bourbon peach & duck jus

Grilled 12oz NY Strip* - 28 Johnson County country ham wrapped potato cake, Crescent Farms seasonal vegetables, red wine herb au jus

Grilled Hanger Steak & Mustard Crusted Bacon Wrapped Mushroom Meatloaf * 26 squash & potato "risotto", charred tomato, Crescent Farms vegetables, roasted beef jus

North Georgia Chicken Trio * 19.50 "chop", roulade & andouille, grilled okra, smoked tomato, hominy & Sea Island red pea pirlau, herbed pan drippings

If I were sitting down to order now, I'd probably go for the Duck or Trout. Not that I'd never attempt those at home. I don't buy duck that often, and I KNOW this place sources awesome fish. Now I'm hungry.

 

[Tim_McD]

Oh yeah, that duck would be THE choice - even after I heard tempting offers of daily specials. I roast duck about every other year, usually right after Thanksgiving, so I can have the duck-fat for roasted potatoes at Christmas (alternate years the potatoes are mashed with a heavy cream reduction and butter).

Also, since I live in SC, even the high end restaurants have their take on some of the Southern classics. Shrimp and Grits, meatloaf etc.

I never waste my time with Shrimp and Grits at any restaurant. I know I can do it just as good at home. In the same vein, I usually avoid the steak at a restaurant. That rule has been bent more since we switched to eating mostly vegetarian at home.

Here is the current menu of our favorite restaurant here in town
[/h]If I were sitting down to order now, I'd probably go for the Duck or Trout. Not that I'd never attempt those at home. I don't buy duck that often, and I KNOW this place sources awesome fish. Now I'm hungry.

 

[TickTock]

I sometimes can't enjoy something that tastes really good--say, restaurant mashed potatoes--when I know the reason it's good is that they put a whole damn stick of butter on my plate.

What's worse, of course, is when you know it's outrageously caloric and merely OK.

 

[YetiDave]

I sometimes can't enjoy something that tastes really good--say, restaurant mashed potatoes--when I know the reason it's good is that they put a whole damn stick of butter on my plate.

What's worse, of course, is when you know it's outrageously caloric and merely OK.

There's a BBQ type place near here that proudly advertises their 50/50 mashed potato

 

[Deltaboy]

With a Teenage daughter in HS we eat out more than we did the first 5 years. We had to cook back then and now cooking at home is reserved for the Summer time and weekends. During the school year we eat out 50% of the time.