“Okay, Sport, but have you ever considered you might be missing OUT on something?”
Nope
" Isn’t life on this bleak bardo horrid enough that you shouldn’t be taking ADVANTAGE of some of the passing pleasures that are available? "
I already do that. Just that if I’m going to spend 60$, I’d rather spend it on a video game. heeh
While I find myself enjoying a Culver’s Double Bacon Butterburger Deluxe from time to time, I also enjoy eating in very nice restaurants on a weekly basis. Around here the average tab for two, with a decent bottle of wine, is around $150-180 with tip included. You pay for the atmosphere, the attentive service (the wait staff to customer ratio is usually much better), and hopefully, excellent food. While I’ve had mediocre food at expensive restaurants (why all the hype over Smith and Wollenskys?), I’ve also had some food that approached perfection. I don’t pay to impress, as my dinner date is my lovely wife, who happens to like me no matter where we dine.
If I ever kill anyone and am put to death in the e-chair, my last meal will request will be:
Appetizers
Florida Lobster Braised in Truffle Butter with Spinach and Prosciutto at Louie’s Backyard in Key West.
Shrimp Arnaud at Arnaud’s in New Orleans.
The white bread loaves from Yia Yia’s in Kansas City.
Entree
Yellowfin Tuna at some restaurant who’s name I can’t remember on Cape Cod (I think it was Yarmouth, but I’ll let my executioners do the leg work). I think it had a Pelican in the name, but that probably doesn’t narrow it down much on Cape Cod. I love steak with a passion, but this tuna, which was probably cooked for a total of about 15 seconds, was pure heaven.
Dessert
There are hundreds to choose from, so they’d have to grant me a reprieve until I had them all.
Of all the above, the lobster appetizer in Key West was probably the best food I’ve ever eaten. They serve it in a corny looking, tiny copper pot, but I would have gladly eaten it off of the ground.
As for wine, you can put me in the “I don’t understand a thousand dollar bottle of wine” camp. A nice $25 store bought ($50 in a restaurant) bottle is hard for me to distinguish from the $150 bottles. Unfortunately, my champagne tastes tend towards the expensive, so I limit my intake to special occasions.
So I went to Carnegie Hall to hear the Vienna Philharmonic play Mahler and Haydn, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.
At the end, I’d heard music.
I coulda saved the cash and effort and stayed home and listened to Brittany Spears on a transistor radio.
My six year old son would certainly agree with you.
And, hey…I don’t want to sound pissy, or angry that you DON’T want to dine well. I just feel kinda sorry for you guys, like I would for the people who don’t appreciate good sex or music in my analogies above.
Next time you’re in Brooklyn, stop by for dinner.
Bring a six-pack.
And that from our resident Fellow Traveler.
I have to say that when I go out to dinner, I generally have an idea before hand just what their range of prices may be. Once through the door, I don’t consider the cost any longer; I don’t even look at menu prices. If it sounds good, I’m ordering it. And I encourage those I’m dining with to do the same. Value, to me, is much more than the mere cost. A well prepared, artfully presented and lavishly served meal is value.
What time is dinner, Uke? You still drinkin’ that shitty Chicago Old Style?
<sigh> This whole thread is rather depressing. For those of you claiming that you truly see no difference between a fine meal and something from Chili’s, all I can figure is that there’s one of two things going on. 1) you have built up some sort of hubris about you not needing that high falutin’ food or 2) you truly can’t see a difference - maybe your taste buds don’t work or something. I’d almost rather have it turn out that it’s reason number one, because then at least there’s some hope. Reason #2 makes me plain ol’ depressed. It’s as if you told me you have some disease where you can’t see any colors, or you no longer see the fun in having sex. Great food is such a pleasure in my life, whether it’s at a fine restaurant, a wonderful meal prepared at someone’s home, or just realizing that I’ve figured out the perfect recipe for homemade corned beef hash. The thought that some people just never experience that is just plain old sad.
OK, this is the pit. Enough of this maudlin bullshit. The thought that people out there consider Chili’s food as worth eating is just fucked up. I mean, have you really tasted the stuff? Isn’t Chili’s the place that my parents dragged me to that wouldn’t make me a medium rare hamburger, citing some rat shit about it not being healthy? Bah. Chili’s and that ilk are not food.
What time should I stop by, Uke? Lefthand’s got its seasonal Milk Stout out now - want me to stop at the brewery and grab a growler or two?
Don’t mind me, I’m just keeping track of names here, Uncle Beer goes on the ‘good’ list, the OP, well, on the other one. 
let me just add in here, that my son, at age 4, knew the word ‘ambiance’ and the correct applications thereof…
Just wanted to chime in and say yes, it is. 
Heh. We should have a DopeFest - Expensive Steak Edition one of these days. 
I always find these discussions frustrating. As a person who enjoys good food and drink, I do get annoyed by those who insist that all food is pretty much the same. I especially resent the implication that any claim to the contrary is purely elitism.
On the other hand, I get equally annoyed by people who talk more about the cost of their food than they do about the food itself.
I get most annoyed by those who attach a moral dimension to either of these camps. I cannot afford to eat a $2000 meal, no matter how infrequent it might be. This doesn’t make me a bad person. Many people I know could not afford to eat a $200 meal, no matter how infrequent. I don’t think this qualifies them for any list of “bad” people.
For the record, although I don’t spend $2000 dollars on any one meal, I knjow of many places where you can get a meal for less than fifty dollars that surpasses meals that cost $200, it just takes more effort to find them than glancing at the food section of your local paper.
I always find these discussions frustrating. As a person who enjoys good food and drink, I do get annoyed by those who insist that all food is pretty much the same. I especially resent the implication that any claim to the contrary is purely elitism.
On the other hand, I get equally annoyed by people who talk more about the cost of their food than they do about the food itself.
I get most annoyed by those who attach a moral dimension to either of these camps. I cannot afford to eat a $2000 meal, no matter how infrequent it might be. This doesn’t make me a bad person. Many people I know could not afford to eat a $200 meal, no matter how infrequent. I don’t think this qualifies them for any list of “bad” people.
For the record, although I don’t spend $2000 dollars on any one meal, I knjow of many places where you can get a meal for less than fifty dollars that surpasses meals that cost $200, it just takes more effort to find them than glancing at the food section of your local paper.
I thought your points were so well made, ignatzmouse, that the double post was appropriate.
Some of the posts insisting that all food is the same make me think that the posters are channeling my dad. He was a depression baby, deeply scornful of anything smacking of luxury, and I’m sure he was horrified to discover he spawned a child who had “champagne tastes.”
Those of us who are foodies and restaurant-aholics do taste a difference, and we find great joy in indulging this taste. It does not automatically follow that we scorn simpler, homey dishes. I love plain home-cookin’. But I also love the efforts of a gifted, artistic chef and I love to try to duplicate his or her work at home. This is a hobby and a passion, not something artificially adopted to try to impress other people. On the contrary, I have to keep my tastes secret much of the time to avoid reverse snobbery.
Well, off to “Trail Dust”, my favoritist barbecue restaurant, for the world’s best dry rub pork ribs, 'tater salad and beans. Think I’ll bring along a bottle of '98 Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
I can’t decide whether to hate you or pity you…blessing or curse?
hmmm
I have to admit that I can’t really tell a $1000 meal from a $50 one. I don’t doubt that there is a difference (and in many cases, a large one) between the two, but I can only differentiate up to a certain level. Beyond that … shrug. It’s great that people can taste and appreciate that difference, but I resent the implication that I am somehow inferior for not being able to.
While I resent the implication (not from you Kayeby, upthread a bit) that the only reason I enjoy a pricey meal is for snob value.
What say you ‘n’ me go find a corner and be offended together. We can cook dinner: I’ll make Oysters Rockerfeller and you c’n have Raviolios 
:: GD&R
Fenris
I’ve got a can of Schnookum’s & Meat from that world famous Chef (BoyRDee) if y’all would like
And this would be a curse how, exactly?
Well, since you’re the one sinking in the Mercury…
This would be a curse because it means that Legomancer gets no joy from eating.
Do we have a flashing neon sign font? Bummer that.
Tenebras
kayeby sits in a corner and eats dirt while glaring at random people