Food you refuse to order in restaurants because it's too easy

[pulykamell]

@jrsone

I grow my own greens and vegetables and make my own salad, and bake my own bread and butcher my own meat and make own cheese and build my own sandwiches. I raise chickens so I have my own eggs and obviously I have the cows to get the steaks for a delicious steak and eggs breakfast. My pigs provide my bacon and the chops. I hired a sweet old Italian lady for the pasta and sauces, she is wonderful.

I went to a restaraunt once, but it was only to use their restroom. I didn’t flush.

Well, that’s not really the point of the thread. This is about people who actually do go to restaurants and order food, but don’t order something for one reason or another (although it being “too easy” was the original reason, it’s drifted a bit from there). Most of the objections here seem reasonable to me. The chicken one is good, too. I have great difficulty ordering chicken dishes at a restaurant for the same reason San Vito mentioned, unless it’s a particular specialty of the restaurant or a presentation I’ve never encountered before (or if it’s fried chicken, but I’m not usually at a sit-down restaurant for that, and if I am, it probably will fall under “specialty of the restaurant” if I’m ordering it.)

[jrsone]

@pulykamell

Well, that’s not really the point of the thread. This is about people who actually do go to restaurants and order food, but don’t order something for one reason or another (although it being “too easy” was the original reason, it’s drifted a bit from there). Most of the objections here seem reasonable to me. The chicken one is good, too. I have great difficulty ordering chicken dishes at a restaurant for the same reason San Vito mentioned, unless it’s a particular specialty of the restaurant or a presentation I’ve never encountered before (or if it’s fried chicken, but I’m not usually at a sit-down restaurant for that, and if I am, it probably will fall under “specialty of the restaurant” if I’m ordering it.)

I know, I’m just a smart ass.

I wouldn’t say I order anything out of the easiness factor. I commonly don’t ever order hamburgers or spaghetti when I go out. I eat a lot of pasta at home and I just never really crave a burger I guess. A fast food one does in a pinch I guess.

[Drunky_Smurf]

@troubledwater

So much for adventures in dining, I guess it’s back to the local Mexican place and plain bean burritos for me. (And since I don’t have lard at home, those *are *better than what I can make myself).

This. There is no way to replicate a good mexican places refried beans. The place where they have a giant pot of beans going all day and it’s all larded up.

For me I’d say cereal. Because if they have cereal on the menu then they have pancakes/waffles and bacon/sausage and that’s what I’ll be having.

[pulykamell]

@Drunky_Smurf

This. There is no way to replicate a good mexican places refried beans. The place where they have a giant pot of beans going all day and it’s all larded up.

I was going to say, sure there is, lard. But you know that. Seriously, you can do it at home, but for the amount of refried beans I eat (generally just a single serving of about 1/2 cup or so), it’s not worth it. Only for parties. (The lard I almost always have in my fridge, though, since, well, I love the combo of lard & onions to start off a stew. Or chicken fat & onions.)

[scootergirl]

@Arrendajo

I can make almost anything better and cheaper than restaurants. The only thing I go out to eat nowadays is ethnic foods I can’t make well at home. Sushi, for example.

This ^.

[scootergirl]

I’m traveling to Lima in a couple of weeks. I am looking forward to Peruvian food so much! I know how to prepare a number of Peruvian dishes, but I’m sure I’ll end up eating something that I will promptly and happily attempt to replicate when I get back.

My SO is a great cook. We don’t live together, but we take turns feeding each other weekly. We only occasionally go out to eat. Unless it’s Sushi, I almost always think - I could’ve made that and made it better. When eating Sushi I like to sit at the bar and watch the chef prepare it. It’s part of the experience. I love the sensation of tobiko popping in my mouth when I bite down…that and the saltiness and crunch. And course, then there’s warm Sake, too.

[TBG]

@Mister_Rik

Caveat before I reply to individual posts: I am a professional cook, with 30 years of experience.

To answer the OP directly, with this question:

“Do you have any dishes that you refuse to pay for (that you like)?”

Fucking oatmeal. In my town, every time there is a proposed property tax increase, I would see letters in the newspaper from senior citizens protesting the tax increase because “I’m on a fixed income, blah blah blah…” And meanwhile, in my job as a cook, I’d see senior citizens coming into my restaurant day after day after day, ordering oatmeal and toast. I looked at what we charged for a bowl of oatmeal and a side of toast, and did some math, and determined that these seniors were paying well over $1200 a year for somebody to cook their damned oatmeal (assuming they were doing this 5 days a week, as many of them were).

They were paying over $1200 a year for a chance to get out of the house, more likely. They ordered oatmeal because it’s bland and old people of that generation tend to like bland and it’s familiar and even though it’d be cheaper at home it’s still pretty cheap. Also probably their doctor told them not to eat anything else that’s likely on the breakfast menu such as bacon, sausage, eggs. Also easy to eat for those with bad/missing teeth.

But the point is, they’re there because what else are they gonna do, sit at home all alone all the time. They’re not there for the oatmeal, they’re there and happen to get oatmeal.

At least that’s my guess.

[Annie-Xmas]

As Peg “I Hate To Cook” Braken once put it: I use to hold people who could make Fettucine Alfredo in high regard. Then I found out it’s only slightly simpler than a peanut butter sandwich."

[FriarTed]

While I am sure there are some adults who go out for breakfast & order cold cereal, I’m pretty sure that’s really on the menu in case they bring their picky kids.

[aruvqan]

@Annie-Xmas

As Peg “I Hate To Cook” Braken once put it: I use to hold people who could make Fettucine Alfredo in high regard. Then I found out it’s only slightly simpler than a peanut butter sandwich."

My roomie frequently makes her version which starts with frying up bacon to get the crunchies, and is basically a way for her to use up leftover pasta. Ends up about a twice a month lunch for her. The longest part is frying up a couple strips of bacon for the crumbles.

I prefer to have pasta dressed with a bit of garlic and basil sauteed in olive oil and then some black pepper and parmesan cheese grated over the top.

[Learjeff]

Quesadillas. Mac & cheese. Grilled cheese. Why order what I make at home?

[silenus]

Because you aren’t at home, and you feel like a quesadilla for lunch?
Why is this so hard for people to understand?

[Mister_Rik]

When I cooked at one particular restaurant, there was one item on the breakfast menu that I really wished people wouldn’t order because they could make it better at home: Cream of Wheat. I don’t know why it was even on the menu. It didn’t seem to matter how thin I made it; by the time the waitress picked it up and delivered it to the table it was a solid lump.

OTOH, I made damn good oatmeal (despite my dislike for making it). When I wound up cooking in the convention business, we’d occasionally have to do a breakfast buffet that included oatmeal. I eventually told the head chef, my boss, “I’ll make the oatmeal”. Because his oatmeal sucked and and I couldn’t stand seeing it go out on the buffet.