Steak, I’m no wizard at grilling but I can cook a steak just fine and pocket the $10 or so markup I’d pay at a restaurant.
Spaghetti, if the restaurant is famous for theirs I’d give it a try, but otherwise Cremete spaghetti noodles and Clasico Traditional Sweet Tomato Basil sauce can’t be beat for taste time and cost.
My wife and I make a feta, sautéed onion and walnut pizza that simply can’t be found anywhere else.
Sure I do. Prime is available at Costco these days for Pete’s sake. Now I don’t dry age it like they might but I don’t really like that anyway.
Ma-Po Tofu. And it’s not like it’s that hard to make either. It just doesn’t taste right in restaurants.
Chili. Another one that not that hard to make well. I think it’s because restaurants use lousy ingredients.
I will order a steak in restaurants simply because I’m reasonably sure it is cooked to order and not thawed in the microwave like some other entrees. I avoid places like that but sometimes you don’t get to pick the place.
Oh yes the Ma-Po I’ve had around here is no good. Getting some of the ingredients was a pain but they keep for a while.
Comment from the peanut gallery: “Anything chicken”
Of course *I’m *usually the one cooking that chicken at home :dubious:
I’m happy to order chicken at a restaurant.
As said above, you can get prime at Costco, and at upscale butchers, hell, even Whole Foods, you can find dry-aged steaks of whatever hell kind you want. This place in Wilmette, IL, for example, absolutely has restaurant quality meat, prime, dry-aged, the whole she-bang.
And, of course, with online sourcing, you can get it wherever the hell you are in the US now. For Christmas, I bought my brother, for example, a Japanese Wagyu A5 grade piece of meat (of course, it also cost $100 for a half pound, but I could get it.)
My grocery store sells USDA Prime 30 day dry aged rib eyes. They are pricey, but available
Only 2% of U.S. beef is prime. It mostly goes to restaurants and hotels, not the Jewel.
The prime stamp is there for all to see in the meat counter. There were rib roasts available for christmas, stamped Prime. They were north of 400.00, but available
You can literally get it at Costco. Besides as you may have guessed from your citation most steak houses don’t offer prime. Mom & Pop Charhouse is serving choice cuts, the exact same stuff you do in fact get at the Jewels
not many restaurants dry age either
That’s true. You can still find it at Costco. It’s not as impossible to source as you seem to think.
Pizza. I have never seen my favorite pizza in any restaurant. It is made with basil pesto sauce, soft goat cheese, kalamata olives, walnuts, and mozzarella cheese. I make the dough and my wife fills it.
Meat loaf: mine is simply better than what you find in a restaurant.
When I eat out I order something I likely cannot make at home, most likely because it is too complicated or I cannot readily find the ingredients.
2% of that comes to about 54 million pounds.
Just say that out loud.
54 MILLION POUNDS.
Yeah, wet-aging seems to be more popular around here. And with dry-aged, I used to go to Fox & Obels by Navy Pier when it was around to get my dry-aged steaks. Treasure Island (when it was around–I used to go the Hyde Park one) had it as well, and even the Whole Foods on Roosevelt has both dry-aged and prime steaks (or at least did last time I bought steaks there.) Sure, the Jewel ain’t gonna carry prime (and Jewel butchers their steaks too thinly, anyway. Costco is my go-to for all my beef steak needs), but there’s plenty of places where you can find it here, as well as quality dry-aged steaks (I’ll personally take a dry-aged choice over a wet-aged prime). And when I make steak, those are the places I go to. It’s rare I have a taste for steak, but when I do, I’m going to do it right.
pulykamell If you ever find yourself out in the western wastelands hit Joseph’s - Awesome people and impeccable product
But you probably already knew that 
I know Joseph’s, but I’ve not been there yet. Thanks for reminding me. These 30-day dry aged prime ribeyes (scroll down) look fantastic.
Chili, roast chicken, meatloaf and some pastas are good examples of things I wouldn’t order in a restaurant. I can make those as well or better at home and they just aren’t worth the added cost at a restaurant.
Pulled pork, Chicken Tikki Masala, and especially anything with Alfredo sauce. Mine’s way better.
Hell, I’ve been ordering prime cuts from Amazon Fresh even.
I will order steaks from a restaurant if they have a wood burning grill.