I actually get to Bozeman now and then. I’m bookmarking that website.
(and now I’m hungry, thanks)
We’ve got a killer guest-room!
Johnny Rockets. - the only one near me is at The Mall of America and I will sit in that ridiculous line with a smile because at the end I’ll get the full proper American 50’s Diner Experience, holding the racism.
That and the turkey legs at the Ren Fair shape my morning and afternoon meal choices day of. My stomach is prime real estate and on those days I take my time.
Wow! During the pandemic we amped up our food truck experience. Currently we eat food truck dinners twice a week. We have a few favorite trucks and a few favorite breweries. When they line up right, we are there.
They’re not big around here. I saw a ton in Portland when we went down there. There are a few around here from what I can gather, but I honestly have never seen one in operation. Maybe it’s an opportunity for me after retirement.
As to prices.
On Monday I ate at a Wendys for the first time in many months. Admittedly it was at a service plaza on the turnpike, so there might be some captive audience pricing going on.
I had the Baconator combo, so a 2-patty bacon cheeseburger with a medium fries and medium soda. To which I added a small Frosty. The total bill with tax and no tip came to $17.14. :Yikes:
I happen to recall the frosty itself was $2.69, so assuming 7% sales tax (which is close), that cost came to $2.88 so the burger, fries, and soda would have been 14.26 with tax, and $13.32 as priced.
Bottom line:
5 Guys doesn’t have a monopoly on semi eye-popping prices for modest fast food.
The very same thing happened to me last May, only a Burger King on an Indiana or Ohio Interstate. A standard Whopper meal, medium/medium, was $17-something (eta: no Frostie! eta2: Frosty!). It was ok but 30-50% more costly than felt right.
Y’all are just old like me 
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We all get stuck in mental ruts remembering costs from a bygone era and trying to calibrate what things used to cost with what they cost now. I’m absolutely no exception, but I’m starting to be more cautious about declaring things overpriced. Because are they? Or do I just think that because I recall what I paid for something in 2015?
One of my favorite sandwich places is actually a butcher shop. During the pandemic they temporarily suspended sandwich sales and when they returned it was at a BIG premium and they put up a little sign. It said ‘why $16 sandwiches?’ and explained the reason. It’s $18 now, but basically when they went through their books during the pandemic they realized they had lost virtually no net revenue from suspending sandwich sales despite having formerly sold a shit ton of sandwiches every day. They use premium ingredients and even before the pandemic supply-chain issues just hadn’t been making more than pennies on them at the end due to rising material costs for higher-end meat, artisan bread, etc. That’s a more high-end place, but the same holds elsewhere. Shit just costs more than it used to 
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I genuinely love these burger threads, even though they are always the same. Nobody can come to a consensus on what a good burger place is and everything is overpriced 
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The closest I’ve seen is pljeskavica at former Yugoslavian restaurants, but that is often made without lamb, and when made with lamb often mixed with beef (which is a good combo.) Often referred to as a “Serbian burger” but it’s not served on your normal hamburger buns with your usual American hamburger toppings.
There’s plenty of lamb on menus if you go to Greek or Middle Eastern restaurants. Lamb is found in most grocery stores around here, as well. I could find some combination of chops, breast, leg, shoulder, ground lamb depending on the store.
The long-gone coffee shop in the Petroleum Building (south of DTLA where I worked in the late 70s) had a Canadian burger (the staff – all except the cashier Josie – were French Canadian) that was the only burger I ordered from there. It was just a great combination.
Oh, agree completely.
I’m just pushing back on the meme that seems to be common around here and in other social media spaces that somehow 5 Guys is yugely vastly more expensive than any other fast-ish food burger.
IMO / IME that’s not even remotely true. They’re all more expensive that we all remember from pre-COVD, much less from 2010 or 1985.
I’m glad that I really don’t mind cooking or cleaning up after, and my wife does the shopping. Periodically, after what we think was a very good meal, we’ll estimate what it cost. It is a pretty exceptional meal (for 2) that would exceed $17.14. (And we are generally very pleased with meals costing WAY less - like beans and rice, or spaghetti squash.)
I wonder how many 10s of thousands of dollars we’ve saved by not eating out often…
That means the medium Baconator combo was less than a dollar more than just the Bacon Cheeseburger alone from Five Guys ($12.50 pre tax per the receipt photo).
Food is all around more expensive but Five Guys still feels like it’s notably overpriced. YMMV.
There’s no question that cooking at home is always far less expensive than eating out.
I’m ashamed to say I’ve been scared of the stove ever since I accidentally burned my hand on it as a toddler.
A general rule of thumb in the food industry is that you charge 3-4x ingredient cost for what your serve if you want to stay afloat. So, yeah, I mean, no kidding it saves money to eat at home. If they provided food at anything near even double cost, they’d soon be out of business. It always annoys me when people whine “I can make this at home for $4!” Well, duh. Then stay home and make it for $4.
Yeah - I often think I am fortunate that I do not “get” the attraction of eating out. (Tho I’m sure others would feel my mindset a horrible loss.) It has allowed me to spend money on things that are much more important to me.
I love eating out, but we do it like … I dunno, once a week at most, and that means going to McDonald’s or Culver’s or Chick-Fil-A with the kids for lunch after they do skating. Maybe once a month do I go to a proper sit-down restaurant with my friends or cousin.
ETA: OH, I forgot, it being Lent we do the fish fries at the churches every week pretty much.
Cool. We all make our choices. For me, food is basically fuel. But I never liked paying bar prices for booze, or for Starbucks when I can brew my own. Or going out to lunch at work when I can bring a PBJ and some fruit.
I’m trying to remember the last time I ate a meal at a restaurant. Maybe 3 months ago with some old neighbors - and it was very mediocre (but cheap.)
I live alone; very, very alone. Sometimes planning meals, shopping, prepping, cooking, and cleaning up feels like a lot of trouble to go to for just one person. If I didn’t go out for a burrito (or something) for dinner, I might go several days without any human contact.
I like draft beer. Difficult to duplicate that at home, and even if I had a keg system (I don’t out of fear for how much I’d consume) I’d be stuck drinking one specific draft beer.
I never buy Starbucks, I totally get you there.