A long time friend of mine was born with defective eyes. He can see light & color fine, but can’t focus much past 6" from his face.
His life has been difficult and circumscribed.
He is the cook in his household whole his wife is / was the breadwinner. She ought to retired along about now.
He cooks 100% of what they eat in the oven. The stove is too dangerous for him.
Same here. Not for the human contact but all the other stuff. I don’t care how fun and easy it is for everyone else in the world - for ME, planning, shopping, cooking, and cleaning up after are exhausting chores.
I still don’t eat out much but the #1 reason for me to eat out is “so I can have a full tummy with none of the extra work.”
One name I notice that is missing: Fatburger. Somebody tried opening one in the San Francisco area a few years ago - I think he played for the Oakland Raiders - but it closed about a year later and is a Five Guys now, although they are starting to pop up again. The first I had heard of it was in Vegas.
The Habit and In & Out are in the area as well, but I don’t really see the love for them, although I don’t really like toppings on my burgers besides cheese, bacon, BBQ sauce, leaf (not shredded) lettuce, and occasionally bacon (but not with BBQ sauce as well), and the taste doesn’t justify the extra cost for what comes across as just another double cheeseburger. Okay, In & Out fries are probably the best I have had, provided I eat them before they get cold; they lose something if you have to reheat them.
Plus, if you want a full, hot meal, it can be more difficult to make one portion, so, you end up eating the same thing for 3 or 4 days. Boring. Sure, I can make a sandwich, but that’s not very interesting either. I really don’t eat out that much, but it’s a nice change of pace from prepping, cooking, and clean up. It’s a small luxury to be served.
Since my wife died 2+ years ago I eat substantially every meal in a restaurant. I make about 50% of breakfasts at home, but lunch & dinner are either skipped or are out, period. Except on the rare occasions that lunch [today] is [yesterday’s] dinner’s leftovers I took home. I rarely bring food home.
I’m sitting in one now as I’m typing, having finished my Caesar salad and awaiting my prime rib and loaded potato while sipping my glass of crappy Cabernet.
I was the cook for most of our marriage and I did it skillfully without complaint. Whether basic weekday meals or a Holiday Feaste for 15 guests. But cooking for one is just so enervating. Yes, I can still make a big batch of [whatever] and freeze 13 of the 14 portions for later. But doing the usual meat + starch + veg for one? Uggh!
Having traveled for a living and therefore eating out of necessity 8-12 days every month for decades, quitting cooking was an easy transition to make.
Bottom line:
Can I cook? You bet. Do I cook? Not really.
Yeah, we all have different relationships with food and cooking. For me, cooking is a proxy to my mental state. If I stop cooking, you know something is really wrong with me. (Same with if I stop doing the crossword. My New York Times crossword history may as well be a mood log.) But I could imagine myself enjoying the trips out and being out and about instead of home alone by myself, cooking. (Though when I was younger in that position, I enjoyed it just fine, and just hit up the pub afterwards 
)
Adulthood is when you can have hamburgers or pizza for dinner every night if you want. And then when you do it, it’s only to use up the ground beef and cheese before they go bad.
I take a crossword with me so I have something to do when I eat out. My favorite constructors just retired and put all their puzzles in an online archive.
For me, I spent 30+ years being the person responsible for putting meals on the table for others. Nowadays, I’m delighted to let someplace else feed me a night or two a week.
That is very sweet. To me, cooking is an expression of love and I think it’s wonderful that you show yourself so much love!! 
Also…
Atta girl!
I’m visiting SoCal this weekend and I had a “The Habit” burger & fries for the first time in my life today. Based somewhat on recommendations from this thread.
Gosh what a waste of calories that was. Nasty McD’s equivalent fast food burger meat, cheap cheese, and soggy undercooked limp fries.
They also fouled up my highly complex order for a “number 2 no mayo” and put mayo on it anyhow. There wasn’t even a language barrier as both the counter clerk and I were generic white folks from the same home town, albeit 50 years apart. My companions insisted on eating elsewhere, so we had the stuff takeout and the mayo error wasn’t detected until it was too late to correct.
Color me disappointed.
Tomorrow I’m going to The Hat for lunch. Here’s hoping that hasn’t fallen apart too.
Which one?
Not sure who you were talking to or what you’re trying to ask, but assuming it was directed at me.
I’m staying in Laguna Beach. I got my Habit burger at the outlet in Dana Point. I intend to visit The Hat location in Lake Forest, probably near opening. Nothing like pastrami fries or burger for breakfast!
I’m considering making today a full assault on my aging belly and hitting the Original Tommy’s up in LA proper on Rampart for a chili burger too.
There you go! Anything worth doing is worth over-doing!
I’m at The Hat now. I ordered a Pastrami Dip sandwich and a chili cheese fries. Knowing that’d be way too much food.
I can’t eat more than about half the sandwich and 10% of the chili fries. Truly yuge.
My verdict:
Pastrami good, sandwich bun indifferent. Fries need more salt but good. Chili is real meaty, but would be better with lots of hot sauce.
I’m watching a retired couple sharing a single pastrami dip & a single order of onion rings. They’ll have leftovers.
Bottom line:
If I was local it’d be real high on my fast-ish food rotation. Can recommend. 
I was wondering yesterday what the best sandwich chain was, if you expand the OP (which I am reluctant to do). A lot of American sandwich chains are not (or are just recently) a thing in Canada. A lot of my personal favourites are Montreal delis, not chains and not usually of too much use to me now. I don’t know where to get a worthy Italian Beef sandwich in Canada, outside of the biggest city.
Now you’re talking. At a certain point it comes down to the toppings/condiments, and you can’t do better than a Tommy’s dripping with chili and American cheese.
I had my Tommy’s. Although I didn’t drive all the way to Mecca at Beverly and Rampart. I was surprised to learn quite how many outlets they now have, and settled for one in central Orange County.
I had a chili cheeseburger & plain fries. Much more normal sized servings vs. The Hat. The fries were nice, if fairly standard in texture & cut. decent burger, but the chili made it. It’s now long enough ago since Tommy’s was a hangout for me that there wasn’t any specific nostalgia for the flavors and textures, but overall it’s a darn good chiliburger. Absent the chili, it’d probably be a pretty ordinary thin-patty bread-heavy burger.
When I worked in the San Gabriel Valley, The Hat (with several locations there) was a several times a month stop for me and coworkers. That was back when I was much more active and had a correspondingly higher metabolism. I’d probably have to split a sandwich with at least three people to finish it these days.
Not counting the dozens and dozens of copycats.
IN N OUT bruh
This is the first time InAndOutBruh has posted. Let’s welcome them to our community!