# Your Best Meal: At Restaurant, or Friend’s House?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-meal-at-restaurant-or-friend-s-house/983920
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** food-cooking
**Created:** [May 12, 2023, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-meal-at-restaurant-or-friend-s-house/983920 "2023-05-12T02:53:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2023, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-meal-at-restaurant-or-friend-s-house/983920/21 "2023-05-14T18:54:01Z")
> [@Tibby](#):
>
> You should give Joe’s another chance if you’re ever in Miami again (assuming you have more money now than before). The crabs are snapping their claws in anticipation. 🦀🦀🦀
I can certainly afford it now but unfortunately i’m boycotting the state of Florida.
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### Author:  [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-meal-at-restaurant-or-friend-s-house/983920/22 "2023-05-15T14:45:15Z")
Best meal: (this was years ago!) - king crab legs, tiny boiled white potatoes, sweet corn on the cob. Caesar salad. French bread. Dishes of melted butter and lemon wedges . We ate ourselves into a food coma, muttering ‘this is so good, this is so good…’ Today, I can find king crab (fishing has been shut down this year) they are $50 for maybe two, and we can’t ingest all that butter any more. But my word, that was the best seafood meal ever.
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### Author:  [@Blindmellowjelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blindmellowjelly)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2023, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-meal-at-restaurant-or-friend-s-house/983920/23 "2023-05-16T00:54:08Z")
My first encounter with Seafood that Good, or Crustaceans, at least…was when my Mom and Dad took me and my exchange student on a quick Spring Break trip to the New England States, with Bar Harbor as the final destination. So many little roadside "Lobstershacks’ where the fisherman were running a side hustle with potatoes, corn, and and a whole 2lb Lobster boiled in seawater, with giant kettles and propane. $6.95. That’s where I learned to clean and shell a lobster down to the swimmerettes, and even mix the tomally with butter and lemon as a dip.
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### Author:  [@Blindmellowjelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blindmellowjelly)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2023, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-meal-at-restaurant-or-friend-s-house/983920/24 "2023-05-16T01:13:21Z")
I guess a first meal, where you learn a technique, or skill, or “inside” knowledge always “hits different”. Like when I learned the intimate secrets to lobster, or the many times I use chopsticks, or how to clean fish (cleaned hundreds).
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### Author:  [@Amia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amia)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2023, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-meal-at-restaurant-or-friend-s-house/983920/25 "2023-10-28T16:45:48Z")
I find this topic interesting. In my opinion, restaurants
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> Is it true that food is better in the home of a good cook than restaurants with professional chefs and premium ingredients?
>
> [What Home Cooking Does That Restaurants Can’t - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2023/05/home-cooking-restaurants-meals/673916/)
have access to superior cuts of meat, a level above the prime I can buy at Sam’s Club. They have industrial grills that can seat at a high heat BUT, this is huge… they are cooking different meals for many people and most restaurants don’t take the time that I do. I may only prepare one main dish but I never overcook it and I do simple things like cut my veal or chicken into smaller filets so that you get more sauce, coating etc per piece. I hate to tell you but “FAT IS FLAVOR!” So I look for well marbled meat and use white and dark chicken in dishes . I tenderize my breasts and use MSG (Accent). I can make anything a restaurant can but 10x better and I’m not culinarily trained. I love to eat food and so I make it the way I would like it. Full on fat in my sour cream, real butter, heavy cream, salt and no low fat or sugar free. I don’t air fry, yep, I deep fry. I’m not saying that eating healthy isn’t noble but put some thought into this…. Humans are living longer than ever. To be honest , life is expensive so many can’t afford to live longer. I would rather run out of breath than cash. So, you decide. I would rather eat well and enjoy life than live past 100 eating kale. Even breaded and fried! Haha
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [October 31, 2023, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-meal-at-restaurant-or-friend-s-house/983920/26 "2023-10-31T05:35:46Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> Is it true that food is better in the home of a good cook than restaurants with professional chefs and premium ingredients?
False dichotomy when your friends _are_ chefs.
We have a mid-year feast tradition (started as Christmas in July but now more general) every year where each of 7-9 couples makes a dish+drink pairing to theme. 3-4 of those couples include a trained chef (As in - _has run an_ haute cuisine _restaurant_ chef ). The rest of us are at least talented amateurs.
Best of both worlds, indeed.
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2023, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-best-meal-at-restaurant-or-friend-s-house/983920/29 "2023-12-04T13:18:28Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#):
>
> Is it true that food is better in the home of a good cook than restaurants with professional chefs and premium ingredients?
I would say no if the fabulous meal at the restaurant is at a table chaired by people you love. Other than that, I’d say a definite yes.
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