OT - Why do you dine out? What do you seek in dining out?

[FearlessF]

I find peeling fresh garlic is much more tedious than washing pots and pans

but, it's worth it

[Brutus Buckeye]

Hard to believe that after a decade (more??) of posting here you haven't succumbed. It's like half of what we talk about for God's sake. I'm sure there is a recipe or two around here that you could do.

Alright, in pondering the time frame I would say that I probably started posting around 2010. So not quite a decade, but a pretty good guesstimate nonetheless. 
One of the first things I learned was to steer clear of the culinary threads. Those are aimed at posters that are already quite passionate about some gourmet cooking. That's like skipping algebra, and going straight from long division to calculus. Certainly not a great launching point. 

[Brutus Buckeye]

I find peeling fresh garlic is much more tedious than washing pots and pans

but, it's worth it

Now THAT I do know. 
crush it a little in the center with the handle of the knife, and the casing slides right off. Takes two seconds. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I find peeling fresh garlic is much more tedious than washing pots and pans

but, it's worth it

I used to do that. Peeling and mincing fresh garlic. Now I just buy the minced garlic from Costco. I swear we go through one of those big jugs of minced garlic about every 3 weeks or so...

For as much garlic as we use, I like it. I do think the way it is packed makes it a little less pungent, but it gets the job done.

Alright, in pondering the time frame I would say that I probably started posting around 2010. So not quite a decade, but a pretty good guesstimate nonetheless.
One of the first things I learned was to steer clear of the culinary threads. Those are aimed at posters that are already quite passionate about some gourmet cooking. That's like skipping algebra, and going straight from long division to calculus. Certainly not a great launching point.

I get that. The key is to start with what you like. When I started cooking in earnest, it was mostly smoking and grilling. Start with what you know and like, and move on from there.

[FearlessF]

<br /><br /><br /><br />smoked brisket Super Bowl Chili

[Cincydawg]

Incidentally, I was 16 years old before I ever had pizza.  I was 17 when I tried (quasi)Mexican for the first time.  There is a Thai restaurant near us that claims to be the first in Atlanta and opened in 1977.  When I was in college, nobody knew anything about "Chinese food" that I knew of beyond Chef Boy R Dee.  Italian food meant spaghetti, and that was a novelty itself.  Spaghetti night at the cafeteria was as close as I thought I'd ever get to Italy.   French cuisine?  Maybe there was one place in Atlanta, or two, and hyper-expensive, like $10 for a meal.  I'm serious.  I do recall a bar in Athens that featured "German food" of a sort, sausages and kraut mostly and dark Schlitz beer, which was a novelty.  Coors beer was extremely rare and "imported", literally.  No beer was remotely as good as Sam Adams.  Bars served Bud or Miller or Schlitz or PBR.  Miller Lite came out when I was in grad school.  It tasted like watered down Miller.

The term "Buffalo wings" didn't exist outside Buffalo, that I know of.  Fish was apt to be fried and catfish, or some nondescript white fish of uncertain origin.  

If you ever have some time in the ATL, check this place out, and look me up:

https://www.citytap.com/location/atlanta/

[ELA]

Yeah, the canned garlic, for as much as we use, is the only way to go.  I have never been able to tell a difference.  We rub real garlic on the bread to make bruschetta.  I honestly think that might be the only thing we use it for 

[MaximumSam]

I've heard mixed things about the garlic in a jar. I should try it.  I look forward to the farmers markets when you can get hardneck garlic.

[GopherRock]

I eat out far more than I would like to, due mostly to the fact that I'm frequently reffing basketball in small towns an hour or more from Rochester. To add insult to pocketbook injury, the only things open after 9:30 PM outside of downtown are Taco Bell and Applebees. 

[Cincydawg]

I use fresh garlic, as noted, I smash it a bit first with the flat end of the knife after trimming the base.  It peels easily then.  The wife buys some garlic in a jar but it smells kind of nasty to me.  A long time ago I used dried onions a lot in things like chili but no more.  I love onions, the wife does not.

Both onions and garlic contain fairly high levels of some interesting chemicals that might make you live longer (or not), like disulfides and associated compounds.

The chain restaurants (with few exceptions maybe) use the same ingredients cooked the same way at every outlet, I'm talking Olive Garden or Seasons 52 or Capitol Grill.  The gives you consistency, but the cooks in the back are just going through specified motions.  The only art is following directions.

If you go to a "one off" where there is an actual chef with some training, each experience will vary a bit, at times by a lot.  It's more interesting.  I like places where the menu is dictated by what the chef can buy tat looks good and is in season rather than what he has to buy.

[847badgerfan]

I used to do that. Peeling and mincing fresh garlic. Now I just buy the minced garlic from Costco. I swear we go through one of those big jugs of minced garlic about every 3 weeks or so...

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

[847badgerfan]

I've heard mixed things about the garlic in a jar. I should try it.  I look forward to the farmers markets when you can get hardneck garlic.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[SFBadger96]

We go out to get away from the things that distract us at home, to feel pampered, and to eat food that is different than what we make at home.

We've never gone out a lot, but with SFIrish having more things at night and both of us really, really busy, we've been going out a little more than we used to. Thinking about that, it's actually the inverse of what we should be doing--going out generally takes longer than staying in, but it feels like less effort, which is what is in short supply (remaining effort, that is). When it's the two of us, we go to nice restaurants. Feels special.

When we're with the kids, we go to nicer burger and pizza places as much as anything, because they consistently deliver things the kids like. Seems silly, but one of ours isn't very adventurous, the other is a pescaterian. A month or so ago we went to one of our favorite places in Sonoma (wine country) and the youngest--the not adventurous one--really disliked it because he couldn't get the same bland things he normally loves. Even the plain-ish pasta wasn't to his liking. Pretty silly to spring for a great dinner and not to get true enjoyment from it. On top of that, the food SFIrish and I ordered wasn't especially good (meaning, it wasn't way above average, just a little)--a departure from our prior visits there. Such is life.

I like all kinds of food, but SFIrish likes continental food, so we don't often go for Asian, Mexican, or South American varieties, but sometimes. We have a great Indian place in town--our only immediately local Michelin starred restaurant. SFIrish likes that place.

[Cincydawg]

When I had kids, I'd dine out for dinner fairly often if I just felt tired or whatever.  Bob Evans was one favorite place.  I think it helped teach the kids how to behave in public.

I had canvassed which day of the week which restaurant would feature "free kids meals" or whatever.  There was a local "Italian place" (LaRosa's) that had 99 cent all you could eat spaghetti for kids Monday and Tuesday, and the adult version was $5.  That location went out of business.  We would go to the pool in summer for an hour and then down the street to LaRosa's .  We all drank water, no Coke.   Blue Ash Chili was another option back when the Greek couple owned it.  They hadn't changed their menus in like 20 years so a 5 way was still $2.20.  The boy was eating two of those by the time he as 10 or 11.

Sometimes, you just want a break.  Do something a bit different, get out and try something new.  I was lucky to have the financial means to go out when I felt like it.