Do you still enjoy eating at restaurants page 4

[Mud Flinger]

I rarely go out anymore as I avoid nightshades at all costs and have been " cross contaminated" too many times. Potatoes are often fried on the same grill as meat and eggs, so even though I say " no potatoes, peppers or tomatoes" they often do sneak in. I do love going to Macaroni Grill though as they have a great warm spinach salad with huge sea scallops and I have never had a reaction from there.

I also agree with the comments on food quality most places. Wild caught fish is too expensive they say and no one would want to pay for it is the excuse I often get. That or the portion sizes at places like Bone Fish are laughably small for the person who isn't filling up on French fries and appetizers.

I feel good paying $2200 ($5.75/lb) for a whole cow knowing that I am getting top quality meat for my family and that I am not wasting money on convenience. I stock up on wild caught fish when it is on sale (spent almost $200 yesterday on salmon, king crab and lobster) so that I can smoke my own salmon and enjoy the rare treat of crab and lobster guilt free

[noodletoy]

i love to cook, but since i work full-time in a restaurant, i enjoy going out and being waited on. boston is a densely populated city, so very little room for big chains. there simply isn't real estate available for their required footprints. i have no idea where the nearest applebee's or chili's is located.

i am friendly with many chef/owners and know where much of the food they serve and i eat comes from.

we have a very vibrant nose-to-tail scene for chefs here and i am frankly too lazy to make my own charcuterie.

am happy to have somebody shuck oysters for me while i sip a glass of wine.

we eat sashimi/sushi out a few times per month and have access to lots of great authentic southeast asian places.

we're spoiled, i guess, since so many americans live in culinary wastelands where a "chinese" buffet is considered dinner out. blech.

[Urban Forager]

So, what I get from this post is that I really need to figure out a way to eat at your place

Hey Canio, you'd be more than welcome. I love cooking for guests! Seems like most of our friends are vegetarians, I could use some more primal friends.

[Narcolepticjenn]

I like to think of eating out as a game. I get a menu and have to find the primal option on it, or create one by omitting whatever ingredients (croutons, American cheese, etc). The more non-primal things I avoid, like bread or chips/ salsa that comes to our table, the more points I get in the game. Then at the end of the meal, when others are uncomfortably full and sleepy and I am fine, I feel victorious. I'm not trying to beat my friends, of course, since they're not playing the game with me. It's more like I beat the menu, or a previous version of myself that would have made completely different choices.