I love trying new things but I am a cheapskate. I detest how some places give a fancy name to something basic, drizzle it or the plate with raspberry syrup and call it gourmet. LOL I also don't care for deconstructed menu items.

I make it a rule to treat myself to something to something new when I go on my road trips. I had a huge triple (maybe quadruple) thick cut pork chop cooked med rare on one. I would never have thought to find one at home. It was wonderful. I also go to ethnic restaurants with friends and let them order their favorite dishes. It is not a fun experience for me dining with others at a Chinese restaurant where all they want is chow mein, fried rice and sweet and sour pork. So boring. I want to try the clay pots, the spicy things and the mystery seafood items.

On the flip side I love good old fashioned diner and family restaurant food. The places that give you salad and soup, bring a bread basket to the table and serve up hand breaded chicken fried steak or liver and onions then ply you with a scoop of jello pudding or ice cream for dessert.

That is an interesting question! Think I'm medium adventurous but I don't care for dishes that are x with shaved Y and scrambled bits of Z drizzled with A etc. I like tasting the individual things more than bunches of stuff at once. Maybe that's not adventurous lol! hmm. Guess it may not hold a candle to some of the super adventurous stuff (I'd consider things like live insects, raw offals, eating the heads of stuff, very adventurous). ETA we love trying all kinds of restaurants but favor casual and less expensive...love trying regional foods.

I can make those mashed potatoes at home, and most of what I'd find in a diner. And there are a world of good restaurants that are in the level between diner and haute cuisine. I love eating out, last night at a local place I had tilapia provencal with tomatoes, scallions, mushrooms, white wine lemon butter,band Jim had a sausage and gnocchi dish.

Watchme, i would be one of those people in the chinese restaurant! :)

I also like a buffet but feel like it costs a lot more than what I eat. I can eat on a seafood buffet though!

Sushi, the best fish I have ever had was with a white wine butter sauce. brings back good memories of years past.

I love Caribbean cuisine, if its mildly spiced. I like those dry rubs.

Just realized I haven't had conch in 40 years. at one time it was a fav.

I don't consider myself to be a "foodie adventurer," either, but I do like good food that is prepared well. And, I have found that well-prepared good food can be found in both "fine dining" and "family diner" type establishments. I don't like what my Hubs and I call "pinkies up" food -- you know the stuff... The total of food that is on your plate would fit comfortably on a tablespoon and there's usually a tall sprig of something sticking up from it.

One of my favorite places to eat is the Cheesecake Factory. Besides the fact that they have an amazing selection of cheesecakes from which to choose dessert, the menu is extensive. Sometimes it's too difficult to decide what to have! Dress code is casual, too, which is nice.

I don't eat a lot of seafood, even though I know that it's good for you. I do not like lobster. The Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi served at the Tidepools restaurant at the Grand Hyatt on Kauai is my favorite thing to order there, but I don't consider it to be an "adventurous" menu item.

Yep, on those stemmy sprigs! i saw a dish with burning leaves on it. no joke! lol

I've found that the older I've gotten, the more refined my tastes have become.

There are several restaurants that I used to find particularly good that I now consider to be only average at best.

When I go to a restaurant, I want something to taste as good or better than what I make at home, otherwise why am I spending all the extra money?

Perhaps the area I live in doesn't have any true "fine dining", because even those restaurants aren't anything to write home about.

Perhaps my perspective is off as I view going to a restaurant as a treat reserved for special occasions.

Ethnic restaurants are my favorite. I come from a family of adventurous eaters, and I passed this on to my children. I used to say they were raised on ethnic peasant food. :-)

I think what and how people eat shines a light on their personalities in a broader sense. There are people who prefer predictability and sameness in their lives and also in the food they eat. People who aren't open to trying new things are just that, inflexible.

I think variety of all kinds makes life interesting, whether food, experiences, places, people, etc., It's why I love to travel and could never live farther away than an easy and do-able trip to available activities in a thriving large city. Foodwise, we regularly eat a wide variety of food types and ethnic styles and are lucky that so much is available in our area.

Good cooking is about the ability of the chef and doesn't necessarily involve "fine dining": Take me to a frumpy (but hopefully clean) place where the kitchen has been recognized for what it does and I'll enjoy it just fine. When cost is a consideration, people wanting variety can learn how to cook new things at home. Many who eat the same things at home over and over again with no experimenting with new dishes do so by choice, not because variety it isn't possible.

I hate the word "foodie", it's over-used and not that meaningful to begin with.

But the word "foodie" is trendy. Come on, Elmer, spice up your slanguage a little. Say the word out loud. You might like the way it rolls off your tongue. :)

Haha, I believe it!

I like good quality ingredients prepared simply which is not to say that I eschew spice or seasonings, but I'm not interested in overly complicated dishes that are a reflection of the chef's ego rather than a wonderful flavor combination.

We went out to a Chinese buffet tonight.

I don't care that much for buffets. I always feel like I want to try too much and eat more than I normally do. I don't go to diners either. I'm actually kinda boring. I love all kinds of pasta so we go to the Italian restaurants the most. Second favorite is Thai and there are a gazillion of them within a few miles from my house. I don't eat meat and I like farm to restaurant organic places too. Daughter took me to a great one near the White House called Founding farmers.

Ah, heck. Now I want a Press Room pork chop. I can make my own, but it is nice when someone else prepares the meal once in a while. Too bad it is a bit of a trip.

Buffet foods always taste too bland for my buds. No silly eggs on top of my food; even for breakfast, if having eggs, I prefer them separate. I've tasted enough items that I generally know if something prepared paired with an unexpected ingredient will be to my taste. I'd have no problems with cashew snapper--would not consider that even mildly adventurous. Still miss that Mexican restaurant with three types of enchiladas with three different sauces...all great. Good, complex sauces. Yes! And none of that drizzle nonsense. Give me a cup of it on the side, and let me generously spoon it on.

I am not into fine dining and I guess I probably have never eaten at a diner either, somewhere in between. There is a tavern in town that has some pretty good food, I have also heard that there is another new one also in town, but have not been to it. I think I am more the Bob Evan's type. I love their soups. I probably have not been there in over two years.

Sue

I like my eggs off to the side or even on a separate plate depending on the type of breakfast. But I do like to indulge in a good bacon cheeseburger with a fried egg on top once or twice a year.

Lucky to live in an area where real Mexican food abounds to suit all tastes.

My father was a country club manager. We got dressed up and ate there almost every day. The only casual food they served was on the golfers patio where you could order a club sandwich. Now.....I'm aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall about hot dogs and Taco Bell! :0) I call diet cola ambrosia. :0) Macaroni and cheese, potato chips.....I have no memory of eating before I left home. Doesn't everyone have a 3' swan ice sculpture on their serving table and a dessert cart that comes around, to you..... lol

I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't eat out often, maybe once every 3 months. So when I do I like to go to a good restaurant that prepares food in ways that I can't or don't know how. I am also frugal so while it bothers me a bit to pay $38 for halibut, I will because I know it's going to be delicious and well prepared.

But even though I am frugal I don't like cheap food. It's usually deep fried and I try to eat healthy. For that reason I don't like buffets. It's usually cheap food (ingredient wise) and honestly not that tasty, at least the buffets around here. And who wants all-you-can-eat, really? They charge a lot for buffets around here so you feel like you need to eat lot to get your money's worth, then you're stuffed on deep-fried, unhealthy food.

I'm like Casey. Middle of the road. I have found that the more high end, the smaller the portions!

It's funny, I used to make fun (to myself) of friends who would "I only eat the lamb chops at........" or only have the "the filet of sole at....." Now it seems, I am one of those people!

We have a few restaurants that are our favorites and I look forward to getting the same few dishes.

I also don't like buffets, although we always go to a Chinese one in Asheville with my sister when we visit. I find that I over eat and I am always nervous about germs. You are sharing utensils with the masses and who know who sneezed or took a sample with their fingers?

I think service is the key to the overall experience. We have a favorite Italian restaurant and the waiters are amazing. It is a small place, put they worked on the acoustics and the place is intimate and relatively quiet. I hate to spend money on an expensive meal in a place where you have to shout over the table to hear each other.

I like fine dining occasionally. Mostly, I want creative cooking at a reasonable price, or great home cooking types of meals.

We live in an area where it's getting fashionable to charge approaching the $500 mark pp. Fortunately, we also have an amazing array of ethnic food which is delicious and inexpensive.

I love ethnic food, bring on the Ethiopian, Thai, Japanese, Turkish, Lebanese and Greek food. We don't eat out often, when we do it's always something ethnic. I can't do a greasy spoon restaurant, I just don't like the food, I think it's because I was raised on ethnic food. I love to cook, so usually that's what I do, and it's 70% of the time something ethnic. I grew up watching my father eat Kim chi, seaweed, and lot's of other ethnic foods, and I always tried and appreciated them. My favorite food is Cajun/ Creole. I really love how well spiced thefood is at some of the restaurants in New Orleans. My favorite restaurant is Oceania in New Orleans. Chipotle is ALWAYS good too lol!

I eat so little at a meal that it's a waste of money to take me out. I can't tolerate many spices or heavy sauces. I appreciate well prepared food, well presented, but eating doesn't normally occupy much of my brain. I'm invariably the last person at the table to be finished eating. (Why does 'everyone' eat so FAST?)

Chisue, I just said the same thing last night. You spent 1 or more hour making a dinner and they are scarfing it down like it will vaporize off the table if they don't eat it NOW!

I have been to more home dinners with friends where I was still eating the main course and the hostess is clearing off plates of finished diners and starting to serve dessert. Sorry, but I like to savor the meal. Slow down and enjoy the meal and the company.

Like Sushi, I like to eat out with meals I don't or can't make at home.

My mom has always said that everybody else eats too fast. All the rest of us always said that she just ate too slow. :-)

I'm mostly open to eat anywhere. Our local coffee shop has pretty good food. Last night I had a BLT. We have an international world of restaurants in So. CA--you name it! Not too crazy about Korean BBQ. Love Vietnamese, Mediterranean.

As for fine dining, I guess I'm cheap, hate to pay $30+ for a dinner but DH doesn't mind it, likes upscale restaurants. Oh, and I think pasta dishes are ridiculously overpriced. It's noodles, just noodles!

I want fresh food with flavor. Doesn't have to be fancy. I'll try the quail and quail eggs,. I'm just as happy with something simple done well. We have lots of ethnic restaurants. I've tried a lot of things I have never had the opportunity to before. Always amazed at how simple some of the food can be and yet so tasty. I find I don't like some of the blander food any more.

when I read the posts about eggs on the side I started laughing. When I order a salad I usually have French and thousand island on the side. When we down in Savannah Georgia this summer we ate at Red Lobster. I asked for my dressing on the side. She brought it to me with one poured on one side of the salad and the other one poured on the other side. I said OK that's a first for me. I just laughed and ate the middle of my salad with just a little of the dressing. I guess I would rather eat at a cheaper place. There is a steakhouse about 20 miles from here that I like but it is not fine dining but the food is really good. When you order a steak it is like getting a roast it is about 2 inches thick. We usually bring enough home for a few more meals. I enjoy buffets and good home cooking. I always say there really isn't any restaurant that really impresses me. Maybe that is because I was a cook for over 35 years in a restaurant and I expect too much. When I was a cook I always said if I am going to cook the food is going to be good. I do try odd things though. I remember when I tried scallops and they tasted like I had sand in my mouth, they were all gritty. I tried quail one time too and I got really sick. I thought I had food poisoning. I remember driving and hanging my head out the window vomiting. Turned out to be a kidney stone though.

I really like German food.

I love fine dining every six weeks or so. In between I'm happy with more run of the mill restaurants. Depending on where you live your perception of what a restaurant is may vary quite a bit. Real plain food I can make at at home.

Love to cook and love to dine out. Both ethnic and fine dining, this area is stuffed solid with restaurants at every price point. However, the BBQ is awful, lol.

But that's okay as our best friends have an amazing pellet BBQ and she adores using it. I bring the meat and she cooks it!

All right, how long do YOU normally take to eat lunch or dinner in a restaurant?

I sometimes see a couple who apparently have no more time pressure than we do seated near where DH and I have just ordered lunch. They order order more food than we did, and it comes after ours, yet they are up and gone before I've finished. I'd guess it's about 15 minutes from arrival of food to departure of consumers.

It can't be that *everyone* grew up fighting ten siblings for food at home or had short times to eat at school or in the military.

No wonder there are so many medications being hawked for 'indigestion'!

If you ask the average Continental European of his/her impression of restaurants in America, they'll say:

-meals seem rushed, the pace is too fast

-the portions are too large

-service in a true sense (as they are accustomed to it) is poor

I'm with Texas_Gem - I want a restaurant meal to be as good or better than what I can make at home and I prefer good quality food over large portions. In May, I had the most wonderful vegetarian risotto in Paris. Very simple, not a gigantic portion, but fresh, delicious and satisfying.

Both my DH and I would much rather eat at home than go out. When we do, it's usually to a more casual low key place. I'm also a finicky eater with a relatively limited palate. I suspect it's because we were raised on a limited menu of meat, potatoes and canned veggies growing up. As a young adult, I was a single mother so of course healthy affordable food was the goal and expanding my palate was not a priority then either. Now that I'm older, I'll try something new once in a while, but I'm really not interested in food like a lot of people are.

Even though I'm a finicky eater, I'm quite the opposite of Elmer Fudd's generalized claim about us being inflexible. I'm actually quite flexible and accomodating. I understand most people tend to like variety so I usually cook two menus (from scratch) and that's whether we have company or it's just me and my DH. It's important to me that every tummy is happy.

"Even though I'm a finicky eater, I'm quite the opposite of Elmer Fudd's generalized claim about us being inflexible."

Someone who describes themselves as a finicky eater with a limited palate is the best possible example of a person who's inflexible in what they eat. Am I missing something?

I live in an area with wonderful restaurants and adventuresome chefs, with a focus on local, fresh ingredients. Lots of Asian and Asian fusion restaurants with amazing dishes, great sushi restaurants, other ethnic restaurants, as well; seafood with almost unlimited fresh choices, many excellent vegetarian restaurants or at least choices, etc. So I am really inclined to dine in those kinds of places given my druthers, because I love that kind of food. I don't mind spending $$$ on fine dining and am blessed to be able to afford it.

That said, I'd prefer diner food for breakfast nearly every time. And a good pub meal is easy to find here, too.

"People who aren't open to trying new things are just that, inflexible.

No one mentioned being inflexible until your comment, now it you're trying to clarify it. That doesn't make sense though because typically people with a limited palate are not up for the unpleasant experience of trying something that has literally no appeal to them, so of course they aren't flexible in regards food that is a given.

Your statement was unnecessary and leads to the perception that finicky eaters are inflexible period which I avoided saying before but is utterly ridiculous and in my experience completely not true. I disagree with it and said so...that's all.

I find that that we are becoming more adventurous with food, both fine dining and cooking in. I'm still working and eat lunch out about 3 days a week. One relatively expensive lunch (around $30 every other week or so). Rarely sandwiches (although one of my favorites does a great pinemto cheese on sourdough). There is a great Asian fusion place across the street and a cafeteria that has been in business for more than 60 years down the street -- live Thursday's -- liver day! Lots of good salads around. At home, I like to cook, but have primarily stayed with southern fare -- lots of veggies, fresh tomatoes and, yes, fried foods too. Lately we've been doing blue apron 3 nights a week and I love it -- everything is so fresh and I'm learning new recipes that will become standards. It's not as quick and easy as advertised, but well worth the effort.

We will be moving to a place next year that has wonderful creative restaurants and lots of local flavor. I can't wait. Our current little suburban town really doesn't have any good evening options --although one barbecue place does a great barbecue salad.

"That doesn't make sense though because typically people with a limited
palate are not up for the unpleasant experience of trying something that
has literally no appeal to them, so of course they aren't flexible"

This is a tautology, a circular statement that ends as it began.

The thread moved into how or if people find enjoyment from a variety of foods and styles. The popularity of good ethnic restaurants and other restaurants with some degree of novelty in what they do shows that many, many people are happy to try new things to avoid monotony in what they eat. Others, and you're saying you're like this, are inflexible with what they eat and so prefer a sameness with what they have. I think those with this preference are in the minority, certainly so in my area.

Eat as you prefer, it's your choice, but as I used to tell my kids when they were little, you can't tell me you dislike eating things you've never tried.

Like others, when I go out, I want something that I "don't/can't/won't" prepare at home. I enjoy both casual and "fine" dining, so long as the food is good. If it advertises good "home-style" cooking," I'm not going there!

I love to try new things, and l haven't found any ethnic foods that I don't enjoy. My sons and their wives like the same kinds of foods I do, which make it really nice when we're together.

Since I don't particularly like to cook (it makes the kitchen dirty :) going out to eat is always a treat. I love casual. I hate overpriced pretentious places. I love our many neighborhood cafes for good burgers, sandwiches, fish fries, etc. I also love good pasta from the local Italian eatery, and Indian, Asian, and Middle Eastern restaurants. I'm lucky to live in a place with a lot of small ethnic mom and pop places with outstanding food.

Casual. Even getting gift cards to high-end restaurants don't excite us. I'd rather sell it, then go to a restaurant we both prefer.

We never do the chain restaurants, except on occasion when a friend asks us to accompany him to the Mandarin Buffet Chinese. They've really raised their prices recently and we don't feel that it's worth $20 each, and that's lunch pricing. You can eat all you want of course, but the food is just average.

Wanting and can not have are two different things. Since I have been put on gluten, dairy, soy, spicy, no tomato product, no onion, no garlic, no caffeine, no chocolate diet, eating is hard and not a happy experience for me any more but I used to love most everything no matter if it was a diner or fine-food restaurant.

That's rough, phoggie. :(

I'll eat at any place, big or small, relaxed or fussy. "Fine dining" and "diner" bring about visions of atmosphere to me. If we're talking atmosphere, I want some place that the server isn't trying to be your best friend and sit down with you; I'm happy to be kind, but make no mistake, we're not best friends. I like pretty crystal that is sparkling and clean, soft music in the background, cherry wood paneling, cloth napkins, and for the dirty dishes to be taken away as I finish them. I'm happy to be sitting on cane chairs, outside looking at the view and sand under foot, so it doesn't have to be high end.

I like all food that tastes good. The gamut, whoever makes it, and wherever they serve it.

"Im not a foodie adventurer who would want pheasant with a cider gel or candied beetroot for dessert. I don't want my snapper encrusted in cashews. the only oil I want in my mashed potatoes is good ole butter. "

I'd try the pheasant and probably love it, but candied any fruit or veggie is totally lost on me. And I can't eat tree nuts. Yes, I prefer butter on my mashed potatoes. (But, yeah, if you can convince me it really IS truffle oil I'm paying for, I'll try it -- usually it won't be.)

BUT, I'd rather go ethnic (Asian, Middle-Eastern, for instance) than eat fine dining or at the family diner -- although I've often enjoyed both of those latter occasions, too. I just guess I don't want to eat the same ole same ole every time I go out, so varying it up does wonders for me.

(I do dislike most Italian eateries -- since I am low-gluten, having both bread AND pasta at the same meal is overdoing the starches. I am usually relegated to ordering the salmon dish, which I can cook up well enough at home myself.)

I am a foodie adventurer -- and sometimes I'm happy to adventure into that local diner, because they serve (at the two or three I like near me) really good food.

Sounds like Elmer is pretty inflexible on his foodie words! :)

I want good food when I eat, whether making it at home, someone else's home or out. When I go out and know something's good I don't find it inflexible to order that than be disappointed trying something new just for the sake of trying something new. I detest paying for something I didn't like, especially when the likable option was there. Trying different things is good. I would like to know if someone else has tried it and liked it or at least could describe it. Service staff seldom seem to eat the food there at anything more than a diner type place and their canned descriptions don't give much information. I don't like going to eat and leave hungry. I don't think it's asking too much to want good food at a reasonable price. I have a few favorite places. There really isn't a "good" buffet around here anymore but I liked to be able to try some things and if I didn't like it, could get something else. The only one around now is Golden Corral and they're mediocre at best. I know a great mom & pop place and their breakfasts are the best part of their menu.

Oh, and "adventurous", well it can be at least adventurous if not downright dangerous to eat at some peoples' places! I'd rather eat at McDonalds than eat my sister-in-law's cooking.

Both! We enjoy a fine meal, well-prepared with locally sourced food. We do not enjoy buffets as a general rule. But we also enjoy a visit to a local BBQ joint or even a Cracker Barrel breakfast (or one of our local breakfast haunts) or local diners for lunch or dinner. Even some of the chains are pretty good on occasion (Bonefish, Cheesecake factory but we don't have one here, Carrabas). We do have several very good ethnic restaurants we enjoy (Thai, German, Mexican) that are very reasonable. About the only fast food place I go to is Chick-Fil-A.

My family in general are good cooks, so it's a real treat if my brother is the chef for the evening.

Oh, and one of my favorite places to eat when in a larger city is a restaurant affiliated with a Culinary Arts Institute. The one in Portland is wonderful.