call me uncultured, but I don't like "fancy" restaurants

[Reverend_Smitty]

I was just watching something on the Travel Channel and they were showing some dish that I'm sure costs $40 a plate and I'm thinking to myself, I wouldn't eat that crap if you paid me $40! Why would you want to pay so much for 3 ounces of something nasty like foie gras? Sure the dishes are beautifully prepared but really if I want to look at art, I'll go to a museum. Plus I feel as if I must be on my best behavior at all times in one of those places. Personally I'd rather go to a place where I can get a burger and a beer, relax with some good friends and just have a good time.

I donno maybe I'm just uncultured...anyone agree with me?

[madinmaryland]

1. Sometimes a steak is good, too!!!

But yea, I prefer i more relaxed atmosphere, where you can just hang out and have a few beers and not worry about being "proper".

[XNASA]

2. I agree with you.

You are uncultured. ;)

[Reverend_Smitty]

3. As long as we are in agreement...

just don't judge me when I use the wrong fork :P

[Gormy Cuss]

14. You're not that uncultured if you insist on using a fork

:P

My problem with high-end restaurants is that the food may be good but not worth the $$ -- it's the service and ambiance is really what costs. I don't mind paying for exquisite food, but I want competent, not fussy service and a comfortable, not elegant, dining room.

[RedStateShame]

4. Have you seen "No Reservations?"

Anthony Bourdain goes to these various locations and shows what the everyday citizen, not the American tourist, eats, and I'd imagine it's just as good, if not better, than what's offered at $40 a plate.

[Reverend_Smitty]

8. I love that show...

I watch it every week. I liked the one where he was in Puerto Rico where he started out the show at the "touristy" bar and got the "authentic" pina colada. It was a hilarious scene, but the places he ended up looked like they had amazing food and you probably wouldn't catch anyone other than locals dining at them

[Shakespeare]

22. BUT...while Bourdain is a devotee of cheap street food (as am I)...

He is, to quote this week's show from India, "A round-heeled pushover for a fine hotel."

:rofl:

I would LOVE to stay at the hotel in India he was so enamored of.

[tjwmason]

5. Chaq'un a son gout.

Put another way, if you want a burger - then have a burger. If you want a beer - then have a beer.

I don't understand why it all has to be turned into a competition between people with different tastes (that comment isn't directed at you, b.t.w.).

[redqueen]

24. I don't see it as a competition, necessarily...

it seems to me to be more a case of confusion / curiosity about different tastes if a person doesn't conform to what whatever another individual expects based on their preferences, experiences, etc.

we do it *all* the time... music, hairstyle, dress, grammar, movies... any matter involving personal taste... there's always plenty of reasons to point and say 'what's wrong with *them*?'

[LisaM]

6. I like both.....

sometimes I just feel like having the atmosphere, though usually I am for the burger and beer.

[Fox Mulder]

7. I don't understand why a certain fork can only be used for a certain food.

I don't get it.

I'm with you. I prefer a good burger/pizza/steak and a beer anyday.

[Reverend_Smitty]

9. your guess is as good as mine...

I actually got yelled at by my roommate for putting the salad forks in with the dinner forks in our silverware drawer, and I thought I was being nice for doing the dishes :eyes:

[GirlinContempt]

13. I get annoyed with my room mate for mixing the cutlery

When I reach for a dinner fork, I don't want to dig for a dinner fork. Dinner forks are larger and differently shaped than, say, dessert forks. They are different because one is better than another for the kind of food it's used with. My cutlery holder has many slots for a reason.

[LeftyMom]

10. I just like food.

As long as the food's good, I'm just as happy eating a $5 veggie burger on a picnic bench or an expensive fancy meal someplace I have to dress up for.

[patcox2]

11. Savoir vivre is not evil.

It is just a form of mindfulness, appreciation.

[GirlinContempt]

12. I feel like I should be on my 'best behaviour' when out in any restaurant

I guess I don't get it.

There are great experiences and tastes to be found from tiny dives to expensive cuisine, and I'd rather just take it all in.

Not directed at you (I don't really know you well enough to pass a judgment one way or another), but I know so many people who've lost their sense of 'time and place'. There is a time and a place for burgers and beer and rowdy conversation, there is a time and place for great steak and subdued enjoyment, and purposefully limiting their experiences usually has one of two effects. 1) They appear boorish and rude, or snobbish and standoffish when forced out of their limits for whatever reason. 2) They wind up snobby and obnoxious on either side of the spectrum.

[GoneOffShore]

15. I love BBQ, I love foie gras

Beer with Q, good sweet white wine with foie gras.

If you're a fan of Bourdain's you know he has cooked at Les Halles in NYC. It's one of the best bistro's I've eaten in outside of Paris. Unpretentious, great food (Steak and fries do it for you?) and a lot of really interesting stuff on the menu.

I'll go to a high end restaurant and have just as good a time as at a BBQ shack. It all has to do with who you're dining with and how you see yourself. Even at $40/plate places they want you to have fun. If someone opens a restaurant they want to share what they can do. Most chefs are pretty down to earth people who love food and cooking. They're not snobs largely, well there is a guy in San Francisco who thinks very highly of himself, but he's one of the exceptions that spring to mind.

[azmouse]

16. I like all kinds of restaurants.

I like burgers and pizza but I also like the formality of dressing up nice and being waited on. Of course, the fancy dining places in Phoenix don't require suits or evening gowns the way some other big city's restaurants might.
I've never found fancy places to be stuffy. The wait staff is always very helpful if you are eating something more exotic and aren't sure how to proceed.
TV tries to portray a fancy restaurant's staff as people who are there only to look down their nose at you. It is soooo not true. If they behaved that way, people who dined there and are spending big bucks to do so, would go elsewhere.

[Midlodemocrat]

17. Me, too. Depending on my mood, I am either pining for

a burger or some delicious Japanese delicacy.

Funny, the older I get the more the atmosphere matters in a nice restaurant. I prefer a lovely view and nice lighting to world class cuisine. I've eaten in some amazing places that didn't thrill me and some not so amazing that did.

[Deja Q]

18. It's a roving symbol of status...

The more you can eat at these insanely priced places means you're a better person.

:crazy:

[crispini]

19. It all depends on what I'm in the mood for.

Hanging with my friends getting a burger at the sports bar is great. I also enjoy the experience of going to a sublimely wonderful restaurant, getting a subtle but fabulous wine and tempting dishes, trying something new, and really appreciating the creativity that goes into a food. It's interesting that you compare it to a museum experience because I do agree, but the food itself is the art, IMO. Not so much as far as the presentation but the TASTE. All of the depth and the subtlety that can occur in a wonderfully prepared dish. Mmmmm!

[Scooter24]

20. I guess it depends on how someone was raised.

I grew up in a family where we weren't allowed to wear jeans, shorts, hats, or tennis shoes to the dinner table.

I enjoy the formality of a nice dinner, regardless of price.

[The_Casual_Observer]

21. They frown on eating peas with a knife too.

[redqueen]

23. I'm with you...

I've eaten at those places and yeah, it tastes great, but I don't enjoy the frou frou environment or the ridiculous looking ways they plate the food.

[kwassa]

25. I don't like burgers very much, just personal preference

I have maybe one a year.

My friends and I used to define a good restaurant experience as Value Per Bite. In other words, how much do you pay for really delicious interesting food? It is easy to pay lots of money for mediocre food or little money for mediocre food. The trick is good food for reasonable money.

I generally go out to eat something that I can't make at home better. This is why I tend to go for ethnic cuisines of various kinds.

The atmosphere has to be acceptable, sometime it is fun to dress up and go someplace fancy, but generally the key is the food and how it is prepared.

[HEyHEY]

26. Depends. I find some places jack up the price for the decor

ANd the food is low-grade dog-kibble. But, then there's some places I'll gladly pay lots to eat at cause the food is so killer.