Yeah, but the same can be said (& is) by people we both know who feel that, if you’re only spending $8 on a meal, the ingredients couldn’t be worth eating it. I’m not trying to convince you or them that they should try some of the great eating experiences I’ve had at both the higher range and the lower range, only to point out that my eating at a place that charges a lot is not solely related to making me feel special (since I have so many people who surround me and think I’m “special” - much looser definition of that word of course, but still…) but also related to some of the great product being turned out that I really enjoy. Of course there are pretentious unworthy expensive places, but there is also crap served cheap. The trick is to find the places/meals worthy of not only my money, but my time and (obviously) my calories.
Of course, because it isn’t. I’m on a pretty tight budget myself and can hardly fling restaurant money around with abandon. But writing off a whole tier of dining because it’s out of your reach strikes me as a little fox-and-the-grapes.
My reasons for eschewing most dining out aren’t just financial, it’s the poor experience and lack of desire. It’s not really fun and the food is almost always disappointing. I never enjoyed fine dining. It’s like sitting on the plastic covered couch at Grandma’s house.
If I want a fancy meal I could figure it out but it’s not worth it to me. And the experiences have turned me off.
Steve thinks my comment about feeling special is irrelevant but it wasn’t to the person that just posted about becoming a regular.
And I don’t think spending $8 risks poor ingredients and execution any more than spending a lot guarantees the opposite. If I spend $8 on a disappointing meal, I (personally) would be a lot less upset than if I spent $100. Is the argument that halal carts and The Grill are really the same?
I wish I was romanced by restaurant dining but I’m not. I have a dishwasher. It’s me.
Well, sure. But usually when I spend $100 on a meal, I’m pretty happy with it. There are exceptions, but they’re rare. I do my advance work.
So do I. That’s why I am here and on other sites.
That’s why I have given up.
That looks like zha leung? I see there’s a rice roll with shumai on their menu, no idea what that is though.
One of these days Ima take you somewhere and feed you fancy food. But you have to wait, 'cause I’m broke, now.
There is a close-up shot in an earlier post: it’s pork and shrimp shumai filling inside a youtiao inside a rice roll
“Shumai,” in this context, means that it is filled with ground pork such as would otherwise be used in shumai. Likewise, on a February crawl, the meatball bánh mì we ordered at Saigon Vietnamese Sandwich was branded a bánh mì xiêu mại.
Obviously we all define our own value proposition. For me, after a career that allowed me to eat at high end restaurants, I came to the realization that I dislike dealing with the waitstaff, telling the somm that I can pick a bottle of wine and too often, finding food prep precise but soulless.
I don’t find a sameness with inexpensive food cause especially in nyc, we have a huge set in of diverse choices (avoiding the E word is getting really tedious).
But yeah, to each his own.
New thread:
