You’re in luck. There is a thread for that question as well 
Incidentally one I also started 
Yes, it is an avoidance of prions (mad cow, scrapie, etc.).
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Sure.
I still don’t tend to order pork chops out because I make them at home. I don’t tend to order fried eggs out because I make them at home.
There are lots of items I never order because I don’t like them enough to pay for them at a restaurant, or make them at home.
While I make pasta at home, I like ordering pastas out because I like the sauces that are offered.
I don’t order tomato sauce on pasta or gnocchi while out, because I like white sauces, oil sauces and other non tomato sauces more on pasta. I use more tomato sauce on pasta at home because I’m cooking for people who like it
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Things I can make well at home, I never order. Stuff I can’t make at home, or can but don’t want to, I do order.
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I had been improving my bread making , pizza skills, Chinese food skills, Thai food skills, Vietnamese and Indian food skills at home when I was locked down in020 and 2021. We ordered almost no take-out for a year. I even attempted sushi which is something I previously only ordered out. I also made hollandaise for the first time in 2020.
Now that we’re back to more restaurant food, I’ve mostly returned to ordering pizza, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Indian food as a treat, rather than making it at home. I like being able to order 4 or 5 things and having leftovers for 2 days, whereas when I make Indian, Thai , Vietnamese or Chinese food I typically make 1 or 2 dishes.
With pizza, it’s become a game for me. I’m ordering out deluxe pizzas or slices from various good pizza joints we haven’t tried yet, to compare and contrast. My pizza is okay in a pinch, but it’s more of a treat to try the best pizzas being put out by other people.
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I avoid most hummus out, too.
I make the exception for 2 Israeli places that make composed hummus bowls with shawarma and vegetables.
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That’s how my family tends to be, much like @ScottinPollock .
We order seafood or duck 95 percent of the time when dining out.
We eat lamb, beef, pork and chicken at home at least once a week. I now make duck legs around once a month. We order less duck at restaurants now than we did before 2020.
The pandemic kind of forced a lot of us to up our cooking game. I rarely order take-out to be delivered; it just doesn’t make sense for me, but I do bring home already prepared meals if I’m out shopping. Most are good for 2 or 3 servings. I still don’t do pizza from scratch. It, again, is just a waste for me. And frankly, delivery around me, while very plentiful (2 universities), isn’t really exciting.
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The past 8 months, I’ve been bringing home take-out from Toronto to London. ON , rather than buying take-out in London, because very little take-out in London is appealing lately. The population of London,ON has doubled since I was a kid, and is now at 483 000 people. London, ON has less nice independent full service restaurants now than it had 20 to 40 years ago.
I have become more of a snob when it comes to chain food over the past 4 years.
I rather buy good quality steak and cook it at home, than pay for $100 for 2 steak dinners from our nation chain steakhouse .
I have a game where I spend $100 Canadian on take-out for 3, to see how much value I get. My standard take-out order for Polish, Indian, Thai or Chinese food runs around $100 Cdn including tax and tip. Pizzas are running $20- $25 each. A medium or large 3 topping pizza, a pound of wings and a Caesar salad usually runs $60 Cdn to $80 Cdn at the better independent pizza places.
The special occasion restaurants run closer to $150-$200 Cdn for 3, and I only get those meals maybe 3 times a year lately.
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A good plan. I agree with you about the steaks. The last time I went to Ruth’s Chris (admittedly a long time ago), my steak was borderline pathetic. I can get beautiful prime aged steaks from several local purveyors. It’s no problem to prepare them to my liking. I just remembered that a couple of local, non-chain groceries also do catering, so if I order a couple of days in advance, they’ll prepare stuff. I’ve had their catering at people’s houses. It’s good. They’re the places I usually buy takeaway meals from anyway.
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I don’t order seafood at a steak restaurant. And, I don’t order meat at a seafood restaurant.
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Solid rule.
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No wonder confusion reigns.
May I ask, you write that you like a “real” caesar, but then you say you really dislike romaine. Isn’t that the lettuce of a “real” caesar?
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I find that kind of information really helpful in this kind of discussion. I am so unclear regarding how to think about the relative availability of different eating options where I live.
While I technically live in the San Francisco Bay area, most folks in the area would roll their eyes if I claimed that.
My particular city claims around 100k inhabitants (including about 3,500 people housed in “correctional facilities”), but it is within 60 minutes of many “destination restaurants” in San Francisco and Napa. They are rarely if ever weeknight options, but often where we go when dining out.
We are known for the chains that are visible as people pass through on the freeway, but I think we should be known for some of the same “farm to table” possibilities that neighboring Napa is. Nearby Sacramento is starting to lean that way, but I think the demographic changes as you move inland, and with it, how folks think about eating.
There are only one or two restaurants around here that capitalize on that, but it is a boon to the home cook, especially if you garden.
To answer the question, probably the only thing I won’t usually order eat in, or take out, is chicken breast, but I make exceptions. It’s just hard to cook the way I like it, and it seems to me, the bigger the scope ( not sure if that’s the right word, but I need to stop procrastinating, and take care of other business), the harder it is.
ETA, I rarely if ever order carb forward dishes like pasta or rice centered things for health reasons. I might make an exception for the risotto at Cafe La Haye in Sonoma.
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Spaghetti – I go for penne, because I can’t eat spaghetti without getting sauce on myself from flying ends.
Fried rice – seems overpriced for what you get.
AYCE (not counting buffets): my appetite is just not large enough to make it worthwhile. (Though years ago, I did okay at Red Lobster’s AYCE crab legs. As did everyone else – Red Lobster lost a ton of money on it.)
And of course, there are a lot of things I wouldn’t eat anywhere, e.g., lobster, octopus, sea urchin, veal, …
(On the other hand, I have eaten venison, moose, and horse.)
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The best cheese and charcuterie platters I’ve had, especially recently, have been at cheese shops with little dine-in areas. They took the time to ask us what we liked and didn’t like, how many accompaniments we wanted, etc., and those were worth the money.
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it’s not only that . . .
the typical charcuterie “platter” will have 6+/- kinds of cured meats and 4+/- cheeses.
nuts, olives, etc. to dress it up
if you go to the store and buy all the stuff on that platter, you will not find it sliced into “platter” quantities. actually, I have seen prepackaged “trays” - but quite frankly those contain rather ultra-run-of-the-mill stuff . . .
the biggest ‘advantage’ I’ve experienced is being able to sample lots and lots of cheeses - some which one might never even consider…!
I’m pretty fussy about my cheeses - and I have “discovered” a number I really like.
back to the issue of “value” - I cannot find/buy/source the less usual cured cuts and certainly not the cheeses . . . - in small quantities. there is no economy in buying a bunch of stuff and turning it green in the fridge. so unless you do a platter right regular - 2-3x/week - turns out less expensive to let the chef do the construction…
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Well, that’s what’s really nice when you have access to great cheeses and meats, and can buy them in as little as 100g portions.
And all of them will be miles cheaper than having them at the restaurant - like pretty much any dish one has at a restaurant vs. at home.
I never order fois gras or spit roast pig
