Without question steak. With significantly elevated beef prices the last few years many restaurants including some good ones have switched from very consistent high choice grade branded products to cheaper commodity choice which can be not so good. Then there are the problems others have mentioned getting it cooked to order. Too easy to pick & cook your self at one heck of a savings.
Funny thing about ordering a steak in a restaurant, for me, is that I know the minute I decide on a place that itās what Iām going to order. Either Iāve selected a true āsteakhouseā or a place that has a special cut they prepare famously. I even think about the evening different, āWeāre going out for dinnerā gets ratcheted up to, āWeāre going out for steak!ā
I know a lot of people who really get excited about the prospect of going to a great steakhouse & I used to be one of them. Since figuring out how to do it just as good myself, the increased frequency of having it probably took some of the excitement out of it.
My thing now is getting something I have no clue how to make or something that for reasons of ingredients/time/aggravation is just not practical to do at home. Sometimes just a bowl of over the top āWow Factorā specialty soup fits the bill.
My late grandmother made legendary pies for my grandfatherās restaurant for 30+ years. Nothing since has come anywhere near hers. I gave up looking years agoā¦
Unfortunately restaurant salads are often the best vegetarian choice on the menu (i just canāt bring myself to pay $15+ for pasta unless iām at a great italian place with the homemade stuff). But i dine out to socialize with omni friends and it is what it is.
But my own salads put theirs to shame. Sad piles of leaves with a few random veggies are entirely too common, and i just canāt face another beets with goat cheese version.
So I canāt say I never order them out but i can say itās rare theyāre better than my own
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OK, this just in, having had some out in a place I always liked (and still do for other items) and previously thought was quite good: that āgrandmaā-style Italian pizza. Really not Sicilian, but square and in a sheet. Mine is not square, but is along the same lines, and kicks ass high and hard above anything I eat out anywhere. Guess who will be making pizza at home again soon? 
In general, any dessert unless itās something I absolutely donāt do at home (sfogliatelle, e.g.) or if a restaurant has a pastry chef on premises.
No pasta out, either. Not necessary and so easy to do well at home, even if itās not fresh pasta. And for that, we have an awesome local pasta shop, so I donāt have to have EVERY skill.
The older I get, the tougher I am to impress (HA, not limited to the kitchen!). I rather wear it as a badge at this point.
Crab linguine. Itās taken me 10 years and many iterations to get a version that I really like and works every time. After all that no way Iāll order it in a restaurant.
OK, now Iāve gotta ask. How 'bout giving us the broad stroke outlines of how you make that dish?
Iām in the UK so always use brown crab not sure what the equivalent is where you are?
Linguine with crab, roasted tomatoes and chili.
Small tomatoes
Red chillis
Brown and white crab meat.
Olive oil
Linguine
Flat leaf parsley.
Sea salt
Add sliced chillis and tomatoes to a metal roasting tray ( make sure it can go on the hob). Splash in olive oil and sea salt and coat tomatoes and chillis. Heat in oven at 180c for 25 mins or until tomatoes are soft and slightly charred.
Whilst toms are toasting cook the linguine and reserve a little (2 Tbsp) of the pasta water. Once tomatoes and spaghetti are ready put tray on hob and turn heat to medium and squish the tomatoes a bit. Add the linguine and mix with tomatoes, , chill and olive oil. Keep on the heat and add the brown crab meat and the reserved pasta water and mix again. Finally turn off the heat and mix in the white crab meat and flat leaf parsley.
Sounds lovely. I will try this. Never seen crab pasta.
Let me translate from English to 'merican.
Hob = stove top
180c = 350f
Whilst = while
Lol
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Steak for me, too. Because I like my filet mignon well-done and not burnt. Last time I ordered it in a restaurant, the chef burnt it on purpose, and then had the colossal temerity to come out and try to harangue me for ordering it well-done to start with.
THAT didnāt last long before he was running for the kitchen, LOL!
Eggplant parmesan. They always slice too thick and use breadcrumbs not batter. Steak unless i am in a steakhouse. Shrimp cocktail is always too small and too expensive. Lasagna just never, it never makes me happy i love my own and moms. A meatball wedge sure but not spaghetti and meatballs or as part of any proper entree . Bolognese in the us anyway. Roast chicken.
True dat! The first time I was faced with breaded āeggplant parmesanā I sent it back because I couldnāt tell what it was - veal maybe? That was the only thing Iād ever seen breaded before, LOL!
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Yes, it is a horror but seems to be the default. I thought it was just me. The texture ugh.
Hot fried chicken.
Lobster is so trueā¦
Meatballsā¦generally gravy too (red sauce) until I trust the restaurant. Also veal of any kindā¦while I love veal, far to many places just canāt make it very well, so a place has to earn my trust before Iāll ever order veal.
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Add chicken cutlets to the list. None of these things are tough to pull off, even: meatballs, sauce, cutlets. It amazes me how people even run kitchens and havenāt mastered the basics. CRAZY!
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OMG you ever get a chicken āpattyāā¦I donāt care where you are if you get served one of those it should be condoned to throw the plate across the room. WTFā¦???
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Exactly. Like prison food. No patties, no uniformly-formed fingers a la fish sticks, please.
