Poll: Your favorite type of restaurant

[kentgirl]

Yesterday, as my DH and I were trying to decide on a restaurant for dinner, it occured to me that we very rarely go to my favorite type of restaurant - Italian! We go to steak places, mexican food and chinese restaurants. But when I suggest Italian, he balks. Not to say we never go Italian, but it's rare. After all, I love a good steak too!

So my question is this---what is your favorite type of restaurant, and do you and your spouse usually agree on your choice of restaurants?

[Nullsy]

When we go out to eat I like to go to a place with good seafood. I'm just starting to cook more of it at home but it's hard to find quality fish in our small town. Now my husband usually wants to go to a wings place for buffalo wings and beer or for mexican as long as they have a tequila menu. Hmmm...I'm seeing a trend towards spicy foods and alcohol.

[laughsandlaughs]

Mexican...which is weird since we cook Mexican a lot. I also like Chinese and Thai, because it's harder to replicate at home.

[kwormann]

Mexican...although Indian is a close second!

[MrsReber]

Italian it is! Even if we don't go somewhere Italian, I find myself ordering a pasta dish and a salad. If it's a weeknight, though, we usually just go to one of our local pub/restaurants since they are close. My husband will eat almost anything, so I'm pretty lucky with that. All the Italian places still have good meat and seafood dishes (although I always opt for the pasta).I'd love to go for mexican, but we don't have any places nearby-yet. There is an "authentic" mexican restaurant opening right down the road from us. I can't wait!

[cookingmonkey]

Indian...hands down, no thought required, Indian. I can't get enough of it.

[lindrusso]

That's a hard one. Love Italian, but I gravitate toward Thai and Indian a lot since I don't cook ethnic food at home as much. An Indian restaurant is just heaven to me - lots of vegetarian choices - even though I do eat meat now, I like to have many non-meat choices when I eat out.

Really, just about anything would do as long as the restaurant is creative and has attention to detail. Restaurants that serve stuff like iceburg salads with mealy tomatoes get a big thumbs down - WHY BOTHER??? I'd rather have NO salad.

One of my favorite restaurants was not flamboyant or pricey - they just paid attention to every little detail. They offered homemade rolls with flavored butters. Their salads were creative and served with homemade dressing. You were stuffed by the time you got to the main dish and rarely had room for their luscious desserts! Sometimes it's the little things that really add up. But, as usual, I digress.... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[venus]

I thought about this for a moment, and I realized it's anywhere with a raw bar. This doesn't always mean a straight seafood restaurant. There are plenty of New American, Italian and steak places here that have great raw bars.

Now I want oysters http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif

[SueK]

My favorite type is Mexican. When I visit my sister out west, they have fabulous authentic Mexican restaurants. I can have burritos and enchiladas (and Margaritas http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif ) every day if I had to!

[emilycat]

Restaurants that serve stuff like iceburg salads with mealy tomatoes get a big thumbs down - WHY BOTHER??? I'd rather have NO salad.

lindrusso, my sentiments exactly! I would say, rather, that I turn my nose up at any restaurants that serve salads like that...in fact, I can't remember the last time I went to one! I have this theory that you can tell the character of a restaurant by its salads.

As for me, I must say Italian, vetoeing out, of course, any pseudo-establishment like the Olive Garden. I love the way good Italian places serve everything in courses just as it's done in Italy, and I do relish good, homemade pasta, which I never make.
But so many of you love Indian so much, and although I've tried to create some of the flavors at home, I've only been to a couple Indian restaurants..I think it's time for some detective work! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

Emily

[SandyM]

Anything ethnic here - Italian, Mexican, Thai, Middle Eastern, Indian - depending on the mood.

In the dead of summer, however, nothing beats a burger and a Molson!

The discussion on iceberg has me laughing! It took me FOREVER to break my husband away from eating that stuff - the polyester of the vegetable world!

And Em - I definitely agree about Olive Garden. Congrats on the job offer btw!

[BethH]

Sushi! When SO and I go out to dinner, we almost always choose sushi. We are both just crazy about it!

After that, I don't really have a favorite 'type' of restaraunt...I just like someplace, like lindrusso said, that pays attention to detail. I'll eat and enjoy just about anything. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif

[Gina O]

Guess I will be the odd person out on this one... my first thought when I saw the post was a "bistro" type place. I do love Italian, but have not found anything in a restaurant that I can't make better myself (it is my speciality, by far). Mexican is terrific, but I have eaten a lot of it out and there are really no stand out places around here.

What I like is the little place with a tiny menu of about 6-8 exceptionally prepared choices. Dishes like halibut with procuitto, pork loin with apples and wild rice, a wild rice and cranberry salad, sauted blue crabs or mushroom stuffed ravioli.... I am lucky to have a couple places like this in the town where I work (and one sits on a bluff overlooking the Missouri river with its own winery next door)and my treat is to go to them at every opportunity.

Both places that I most enjoy feature fabulous wines... hmmmm, perhaps that is another big factor! Gina

[BarbaraL]

Boy, this is a tough one! I love FOOD, period. Italian is great; I also love Mexican, though my daughter doesn't. I've had great Greek food; we have a wonderful Indian restaurant near us, and just tried some great Thai! There's also a good Vietnamese restaurant near work! I have to admit I don't know much about Indian and Thai food. I tend to order the chicken pishawi (spelling? it's in a delicious yogurt sauce), and I had a combo dish at the Thai place (loved the pad thai, which I learned about on this BB). Any recommendations about Indian/Thai/Middle eastern food are welcome!

[lu lu]

Mexican, no doubt! I could eat it everyday, which is actually quite possible with all the good mexican restaurants here!

[Jessica]

BethH--we are with you all the way.
My DH and I adore sushi and we go as often as the budget allows. Our favorite sushi restaurant not only has fabulous food, it has a relaxing atmosphere and after a meal there, I really feel as if I have been treated.
We usually agree on restaurants, although he loves heavy German food and I cannot stand it. He travels a lot for work and eats out all the time, so we do not go out all the time. When we do, we prefer to get something we cannot duplicate at home.

[Don]

Okay. I am going to give one of my usual weird responses. Our favorite is this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant run by a Vietnamese family that emigrated to Paris before coming to Maryland. The father is a classically trained French chef,and the mother was trained as a French patisserie baker. The menu has both French and Vietnamese items on it, and everything is absolutely wonderful. And I don't even want to talk about dessert! We tend to like restaurants that have something unusual or out of the ordinary. In this case, we don't have to decide between Western and Asian food. We can have our fresh spring roll with our Duck a l'Orange!

[PJB]

Mexican, can't get enough of it and Italian. Haven't found great Mexican like we had in California in Colorado yet though. So, the search continues...

[brooke4]

My vote goes for sushi too! Its a food I dont dare try to make myself- and it is such a treat. My second favorite is Italian, even though we primarily cook italian dishes at home...I never have the patience to make homemade gnocchi- and it's my favorite past!

[SueK]

I have to add that I'm very envious of those of you that have such ethnic restaurants near you. Living in a college town with thousands of international students, you'd think we'd have more authentic type ethnic restaurants around here, but no. Every other storefront downtown is a bar or pizza joint, and that's about it.

I'll just live vicariously through all of you! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Gail]

I don't think my favorite type of restaurant is easily defined. Obviously, it has to have good food-- that goes without saying. But beyond the food, there's something to be said for atmosphere. I'm not talking chic, trendy or even kitschy-- I'm talking about the place which makes you feel good being there, where you can unwind and enjoy the entire experience. Going to a place where I'm treated well counts for a lot. No matter how great the food is, if the waiter acts like he's doing me a favor coming to my table, I won't be back. So maybe my favorite restaurant is the noisy Italian place where the owner knows us and is always slipping us freebies; or the Basque restaurant in Nevada where we're treated like locals even though we're there one night a year; or the pub where the entertainer expects me to embarrass myself by singing and teases my son about music he hates. The food is great at these restaurants, moreover the establishments "fit" us.

Although I'd say my favorite cuisine is probably French, I really don't have a favorite French restaurant. I have a favorite Italian, a favorite Greek, a favorite Indian, a favorite seafood, etc. etc. etc. Anything that is well-prepared in a atmosphere which says the proprietors care about their clientele, rather that just making money, wins my vote as a "favorite" restaurant.

...and my husband would say "right on!" to all of this. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[SusieO]

I like sushi best, then Greek, then Indian.

I agree with Gail that the service has to be wonderful, or it isn't worth going out. I think when you go out to eat you pay for the experience of eating the food more than the food itself.

By the way, have any of you Houstonians ever eaten at an Indian restaurant called (I believe) Khyber? I had dinner there last week, and it is my new favorite Indian restaurant. (Too bad I don't live in Houston http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif)

[Meg O'C]

It definitely depends on my mood-- sometimes I love a good steak place; on vacation or at the beach I always love a good seafood place but overall I would have to say Italian. Unfortunately my husband grew up in a very Italian family, eating Italian almost every night so Italian restaurants (unless they are pretty swanky) don't hold much appeal for him. He prefers Mexican, which is a close second for me. We have a great little place in our town called the Magic Moon Cafe. It's run by a husband and wife team and she is an incredible cook. The menu varies depending her mood and what is fresh and in season. It's BYOB and within walking distance so our ideal night is a stroll up to the Magic Moon for a delicious and filling, home cooked meal, splitting a bottle of wine and a stroll home.

My husband also enjoys a good sushi place. I only like vegetarian rolls but it's a nice change of pace now and then.

My husband travels all the time for his job so he eats out a lot. He prefers staying in for dinner but he's a good sport when I need a night out!

[LGBurns]

We have a great Middle Eastern restaurant near us called Andie's (for those of you in Chicago, there's one in Andersonville on Clark and one in Uptown on Montrose near Ashland). My husband and I go there a lot. Our friends who actually live in Andersonville go there so often that everyone knows them and they get a discount! We kid them a lot when the four of us go together because it's like going to Sardi's with someone famous. "Hello Mr. Smith. How are you this evening." lol

[mightyh]

Mexican, with Thai as a close second.

Dh used to balk at Mexican "all the time," but he's seen the light now and we both enjoy Thai way too much for our good health!

[Natasha]

mightyh,

Want to do dinner sometime? My favorite is Thai, with Mexican coming in second. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[Mousie29]

Thai (can't do at home)

Italian

Mediterranean

[Angelina]

Our favourite is Vietnamese! Nothing beats a big bowl of soup, and I can eat that in ANY season, with all those aromas swirling in the air..the mint, the cilantro..mmmm!! And before that, of course, summer rolls dipped in peanut sauce!