I’m so completely done with Michelin Starred restaurants

[Anonymous]

Bread sommelier. My family still speaks wistfully of the Michelin star restaurant with the bread sommelier.

But other than that, we’re generally back to the neighborhood places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I get what you are saying. As I've gotten older, I've grown tired of the tricks that chefs try to pull on menus to make dishes seem inventive. It frequently seems like a ploy to justify the insane pricing. At this point in my life, what I care about is simple, well-prepared foods made with fresh and seasonal ingredients. This type of food is so hard to find in restaurants because it wouldn't garner a price high enough for the places to stay in business. Instead you find menus bloated with things like espuma, verjus, fermented whatever... I just cook at home for the most part because going out makes me ragey. The quality and preparation almost never justify the cost at cheffy places.

Oh this poster has really nailed it for me.

My favorite restaurants are the ones that do fairly classic food but very, very well, and then are consistent and really emphasize customer service. I live in the Union Market area and my go-tos are St. Anselm and now Pastis. Neither is reinventing the wheel but their food tastes very good, is consistent from visit to visit, and they care about service. They aren't budget restaurants but I don't mind paying more if the food is reliably good and I'm treated well. I view good customer service as 50% of what I'm paying for when I am in a restaurant, which is why I have zero tolerance for bad service regardless of the prices on the menu. If service is rude or very bad, whatever they are charging is too much.

But yes, we eat at home a lot and cook great food. My DH, in particular, is a great cook with a pretty broad repertoire, but I do okay too. When we go out to eat and the food isnt' at least as tasty as what we make at home, we get annoyed and won't go back there. This is most restaurants in DC.

Same. Our go-to is Et Voila in Palisades. Are there any surprises on the menu, no- is it the best food I’ve ever eaten, no. But it is consistently good food and good service and I don’t go home hungry (the portions are “normal”) or cranky that I wasted my time/money, and it’s been this way for years. Matisse is another that falls into this bucket for us.

[Anonymous]

I've eaten at Michelin star places and honestly nothing really tastes so much better than a good street taco that it's worth the cost.

[Anonymous]

All the highly rated and Michelin rated Indian restaurants we tired in London were very mediocre and seem more catered to westerners. Much better food at restaurants that were full of Indians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, I cannot relate. Most I've spent is $40 on a meal and that's rare.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bread sommelier. My family still speaks wistfully of the Michelin star restaurant with the bread sommelier.

But other than that, we’re generally back to the neighborhood places.

Bouley?!?!?!