“I can make that at home” while looking at restaurant menu

[Anonymous]

Is it low class to use logic when ordering? I will avoid ordering things I can easily make at home, especially if the menu has more interesting things or has things I eat but my family does not like.

[Anonymous]

Cooking. It at home is one thing.
Making it taste Michelin star quality is another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this way when looking at menus and so did my mother. Neither of us were “raised lower class.”

I think it when deciding on a restaurant choice. These are items where restaurants rarely outperform:

Steak
Salmon in minimalist sauces
Most burgers
Green salads with no unique ingredients
Pasta with red sauce
Pasta with alfredo or white creamy sauce

I live in flyover country somewhere most "nice" but not "gourmet" restaurants focus on a menu with all of the above items. But I'm not interested in spending real money on those foods away from home.

My favorite restaurants here are small, inexpensive Asian and Middle Eastern places. In DC, I liked a more eclectic mix of all cuisines.

I'm totally with you. I'd add eggs to that list because eggs are best just cooked, not waiting for the whole party's food to be done.

I moved out of DC and really miss Ethiopian food. Some of the dishes are not difficult but I don't even know where to source teff flour, much less make injera.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cooking. It at home is one thing.
Making it taste Michelin star quality is another.

Did OP say anything about Michelin star quality?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe I'm lower class, but I often think the same. I don't want to order (for example) basic fettuccini alfredo when I can make this in 10m at home. If I'm paying to eat out, which is often 3-10x more than what it costs to eat at home, I want something different or special.

Thinking it is fine.

Voicing it is low class.

This. Just like commenting on the prices.

[Anonymous]

Unless it’s one of those molecular gastronomy things most restaurant dishes can be made at home. My doro wot is never going to taste as good as Zenebech’s though.

[Anonymous]

I only think this about Italian pasta dishes. I’d never say it at a restaurant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a raised lower class thing? I’ve never thought that while looking at a menu but sometimes my guests will say that out loud.

Maybe it's an intelligence thing, and you are not as bright as you think you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s hardly “low class” to know how to cook dishes that are on restaurant menus.

If given choices of several restaurants, I often would prefer to go to a Japanese, Indian or Thai restaurant because those are not foods I cook often or well. Italian, American, French and Mexican are more in my wheelhouse, so I love going to places with foods and ingredients I don’t often get to enjoy.

Exactly all this.
Also a sandwich. It is always better when someone else makes a sandwich for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this way when looking at menus and so did my mother. Neither of us were “raised lower class.”

I think it when deciding on a restaurant choice. These are items where restaurants rarely outperform:

Steak
Salmon in minimalist sauces
Most burgers
Green salads with no unique ingredients
Pasta with red sauce
Pasta with alfredo or white creamy sauce

I live in flyover country somewhere most "nice" but not "gourmet" restaurants focus on a menu with all of the above items. But I'm not interested in spending real money on those foods away from home.

My favorite restaurants here are small, inexpensive Asian and Middle Eastern places. In DC, I liked a more eclectic mix of all cuisines.

I'm totally with you. I'd add eggs to that list because eggs are best just cooked, not waiting for the whole party's food to be done.

I moved out of DC and really miss Ethiopian food. Some of the dishes are not difficult but I don't even know where to source teff flour, much less make injera.

https://www.brundo.com/
And a copy of Teff Love.

[Anonymous]

This is why I never order chicken at restaurants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe I'm lower class, but I often think the same. I don't want to order (for example) basic fettuccini alfredo when I can make this in 10m at home. If I'm paying to eat out, which is often 3-10x more than what it costs to eat at home, I want something different or special.

Thinking it is fine.

Voicing it is low class.

How so?

[Anonymous]

I never thought of it as a low class thing. More of a technical proficiency/foodie thing. So if anything, someone of a higher social standing would perhaps a not snobbishly say they could make a chef's dish at home benadryl they could source all the fancy ingredients and have the high end cookery wares at home. Plus plating and presentation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why I never order chicken at restaurants.

Haha, yes. Roast chicken is one of my go-tos at home, so usually I am ready for something else when I eat out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never thought of it as a low class thing. More of a technical proficiency/foodie thing. So if anything, someone of a higher social standing would perhaps a not snobbishly say they could make a chef's dish at home benadryl they could source all the fancy ingredients and have the high end cookery wares at home. Plus plating and presentation

Yeah, I prefer getting my Benadryl at the drug store.