Anonymous wrote:Yes - especially cocktails.

There is an amazing taqueria in my west coast hometown that makes a really special carnitas half taco/half quesadilla thing that I shamelessly tinkered with until I could replicate it at home. It's a lot of work, but so very, very worth it.

Can you post a picture or a link? I’m curious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - especially cocktails.

There is an amazing taqueria in my west coast hometown that makes a really special carnitas half taco/half quesadilla thing that I shamelessly tinkered with until I could replicate it at home. It's a lot of work, but so very, very worth it.

I am on the West Coast, too and there are a surprising amount of not so amazing taquerias. Is it kind of like a queso taco? Corn or flour tortilla? My latest obsession is pork adobada tacos carved off a spit- not trying to replicate those.

It's like nothing I have ever seen before... a larger corn tortilla, half fried so it's kind of chewy, not totally crispy. Then it has melted cheese, whole pinto beans, carnitas, fresh cabbage, onions, cilantro, and a smoky tomato-based salsa.

Yes. The lentil soup from Naf Naf. I loooooooooved it and when Covid killed the one on 19th I turned to the interwebs.

Anonymous wrote:Yes - especially cocktails.

There is an amazing taqueria in my west coast hometown that makes a really special carnitas half taco/half quesadilla thing that I shamelessly tinkered with until I could replicate it at home. It's a lot of work, but so very, very worth it.

I am on the West Coast, too and there are a surprising amount of not so amazing taquerias. Is it kind of like a queso taco? Corn or flour tortilla? My latest obsession is pork adobada tacos carved off a spit- not trying to replicate those.

Please share your Rose's luxury copycat recipes!

Yes - especially cocktails.

There is an amazing taqueria in my west coast hometown that makes a really special carnitas half taco/half quesadilla thing that I shamelessly tinkered with until I could replicate it at home. It's a lot of work, but so very, very worth it.

I don’t try to recreate them myself. That’s not in my wheelhouse. There are some dupe recipes I’ve found online that I love.

Magnolia Bakery’s banana pudding https://www.nobiggie.net/magnolia-bakery-banana-pudding/

PF Chang’s chicken lettuce wraps (I’ve only eaten there once, and we did t even get this! But I found it online and it stuck) http://www.cavegirlcuisine.com/recipes/p-f-paleo-chicken-lettuce-wraps/

Chevy’s sweet corn tomalito https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/41460/sweet-corn-tomalito/

I'm embarrassed to say that we make a knock off Penne Rosa from Noodles and Company. My kids love it and it's pretty easy.

Yes! I love to try copycat recipes. I love eating at restaurants but if I can re-create the dish at 80% of the cost of eating out then it will make my dish taste so much better.

I have done some (aided by internet sleuthing). Namely:

Tea-ism's salted oatmeal cookies
a marinade for grilled shrimp from a bar on Cozumel
Zuppa Toscana from Olive Garden (not that Olive Garden is a favorite restaurant, or that this soup is particular to them, but it's where I first had it many years ago so in my head it's associated with them, and when I first looked for recipes lots of OG copycat recipes came up)

Yes, I love getting inspiration dining out. Two spinach dishes I love are Jose Andres' Jaleo spinach (with raisins and pine nuts and garlic) and the Palak Chat at Rasika. The first I've done at home and riff on a lot. The second I haven't tried yet but would love to.

Yes, I am a decent cook and worked in a restaurant when I was in college and picked up a lot of cooking skills there. Now when I find a dish that I like I can usually figure out how to make it.

I love the roast cauliflower with harissa tahini from True Food Kitchen and made a version at home and it was delicious and easy. Same with Rose’s Luxury lychee and pork salad. I don’t eat out much but when I have something amazing I try to recreate at home. Usually google will yield a copycat recipe or I try to approximate it based on the description and my memory.