What do you usually order at your favorite restaurant?

Chicken Döner.
And no, it can not be made at home authentically, without a tremendous investment in equipment, and extreme waste of chicken meat.

At the coffee shop I go to at least once a week:

Bacon and Eggs, poached, on top of the organic multigrain bread toasted well. No potatoes.

At the Capital Grille when I go to New York for work:
Seared Scallops with grilled asparagus on a parsnip puree.

I can make either at home, but if I am cooking at home I am cooking for those who don’t like my choices.

@zenvelo -Scallops? What time’s dinner?

Breakfast? Four eggs OE, hash browns, ham, WW toast, coffee.
Dinner? Salad, roast beef, mashed potatoes, whatever the side is, dinner roll w/ butter, coffee or milk.
And dirty up a bunch of dishes, pots and pans? GET OUT OF TOWN!!

@kritiper -I understand that!

@ragingloli -I just saw how it’s made. Looks good though.

I’m a really picky eater. If I eat out I get the same thing since it is hard to screw up.

Grilled cheese and french fries.

And I say I am allergic to pickles. I don’t think that is a thing but I really hate pickles and the pickle juice getting up in my bread is a nightmare.

So I say I am allergic. That way if they remove them after they have spewed juice on my dinner I can get things replaced without being the worst person.

I know they still spit on my fries. That is less bad than pickle juice.

@johnpowell – Soggy pickle bread is gross and I like pickles.
The spitting on fries thing is cause for a good ass-kicking.

I’m with you all on the no juices touching. I hate green bean juice on the rest of my food so I order it on the side. Actually, I don’t like my food touching at all.
I usually order salmon when I’m out to dinner. I can make it, but most restaurants make it better.

I don’t have one favorite restaurant, but at the top the dishes at each are:

Chicken Cuomo. Chicken with mushrooms and spinach and a light brown sauce. I can’t make like the restaurant can.

Moo shu pork bowl pancakes, substitute with white rice. I cannot make this at home.

Ropa Vieja with white rice and a side of Tostones. I can’t make this either.

Chicken hibachi, but one of the best parts of the meal is the ginger dressed salad and the clear soup. I can’t make it at home.

Marinated steak medallion kabob with rice and kabob veggies. I make something similar, but it’s not the same.

Lechon Asado with onions and lime with white rice and black beans. No one makes pork like the Cubans. Lol. So good. My pork will never be as yummy as this. I do make pork similar to the Ecuadorian fritada which is pretty good and close enough.

@chyna -I don’t like food touching other foods either. My mother used to put a salad on the plate with everything else.
Whhhhhhyyyyyyyy!??

@JLeslie -Chicken Cuomo sounds really good!

^^The restaurant is my favorite Italian. It’s in Florida. I have no idea if he (the chef owner) made up the name, I’ve never seen it on any other Italian menu.

Actually, I do have another Italian restaurant (in NYC) that I love the eggplant parm. No breading, just a light dusting of flour. It’s so good. So many restaurants make it with thick breading and it’s soggy and greasy.

I tend to order things I can’t or won’t do at home.
For breakfast at the local diner, I’ll order Eggs Benedict or Florentine.
if I go to lunch I will order something I can cut in half and take home to eat the next day: a nice wrap, a fish fry.
For dinner I will order some version of the house special and can be split to take home for the next day. A salmon filet is always good. If I must order potatoes as a side dish I will get sweet potato fries since they are rich in Vit A and sweet potatoes are more difficult to slice at home than white potatoes. .

Paratha bread and fresh Indian curry.

I cannot make it at home, anywhere close to the Indian owner of a local restaurant. Literally the best thing I’ve tasted in years.

Omakase

Bob’s Chinese Restaurant. Deep fried pork chop with white rice. No one here would be interested in the big bowl of soup I order with it.

@Caravanfan I’ve yet to do that, I really should. Several great restaurants here offer the option. Good reminder, thanks.

@KNOWITALL It gets really expensive when you’re doing sushi though.

@Caravanfan haha, I bet! One time I went to a new restaurant with a large group and we got sushi, but I didn’t realize each order came with about 6 rolls. So I ordered like 5 different things, assuming I got one roll of that kind. Oh no. The waiter just kept coming back, over and over. My bill was $150 but I had a ton of delicious leftovers. My husband’s face during all this was hilarious though.

b@KNOWITALL When I go to my local sushi restaurant, which is a traditional sushi restaurant with top ingredients run by this Japanese guy and his family, I usually expect to drop at least 80 bucks for dinner. It’s walking distance from my house, but I only go there once every other month or so because it’s such an extravagance.

@KNOWITALL I think the waiter was neglectful by not warning you that you might be misunderstanding the menu.

Oh gawd now I gotta eat something, answer later. Brb.

@Patty_Melt -I know!

@JLeslie I have to admit since I was with a large group, I was distracted, so he possibly thought I was ordering for the table(s). It was good for a laugh though, at my expense, but funny. :) Plus I love leftover sushi, nice and chilled.

What a lot of tasty mentions here! I can’t eat too fancy, because I have a couple of allergies which are easily in many recipes without mention. I love general’s chicken. I can’t have it often, because there is a price to pay after.
Like Lucky, I tend to order stuff I can’t make at home. Since I can’t stand resting in my crutches long, prep time has to be very quick for me.
I will get a bag of uncooked chicken breasts frozen. I bake them covered in a huge baking dish. Covered keeps them moist. When they cool I stick rack one into a baggie and freeze them. Pow, nearly no prep time and ten meals covered. I can then thaw one out in the microwave and many options for easy eating, like teriyaki and rice, or cut up and bbg sauce for a fast sammich, or small chunks quick browned in butter and garlic, with a shot of lemon juice which makes the butter crisp quickly, keeping the inside tender. Great with a baked potato.
So at restaurants, I usually order specific to that restaurant.
Duck l’orange, mahi mahi, and in the old days I had a great place where Friday nights they had all you can eat fresh catfish and self serve salad. It sat on the bank of the Des Moines river. They would spend all Thursday night fishing for channel cat, clean them all day Friday to serve that night. I don’t cook fish at home often because how the smell lingers.
When I lived in Reno, there was a tiny casino/cafe in Sparks where they had the biscuits and gravy worth traveling for.
So, simple things I just prefer how someone else does them.

Chinese food.
Prime Rib.

It always tastes better in restaurants.

Fried walleye with a baked potato at a little dive bar nearby. It’s the best fish fry in town.

@Jonsblond I would be soooo down for that. Sounds amazing. Hardly anyone here sells walleye anymore.

Cajun Seitan Sandwich, fries with chiplotle aioli.
I could make the fries maybe.

Here are a few things:

Vegetarian sushi called tamago that has cold sweet egg omelet on top of rice; and inari which is a thin soy wrapper stuffed with rice. This would be way too much trouble to make.

Cheese enchiladas with Spanish rice. I can, and do, make enchiladas, but the rice that you get at restaurants is almost always better than I can make.

Avocado toast with poached eggs on top. The toast and the avocado part are easy. I have never tried to make a poached egg at home.

Hot and sour soup. I can, and do make it, and it’s damn good. So good that I still order it at restaurants. I don’t make it very often, but it’s pretty easy.

Pizza with mushrooms is one of my favorite things to eat both in a restaurant, and at home. Frozen, homemade, and with different kinds of crusts. It’s all good.

Cole slaw. Love all the different restaurant variations, often make my own, with variations at home. Same goes for vegetarian chili. Love it out, make lots at home.

Impossible Burgers. They always taste better in restaurants. I don’t grill stuff at home, and they aren’t as good cooked in a frying pan.

Pie. Except for pumpkin pie, which is fairly easy, although still time consuming, I don’t have the proper skill, nor the patience for much baking, but I love pie.

Mac and cheese. Make it, lots of different ways, love to order it in restaurants. Comfort food crack.

Ravioli in restaurants is almost always superior to any frozen, or even refrigerated ravioli I could make.

Fake (vegetarian) Reuben sandwiches. So many different types of ingredients to get that classic flavor. Haven’t yet found the right fake meat, or dressing, or bread, to make a decent one at home yet.

Home style potatoes, and/or hash browns. Too much trouble, too messy, and never tastes the same as at a restaurant.

@Kardamom your list makes my mouth water, mmmmmm.
The same restaurant where I get the Cajun Seitan sandwich used to make a killer veggie Reuben sandwich. I don’t see it on their menu now.

@KNOWITALL Ok, if you had a large group I would be more understanding also.

The staff, I like to order the staff around.
My reasons are a little unclear at this time.

A ham sandwich

Hot peppers in oil, Italian wedding soup & a caesar salad. I could kind of make it at home and I’m a pretty decent cook, but to me it’s the kind of meal I’d rather go out for and good peppers in oil are hard to find.

@KNOWITALL it’s time for you to take a road trip and come visit! You need a good Wisconsin fish fry.

OMG, @Kardamom, you MUST cook for me some time.
And describe it when you serve, because you say dishes in a way which makes them BANG!

@Jonsblond I do, plus you have cheese, glorious cheese! :D

@josie – :D

garlic bread, a few condiments, and water…
they kinda just give it to me for free without asking, soooo
...

The feta cheese is in pre-possession though….

and then I leave..
......

(joking)
What kind of answer were you expecting

@hosa I was expecting complete and utter bullshit.
when you wish upon a star… XD

I don’t think I could prepare anything I get at our special-occasion favorite restaurant You can order either five courses or nine courses (courses change seasonally) and it’s all vegetarian. Each course is delivered with an elaborate description of the ingredients and preparation. This is super gourmet but not as expensive as I’d expect considering the work that goes into the food.

@dabbler -Looks delicious!

@lucillelucillelucille Oh my yes! Here are some example courses
It’s rare for vegetarians to get a full professional gourmet presentation. (It’s often, ‘well we can leave out the main ingredients, would you like that?’ or ‘they can make you some pasta!’)

@dabbler -I saw the salad with lemon balm in it. I make tea with it but might have to try it in a salad of sorts.
I am not a vegetarian but would definitely try a place like that. The presentation is pretty too.

@Patty_Melt is that a vegan Italian sausage in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? : )

;-)