Choosing a restaurant
My husband and I don’t make much of Valentine’s Day, but we do tend to use it as an excuse to go out for a nice meal together. This year this is especially important to me, as we are both in for a very busy workday today due to long scheduled meetings. And it’s snowing, which will getting to restaurant a bit awkward (cycling is out of the questions, and there are few buses at night). Anyway, if you go out on such a night it shows that the relationship is important enough to make an effort!
Anyway, the usual question: What do you want to eat? Greek or Italian? made me consider the way I choose a restaurant for a night out. In contrast to my husband, I go by taste and not by decor at all. As long as the food is good and the place at least pleasant-looking, I am perfectly happy.
The problem is that we live in a small town. While there is a rather good Greek restaurant near the river (the one we’re going to tonight), and several ones that offer lovely Bavarian cuisine, we haven’t found an Italian restaurant we really like yet, nor a Chinese one. There are several that are okay, but that’s about that. There is a very bad Korean restaurant, the Australian place closed some years ago, and the Mexican restaurant, they serve ready-made sauces, as we recently discovered. There is not a single Indian restaurant in my town.
I love living in a small town, I really do. It’s just when it comes to restaurants, I think with fervent longing of places like London or Munich, where you can find any sort of food you fancy in excellent quality.
Are you going out for a meal today? And what sort of cuisine do you like best?
– Rike Horstmann
Thanks for your kind wishes for our Valentine’s Day dinner! I hope you had a lovely evening, too!
I ended up eating lamb with tzatziki – delicious! (Fortunately my husband has a gish with garlic, too …) I love both grilled chicken and a hamburger. Just reading your posts is making be hungry again!
But isn’t it lovely when good food can be such joy?
We don’t typically go out on Valentine’s Day (and this year I worked later, so it wouldn’t have been much of an option anyway). But we do go out every Friday night. Our most common struggle is whether to drive downtown (Denver) for greater variety, or stick with our suburban choices because we are lazy, tired, and starving. I also have to admit that we frequently gorge Mexican route – partly because we both love Mexican food, and partly because they bring chips and salsa right away. Ah, romance.
I hope you had a good dinner, too, Rike. Leigh had grilled chicken and my husband and I had a hamburger, french fries and beer at one of our favorite pubs and shared a banana split from Dairy Queen. Actually, all of it was quite good. Since I wasn’t expecting anything surprising like an engagement ring (or really anything else), it worked for me.
I don’t eat out much. The reason started because of being on a diet, and I could make salad and grilled chicken at home for less than buying it out. Now I have gotten out of the habit. I haven’t found a great Chinese restaurant in town so I haven’t eaten that in ages. We do of course have the TGIF & Outback. There is a more fancy Italian restaurant and then a lot of family dining or all you can eat places..
I hope you had a wonderful dinner – Me, I grilled chicken
My husband and I eat out a lot; and living in the fourth largest (second in the Metro Detroit area) city in Michigan, we are fortunate to have access to many different kinds of restaurants, thank goodness. We will probably eat out today also, but go earlier than the usual dinner crowd, especially since it’s Valentine’s Day.
We both seem to enjoy Italian (who doesn’t?) and Mediterranean food. We are fortunate that there are many places from which to choose with these cuisines. There is a huge Arab population south of us in Dearborn and also in the city in which I live and we have benefited with a wonderful supply of specialty restaurants that are growing all over the area. For me, a steak place is always a great choice, but I try to limit my red meats (not being very successful at it, though). I love fish and always have. Less than a half-hour’s drive away, we can be on a riverfront or lake shore and many restaurants are located in these areas featuring those sorts of dishes.
So, Rike, I hope you and your husband find a nice place to have dinner tonight. Happy Valentine’s Day. ♥