Question of The Day. Saturday the 20th of June.

Hello, Happy Saturday.

If you and your family are going out for a special meal, which restaurant do you go to? What do you order?

My favourite local restaurant is called Aladdin. It serves Indian and halal food and it's run by a lovely guy from Pakistan and his family. My favourite dishes are the spinach and potato curry or the aubergine and tomato curry. They do great saffron rice and their mango lassi made with goat yogurt are the best.



I'm so hungry now and it's hours till dinner time.

Gosh, that's a hard question to answer.  If it were Tom and I only, it be whatever we're in the mood for.  A few of our local favs are a small Thai place located in an old diner car called Thailand- it's kind of fancy inside which always surprises first timers.  They even grow their own chili peppers and herbs in pots they keep surrounding the restaurant.  We almost always get whatever whole fish is special that day aside from all else.  Or Japanese place we frequent named Nagoya, where the owner knows us pretty well since we've been going for years.  We like to sit at the sushi bar and chit chat with him, and sometimes other diners.  It's very congenial and his food is always fresh as can be.  I like to tell him "pick what you think is best today" and we've never failed to have a wonderful meal.

If it were the entire family I guess it depends on who's house we're closest too.  We all have eclectic taste in foods which is a good thing.  Could be a Jersey shore seafood place, sushi (again - we all love it), Brazilian, whatever.  Yea for variety!

EDIT: We live very close to a large Indian community, so plenty of both North and South Indian food around.  But for some reason, we haven't been in a while so now that you mention it, we need to go!

we always go to an Italian place called Branchinelli's. Their food is amazing! We've tried many Italian places but we keep going back to this one. It's not a very fancy place but we go for all occasions.

I guess we are really boring Americans when it comes to food.  I like to go out to a steakhouse for a really good steak.  I like the steak I occasionally buy at the supermarket and grill at home but a good steakhouse is a whole different level.  They have the prime beef.  They also sear at a much higher temperature then I can at home so there is that lovely almost like a crust on the outside.

I like going to an Indian restaurant. I'm probably a little boring with what I order because I usually get the chicken marsala. I like rosewater lassi for a drink. They told me that not many Americans like the rose flavor. I also like a certain Mediterranean restaurant's lunch buffet (so I don't have to choose one thing to order :tongue2 and sushi.

But if it's a family meal, we can't go to any of those because my dad is super picky :/. Because pickiness runs in the family and we're all picky about different things, when it's the whole family we usually go to an Asian buffet. They have sushi and more Americanized foods like fried rice, so everyone can find something they like.

it's only maybe once each year that some of my family (in this area) go out to eat together -- and it's usually lunch, because there's some travel time for those few of us to meet up. it really varies where we'll end up having our meal -- we've been to a steak and seafood restaurant twice, a local diner once, and a hamburger/hot dog stand near (lake) ontario beach once. i usually order something pretty simple, like a hamburger with a side(s). whenever i've ordered a steak at a restaurant, i've not felt it was tender enough, so i don't order steaks any more. i almost always order a side salad, because i just love tossed salad.

Usually we go to a sushi restaurant - we have several favorite places in town. Sometimes we will go to a steak place or a nice Mexican food restaurant here, but I make those at home a lot so it's not as special. 

Either a steak house or seafood restaurant.

Norachan said:

 
If you and your family are going out for a special meal, which restaurant do you go to? What do you order?

 

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A Chinese restaurant (not one of those Americanized ones but a real authentic restaurant)... and my family is originally from China In the past, we always went because some relative or another wouldn't eat other types of cuisines, not even typical "American" fare. We'd pretty much went to the same few places and ordered the same dishes each time: stir fried lobster, a pan fried tofu dish, stir fried veggie, a chicken dish, a beef dish. My parents themselves are pretty picky about food as well so they stick with what they know and like.

These days we rarely go out to eat in a restaurant unless some relative is visiting from out of state or in town for something. Even then it's a Chinese restaurant and the same few dishes ordered

We did go to a local seafood place a few times. I had fish those times, I think.

Sadie's. Adelaide and Maud Street. Home-made food, no ethnic junk.

If I go out with my uncle we go to bepplace called The Diner. They have all sorts of usual stuff. We go very early evening then there's a 30% discount.

Chromium Blues said:

 
Sadie's. Adelaide and Maud Street. Home-made food, no ethnic junk.

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Not sure if you realize it, but the way that's written sounds insulting.  What do mean by "ethnic junk"?  Everyone's food is ethnic in one form or another.  

We rarely go out to eat anymore. Even for a really special occasion, we pretty much stay home.

Winchester said:

 
We rarely go out to eat anymore. Even for a really special occasion, we pretty much stay home.

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I just seen an article along these lines.  It was talking about restaurants having to change because the younger generations are the ones that are eating out the most.  Us older people, the baby boomer generation, are eating out less.  We are buying more and more in supermarkets rather than eating out.  I do think that eating out is something that kind of runs it's course as you get older.

I do still like to go out for the very occasional really good steak.  I  don't  think, because of the prime beef and high grilling temp, it's something that can be replicated at home.  I can come close at home but it's just not quite the same.

Denice said:

 
I just seen an article along these lines.  It was talking about restaurants having to change because the younger generations are the ones that are eating out the most.  Us older people, the baby boomer generation, are eating out less.  We are buying more and more in supermarkets rather than eating out.  I do think that eating out is something that kind of runs it's course as you get older.

I do still like to go out for the very occasional really good steak.  I  don't  think, because of the prime beef and high grilling temp, it's something that can be replicated at home.  I can come close at home but it's just not quite the same.

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I totally agree with both of you.  We don't go out very much.  I spend more on groceries than I used to, but don't spend nearly what it would cost to go out a few times a month.  My biggest problem is being a very good cook, I'm really picky.  I also dislike getting dressed up for really nice dinners. Inevitably I ruin what I'm wearing, or feel like I'm stuffed into my clothing by the time I'm done lol.  

Winchester said:

 
We rarely go out to eat anymore. Even for a really special occasion, we pretty much stay home.

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I guess that's because you're such a good cook. If it's a special occasion my signature dishes (cheese on toast or pasta with tomato sauce) are a bit of a let down.

Draco said:

 
we always go to an Italian place called Branchinelli's. Their food is amazing! We've tried many Italian places but we keep going back to this one. It's not a very fancy place but we go for all occasions.

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I haven't been there in many years but their pizza is fantastic.

We don't really go out for special meals either. Partly because DD is such a picky eater and partly because she's usually not here. She's usually away at school and most restaurants won't let the furkids in

Norachan said:

I guess that's because you're such a good cook. If it's a special occasion my signature dishes (cheese on toast or pasta with tomato sauce) are a bit of a let down.

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I don't believe that's all you can cook. What about baked beans on toast with a fried egg on top!

Stewball said:

I don't believe that's all you can cook. What about baked beans on toast with a fried egg on top!

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Yes, I can cook that, but we don't get such delicacies as baked beans over here I'm afraid.