Cookin again

[Dannyalcatraz]

Even though I don’t use Facebook, Yelp and so forth, I DO share my opinions of places I eat with those around me. And sometimes, I get feedback from the owners & operators.

I think I mentioned that the Middle Eastern place closest to me gave us some lamb chops as part of our Christmas order. He knows we’re good customers and we spread the word.

Well, when I went to my local Burmese place, the oldest son commented on how customers like me have helped them stay open. Again, we‘ve been going there since their 2nd or 3rd month of opening, and the family knows we not only love their stuff, but that we’ve sent them customers. And some of those customers have become regulars themselves.

It feels good to thinly you’re doing someone good. It feels better when you KNOW you are.

 

[prabe]

Even though I don’t use Facebook, Yelp and so forth, I DO share my opinions of places I eat with those around me. And sometimes, I get feedback from the owners & operators.

I think I mentioned that the Middle Eastern place closest to me gave us some lamb chops as part of our Christmas order. He knows we’re good customers and we spread the word.

Well, when I went to my local Burmese place, the oldest son commented on how customers like me have helped them stay open. Again, we‘ve been going there since their 2nd or 3rd month of opening, and the family knows we not only love their stuff, but that we’ve sent them customers. And some of those customers have become regulars themselves.

It feels good to thinly you’re doing someone good. It feels better when you KNOW you are.

My wife and I do similar things. We get food from one of our local restaurants at least once a week. We don't have the kinds of relationships with the proprietors you seem to, but we're happy to do our part to keep the local eateries (and at least one local brewery) in business.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The reasons why I have the relationships with owner/operators that I do are:

1) Mom used to eat out almost every day pre-Covid-19, and I was usually her driver.

2) we tended to eat at off-peak hours, when things were usually slower than normal. That meant they could hear us discuss the food, and realize we know food, which made them curious. We’re also not too shy about asking questions about a given dish, even if it’s an unusual take on an otherwise unremarkable dish. I’ve learned some things about burgers, steak sandwiches, mashed potatoes and chili that might surprise the “mundane s”

3) as a family, we’re not afraid to venture into the more unusual sections of the menu, or in some cases, order off-menu items. I’ve had my share of things from the non-Americanized menus of different Asian restaurants, for instance. And Dad sampled the roasted hormigas culonas (literally, ”big ass” ants”) at a Columbian restaurant when the chef brought them out while gabbing with our family.

4) if we like your place we WILL be back. And we tend to spread the gospel, too. There are places they know us by name. Hell- there’s a baker we know who was incredible, and we thought he had closed his business. Come to find out nearly 20 years later, he just moved to another suburb in the neighboring county. I walked in, and he recognized me...and then said, “Where’s your Mom?”

All that- plus some other factors- adds up to a lot more familiarity with our local joints and the people who work there than most people do.

 

[prabe]

The reasons why I have the relationships with owner/operators that I do are:

1) Mom used to eat out almost every day pre-Covid-19, and I was usually her driver.

2) we tended to eat at off-peak hours, when things were usually slower than normal. That meant they could hear us discuss the food, and realize we know food, which made them curious. We’re also not too shy about asking questions about a given dish, even if it’s an unusual take on an otherwise unremarkable dish. I’ve learned some things about burgers, steak sandwiches, mashed potatoes and chili that might surprise the “mundane s”

3) as a family, we’re not afraid to venture into the more unusual sections of the menu, or in some cases, order off-menu items. I’ve had my share of things from the non-Americanized menus of different Asian restaurants, for instance. And Dad sampled the roasted hormigas culonas (literally, ”big ass” ants”) at a Columbian restaurant when the chef brought them out while gabbing with our family.

4) if we like your place we WILL be back. And we tend to spread the gospel, too. There are places they know us by name. Hell- there’s a baker we know who was incredible, and we thought he had closed his business. Come to find out nearly 20 years later, he just moved to another suburb in the neighboring county. I walked in, and he recognized me...and then said, “Where’s your Mom?”

All that- plus some other factors- adds up to a lot more familiarity with our local joints and the people who work there than most people do.

That definitely sounds like a path to cultivating relationships. Also, IIRC, you have a lot of family where you are, and large-ish groups--especially at off hours, and as adventurous and outgoing as y'all are--probably are more memorable than two introverts (my wife and me).

To be clear, I'm neither seeing criticism in your post, nor intending it in mine.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

We’ve lived in D/FW since 1982, but a lot of our family resettled here post-Katrina. And we do have a lot of friends, too. But most of our culinary adventures have been small scale things- 1-4 people at a time, trying something new.

The 2 major exceptions involved 2 overlapping groups of my friends.

The first group was centered around our bowling team. Every season, the person who had the most 600 series (an evening in which you averaged over 200pts/game) would be taken out for dinner at a rest of their choosing- usually a steak place. And D/FW has LOTS of steak places. Eventually, it expanded from just the team members to include wives, husbands and significant others...but only the hero’s meal was free.

The other is the annual “Geek Dinner”. That’s just a bunch of us geeks gathering at a nifty restaurant/bar and having a modestly priced gift drawing while raising the roof a bit.

 

[Zardnaar]

We’ve lived in D/FW since 1982, but a lot of our family resettled here post-Katrina. And we do have a lot of friends, too. But most of our culinary adventures have been small scale things- 1-4 people at a time, trying something new.

The 2 major exceptions involved 2 overlapping groups of my friends.

The first group was centered around our bowling team. Every season, the person who had the most 600 series (an evening in which you averaged over 200pts/game) would be taken out for dinner at a rest of their choosing- usually a steak place. And D/FW has LOTS of steak places. Eventually, it expanded from just the team members to include wives, husbands and significant others...but only the hero’s meal was free.

The other is the annual “Geek Dinner”. That’s just a bunch of us geeks gathering at a nifty restaurant/bar and having a modestly priced gift drawing while raising the roof a bit.

We usually dine out bi weekly plus kebab D&D night.

Due to birthday clusters, camping trip returning, various other reasons I think we're dining out 4 or 5 times this week.

Arabic
Indian
Birthday lunch
Turkish
Birthday Pub meal.

Looks like Al Sultan is going to become a favorite.

A decent meal is around an hour's minimum wage and we don't have any rent or mortgage to pay so it's kinda cheap.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

There is nothing quite like finding a small mom & pop shop to become a regular at.

 

[Zardnaar]

There is nothing quite like finding a small mom & pop shop to become a regular at.

Yeah we very rarely eat at the big chain stores or even the small ones although one of our favorites is a small chain.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Had some leftover bow tie pasta from making chicken cacciatore the other night, so I took some of it, drizzled it with EVOO, and gave it a quick zap in the microwave.



I topped it with some small portobellos I sliced thin and baked in a toaster oven with some salted butter. When they were done, I pored them over the pasta, then topped all of that with a thinly sliced Campari tomato, some cracked black pepper, and a little salt.

 

[Zardnaar]

D&D fell through and we had to do heat and eat.

Plating fail. Wedges and chicken wrap. Sour cream, sweet chilli sauce, salad, spiced rice, salad.

Desert. It's summer.

Toffee baked churros icecream.

Think we might have to investigate this range more.

Much Moore

Much Moore Ice Cream/Kiwi Ice Cream – New Zealand ice cream company with award winning ice cream flavours including Limonata Cheesecake, Hokey Pokey, Premium Vanilla, French Vanilla, Divine Brown, Chocolate and Orange Chocolate Chip.

www.muchmoore.co.nz

The premium range is sinful.