Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Funny. What you described is the exact impression I had on Long Island, NY. The Suffolk County part of LI. Great italian food.
We would walk in a non-descript restaurant, but the decor was classic like a scene from the Godfather as well. With soft classical music in the background, white table cloths, comes a waiter in black vest, black pants, and white shirt, but it's his face that draws my attention. Scar face! A man in his 60s, looks like a retired soldier from the Mob! Great food too!
It's all basically the same area of the country, with a lot of Italian immigrants including my parents, being northern New Jersey, New York City, Long Island and Conn.
Used to eat out frequently without giving it a thought. Sodium issues put the brakes on that. Now prepare only low sodium stuff at home and eat out choosing low sodium options (less than 1000mg) maybe 2X weekly. The difference noted in my labs (all parameters) has been awesome.
Conn has a large population of people of southern Italian heritage, many from Naples the birthplace of pizza. I remember when I was a kid and living there, authentic pizza places were a huge thing. Those places were always busy and the pizza was to die for. Italians would hang out, eat pizza, drink beer and wine, listen to old school Italian music. It was like a scene from the Godfather. That was more than 50 years ago, LOL. I guess the word has gotten out.
Ha, never even knew that Connecticut had such an Italian population! I thought they all came to Jersey. Thanks for the explanation.
Most of my Connecticut exposure has been traveling through the state to get to RI or MA or Maine. If I should go that way again, I may have to make a stop!
I'll never concede that Louisville is part of the Midwest although it borders the Midwest, it's still firmly in KY. It still retains some Southern culture in some ways. I've never seen any part of KY included in any talk about Midwestern food, not even Louisville which is a nice blend of North and South and has various cultures especially now with so many younger implants from around the country. Louisville is currently getting or already has a reputation as a "foody" city with a large variety of restaurants for those that are into that.
Oops, I just realized this is getting off topic to some extent.
Louisville is culturally midwest, whereas Lexington is culturally south... As for Cincinnati chili, that's actually a Greek recipe; it just so happened that the Greek chef settled there.
I never eat out unless I absolutely have to such as when travelling, and I haven't been doing that in a couple of years. Then its usually just a salad with chicken breast added and oil and vinegar dressing. If I can't get a salad then eating out becomes a serious problem for me. I've been on Insulin much of my life, and I have to count the carbs in a meal, so I can give myself the proper units of Insulin. Eating out makes that difficult, since I can't be sure of what ingredients are in the meals. That's why I stick to a simple salad if I have to eat out, I'm pretty sure of what's in it. So I eat at home and prepare my own meals. It makes it much easier that way, as I'm in control of what ingredients are in the food.
Before I moved to pizza-land (CT) I lived in MA very close to Maine. So I am not talking about vacation because I could drive to Maine to buy groceries or eat out. I don't eat fast food but Maine has cheap, old timey places to eat and it's real food. For instance, Moody's Diner. https://www.sirved.com/restaurant/wa...r/590704/menus Mac and cheese, turkey pot pie, beef stew. Does THAT sound like "expensive true restaurant quality food"? It's good grub.
OK well here's my dissertation about that:
Why would you be arguing that eating out ANYWHERE Is cheaper than eating at home???
My premise was RESTAURANT MEALS is a falacy of that article unless you consider those fast food places "restaurants" which is how you know that was written by lobbiests and PR chumps. Where they tried to pretend the phony girl with the phony quote was LEGIT that she couldn't afford to cook a HOME COOKED MEAL anymore so she HAD to go to KFC or grocery store sushi.
JUST a KFC Chicken Sandwich Combo in my neighborhood is $7.50 and 700 - 1200 calories.
Maine isn't the only state with diners. Trust me, married to a Greek. And the article wasn't promoting diner food which is universally respected. It was promoting CHAINS. (but you STILL can't afford to eat "cheap diner food" out all the time instead of home cooking because it's NOT CHEAP)
But ok...
Maybe you didn't look at the menu you posted? I don't consider THAT "cheap".
YES they are expensive true restaurant quality foods compared to KFC which was cited in the article. Even so, even chain "restaurants" are disgusting unless you get used to all the chemicals they put in that giant bag of premade and shipped-across-the-country Olive Garden/Applebees type places.
If you ate just dinner there on that menu, you'd pay $12.00 to $17.00 for JUST a bowl of the "Homemade Chowder of the Day" (NOTHING at KFC is "homemade").
So just their dinners are - $12.00 - $15
Wanna add breakfast? That's another $5.00 to $10.00 and KFC doesn't make custom omelettes.
How about lunch? That's another $5.00 to $17.00
So at a restaurant, diner or not, you're up to a minimum of $22.00 per day. = $660.00/month with nothing at home in the fridge/pantry.
So the lie in the article: "Restaurant Meals Become a Relative Bargain as Grocery Prices Soar" is just restaurant propaganda BS.
I spend $10.00 per day average ($300.00) and it's 100% healthy and healthier than anything in the diner OR KFC. And it's that much because 2 lbs. fresh vegetables and greens can get expensive. Beans and Rice core staples would cut it down to about $5.00.
You're not claiming you ate OUT more than at home, that was just hyperbole, right?
At least in that Maine joint you know what you're getting. I briefly worked with a Chef who subbed STOUFFERS FROZEN LASAGNA and the people RAVED about it!
Then again, HE wasn't even a chef - just had them all fooled after being trained in the kitchen in prison (which is very common) hahaha.
Well, you won't live long or be healthy if you eat out too much unless you selectively eat at places that have higher quality and healthier menus and it won't be cheap.
I don't know why cafeterias aren't more popular and in demand. What could be better than choosing only/precisely the items you want? Vegetarian? Select only vegetables or hit the salad bar. Keto or carnivore? Eat meats! Love carbs? Plenty of starches! Steak and prime rib on Sundays. Personally, I like to sample just a little bite of everything; nothing's more fun! I think the whole buffet is like $9 for seniors at the nearby Golden Corral, but it's considered "declassee" by cool kids.
Well, look at the bright side: at least it is a step up from Chef Boyardee.
I like a drive-through burger every now and then, but almost fainted at the price for a medium burger/fry at my local joint. I thought he misspoke and when I confirmed the total at the window, we both had a good laugh and I drove off without buying anything.
A few other places have items where it has been easy to get 2-4 servings out of one meal (so I didn't mind ordering now and then even though they were never cheap), but I don't know about now. I'll be sure to check prices first!
"Executives at Burger King, McDonald’s Corp., Cheesecake Factory Inc. and Applebee’s have recently made the case to investors in presentations and earnings calls that they think customers increasingly consider eating out to be a better value than cooking at home."
Yes, price increases at restaurants have gone up, by grocery store food prices have gone up more.
...
It's in their corporate interest to make such claims, but the food quality that they serve is not up to the food quality that I buy at the grocery store -- which excludes most anything packaged unless there is only one ingredient in the package.
Fast food and processed food might fill the belly, but your body is not being fed because the nutritional value in fast and processed foods has been literally processed out. You might as well be eating cardboard. What you save in grocery money you will end up paying in medical bills, and the quality of life you live will be diminished by poor health.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
