If You Could Only Eat At One Restaurant For The Rest Of Your Life, Which Would It Be?

JP3

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Actually, I'd probably ind up selecting a Mom & Pop pub serving food from around the Toronto, Canada area. We went there a couple of times to visit some friends, and found this one place that had a menu with, I am not exaggerating SIXTEEN pages of options. Can't find that at home in Texas.
 

Steve

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I'd pick Golden Corral. With the diversity of the food there, it's probably the closest you can get to the rotation you have at home.

If I couldn't pick a buffet restaurant, it would be a toss up between Ruby Tuesday, TGI Friday, or Applebee's for similar reasons (I'd have to review and compare their menus to see which is the most diverse of the three).

If I had to pick fast food, I'd go with Boston Market for the diversity.

Diversity is key. I can't pick burgers, fried chicken, hoagies, tacos, or pizza and then stick with one for the rest of my life.
I'd prefer to eat one thing well made than a bunch of processed, microwaved food from Applebee's or TGI Friday's.
 

Steve

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That sounds good in the short run but after awhile, the lack of nutrients from everything you're not eating will eventually take its toll.
I think you owe it to yourself to branch out a little. Suggesting that well made food at a quality restaurant is less nutritious than the processed stuff they serve at Applebee's is funny.
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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What's even funnier is suggesting that you can get every vitamin from A to zinc by eating the same thing everyday.
Do you eat the same thing at those restaurants every day? A lot of restaurants outside of the TGIF/Applebees/Olive Garden's of the world have a variety as well that can get you nutrients. If you go to a thai place, you're still getting a ton of different options, so there's no need to eat the same thing every time.

For that matter, do you eat at a restaurant every single day? Restaurant eating in general shouldn't be the large part of your nutrition/diet.
 

Steve

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What's even funnier is suggesting that you can get every vitamin from A to zinc by eating the same thing everyday.
Who said that? Why do you get to eat off an entire menu but i only get one thing? Seems pretty dumb.
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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I'm sure other restaurants have large variety; those are just the ones that immediately come to mind for me.

But if you pick KFC, you're eating fried chicken everyday. If you pick Wendy's, you're eating burgers everyday. If you pick Domino's, you're eating pizza everyday.

Granted, Wendy's may have chicken nuggets/sandwiches and Domino's may have wings; but for the most part, your diet is limited.

My general idea is to get away from that.

Is the fried chicken at Golden Corral as good Popeye's or KFC? Are the tacos there as good as Taco Bell?

Of course it's no to both. But I'll gladly sacrifice that for diversity.
Why would you be eating that everyday though. That's the part I don't get. Do you eat out every single day of your life? What would you do if there were no restaurants at all?
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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My bad, I misread the OP. I thought it was saying that you could only eat food from that restaurant for the rest of your life.

I suppose in that case, it would be one of the several bars in my area with good pizza and hoagies, since those are the two things that I can't make as good as restaurants do.

I'd hate to have to choose something else, and have nothing to eat if I go to a bar.
Ah. I think that was a lot of the confusion going around.
 

Steve

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Why would you be eating that everyday though. That's the part I don't get. Do you eat out every single day of your life? What would you do if there were no restaurants at all?
Even considering the misunderstanding, I still think eating at a more focused restaurant that serves freshly prepared food is always going to be more nutritious than eating the junk they serve at Applebee's or TGI Fridays.

If I had to eat every single meal at a single restaurant for the rest of my life, step one would be to pick a restaurant that serves fresh and freshly prepared food. For example, I'll take freshly prepared beef of just about any variety all day long over a processed, microwaved, steak-like meat puck at Applebee's. I mean, the grill marks at Applebee's are painted on somehow.

Ideally, the restaurant I pick would have a creative chef that would serve seasonal food on a menu that evolves over time. In this way, I'd have a menu that doesn't get old, is delicious, is nutritious, and is freshly prepared using fresh ingredients.
 

CB Jones

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If You Could Only Eat At One Restaurant For The Rest Of Your Life, Which Would It Be?

As far as fast food places go I would say Taco Bell. Can't beat some good Tex mex food!

Doe's Steakhouse.

2.5 lb porterhouse cooked in a cast iron skillet, tamales, fried asparagus and cold beer for life
 

Steve

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I heard somewhere that Applebee's has something on their menu that's nutritious. Anyone have an idea what that item is?
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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They've got a couple different seafood options; I'd bet that their salmon, or if they have a tilapia that too, is nutritious. Simply because it takes a lot of effort to make fish un-nutritious.
 

CB Jones

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Cavemen lived for 20s of years eating meat...so I'll be good with my porterhouses.
 

Steve

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They've got a couple different seafood options; I'd bet that their salmon, or if they have a tilapia that too, is nutritious. Simply because it takes a lot of effort to make fish un-nutritious.
Atlantic salmon can be farmed responsibly, but a lot of it is not very good for you because of how it's raised. Associated with high contamination of PCBs and other carcinogens, not to mention the introduction of dyes and such to make it look pink. Applebee's surely doesn't get their salmon from Norway or places that are raising healthy, farmed salmon. I don't know about tilapia, but it's a farmed fish almost exclusively. Simply put, if there's a way to make fish unhealthy, fish farms are doing it.
 

dvcochran

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They've got a couple different seafood options; I'd bet that their salmon, or if they have a tilapia that too, is nutritious. Simply because it takes a lot of effort to make fish un-nutritious.
Tilapia is one of the highest protein foods per ounce. Has a ton of good nutrients but can be high in Omega 6 fatty acids. Sadly it is my least favorite fish.
Salmon can lose a lot of its benefits when farm raised in a shallow commercial setting. I am certain it is served at much more than just Applebee's. There are precursors that help (such as Atlantic salmon) but if a restaurant wants to be shady they can still claim their salmon to be Atlantic salmon, even though the water is never deeper than 5'.
I have yet to find Tilapia that I like.
 
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Steve

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Tilapia is one of the highest protein foods per ounce. Has a ton of good nutrients but can be high in Omega 6 fatty acids. Sadly it is my least favorite fish.
Salmon can lose a lot of its benefits when farm raised in a shallow commercial setting. I am certain it is served at much more than just Applebee's. There are precursors that help (such as Atlantic salmon) but if a restaurant wants to be shady they can still claim their salmon to be Atlantic salmon, even though the water is never deeper than 5'.
I have yet to find Tilapia that I like.
Fish is a weird thing. There is a lot of encoded language with fish. Atlantic Salmon actually refers to farmed salmon, and the geography of it is irrelevant. You can farm Atlantic Salmon in Washington State, which... why would you do that???

But there are common names that we generally think refer to a single species of fish, but can be any of dozens of actual fish. Rockfish is a catch-all name, as is Sea Bass. If you order one of these on a menu, it's really a crap shoot. Scallops are another one, where you may think you're eating a scallop, but are actually eating some kind of stingray or other fish that's just been cut to shape with a cookie cutter.

Regarding farmed fish, the way they're farmed absolutely makes a difference. Done on the cheap, and they will have a lot of contaminants that just aren't good to eat. Just like other farmed meats. You can get chicken that is full of antibiotics and hormones... or pay a little more to get chicken that does not have those things. You can get responsibly raised beef, pork, and poultry, or you can pay less and get lower quality meat from bargain basement, corporate farms.

A lot of places view Atlantic Salmon as a renewable resource, and it can be. But it is a fact that what makes wild caught so healthy is the life it has led. If you ever have real, wild caught sockeye or chinook salmon from the PNW or Alaska, it is a deep red, oily meat that doesn't smell or taste "fishy." Atlantic salmon is actually dyed pink so that it looks like salmon, but it lacks the heavy omega oils that make wild caught salmon so healthy.

Real salmon is delicious with just salt, pepper, and a little butter. Or you can cold smoke it. It's also served often in sushi restaurants raw as sashimi. And if it's wild caught salmon, if you sear the skin and get it nice and crispy, it is sooooo good.

As my 12 year old would say, "I stan wild-caught salmon."
 

Holmejr

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Cheesecake Factory
Not necessarily my favorite, but the food is really decent and the menu goes on forever. Their shepherds pie is pretty darn tasty. Good salad, and they probably have 15 different cheesecakes.
 

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