Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

My preference is to cook at home. That way I can control what goes into my food and how it is handled. I have a perfectly good kitchen, and know how to cook, so why not?
My last choice would be the barffet. Obvious reasons there, too. Anyone and everyone coming along having access to the food. Small children sneezing into the food, as sneezeguards do not cover that low. Food sitting out languishing for hours under a heat lamp. Low-budget, preservative and sodium-laden food. All the food tastes the same. Ladles from one dish being placed in another...Need I go on?

I love to cook, but I also enjoy dining out. I don't cook out of necessity; I cook for pleasure, so it is not every day that I am toiling in the kitchen. My guess is it's about 50/50. Dining out enhances my cooking, because it widens my horizons and provides sources of reference and inspiration.

I enjoy fine dining establishments, but not on a daily basis. The type of restaurant I am more likely to frequent is a variation not mentioned above, but which would include privately owned, smaller restaurants, usually of an ethic variety, but not necessarily, it could be a burger joint or small diner, old school delicatessen, French bistro, Italian osteria, etc.

Although, I won't lie. I adore fine dining when it is done right, and will generally not turn down an invitation to a two or three star restaurant with good company.

Cheers,

~ Paula

Cooking at home comes first. It's not just food, it's a hobby. Seriously, when I've got time on my hands, I cook things just to cook them and give them away. Or freeze them. Or give them away.

I do enjoy going out for dinner, but it's not just dinner, it's "date night" for me and DH, and we've been doing this for the bazillion years we've been together. It's a ritual that's very imporant to us. And our usual restaurant choice isn't on your list. It's a local place. Not a chain, not fine dining, not fast food.

We don't do buffets unless someone else is dragging us there. Take-out is more trouble than it's worth. I can have dinner on the table faster than ordering and picking up. And I don't have to put on my shoes or get in the car and drive.

We don't eat much fast food. Maybe once every few years. As for take-out from places like Whole Foods, I can make the same stuff cheaper and better. I might hit the olive bar, but that's about it.

Maybe once every year or so, we'll do Chinese take-out or order a pizza, but that's a rare occurrence. About as rare as fast food, I guess.

Fine dining is nice, but that's probably reserved for vacations these days. I don't think there's anything that would qualify as fine dining nearby, and I really don't care to drive 2 hours for a meal.

I am with czken, above, both in terms of cooking and eating. The nice thing about living near Philly, is that we've got the BYOB concept. So, I can have a great meal at an independent, neighborhood place and bring a bottle of terrific wine..and feel like I got a terrific value.

Having said that, I've had some pretty kick ass meals at high end, fine dining establishments.

Cooking at home would come first. I like cooking. Plus it lets me have control over what we're putting into ourselves (we had fried chicken this week...sometimes I'm a bad gatekeeper!) and it's more economical.

Next would be delivered take out, usually subs, salads or pizza (but sometimes it's Mexican, Chinese, Thai or Indian). We're fortunate to live right off the Restaurant Row of our town. Sometimes I want something a little different than what I will make here at home and generally BF would prefer to eat in than go out. That's when we get delivery.

Last would be "sit down fancy dining" or "buffet". We only tend to go to a sit down place if we want sushi or BBQ. I am occasionally tempted by the lunch buffets at the nearby Thai and Indian places, but always leave uncomfortably stuffed (which always seems like it should be a good thing, but never is).

There are diners near us, but none are chains. Sometimes we hit those for breakfast (after the college kids have left town) on the weekends.

We don't really eat fast food so that's out. I don't purchase prepared foods at my supermarket so that's out too.

I think that covers everything!

Buffets gross me out as I childishly imagine every other diner sneezing into the mayo salads.
I love to cook, but a husband with amine intolerance, a son with a dozen food allergies make it kind of monotonous at times.
Fine dining is a nice treat because I encounter things I don't otherwise and become inspired at times, but I never "crave" it.
However my burger cravings often carry me across great distances for a certain burger! So fresh fast food it usually is!

I live in the land of buffets (Las Vegas) and they're OK fun, but unless it's my own cooking, I'll take a sit down fine dining meal anytime......(here's a tip for anyone deciding which buffet to try on their next trip to Vegas-they're all the same so the best one is the one where you can "get one buy one free" or even totally free if you gamble enough)

I prefer to go out but not to fancy fine dining places except on special occasions. I cooked when our kids were growing up and I've "been there, done that". My husband is the one who likes to cook now so we eat a lot of grilled fish, chicken, pork chops, shrimp, and veggies at home. On weeknights, it's mostly salads, pasta dishes, Nathan's dinner franks broiled until they're almost completely black (yum), Jasmine rice and black beans. We don't cook a lot of red meat like steak but my husband grills a delicious burger!
We do not like buffets, we call them "troughs" here. The only exception is Mongolian barbecue places where we like to choose our meat, veggies, and make our own sauces.
Our favorite takeout foods are gyros from a local place called Belly Busters and General Tso's Chicken or Roast Pork Mixed Vegetables from Tops China, and soup from the Half Full Coffee Shop.
We eat in about 5 nights a week and go out 2 on average.

@BangieB: I'm with you. I don't eat at buffet's often, as a matter of fact the last time I did was probably two years ago, but there's something to be said about a shitty buffet, right? The last time I went to one was when I was living in Arizona and it was an "Asian buffet." There was sweet and sour chicken, white rice, California rolls, stuffed crab, stir fry- loads of crap, but all of it appealing in its own special, buffet-kinda way.

Could you add a category: Ethnic Restaurants in Banal Strip Malls, kind of a domestic homage to Anthony Bourdain.

Near our house we have Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Chinese, Honduran, Salvadorian, Mexican, Peruvian, Indian and Armenian. A little further afield we have Filipino, Argentine and Ethiopian. I can't get enough of them, the smaller the better.

Barfetts...never. I only go at Christmas when the boss takes us to one. Since I'm not paying, it doesn't matter how little I eat.

Cooking at home is my favorite. I find that all our favorite meals can be made at home since I am such a wonderful cook. (just kidding). We in my family love ribs, lobster, etc....and the restaurants around here suck. So....we get the ingredients and cook them at home.

It's kind of a silly question because different occasions call for different dining situations.

If I'm dressed to the nines, I don't expect to stand in a buffet line. This is why I don't care for buffet weddings.

If I'm looking for quantity - I'll go to an all you can eat (insert food name) joint because I'm looking for bulk and it's not likely I'm wearing something where I need to suck in my stomach (i.e. not dressed up). BBQ sauce up to the elbows...

For eating on a daily basis - give me my own kitchen and ingredients of my choice. Not too much salt, not too much fat, etc. I know what I'm eating and for everyday consumption, this is definitely the best way.