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Yes--sushi for me, too.

I wasted a perfectly good chance to go out to lunch yesterday. I was forced to got to Chili's. It was awful, and all I got was grilled chicken and rice. That place is suburben hell on earth, I've decided.

Anyway, besides sushi, which would be a disaster for me to attempt... I would say:
- Ahi tuna. It needs to be seared just right.
- Home fries. It's a diner specialty and I have to get them on the side of my sunny side up eggs with a side of white toast. Yum.

Dim sum-- I don't think that my wife would enjoy watching me cook chicken feet. And it's a great excuse to head down to Chinatown.

My concern with making sushi would be getting really fresh fish. California rolls don't have anything particularly chancy in them, so they are worth a shot. Otherwise, leave it to the pros.

falafel/middle eastern food and vegetarian sushi pizza... why bother making it at home if I have great restaurants here that make it for me really deliciously...

Ohhhh and NYC-style cheese pizza... traveling to NYC and not having one would be like not being there at all...

sushi is easy to do at home in Seattle - tons of great, fresh fish at the market.

I go out for Cuban Sandwiches. There's no way I could do at home what Paseo makes me wait in line for.

Good pizza, my oven just doesn't get hot enough.

And pho. Haven't mastered that broth. Anyone have a good recipe?

Sushi and Thai.

Sushi with raw fish, pho, Ethiopian injera. Even if I could make it at home, I think it is best left to the experts! Though I may try to make pho...

Sushi, pho, duck of any sort (I've tried and failed)...

Special events warrant going out for brunch or fancy dinners (where I always order something I can't make at home).

Pizza, quenelles de brochet, Dover sole, dim sum, sushi. Also, mexican food.

sushi- in Japan, where chefs are actually sushi chefs.
where I live, it's better and a lot cheaper to make it my own sushi with smoked salmon and avocados and such. They don't even do the rice right and I refuse to pay for crappy sushi.

Also agree with authentic ethnic foods that not worth getting all the weird ingredients/spices for...

Fried foods. I don't like deep frying at home.

I like cooking so it's fine with me, but my bf can get away with washing dishes if we go out :-)

I sear a mean piece of tuna, but I still love going out for sushi because where I live now, I can't find or afford to buy the variety I enjoy when eating out. I've never been a huge fan of rolls, so it's not that I won't make it, but my favorite rolls are the ones not easily made at home (soft shell crab anyone?).

I go out for Thai, and there's a greek place I've been dying to try as well since I love it so much. I do love making falafel at home, but I don't have the time/energy to make ALL of the greek food I love at home to eat together as one meal, and I love me some gyro.

When I go out to eat anymore, it is usually because I don't feel like cooking because I am SUPER tired, I'm craving something from a specific restaurant, or friends are headed somewhere. That doesn't mean I'm not picky about where I eat though. If there were good Chinese restaurants within 2 hours, I'd add that to my list, but there's not :( I go out for stuff that is just plain good, like the grass-fed locally ranched burger joint with the best fries ever or tacos from the 'berto joint just across the parking lot from my office. mmmmm.

@meem21 - agreed on Chili's.

Deep fried goodies (don't own a deep fryer and hate the mess).

All Asian delights (Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc.)

@therealchiffonade I agree with you. We used to go out more often than now and I got back to my cookbooks and got to work. I make my own bread, cookies, soups, pasta, wontons and more but I have the issue that @smokey07 has. I have taken in a 17 yr. old grandson along with my daughter and her 6 year old. Glad to do it, but there is nothing like a craft beer from the tap at the local brew-pub with an average sandwich or salad and just my husband.

Sushi, sushi, sushi. I think this is because, maki is not sushi! True sushi chefs train for years.
Yeah, who can't thro down anything in nori and pass it off as sushi. True sushi is an art to be respected and soooo appreciated.

Mat Ito if u read these threads, this one's for you.

@donnie
Sushi is, at its heart, a snack food, invented for a gambler. And while snack food can be elevated to the level of art, almost any food can be elevated to the level of art (e.g., pb&j at Alinea). Just as all chefs train and hone their craft for years.

Putting sushi on a pedestal and somehow trying to dictate what is 'true' sushi, is pedantic, silly, and, IMO, disrespectful to the essence of the food's origin. It's like saying that a sushi bar cannot be called a sushi bar if they also serve maki and sashimi.

Any good food is to be respected and appreciated.

That said, I'll go out for sashimi.

There are two kinds of breads that I can't make myself so I always go to restaurants for those types of cuisine.

Injera- I can not get this Ethiopian bread down. A couple failed attempts. Well and they do have amazing tea at my favorite Ethiopian place.

Hoppers- Sri Lankan pancake type thing, though that is not even a good description. Everyone should eat one. The textures are amazing.

Deep-fried Buffalo wings. Chinese buffet (I know....).

I think it's goofy to go out for a sandwich. I can make better, fresher, more interesting ones at home.

To me, sushi used to be categorized as below

sushi for home cooks:
temaki (great for party), chirashi, and futomaki

sushi, from low end to high end
pre-made, refrigerated packaged sushi from combini (convenience stores), grocery stores or depachika (highest end of this level)
big chain delivery or take-out sushi (sort of like pizza chains.)
belt conveyor sushi (could be as good as regular sushi restaurants)
neighborhood sushi restaurants (they deliver too, but better than the chain sushi)
famous sushi restaurants near fish markets

I still love the lowest end ones; they are just eaten as a different type of food. Sushi in general is a special treat. usually kept for celebration.

People don't do nigiri at home in Japan, because handling raw fish with warm hands at a speed of home cook can be unsafe, but I had to learn how to make them out of necessity because I've eaten enough bad ones where I live.

Smoked meat, a special treat, or anything ethnic than I can get better and cheaper than I can make it at home (hate having to buy huge amounts of things that get wasted because I use them too infrequently.).

Steak! And an manhattan on the rocks.

@alosha7777
Cuban bread is a soft baguette made with ground bay leaf. I make my own now as I can't find it in the stores near me either. A couple of months ago, I made a party-sized stromboli that was basically a giant Cuban sandwich. It was a big hit.

I go out for the experience, not really for a particular dish. Whether it's a new place or a new cuisine, I like the full experience of going out for something. My boyfriend and I both enjoy going out to eat, but we also really like getting inspired by menus and then doing our own twists at home. Also, if it's a really new-to-me cuisine, I like to go to figure out what it should be like or what some of the foundational elements are before necessarily trying it myself at home.

Homemade pasta. I've attempted it, and it's good, but I'm not sure I think it's worth all that work yet.

@MarvinDog - sorry, can't help you with a recipe for "pan criollo"... Not much of a baker on this end. I just go out and buy it. It's readily available in any "panaderia" or supermarket here in PR. I try not to eat bread made with white flour, but pan criollo is definietely a weekness. But the bay leaves is completely new to me... first time I hear of that version.

I love bacon but I can't stand cooking it on a weekend and having to sit around and smell it for hours on end. If it's in a recipe that's one thing but if it's simply just for the sake of bacon, I'd much rather go to a diner that I like and leave the smell behind with my tip! It saves me from the headache it brings and having to air out my apartment afterwards.

Pizza--have tried this at home many times, the dough recipes are always terrible.
Curry--haven't found a good recipe yet!
Dim Sum-- my sister and I once made potstickers and we finally got to eat them after midnight. Now I just leave it all to the experts :)

I go out for pancakes since I have this tendency to not cook them through.
After 40 years of cooking. Not my strong suit. Fortunately, I don't get a craving for them all that much. Oh, and anything Asian. My favorite is pho.

Thai red curry! Tried making it at home once and it just wasn't the same.

For me it's middle eastern fare - I have tried every chicken shwarma recipe out there and just can't duplicate it like my local favorite place, plus it's a cheap eat on top of it!

Ethiopian - LOVE it, but cannot replicate it.

Asian is spotty for me, sometimes I nail it and sometimes I would rather just go out and get my craving of the moment.

As mentioned in another article and credited to Tony Bourdain ;"the reason people go out to restaurants is that they don't have deep fryers at home ". So true especially when it comes to fresh cut , one immersion french fries . None of this blanch now then fry later to order stuff- cut'em and fry'em . Golden and greasy. Ya boy .

Almost all kinds of seafood...tuna is hard to cook perfectly, shrimp just grosses me out to look at...after watching my dad the fisherman hook and then clean/filet the fish, I enjoy it much more when its simply placed in front of me.

French fries too. I mean GOOD fries. Most places are bland, just like the frozen ones I have at home...but the places with the crispy, wedge cut fries- those are worth it.

One more- milkshakes and pancakes from diners. Not even for taste, just for the whole childhood-memory aspect.

I go out for mussels in white wine sauce! There used to be a great restaurant on 95th and Columbus Ave. in N.Y. called "Under The Stairs", that made the absolute best! When finished, the diners would drink the leftover juice in the bowl, or took it home because it was so delicious!

We go out when I don't feel like cooking or if I'm craving something that can't be delivered to my door. Usually, this involves sushi.

mexican ... because i make it all the time, but i just cant stand to add as much as much oil, cheese and fat as the restaurant's willing to, even if it's just delicious

also, the day i learn to make pho at home is the day i will be complete

sushi would be my pick too -- I'd rather not risk poisoning myself (or my friends) because the fish I chose shouldn't have been eaten raw.

And in the summer, I'd go out for pizzas too -- rather not get my kitchen all friggin hot just for 20 minutes of actual baking.

The maple syrup and pecan ice cream from the Point G ice cream bar in Montreal. Just gorgeous and worth the 20 minute drive from my place.