So lately, there have been a couple of restaurants near me that are a bit of a cross between fast food and a sit-down restaurant.

You order at the counter when you come in, pay, find your own seats and then the food is brought out to you. You get your own refills, your own utensils, napkins etc. So other than bringing the food to your table, there is no real "service"

When paying, there's often an option to leave a tip. My question to you serious eaters: do you leave a tip at places like these? How much? Because I'm wondering who I'm tipping and for what?

I've even had this at the chinese takeout place that I recently ordered from. I did carryout and there was a tip option. I think it's for the sit-down customers but it made me wonder if I should be tipping.

Thoughts?

I was at Costco today and couldn't resist picking up a cute little bottle of Spanish Saffron ($15 for 1g, which I think is a pretty good price). So now, I'm looking for ideas as to what to do with it. I know about Jambalaya, but does anyone have any really good recipes that they like to use saffron in?

Thanks SE community :)

So today, the BF came over for lunch and I made the beef and broccoli stir fry for him that he had picked out and said looked okay. I enlisted his help cutting the broccoli and with a few other things so that he was a bit more involved in the cooking process and he seemed to enjoy it.

Overall, I think it went really well. I asked him what he thought and he said "It's not bad" and looked fairly pleased. Unfortunately, the noodles I was using turned out to be a bit too salty which threw the dish off a bit. But otherwise, the beef was flavorful and the BF seemed to actually like eating it. So that's a plus. I made a big pot of chili for tonight that he said smelled amazing. So he does like to eat more than just spaghetti. I was pretty happy with the result, I think he might be starting to warm up to Chinese food.

Thanks for all your advice, hopefully I can get him to eat more of a variety of things over time.

Okay Serious eaters, I really need your help. My BF is a really picky eater. Pretty much the only thing he likes to eat is pasta and tomato sauce. I, on the other hand, am a very adventurous eater and like to eat a lot of things (also why I love this site). The other day we had a bit of an argument about food. He claims that he 'hates' Chinese food of all types and that he'll hate all of it no matter what. I'm Chinese and my family eats Chinese food pretty much every day. He's tried some food at my house, said he hates everything. We've had pho and some Vietnamese food and (although he said he liked it at the time) says that he hated it all. So he's basically made up his mind that he doesn't want to ever try it again because he'll hate it. Eventually, he basically said "Fine, make me something next week and I'll try it."

Now, I'm wondering what kind of dish to make for him that might at least open up his mind to trying it again.

Things he likes to eat: Fried rice (because it doesn't taste like anything? At least that's what he says), chicken, pasta in tomato sauce, stir fry drowned in teriyaki sauce.

Things he won't eat: fish/seafood, pork, and a lot of others.
Any suggestions as to dishes I could make to entice his tastebuds?

I was thinking maybe a cold noodle dish, with a peanut sauce and some chopped veggies and chicken. I'm looking for something that's simple, without very assertive flavors.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks so much SE community!

So, I've recently found myself in China on a trip with my parents. Now, I'm pretty used to only being able to recognize 80% of what I'm eating, so I'm really enjoying the trip.

Now, I have mixed feels about street food in China (been to Beijing and Shanghai so far). Walking by the stands, it often smells really good, but my mother warns me not to eat there because it's dirty. My question to you, serious eaters, is whether or not you think street food in some places is dirty, and what your reactions are to it?

Do you eat it and assume nothing bad will happen? Or do you avoid it completely? Or do you have some criteria about what street food you eat? I'd love to hear your opinions!

Hello Serious eaters! I am looking for your help. I want to make a pumpkin pie to bring to my boyfriend's parents' Thanksgiving dinner and I want it to be BETTER than anything they could find at the store.

I have one stipulation though. We all generally like our pumpkin pie cold and quite dense, not the moist mushy kind that you sometimes can get. So my question is, do you know any really good recipes for pumpkin pie?

Thanks!

My dad went to a farm that he supplies feed for and bought a bunch of crazy goat cheeses that I have never seen before (although it is entirely possible that these are common cheeses and my cheese education is sorely lacking). I was wondering if any Serious Eaters out there had any tips on what kinds of recipes these would work for?

The cheese are St. Maure and Valencay. The St. Maure is a white log and the Valencay is a pyramid with a dark bloomy rind.

Help!

So the BF has requested that I make BBQ Chicken Pizza. Now, I'm a bit skeptical about putting barbecue sauce on a pizza instead of the traditional tomato, but I'm willing to give it a try. Was wondering if anyone had any tips about what types of cheese to use or what kinds of toppings?

I'm stumped on the cheese part, but I'm leaning towards red peppers and mushrooms as toppings, maybe a bit of cilantro on top of everything.

Anyone have any ideas on how to use leftover 7 layer dip? Besides eating it with tortilla chips of course. The layers are salsa, black bean dip, avocado dip, cheese sauce, sour cream, cheese and tomatoes.

Okay, so I recently brought home a bunch of fresh chevre from a local farmer's market. So far I've made pizza, smeared it on sandwiches and put it on toast under some scrambled eggs but I've still got about a half cup left and I'm not sure what to do it.

The expiry date is fast approaching and I'm not sure what else I can make with this delicious stuff and I certainly wouldn't want to waste it. Any suggestions?