Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I doubt it's all that unusual, but I find one of the most important elements of cooking to be the seasoning, particularly salt. Too little and the food can be bland; too much and the food is a wasteland.

Favorite steakhouse: Ray's the Steaks in Arlington, VA. The decor is non-existant and no reservations are taken. And if you want to get in during the week you probably would get in with only a 20-30 minute wait and on the weekends it'll more than likely be more like 45-60 minutes. The reason is that the steak is so superb.

What I order: For an appetizer, it's almost always the Scallops with Diablo sauce. Perfectly seared and served with caramelized onions and a nice spicy, tangy diablo sauce. A very close runner up is the crab bisque.

For the steak: If I'm hungry, then it's the cowboy, typically with some blue cheese. If I'm not quite so hungry then it's usually the hangar steak. Both come perfectly prepared with a slightly crusty, caramelized outside and a butter soft inside. Both are easily the best steaks I've ever eaten.

Dessert: Always the key lime pie. Crumbly graham cracker crust and a lovely tart pie without too much sugar. The GF always gets the mousse (white chocolate or dark chocolate, depends on what they are making that night).

The best part: Also one of the cheapest steakhouses in the DC metro area. Wines are $10-$15 over retail for an interesting list that matches well with the steaks. The steaks themselves are around 2/3 or a bit less of the price of a similar steak at the other steakhouses in town, and they would not be nearly as well prepared.