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Restaurants....How do you choose

Posted by imallears @imallears, Apr 5, 2021

During this ongoing Covid epidemic I know many have not gone to their favorite restaurants or perhaps some don’t routinely frequent many due to dietary restrictions or are just not interested in dining out. In my state of Florida, we opened early and had access again to some of our favorite places to eat.

I wonder if anyone would like to discuss how they choose an eatery, what makes a particular place your favorite or why you don’t normally eat out or do so only on special occasions and share the best and the worst food you have ever eaten.

We have an amazing array of eateries to choose from in the Tampa Bay and Orlando Area and, while we have favorite ones, we are always on the lookout for new places. We do rely on customer reviews but also research the background of the establishment and where their food is sourced and recommendations from friends.

My family are big restaurant goers and we don’t need to have an excuse to eat out.
I know @jakedduck1 is waiting with baited breath to hear what I ate on my recent trip to New Jersey and this Easter weekend here in Florida.. Just know Leonard that Baby grilled octopus and escargot were consumed. I only eat escargot at a good French restaurant and the octopus has to be from Spain.

That’s all for now

FL Mary

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imallears | @imallears | Apr 6, 2021
In reply to @gingerw "@Erinmfs We have one eat-in restaurant in town. It is a Mexican food restaurant with great..." + (show)
@gingerw

@Erinmfs We have one eat-in restaurant in town. It is a Mexican food restaurant with great food. He also has a few hamburger+fries choices and pizzas on his menu. We have tried his Philly cheese-steak pizza, and it was really tasty. Never saw that offered anywhere else. The crust has cumin and garlic salt in it, which mixes well with the other flavors.
Ginger

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@gingerw
I see Philly cheesesteak pizza as an option on many menus but have never tried it. I bet it’s good. Any pizza is good for me. We have a restaurant called Ava in St Petersburg that has breakfast pizza only on the weekends...reservations usually required. Wow....sausage, bacon, home fries, cheddar cheese and an egg cracked over the whole pizza as it comes out of the oven. You can watch the coal fired pizzas being made. Coronary Delight.

FL Mary

REPLY
MGMolly | @Erinmfs | Apr 6, 2021
In reply to @colleenyoung "Erin, did you check your spam or your Promotions or Forums tab in gmail?" + (show)
@colleenyoung

Erin, did you check your spam or your Promotions or Forums tab in gmail?

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yes I did, no emails in my promotions or spam folder. I tried to setup a gmail filter this afternoon, thank you for that, but I can't get it to work in gmail. I'll give some thought into setting up a email client.

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imallears | @imallears | Apr 6, 2021
In reply to @danab "@imallears Hi and you pose an interesting topic. My wife and I have now pretty much..." + (show)
@danab

@imallears Hi and you pose an interesting topic. My wife and I have now pretty much not been inside a restaurant in over a year but mostly what we do now take out. We will usually order online or at a drive-up curbside situation, then either eat in our car or at a nice scenic spot to eat. Depending on the venue it may be right there outside, or drive to another location. But we have taken it home also. My guess would be going forward that drive up service and a nice outdoor seating areas will start being a lot more popular again. I remember one of my favorite eateries from my youth was called the redwood and they were like a car hop setup. You could drive up and someone would come to the car and get our order then they had these trays that hooked onto the car window. But they also had picnic tables along this treeline that was available and a pleasure to eat at also. Being from Massachusetts originally Cape Cod was famous for walk up eateries along the beaches. Then a blanket on the sand and watch the ocean waves. I can see those types of places coming back.

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@danab
Those car hop places sound like the ones we went to when I was growing up in New York in the 50s and 60s. They were fun.

Unfortunately the outside dining areas....although we do have them at many locations, are not suited to most of Florida’s humid weather.
I have seen more people eating outside lately ( as we did this weekend) because the weather was perfect. Otherwise you will rarely see anyone outside when the humidity and temperature starts hitting the 90s even at the picnic benches in the parks.
I do like dining outside and many of my friends still order takeout and take it down to the beach or anywhere near the water.
I miss that option here and I think you are right....more people will find it is a lot more enjoyable to dine alfresco.

FL Mary

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