As I mentioned the other day, we don’t eat out much. But I do like eating out; sometimes it’s nice to have someone else doing the cooking and cleaning. Clearly, I’m not the only one who cares about restaurants:
10 Menu Trends We’d Like to See in 2011 (via Serious Eats) I’m not sure how I feel about #9, but the rest of the ideas sound pretty good.
Recently the Los Angeles Times food critic S. Irene Virbila was outted as such when she arrived at an LA restaurant. There’s been lots of press about it, including CNN’s Eatocracy and So Good. This all reminds me of Ruth Reichl’s book, Garlic and Sapphires, which is about the costumes she used to create when she was working as a food critic for the New York Times. You should read it, if you haven’t.
More and more restaurants are starting to use iPad menus. I can definitely see why it’d be a good idea-saves paper, easier to update menus, maybe its even cheaper in the long run. Anyone been to a restaurant that has an iPad menu?
I have no plans to leave the country just for a good meal, but the NY Times has 10 Restaurants Worth a Plane Ride. Condé Naste Traveler has posted the best hotels for food in the world. (via Epicurious) Certainly a better list to be on than the Village Voice’s 10 Most Pretentious NYC Restaurants, however. Ouch. (via Huffington Post)
Never Said About Restaurant Websites is a new site proclaiming the oft maligned traits of restaurant websites. I’m especially critical of bad websites in general, but its amazing how poorly done some restaurant sites are.
From temporary locations to limited menus, the NY Times noted that unique forms and ideas are springing up in restaurants across the country.
If you’re looking to keep a restaurant open, smaller is safer, says The Atlantic.
Spending $25 each for dinner last weekend was certainly more expensive than eating at home. Reading Eatocracy’s Guide to Prix Fixes made me feel better, though I’d eat at any of these restaurants in an instant if I suddenly found myself rich.
Of course, not everyone is eating out.
Over on The Chic Life, Diana has posted the details for her Eat in Month Challenge. Even if you’re not participating, she has great tips to cut down on eating out.
Similarly, Life as a Mom has a Pantry Challenge happening. We’re not formally doing it, but I’m definitely trying to use up some of the ingredients I’ve stocked up in my pantry and freezer this week.
(Almost) every weekend, I choose a theme and highlight blog posts, websites and news articles from my Google Reader which I found interesting (and hope you do too!) If you want more reading, check out “What I’m Reading” on my sidebar. And don’t forget to add Relishments to your reader or “like” Relishments on Facebook! (Interesting fact: I haven’t remembered to add this footer to a highlights post since before Thanksgiving!)
One of my New Years Resolutions was to eat out only once a month (which I have already failed at- but they were inexpensive meals!) Hopefully some of these ideas help!