[speaker001:] So eating out. What are you interested in in restaurants?
[speaker002:] Right, uh. We eat out quite a bit, it's just my husband and I at home now. * 2 slash units? So.
[speaker001:] Uh, once a week, twice a week?
[speaker002:] Oh, at least once a week. We're, we're retired now. When we working out we ate out more than that [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Yeah, I understand.
[speaker002:] Uh. * slash error
[speaker001:] Uh, but we both work and we have a daughter, and we normally manage to eat out once a week anyway.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. *slash error Well, what type of restaurant do you like, Richard?
[speaker001:] Uh, really, I'm kind of open on food. I'm what you might call a culinary adventurer. I'll,
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] uh, try anything once.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] Been on a real barbecue kick lately.
[speaker002:] Oh have you?
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] We like Chinese. We eat,
[speaker001:] [Cough].
[speaker002:] a lot of Chinese food.
[speaker001:] Excuse me. Uh, yeah, we usually have Chinese once a month.
[speaker002:] What do you look for in a restaurant?
[speaker001:] I hate franchised restaurants.
[speaker002:] You what? You,
[speaker001:] I despise
[speaker002:] Oh I,
[speaker001:] franchised restaurants. I, I, I always prefer to go to something that seems more family run.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] Uh, some place where you seem to have the attitude like you're going into their home for dinner almost.
[speaker002:] I know what you mean. I like some ambiance, and I like good food. I don't like fast food hamburgers [LAUGHTER] and all of that.
[speaker001:] I don't, but I don't like something fake or put on either.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] You know, if I could have a good small restaurant or a good large restaurant I'd go to the good small restaurant.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And [breathing] I don't know why that is. I think it's probably due to pricing, often.
[speaker002:] Right, uh-huh. I don't care to go to a place just for the price of it [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Well, yeah, yeah,
[speaker002:] I mean, it's like continental French restaurant or something really
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] with high prices and seven courses isn't what I usually look for [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] It is what you look for?
[speaker002:] It isn't, no that isn't what I look for. * More than 1 slash unit?
[speaker001:] Oh, isn't, isn't. Uh, I try to get my money's worth.
[speaker002:] Right [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] And not just that, I try to, {D well, that's a big part of it. } I try to get my money's worth.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] You know, and not just in quantity, you know, but quality, and, and flavor and texture and care.
[speaker002:] Presentation and,
[speaker001:] Well, presentation's not always all of it either.
[speaker002:] Well, like
[speaker001:] It's, it's important.
[speaker002:] we, we've been eating some in a restaurant that [throat clearing] that just changed hands recently, and we're trying to give them a little patronage. But Sunday we went there, and I had a pretty good meal of grilled pork chops and a baked apple and potatoes.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] So I said if they would just add a little bit of cranberry sauce, something like that [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah, something a little extra
[speaker002:] Yeah, that's what I mean by,
[speaker001:] and just for color if nothing else.
[speaker002:] Right, uh-huh. It would mean a lot to the looks of the plate.
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah. What I miss up here is, I'm originally a Texan, and I miss home cooked Mexican.
[speaker002:] Tex-Mex, Tex-Mex.
[speaker001:] Yeah, home cooked Tex-Mex.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Uh, Mexican restaurants where it's not owned by an Anglo or a corporation.
[speaker002:] Right, I know. Uh, we have a daughter in Texas and one in New Mexico, and we've really gotten to like, we like the real Mexican food
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] better than Tex-Mex.
[speaker001:] Well, there's real Mexican food and there's real Tex-Mex Mexican, you know, by third or fourth generation Americans
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] of Hispanic heritage.
[speaker002:] It's all pretty good, isn't it?
[speaker001:] Oh, yes, and, and there's big differences, of course, and, of course, when you talk about Mexican cuisine you, that's kind of like talking about American food or Chinese food, [NOISE] [dishes in background] because [pause] its regional, too.
[speaker002:] Right, uh-huh, that's true.
[speaker001:] So.
[speaker002:] I'm originally from Maine, so we like seafood, too. And that's something we don't get here, and we're in the mountains in Virginia.
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] And most of the seafood's frozen.
[speaker001:] Uh, yeah that's the way it is here in Colorado, also. No fresh, or almost no fresh seafood
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] and in Texas we got it from the Gulf.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, that's true. Lots of shrimp.
[speaker001:] And, yeah, here a couple years ago my wife and I went to Seattle on vacation. [pause] And I think everything except breakfast was seafood for almost a week.
[speaker002:] I know it [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] And it was, [pause] I was like a man starving at every meal.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] I know the feeling. We do the same thing. My son-in-law is a Texan, and when he goes to Maine, he eats lobster, I guess, at least twice a day, all the time he's up there [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] It's a lot cheaper there, isn't it? Lobster?
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah, yeah. It's like
[speaker001:] It's like shrimp on the Gulf.
[speaker002:] two ninety-eight a pound for a pound lobster.
[speaker001:] Two ninety-eight a pound.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] That's as cheap as steaks some places
[speaker002:] Oh yeah, cheaper, right.
[speaker001:] I mean in a grocery store.
[speaker002:] Right, yeah. A lot of the restaurants you can get two pou-, two one pound lobsters for like ten ninety-nine.
[speaker001:] Oh, my gosh. I've got to go to Maine then [NOISE] [dishes rattling in background].
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] You may have sold a trip for some time.
[speaker002:] Yeah, it's a good place to go.
[speaker001:] Uh, it sounds wonderful. Uh, so,
[speaker002:] Lots of little restaurants, too, with home cooked food, that's up there.
[speaker001:] That sound good. Uh, down in the Gulf I've eaten a bunch of those little [pause] uh, seafood shacks, we've called them.
[speaker002:] Right, uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And, uh, it's just so much different than to eat something that's been frozen.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] You know [pause]
[speaker002:] We went to Gal-,
[speaker001:] shrimp straight out of the bay.
[speaker002:] We were in Galveston last year aft-, right aft-, well, the first of this year, actually.
[speaker001:] Hm.
[speaker002:] And, ate in a restaurant, and they claimed to have the best shrimp on the Gulf coast.
[speaker001:] Was it true?
[speaker002:] No. It wasn't. On the way across Louisiana, we pulled off, we saw a billboard and just pulled off taking a chance on a place. And they had, it was a small restaurant, just kind of out of the way, and they were set up with two buffets, one for their regular Sunday chicken and roast beef and vegetables and everything.
[speaker001:] Hm.
[speaker002:] And then one complete seafood buffet.
[speaker001:] Huh.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] That was the best shrimp I have ever had in my life. They had shrimp fixed probably six different ways.
[speaker001:] Uh, yes, the cajuns.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, right. It was wonderful.
[speaker001:] They can, they can do things to shrimp that, that no one else can.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] So, have you eaten crawfish yet?
[speaker002:] Uh, I tried it, but I didn't care for it. Not there, but at my brothers I tried it.
[speaker001:] Oh, as with anything, it's preparation.
[speaker002:] That's probably true. It, I wasn't hungry, it wasn't a meal. * 2 slash units? We just, he went down and bought some at a
[speaker001:] Uh.
[speaker002:] local place that steams them, just so we'd try them.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh. It, there's all kinds,
[speaker002:] Probably needed some cold beer with it and [LAUGHTER],
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] So you do eat out a lot.
[speaker002:] Quite a bit.
[speaker001:] One of our other real problems with going out to eat, Sunday morning brunches.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] You know, Sunday brunch, all, all you can eat brunches.
[speaker002:] Right. We used to do that, once in a while, but we don't anymore.
[speaker001:] Uh, we still find it fun.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. It's fun, but it's just so much food [LAUGHTER]. Hate to come away feeling uncomfortable [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Well, I work in machine shop and do a lot of physical labor.
[speaker002:] Do you, well that makes a difference.
[speaker001:] And so,
[speaker002:] Where do you go to brunches? Like at hotels, or restaurants there?
[speaker001:] Yeah, uh, actually one of our, one of our favorites is a chain. Shoney's.
[speaker002:] Oh, yeah, uh-huh. We eat at Shoney's.
[speaker001:] Yeah, [NOISE] [dishes rattling] in spite of the fact I've spoken so badly about chains, chain restaurants, uh, we, uh, do like Shoney's pretty well, but then there's a place up the pass, up in the mountains that we pretty reliably like to go to on some Sunday mornings, drive, drive up to, I think it's about eight thousand foot elevation.
[speaker002:] Oh.
[speaker001:] And, and drive through Woodland Park and go for a short drive in the mountains and have breakfast.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh, that sounds nice.
[speaker001:] It, it, it's the way to spend a nice Sunday morning.
[speaker002:] Right, I imagine it is.
[speaker001:] I think it's as much the, the trip to the mountains as it is the breakfast brunch. {D You know, } and it's not that far. It's thirty miles.
[speaker002:] Whe-, out of, which direction?
[speaker001:] Colorado Springs.
[speaker002:] Out of, which direction from there?
[speaker001:] West
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] west out of Colorado Springs.