[speaker001:] yeah um
[speaker002:] okay I'm uh we're not that we're not that big at dining out but uh in fact I guess since since uh we don't make it uh uh make a big hobby of it or anything we're we're really into uh we're interested in economy and uh you know a nice enough atmosphere that you can carry on a conversation
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] good food I mean that's important too
[speaker001:] yeah that sounds about what we I mean we go out to places I mean we don't go to places where we all dress up and all that you know and all that we try to get uh you know some place that you know that's a little better than home and all but you know it's not going to cost a ton of money either
[speaker002:] right right yeah well well we've got three kids and so uh and so uh I guess there's there's two kinds of dining out there's dining out with the kids and dining out without the kids
[speaker001:] huh all right
[speaker002:] and uh when we're dining out with the kids the the great places are those where you you know I don't uh are you uh you in Texas
[speaker001:] no I'm in uh Maryland
[speaker002:] Maryland well they've got a couple of places here I'm in I'm calling from Texas um there's a place that you know I can feed the five of us for under fifteen dollars and and it's all you can eat and uh that that's the kind of place that you take the kids to
[speaker001:] yeah well I'd go there all five I mean how how old are the kids
[speaker002:] well they they range from four to eleven and
[speaker001:] that's pretty impressive
[speaker002:] uh yeah oh well I I was amazed because we lived uh I'd lived uh in Virginia I was born and raised in Virginia and then uh we spent uh about ten years in New Hampshire
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and dining out especially with the kids has always been a major you know thing
[speaker001:] yeah we're we're having a kid in October and it's like well you know no more no more eating out for a while
[speaker002:] oh right but uh I was I was just amazed there's this one place called CC's pizza
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and it's all you can eat and it's for for grown ups its like four dollars and it's like I don't even think it's four dollars it's three dollars and something and for the for the the uh eight year old and the eleven year old it's it's like uh two dollars and something and for the four year old it's a dollar something
[speaker001:] oh that's incredible
[speaker002:] and it's all you can eat and it's decent pizza you know and it comes with a salad bar too but I mean the salad bar is essentially lettuce and carrots
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but uh but you know it's good enough to eat and then um there's uh another place called Pancho's Course they have to have Mexican food and uh the uh
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] the uh the grown ups eat for four dollars and something and the and the uh the eight and eleven year old eat for uh two dollars and something and the four year old eats for free and uh the grown ups get all you can eat and the kids have to have can only have like four items
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but you go sit down at a table the great thing about this is you sit down at the table and they have a little Mexican flag and when you raise the Mexican flag the waiter comes over and he just gives you whatever you want
[speaker001:] we got to look around here find out if there's anything like that around here
[speaker002:] oh you'll find something like that uh especially when you have kids
[speaker001:] that's yeah that's incredible I mean we just we're like well we're not going out for a while you know my folks live close you know fairly close here so it's like well we if we're going out to dinner we can drop the kid off at my folks and
[speaker002:] yeah  I know
[speaker001:] and it's like oh great grandpa you know
[speaker002:] well Maryland Maryland has some I mean um Maryland has some great seafood doesn't it
[speaker001:] yeah there's um there's a place I live just outside of Baltimore in a town called Olicott City and uh there's a seafood place here called the Crab Shanty that's really good it's like rated higher than like the the seafood restaurants down in the inner harbor in Baltimore you know the the trendy section of Baltimore
[speaker002:] uh-huh wow yeah
[speaker001:] and uh you know we've eaten there sometimes and it's pretty good it's you know it's a little more expensive than than I normally like to spend plus the other thing is I'm not uh I'm not a big seafood fan
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so you know it's like great we go to the Crab Shanty and I'm going to have veal you know
[speaker002:] oh  so what's what's eating out cheap for you is McDonald's or something like that
[speaker001:] not that bad there's some well actually we've been we end up doing a lot is uh there's a couple of places around that are like uh yuppie I mean it it seems like a big thing now with uh with diners uh
[speaker002:] diners oh yeah the back to the fifties
[speaker001:] yeah there's um there's a place up in my my folks actually live up in Delaware and there's a place up there that we like to go to called um The Hop which is you know just a fifties diner basically and then there's um a chain around here called Silver Diner
[speaker002:] uh-huh right yeah
[speaker001:] um and you know you and uh let's see there's another one up in uh just north of Baltimore called Ralphie's Diner
[speaker002:] huh Ralphie's
[speaker001:] yeah um it was fun I'm uh I'm a baseball fan I you know my my girlfriend's like you know she she puts up with me being a baseball fan you know but uh we go we walk into this place Ralphie's Diner and I look on the wall and there's like uh
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] there's like uh like a relief of the of of the guy who Ralphie's Diner is named after and it turns out he used to work for the Orioles and she's like no not more baseball
[speaker002:] yeah oh no kidding
[speaker001:] but um all these places you know you can get like you know a hamburger or um you know um I've had turkey and meatloaf at all these diners and you know we usually get out of there for around twenty bucks
[speaker002:] yeah yeah that's okay yeah
[speaker001:] you know it's good food and everything and um you know you get malts or whatever so it's really good you know my only big gripe is every time I've gone to Silver Diner I have tried to get the banana cream pie and they they are always out
[speaker002:] yeah yeah always out yeah we had a place like that that had uh in Virginia it was called Bill's Barbecue and they had the grest
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] greatest banana cream pie and it was was uh you could take it home it was was just it was so popular it was great stuff and now now my mouth mouth's watering I'm beginning to think about that yeah the uh yeah twenty dollar that's
[speaker001:] oh sorry
[speaker002:] we can do pretty that's that's what we try to aim for just the two of us or naw you know if we want to have some wine or something we start get into the forty dollar range I guess and
[speaker001:] well neither of us are big wine d rinkers yeah we went out tonight and I had a you know I had a beer and and you know obviously since you know she's we're not we've been kind of laying off the alcohol since she's expecting and all that
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah sure sure
[speaker001:] but we I mean even before I mean usually we you know we might have a beer but that's about it so
[speaker002:] yeah yeah that's the same well we'll go to a place and of course being in Texas we'll go to a place and the big thing is frozen margaritas margaritas and uh so we'll have some nachos and drink and they they serve these margaritas in
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I don't know do do you ever go to Howard Johnson's in uh I I don't know if there are even any Howard Johnson's around any more you used to get an ice cream sundae in that big old goblet
[speaker001:] yeah there are yeah
[speaker002:] well that's how that's what they serve these margaritas in these frozen margaritas it's just huge things
[speaker001:] yes I've seen them I know that uh Chi Chi's has margaritas in big glasses like that
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah Chi Chi's they they have Chi Chi's down here too but that's that's sort of looked down upon because they're a chain
[speaker001:] oh oh yeah well I I I would I mean you know they've got them out here because it's you know they don't actually know what Mexican you know what Mexican food is here
[speaker002:] right yeah right well I didn't either I mean you know to me Pancho's where I can where I can eat for less than fifteen bucks to me that's gourmet and everybody I say I went to Pancho's they all down at me down their noses you know it's like uh it's all right with me
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] well we've been to some what what have been rated fancy Mexican restaurants and uh they were good I have to say they were good
[speaker001:] huh yeah I've got to try I um years ago um we we're uh my folks were um we were visiting Los Angeles or something and I remember being taken to a real fancy Mexican restaurant there called Senor something Senor Pico or something like that and
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know I hated everything at the time I just hated Mexican food I'd I'd love to go to some place like that now where it's you know a real Mexican restaurant and see if I like it
[speaker002:] did you Mexican yeah yeah yeah yeah what kind of what kind do you like uh like Chinese or Italian or
[speaker001:] I um I like Chinese and I should experiment more the problem is that my favorite food in the world is cashew chicken so any time I go to a Chinese restaurant I want cashew chicken
[speaker002:] oh yeah my wife too that's her favorite too yeah you know it's funny with Chinese restaurants since you can't read the menu or anything you tend to stick with one thing I used to it used to always be sweet and sour pork for me and then I just I I started getting a little more health conscious
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and I try to uh you know try something else you know something with a little more vegetables or something but yeah I was the same way but we haven't really eaten Chinese that much since we've been in uh Texas it's funny
[speaker001:] I was just thinking the same thing it's like we haven't had Chinese in a while let's have a shake up we get this uh there's this take out Chinese place that I mean you know stone's throw from my apartment here
[speaker002:] yeah right yeah yeah
[speaker001:] and uh we can get they do this thing for dinner for two where we can get like um Kung Pao chicken you know it's a big you know container full Kung Pao chicken um pork fried rice two egg rolls and like you know
[speaker002:] um yeah um
[speaker001:] you know I don't know a pint or two pints or whatever of a wanton soup for like twelve fifty
[speaker002:] yeah ooh what a deal yeah
[speaker001:] yeah it's great we should have done that tonight
[speaker002:] that sounds great well you know it's funny because the grocery store down the street it's one of these you know super grocery stores they have a a Chinese take-out
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] in the corner of it and the food's decent but it's expensive I think especially since it's all take out
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh yeah I'm well I like Italian food too but you don't there aren't that many Italian restaurants around here
[speaker001:] there's um I'm trying to think there's a French restaurant real close but we've never gone there because I'm not
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] oh I'm you know I'm not a big French you know I I don't eat
[speaker002:] I'm into quantity and French the French restaurants aren't
[speaker001:] yeah well I also I also don't do snails so
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] it seems to me there's an Italian deli nearby that's pretty good uh
[speaker002:] well of course when we