It's no secret that Carl and I enjoy a nice dinner out. Since moving to California we have begun to explore the local restaurants in our area and have had a variety of experiences. Some great, some good, and some really, really bad.
Thanks to a recently discovered on-line banking feature which breaks down our spending per month by category we realized that in the last year we have spent way too much money on going out to eat. This has brought us to a mutual resolution for the coming year of cutting back on dinners out. We hope that this will result in 2 things:
#1- Save a bunch of money...I mean a lot of money...like go on a vacation kind of money, or be able to fly home and see our family next Christmas kind of money.
#2- Appreciate and enjoy the times and places that we do get to dine at. We are creatures of habit and once we find a place we like it's hard to deviate from it. However, we are surrounded by tons of restaurants that we haven't even glanced at yet and are literally minutes from the house.
We have now budgeted $100 per month for dinning out. That may sound like a lot, but if you only knew how much we were spending then you'd understand how much we'll be saving. Now, $100 can break down into many ways, 4- $25 dinners, 3- $33 dinners, 2- $50 dinner, or one giant $100 dinner. I don't think Carl and I have ever spent close to $100 on a single meal, so I doubt the last option will ever happen.
As part of this resolution I have also decided to add a Restaurant Review feature to my blog. I haven't worked out all the details yet but it'll be pretty simple...I'll gush about the food, service, atmosphere, and cost or anything else that I feel is pertinent to our experience. I know there are a few readers who are also local Southern California gals but non-locals might have a restaurant that I blog about in your area too. For example, I am pretty sure the first restaurant that we are going to treat ourselves to will be the Granville Cafe located on San Fernando Boulevard in Burbank and according to their website they are planning to open locations across the country in the future.
And rest assured, if we come across a restaurant that is bad I will be sure to let my true feelings be known. I am always disappointed when a restaurant experience falls short. I will say that good service is always a key factor in the experience...we have had dinning experiences saved that should have been failures simply because the service was fantastic. Unfortunately, bad service will always trump great food.
I look forward to sharing this new feature with you, I hope you'll join me. Oh- and if you have any suggestions for restaurants that we should check out let me know!
This sounds like a fun feature.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are able to save enough money to fly home next Christmas.
Have a great week, Cortney. La
Sounds like a good plan ;) Better to have meaningful experiences than empty, forgetful ones that fulfill nothing. Afterall...life is an adventure! Looking forward to learning about all the great "hole-in-a-wall" places that make great food without all the fancy, fru-fru details that do not necessarily add to the experience. You all have to check out the hot dog place in downtown LA that I told you about as well as the mexican place that has those fantastic borritos. Go to the Food Network site and check out all the throw downs that Bobby Flay has had as well as the travel channel for all those restaurants that are not chains put true gems. Enjoy ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. There are so many restaurants in the valley, you'll be busy all year. I'll keep up with your restaurant review so I can save some dough. Our budget for dining out is also $100...per year....so I'd better spend it wisely.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun idea. Looking forward to what you find out there.
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