One tactic that’s helped me is to limit my reading to the appetizer and salad list–and when possible to avoid the Cheesecake Factory and every other restaurant whose menu can’t fit on a page. Anyway, there’s an inverse relationship between the size of the menu and the quality of the food and wine.

Chipotle is good and consistent though I have an ongoing problem with their loading cilantro into everything. Chipotle has been most excellent for my portfolio!

No matter how many choices are on the menu, I’ll just order the first thing that looks good. I’d rather make a good decision quickly than the optimal decision after an exhaustive analysis. If it’s not that good, I’ll just get something else next time.

That’s funny how you guys hate choice! My problem is I like to go to the same restaurants over and over again and then order my favorites! I already know I like the restaurant and those specific dishes, so I don’t want to “waste” my eating out experience on something that I might not enjoy as much.

And with Steve’s comment – I’m one of those women who is often guilty of “suggesting” to my husband what he should get! Often he doesn’t mind, but sometimes he really wants something else, so he’ll let me know and get what he really wants. 🙂

It’s a pet peeve for me whenever there is an obligatory/work-related event where I have to eat out. I guess one can’t alienate one’s co-workers or the boss, but still, it’s a nuisance. I like your idea of ordering just one basic item… I’ll start to try that!

Jacob, on an unrelated note, I wanted to know if you invest all your money in the stock market (whether through individual stocks or index funds) or if you put a percentage in “risk-free” investments like bonds/T-bills. I ask because I have managed to save a small sum, and want to know how much I should put in an index fund (as opposed to a bond/T-bill). Given a long enough time frame, won’t an index fund’s returns always beat risk-free investment returns (I’m looking 15-yr), and does that mean the index fund is virtually risk-free?

I would really appreciate your thoughts, and apologies in advance for the amateur-ish question. I’m still in the process of learning 🙂

Regards,
Hannah

As a consequence of having Aspergers (a learning disability), if I have to do 20 things to accomplish a goal or do the same thing 20 times (folding laundry, loading the dishwasher), I get very stressed and overwhelmed! Sometimes it’s to the point that I shut down. When I was a kid, I was considered “lazy.” Meal planning and following a recipe are the worst! So I feel your pain. I avoid activities that involve too many steps. You are not alone!

I hate subway for the same reason. As I am not a professional sandwich maker, why should I have to pick the items that goes on the sandwich.

There is no way I could pick the optimal toppings/dressing. I refuse subway, I go to Jimmy Johns.

Another bad thing is that a restaurant probably has upwards of a dozen things that sound good, and half of those are at prices that I’m willing to pay. So each time I’ll try something different. Even though the first time I ordered the thing that sounds the best, and it is what tastes best to me.

The inefficiency of choice.

Bob raises many good points, to which I’ll add a reference to the article in the Wall St. Journal today which details how restaurants are changing their menu mix to reduce the ratio of high-priced meat and imported ingredients to domestic grain-based food (aka, high-margin pasta):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120493352022320755.html?mod=home_we_banner_left

@Hannah – Ideally I would, but currently the markets are just not that good. I invest mostly in individual stocks. I use indexes whenever dealing with individual positions becomes too cumbersome (bonds, debts, foreign stocks). 15 years is not a long time for an index but it is a long time for an individual investor. There are periods where indexes have gone nowhere for more than a decade. For instance, the Dow Jones have gone nowhere for the past 8 years. Risk free means predictable. With T-bonds you know the nominal value of the money you will have in N years. What you don’t know is how much money this will buy. Nobody knows. I would say if you want your money to work for you, keep learning, there are really no free solutions on the table. The alternative is to keep working for your money.

@adfecto – Appreciation depends on whether one’s ability to perceive is aligned with what’s offered. For instance, for many people poetry is a moving experience, but to me they’re mostly just words. Conversely, a coupled set of differential equations might be beautiful to me but to many people they’re just gibberish (what is wrong with you people??? ;-P ). I think I feel about food the same way many people feel about participating in sports. They’re content to jump on a stationary recumbent and that’s it. I’m wondering why riding downhill at 35mph is a challenge, why standing up in the saddle and sprinting takes courage or why companies make baggy cycling shorts.
Kinesthetically they want the equivalent of the burger. They are clueless and inexperienced. Pick this one and things will be alright. Same with food here. I’ve thought about going to restaurants more often so as to remember how different food combinations work but I discovered that as long as I’m not the one cooking I frankly don’t care, so I stopped.

I always wondered why there are no restaurants offering only today’s menu. I’d imagine with the scaling such a meal could cost $2-3 in which case I’d go there all the time.

I can understand your reasoning perfectly here, it’s fascinating to think about – since I share it in regard to investing, but not food. I’m glad you like Chipotle, since it’s at least healthier than many places. I love eating gourmet vegetarian/vegan foods, but I hate the time it takes to make it all…. I suppose our gourmet restaurant culture falls into the category of “unsustainable” – it’s a product of a very evolved, complex capitalist society that can turn food into “culture.” But eating simply at home is better anyway. If you can be content with just rice, carrots, apples, broccoli and chic peas, I’d even venture to say that’s all you even need to eat (and some nuts and beans every now and then).

I don’t think you’re crazy. Just boring.

Just get the appetizer sampler platter as a meal and share it all with friends everytime. You eat your safe proportion of unhealthy food. It’s cheaper, and you make everyone happy.

Jacob,
I love your blog and book, but could it be that your analytical side is overthinking the act of ordering food? You’re very good at reasoning through problems, but food preferences and thus ordering fall clearly into the subjective/”gut” feeling domain, pardon the pun.

Thank you everybody who wrote. I enjoyed this article and the comme to that followed. Not liking choice seems weird to me. I do enjoy eating out and trying new things. But I see the benefit in choosing a cheap meal and stick to that. My fav meal to order is Seafoodlatter but now I might try to change down to something simpler and cheaper. There’s value in that