Why Does Restaurant Food Taste Better?

Have you ever wondered that? I have and so I decided to do a little research, some brain storming, and share my thoughts with you. I'm not talking about McDonald's, I'm talking about your very favorite dish at your very favorite restaurant. You know, my son paid me the biggest compliment at dinner one night awhile back. He said, "Mom, this dinner is so good, it almost taste as good as a restaurant!" Well, I may never achieve restaurant quality but here are my thoughts on it.....

Restaurant food often taste better because:

1. They use a whole lot more butter. Butter is like the king of foods. Think about it. Butter is used in almost every course of your meal....the dinner rolls, sometimes the salad dressing, the main dish, the side dishes, the gravy and sauces, the desserts, and even some drinks (buttered rum anyone?)! Chefs in restaurants don't shy away from using large amounts of the creamy perfection which gives their foods a deep rich flavor that most home cooks would tip over in shock from. Yep, lots of butter.

2. Restaurants use a lot more seasonings. Home cooks often don't know what seasonings to use to compliment a dish let alone how much of it to use. Chef's are trained how to feature one seasoning in a dish to make it memorable. And don't forget salt. If butter is the king of foods, then salt is the queen. Most home cooks shy away from using spices and seasonings in general and usually use little salt for their own health conscience. But restaurant chef's aren't too worried about your health for that one night experience in their restaurant.

3. Perfection. Huh? Well, think about it. Restaurants have worked to create only their very best. They've taken the richest, the savoriest, most amazing dishes they can come up with and they perfect them, create their menu out of them, and create them night after night after night. I'd say that they get pretty darn good at making those same dishes all the time. Home chefs have to work with a much bigger menu...ya, we'd get bored of eating the same 10 things on a regular rotation and to boot, if they were all our richest, most savoriest, incredible meals then we probably wouldn't be eating very healthy. Home chefs don't get the practice of recreating a dish over and over and over again 50 times a night until it's pure perfection. Nor do we usually have all the ingredients on hand that we are supposed to have on hand.

4. Someone else made it. Yep, that alone makes the food taste better to me. If I don't have to make it, I automatically give it 4 stars!

anyone else have any thoughts on it? why do you think restaurant food taste better?