Well, ice tea is okay in a mason jar, but there are people who use them to drink wine. I can’t imagine what kind of flavorless cheap rotgut byproduct of grape they drink that way.
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What’s a “Charger” in this context?
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It’s a large plate, that is sometimes put under the plate you eat off of. It’s the red one in this image:
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Not to nitpick, but your time has value.
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Apparently there’s a restaurant in DC that sells a jambon beurre sandwich (classic French ham and butter sandwich, usually 3 or 4€ at the corner bakery) for $26.
I’ve also heard that in Brooklyn, $12 avocado toast is a thing…
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Oh, yeah! Fruity spooge!
Pineapple FTW baby!
Oh, there’s an “L”, right, I’m gonna go check out the bar.
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And unless you live right next to the restaurant, the time getting to and from the restaurant plus additional waiting time costs you time, too. Also, making simple meals do not take that much time, if you are a bit used to it.
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Sure, but there’s also lots of foods that are really difficult to make at home or in sizes appropriate to small dining. Like, I’m not going to make puff pastry from scratch or whatever, and some of the steaks at steakhouses I don’t even know where to source, let alone cook the same. My wife and I cook nightly but there’s a bunch of food you can basically only get in restaurants or give yourself hours of prep and cooking time.
Now a $26 Jambon Buerre? That’s a bit silly.
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This would be our go to spot for the birthday/anniversary type meal: http://graciesprov.com/ (~40 per plate)
this would be the more once a month spot for a date night or brunch with the kids: http://cavrestaurant.com/ (~30 per plate)
This would be an any night of the week spot: https://www.cookanddagger.com/ (~20 per plate)
Now there are always places to get to 10-15 per person based on a special of the week, or sharing, etc. And to @LearnedCoward 's point this would not include apps, dessert, or drinks.
Gracie’s is amazing, and we go there 2-3 times per year and its at its cheapest just under $150 for the two of us. We rarely ever buy a whole bottle of wine as they tend to be outrageously over priced. Half bottles are cheaper than individual glasses of wine though.
Added plus: they always serve their meals on plain white plates. 
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ding ding ding. take 2 bucks out of petty cash for yourself.
I have a full set of these that we use for fancy dinners…
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/7831035/?catalogId=61&sku=7831035&cm_ven=Google_PLA&cm_cat=Shopping&cm_pla=default&cm_ite=default&kwid=productads-adid^45527543503-device^c-plaid^83089550743-sku^7831035-adType^PLA&gclid=CjwKEAjw3pTJBRChgZ3e7s_YhAkSJAASG9VrRHRU2jGKR8s3EUuvx4clElWzBZWK4pf4JMd19EZSChoC-ZTw_wcB
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Yes, but he wrote explicitly about meals he could make himself.
I, for example, don’t even bother trying to make Indian dishes. I crave them to rarely while I appreciate the needed skill to manage the spices to make it worth the effort.
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Speak for yourself, I always am looking for my next plate of Palak Paneer.
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For us, the restaurant is about the experience, not the time/cost/value tradeoff. The night out is an event, not (primarily) a source of sustenance.
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Sure it does, but cooking relaxes me, and the active prep time has never been anything so insane that I haven’t been willing to put it in. Even dishes that take several hours to days to prepare are mostly inactive time.
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Yes.
So if I’m paying for the experience, I don’t want food I can make myself, but better.
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Oh, that is easily solved: Lots of dishes work reasonably well - some even require it - when you warm them up the next day. I don’t get the “but then I have to eat the same things two days in a row” mindset I’ve encountered in quite a few people - who then basically rotate through 30 dishes anyway But perhaps it’s an age thing. At 50, I’ve had so many meals, that truly new variations seem to be a rare occasion. If I didnt’t live in a town quite removed from the metropolises of the world it might be a bit different.
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I mean there’s a difference between ‘I accidentally made four portions instead of two! Oh my lord what could I possibly do’ and ‘Oh, to make this at an appreciable scale makes twelve portions, like a roast or whatever’. Baking is particularly problematic for this problem.
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Shrug That’s why I used the word “I”.
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I don’t think you understand how much I crave that delicious spinach dish.
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Yes, that’s why, in those cases, I chose meals that I can’t make easily myself.
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