Which way do you go?

[cos]

Your walk to class on campus, or to work from home or the nearest transit stop, has a few options. You could go around that building to the left or to the right, you might turn first and then go two blocks over or go two blocks first and then cross... do you find one shortest or nicest way and fall into the habit of always taking it, or do you switch it up every time? What motivates you to do one or the other?

You're going to eat out at a neighborhood you kinda know, which has some restaurants you've been to more than once. Your friend ask you to pick where to eat. Do you go for an old favorite most of the time, or are you much more likely to pick somewhere new until you've tried all the places in that neighborhood? Why do you make the choice you make?

Your friend picks a place for you to eat, and you've been there a few times. Which is more likely: you order something you've had before that you know you liked, or you search the menu for something you haven't tried yet that you think you'd like? What motivates you one way or the other?

Comments

[jwg.livejournal.com]

We always go to JP Licks after Contra Dances in JP. I long time ago I discovered that I really like coffee-chip hard yogurt. But even after that discovery for a while I would keep trying their flavor-of-the-month or something that sounded appealing; but I generally concluded that I really liked the coffee-chip better. They do allow you to try samples but a little bit isn't the same as a whole dish. So now coffee-chip is what I always order. (Hopefully they'll never be out of it).

[theloriest.livejournal.com]

For a routine walk (like to work and back) I tend to always go the same route. Muscle memory allows me then to walk and not really have to pay a lot of attention to where I am going - giving me time to just zone out or to think about other things.

Choosing a place to eat will depend on the friend/s I'm going out with. I'll probably pick a place I've been to before that I think they will enjoy (and is within a price range I know is within their comfort zone). I'm more likely to pick somewhere new if I'm by myself or with a friend I know is open to anything.

Generally, I tend to go with menu items I have had before and have loved unless I genuinely see something on the menu I feel like I MUST try. Usually that is because I see someone else in the restaurant eating it, or I smell it, or I'm just not in the mood for what I usually order at that place.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

I most likely walk the same way every time, unless there is a particular feature of one path over the other (e.g., shortest vs. nicest, detour via coffee shop, etc.).

Very often when I feel the urge to return to a particular restaurant, it is specifically to have the thing again that I enjoyed there the last time. :-) So I am a returner/reorderer probably more than half the time. If I'm not feeling the urge to repeat a particular past experience, in that moment, then I am more likely to experiment with picking someplace (or something) new.

I think the subtext is that this behavior prioritizes security over novelty. :-)

Also, if I try out a new Indian place I always have to order the lamb biryani the first time I go there, and in a Mexican place the chicken burrito -- because those are my favorites and therefore benchmark dishes for any given restaurant.

[cos]

>> I think the subtext is that this behavior prioritizes security over novelty. :-)

I thought to post this question after hearing a radio piece that tangentially talked about this from a different point of view, but what you say is also a way of looking at it.

[theloriest.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree with you about benchmark dishes.

[cos]

Yeah, I sometimes do benchmark dishes in brand new restaurants, though not consistently. Pad Thai and fresh rolls for Thai places, hiyayakko for Japanese places that have it.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Yes. Last weekend we went for my first time to the nearby Thai place that etrace likes (he hadn't been there in some years either). It was just the two of us, but I insisted that we order ALL THE THINGS in order to try everything essential, and because I suddenly realized I had not had Thai food in months. :-)

Apps: chicken potstickers, vegetarian egg rolls (I probably didn't read down far enough the menu to see if they even had fresh rolls, because those are usually on my list ;-)
Soup: chicken tom yum
Entrees: pad thai with chicken, hot basil eggplant, beef pad see ew

All really good. OMG SO HUNGRY NOW!

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

1. Shortest route, every time, unless there's a special occasion, because I'm usually running late.
2. Depends on my mood. Sometimes, I just want "familiar". Routines are nice. I want to eat at the diner every Saturday morning, because I like routine. However, I also like novelty, so it wouldn't be unusual for me to go to a new place. Much of it depends on the friend in question -- some of my friends prefer predictability and a sure bet; some are more likely to want novelty. When I am with my in-laws, for instance, we will ALWAYS go to the most unusual, eclectic, or offbeat place we could find. If they've been somewhere before, and they've already found someplace funky and cool, they'll take us there, because it's new to us, even if it's not new to them. But if we're with my grandparents, we'll usually go to a place we know -- my grandmother likes new and different things, but my grandfather would tend to prefer a sure bet.
3. Almost always something new. Unless there's something that was particularly great, or something that I'm in a particular mood for. And, weirdly, Lis and I always order the exact same thing when we're at Chipotle. I've tried to switch it up, but I apparently have found my absolute favorite thing on the Chipotle menu, and everything else is a step down.

[mindways]

Ways: Among paths of roughly equal efficiency, I switch it up. And I'll try to find new ways. (If I'm in a rush, though, I'll often hyper-optimize.)

Restaurants: Depends on my anticipation of how often I'm likely to eat there (either "in that neighborhood" or "at that restaurant") in the future. If "not very often", I'll default to an old favorite. The more often I anticipate eating there, the more I'll lean towards trying new things (most of the time).

(I saw reference to a study a while back which looked at the "variety is the spice of life" hypothesis, and concluded it was true only for things done frequently - for infrequent things, the happiness of enjoying a cherished favorite outweighs the pleasure of variety / possibility of finding something liked more. I believe "dishes at restaurants" was one of the things they looked at, even. Since then, I've followed that heuristic, and it's worked pretty well for me.)

[blimix.livejournal.com]

I will generally find one shortest and one nicest route for any regular commute (walking or driving), and choose between them based on how much time I have. Sometimes there's only one regular route, when the shortest one is shorter by far than any nicer routes. But about 10%-25% of the time (depending on convenience), I'll take a totally different route just to shake things up. ("To foil kidnappers," as Karen says.)

Question two is unusual, in that I would ordinarily expect my friend's input, and see how adventurous they are feeling. If I am to pick a restaurant myself, the answer will depend on whether my friend shares my familiarity with the local restaurants. If they do, I may well pick a new experience for both of us. If not, I'll pick one that I like, which will at least be a new (and good) experience for them. Why? I value the collection of knowledge of local eateries, to be used when there's a particular dining agenda. (Tastes, priorities, and the ways in which people experience a restaurant all vary enough that on-line reviews rarely help.) So when there are special occasions, out-of-town visitors, or just specific culinary moods, I can recommend a great Indian or sushi place.

Even if I think I've found the best dish in a restaurant on the first try, I'll still try others, with decreasing frequency. If I've been there "a few times," there's about a 2/3 chance that I'll order my favorite dish so far. My motivation is maximal enjoyment, and the "decreasing frequency" routine only makes sense for this if I don't know how often I'll be going back there. Other circumstances warrant (and get) other algorithms: If I expect to return frequently, I try everything that I might like early. If I think I'll return fewer than about three more times, I'll just get my favorite dish each time.

[sparr0.livejournal.com]

I put thought into these decisions every time. I walk around the building because the wind/snow is blowing a certain direction. I go eat at place B instead of place A because I have a date later, forgot my toothbrush, and place A puts garlic on everything. etc.

[cos]

Huh, that's an answer I hadn't thought of. Do you ever find that there's no clear decision?

[sparr0.livejournal.com]

Rarely. In which case, I usually opt for something more random than just picking between the leaders, even.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I like to take routes I haven't taken in a while, to see how a certain garden is at this season (this usually if I have my camera with me), or to see if a certain cat is outside, or just for a change of scenery. But I think this has changed since I quit the job with the commute -- I do remember taking the quickest route every morning, but sometimes taking an unaccustomed route home.

I like to try new restaurants, unless I'm in a mood for something familiar. So yeah, that one depends on my mood. I do have a small group of routine dishes which I tend to order (moo shu veg, palak paneer, spicy pad thai) even at unfamiliar restaurants, but sometimes I'll change that up if I'm in the mood for something other -- usually for a specific reason: red meat if it's that time of the month, or string beans if I haven't eaten anything green in a while, or soup if it's a cold and stormy day. At certain restaurants, I get the same thing but it isn't the same same thing -- for instance, at Royal East I usually order Suan La Chow Show and a dry-fried beef-onions-and-noodles dish that I've not seen on any other menu.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

1) I mix up my routes because I like variety of scenery (even if some of it isn't so "scenic" by most people's standards) and only take the shortest one when I am in a hurry.

2) I pick a new restaurant unless I think the friend is going to be really picky in which case I go with something tried and true. I like to try new places.

3) Interestingly, this one conflicts with the other two since as soon as I have a favorite dish at a place I almost always just get it, unless it is a place I go really really often because whenever I have tried something else I end up disappointed that I didn't get to eat my favorite thing.

[heinleinfan.livejournal.com]

My route to work is very short, with little in the way of options for changing up the route, so I always go the same route.

As for eating out...I don't do it very often. It is an expense I cannot usually afford. So when I do get the chance, I typically go to favorite places that I do not get to go to often, and order favorite dishes, again because I do not get them often.

It's risky to go some place unknown, or try some new dish, when eating out is a special occasion extravagance; you don't want the experience to be bad when you do it so infrequently, or it feels like an even further waste of money, when you're already probably feeling a bit guilty about the expense of eating out, even if it's on a special occasion.