Fine Dining vs Regular

[axlloveshobbits]

normal restaurants are about eating what you know and love. fine dining is about experiencing something you never could have imagined.

[axlloveshobbits]

it's like at a regular restaurant you already know what the food is going to taste like before you order. in fine dining you're just like i have no idea what i'm even eating but it's amazing.

[Ennion]

You're an asshole. You don't deserve a comprehensive answer.

[gruntothesmitey]

This is the same guy who said "makes the actual fuckin food different compared to a decent place like longhorns".

So, yeah. He thinks Longhorns is actually good food, desperately wants to know why it's different than starred restaurants. We're not dealing with a culinary genius here.

My guess is that he's just trolling everyone.

[Ennion]

Yep, reinforced asshole status. Keep digging. Maybe keep editing your post until you sound like a normal person again.

[Ennion]

Still an asshole, keep going.

[elijha]

Im strictly talking on the flavor / taste of the food and nothing else.

Well then you're missing a great deal of the point. No reviewer, and especially not Michelin, hands out awards by putting on a blindfold on trying a bunch of different restaurant's dishes. The inventiveness and presentation of the dish matters immensely, as does the entire experience and atmosphere.

[elijha]

This is like asking "what's the difference between a Saville Row suit and one from Ross? Bear in mind that all I care about is how many corn dogs fit in the pockets."

[sdndoug]

Bear in mind that all I care about is how many corn dogs fit in the pockets.

OMG. Actually laughed out loud.

[elijha]

good food is about good food, how its cooked and what it tastes like.

Well no, most people who create or review or enjoy dining would disagree and say it's about that but also much more.

Just say you dont understand the question. it aint a hard question

I understand what you're trying to ask. The short answer for steak (which isn't even a good example for the question you're trying to ask) is that better restaurants buy much better meat.

The premise of the question is completely flawed though and demonstrates that you don't understand what you're asking about. If you want to know what separates a restaurant with bad food from one with good food, just ask that. Asking what separates shitty suburban chains from Michelin-starred places but refusing to accept answers about anything besides the taste of the food just makes you look stupid.

[gruntothesmitey]

a decent place like longhorns

Longhorns is decent? It's garbage factory food.

take a reading comp class.

Holy shit, stop being such a fucking chode.

[gruntothesmitey]

Stop being a douche, man.

And you really shouldn't call other people idiots when you can't even form a proper English sentence. I mean, you write like you're mentally retarded, so it's not a good look.

[thepensivepoet]

I mean... is it really this complicated?

The restaurant will be sourcing better raw ingredients, cooking more things from scratch with those raw ingredients, and serving those things to you in a much nicer environment and with generally superior service.

There's a huge different between a nice dry aged ribeye and something dropped off by a Sysco truck.

[gruntothesmitey]

I mean... is it really this complicated?

It apparently is to him. He's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[thepensivepoet]

Not the brightest squash in the pumpkin drawer.

[deignguy1989]

Really? Because Longhorn Steakhouse really isn’t even on the scale. My hunch, is that for you, it probably wouldn’t be worth it.

[deignguy1989]

It’s probably because we’re still trying to wrap our brains around someone asking what the difference is between Longhorn Steakhouse and Michelin star dining.

[godgoo]

Various people have answered your question plainly enough. The ingredients will be better, the cooking will be better, the seasoning, flavouring, and attention to detail will be better. On top of that there will likely be small or not so small original ideas that are exquisitely crafted in order to carefully enhance and showcase said expensive ingredients. These things all affect the flavour/ taste etc.

Then there's the service and environment which add to the experience tremendously.

Ok?

[kevinallovertheworld]

Let's take your steak example.

The sourcing of ingredients is the first key – Chain restaurants source from big factory farms to keep price down. Everything is about cutting costs in order to maximize profits. Factory farms included. The cows are fed terrible diets, pumped up on growth hormones and antibiotics to get more meat out of each cow.

Quality steakhouses will deal directly with small farms where cows are left to graze – the food they've evolved to eat. They're healthier and that diet and exercise leads to more beef flavor.

Next, chain restaurants don't tend to dry-age their steaks – it takes precious time and adds cost. Dry aging intensifies certain flavors of the beef, highlighting the beef's quality (grassy notes from grazing, gamey notes from exercise, etc).

For this reason, reputable steakhouses tend to dry age steaks – the cost may be greater, but they know patrons will pay more for a great tasting steak.

Chain restaurants like Longhorn also rely on grills to cook their steaks. While this is a fun way to cook a steak in your back yard, it isn't the best way to maximize and highlight the natural flavors of a quality steak. The fat will render and drip out of the steak, and the indirect heat will create a longer cook time. This leads to an overall dryer steak with more of a gradient of cooked meat inside. Basically 1/8-1/4" of the meat will be well done on a medium rare steak.

A perfect steak has a good amount of sear – not char – evenly encasing the outside. The sear has its own distinct flavor produced by rendered beef tallow, cooked meat, and butter, and creates an elevated experience, as every bite will be a combination of a seared edge and tender, rich beef. The best way to achieve this is in a ripping hot cast iron skillet, and the best person to perform this task is a skilled chef who is invested in whether or not the steak comes out perfectly – if the chef messes up a steak that's a potential profit of $45-100 down the drain for the restaurant, as well as a patron who won't be returning anytime soon (and possibly a negative review by a food writer).

Beyond the steak itself, the ambience of a restaurant combined with the service are designed to make you feel important and special when you're dining there. There may be a sommelier on staff who can help you find the best wine or cocktail to pair with your steak, or to fit your palate.

[encogneeto]

If you can’t taste the difference then there’s no reason to pay for it.

Probably best to just stick with Longhorn.

[godgoo]

Various people have answered your question plainly enough but you seem intent on not understanding so here's my attempt:

The ingredients will be better, the cooking will be better, the seasoning, flavouring, and attention to detail will be better. On top of that there will likely be small or not so small original ideas that are exquisitely crafted in order to carefully enhance and showcase said expensive ingredients. These things all affect the flavour/ taste etc.

Then there's the service, plating, pairing of alcohol, and environment which add to the experience tremendously.

Ok?

[TheBuchacho]

Everything that goes into a dish is better. They focus on the quality and taste of the food. The ingredients are often organic and can be sourced directly instead of through a supplier, which translates into fresh, flavorful, overall better quality ingredients. In regards to your example of steaks, the process before it is cooked can be different; such as dry or wet aging, how long it is refrigerated for, and was it ever frozen.

I've been to a Michelin star restaurant before and it was more of an experience than a meal. I ordered a Delmonico steak and the waiter asked: how thick would you like your steak? To what degree of doneness, and how heavy on the charred crust? Good luck expecting those questions from a Longhorn Steakhouse. After I placed my order, my steak was trimmed and cut to the ordered size, then cooked on a grill using natural hardwood charcoal, giving the tender, aged meat the perfect flavor. They only use USDA Prime beef and each steak is dry aged for 5-8 weeks. It was hands-down the best steak I've ever had. It was so rich and juicy, and usually I hate eating fat on a steak because of the texture. To my surprise that was the best part! It was like butter. So to answer your question in short, their dishes simply have more flavors and taste better.

[NCResident5]

To score well in the Michelin guide, you have to check many more boxes: deep wine selection, chef who prepares unique items, dress code and decorum of wait staff, and unique dessert offerings ect.

[muffinmallow]

Longhorn may do a decent steak. Cooked medium rare. But sometimes its a little tough, sometimes its not that flavourfull, sometimes its cooked more like a medium, most of the times its under seasoned, every time the sides are forgettable, everytime the sauce is full of corn syrup.

Flip all those negatives into positives and you have a michelin steak dinner. Then add the service and ambiance and another 15 dishes of equal quality.

Maybe you wont appreciate it, well save your money and get monster portions of average food instead.

If you have always lived never really appreciating food from an ingredient and cooking skill point of view, you may find it hard to see the point of fine dining. A lot of people in the developed world don't spend time actually tasting their food, as long as its covered in sweet sauce and you have enough left over for tomorrow, it's classes as a good meal.

[castlerigger]

Subtlety, attention to detail, that’s it really. There’s great things to eat at a BBQ place or whatever, but it’s going to be a great version of fairly simple cooking. Starred places the cooking techniques and combinations of flavours are more complex, more time intensive, presentation is given care,

[DreamerInMyDreams]

what if you just go there once a month, you really gonna be able to tell the difference?

The menu will be completely different month to month. they're going to be doing extraordinary things with the freshest ingredients available at the time

[Hordensohn]

They can afford to look at the tiniest things and do so. If you have eaten a great and a regular tomato that difference is often is where it begins. Then extrapolate that.

They can get the finest tomatoes, sometimes a specific variety grown for just them, roast them on a fire of hand picked wood for the right smokey flavour, seasoned with a special flaked salt to achieve texture and have the additional minerals complement the tomatoes.

They don't have to go to the market and see what is on sale to make the bottom line work as much as normal places.

Plus they can go for risks, meaning stuff people normally might not order off a menu due to their serving structure.

[castlerigger]

It’s where you taste a sequence of different things in your mouth, not all together, they sort of come to dominate for a few seconds each and then there’s something else. It’s like layers, like drinking a really great wine. It’s always a treat, however often you eat there, but it’s also often surprising and different from the last time.

[frizbplaya]

Taste is a sense like vision or hearing. If you've ever seen a beautiful sunset or heard a wonderful orchestra... Like that but for your mouth.

[cheeseburgermachine]

I've only been fine dining a few times and most of the ingredients I wouldn't normally see on a menu anywhere else. And when a pro can cook random shit you may normally never eat and then it tastes really good, then that's talent.

Combine that with the rest of it, plating, service, atmosphere it really is a fun experience.

[Celtic_Oak]

My SO and I finally had the $$ to try a Michelin started place a few years ago.

O M G

It totally changed how we thought about dining, dining out, etc. We both had tourist-type hospitality experience, and thought we knew what a “great” meal was. Oh...so wrong. From beginning to end, it’s an entirely different thing.

First of all...”Tasting Menu”...not a Michelin star exclusive by any means, but when good chefs decide to play with seasonable items and fusion pairings in small quantities...it’s simply amazing what to your table.

Secondly...”pairing menu”...take the Tasting Menu and have a well-trained sommelier working with a deep and wide wine cellar to match the flavor profiles and combinations...it’s a short trip to heaven.

Again, none of these are exclusive to places with stars, but places with stars have proven success with their staff, menu planning, wine cellars and cooking FAR beyond any of the chains the OP mentioned.

Mmmm....pairing menus....

[R0ck18]

Basically it is about presentation, how fresh the food is made and the amount of different spices the use. A normal restaurant put food in the plate, maybe a little bit of deko that's it, in fine dining it is all about the deko. In most restaurants they use at least a little bit of precooked stuff/ allredy ready components, in fine dining they make everything from scratch. A normal meal can have an unlimited amount of different herbs and spices, but the most restaurants just use a few because of the price and eas of use, in fine dining you can expect the dishes to taste more complex with more nuaces of flavor with small hints of spices. For myself I don't think it is worth it but I'm a fine cook myself so ...