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- [00:00]
A
This is an All Ears English podcast Casual or fine dining restaurant? English Explained
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B
welcome to the All Ears English Podcast, downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz and Lindsey McMahon, the English adventurer coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, usa. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com subscribe how do you know if someone is inviting you out to a fancy restaurant or a more casual place? Listen in for key vocabulary and clues in English today.
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C
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B
How's everything?
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A
I'm great Lindsay. How are you?
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B
Good. I am ready to get into talking about restaurants. This is a good topic. I love it.
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A
Who doesn't love dining topic? I know. Who doesn't love dining out and who doesn't love talking about food and dining out? It's such a great conversation topic. Yeah.
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B
And so on that note, Aubry, what types of restaurants do you like? Where do you go when you like to eat out?
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A
My favorite is Indian food and you just can't go wrong. Every restaurant I've ever been to, Chicken Makni Alugobi are my favorites and it's always delicious. I'm never disappointed. And I can't cook it myself. I have tried. It's never as good. So that's it. I can make some Mexican at home. I can't really get in. Can you cook Indian food, Lindsay?
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B
Oh gosh, no.
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A
No. It's very difficult. And you have to buy the garam masala and the Turmeric and all of the spices, and it's just not.
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B
And it still wouldn't be as good. So that's one that's totally worth either going out or doing takeout for, I think.
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A
Absolutely. What about you? What restaurants do you. Do you like?
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B
Oh, my gosh, Lot of stuff. So Mexican's big in Denver. I'll say that I like Thai food. I like to go out for Thai food sometimes. And also just sort of like new, trendy restaurants. Denver is not a huge restaurant scene. I'll say that we have some good, good ones, but they're a little less common than on the east Coast. When I lived in New York and
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A
Boston, oh, we went to three restaurants on Valentine's Day because we didn't have a reservation. So we went to three sort of. It was like a wine bar that had apps and we did, like, a drink and an app at three different places, and they were all quite a bit fancier than our usual haunts. So it was kind of fun to go somewhere for just a drink and an app.
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B
Oh, that's perfect. That's really fun. It's fun to make up your own little Valentine's Day dates. We did.
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A
We just went for ice cream.
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B
Yeah, we just went for ice cream with our dog. We loved it. It was the best Valentine's Day.
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A
Well, today we are listening or we're answering a listener's question about restaurants. So if you like dining out, you are going to love this topic and you should be ready to connect about this topic. I've never had a conversation about food and dining out where I was bored. Like, it's a fun connection topic.
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B
Nope. Because people are always looking for new restaurant recommendations.
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A
That too.
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B
You can learn a lot about someone based on where they went, where they suggest you go about, like, how fancy they are, you know, how much they value food. There's a lot here. So, Aubrey, would you read our listener question to get us started?
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A
Absolutely. This is from Mauro Shout out to Mao. He has sent us some amazing questions. He said, Great episode 1522. I learned pull its weight. And I have a question for you. I was watching an American culinary reality show. There were assignments on casual dining and fine dining. Could you talk a little bit about this? Is it a matter of price, ingredients, etiquette? Maro, Such a good question.
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B
Yeah, Great question. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. What is the difference?
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A
Right.
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B
Fine dining and casual dining. We love the question because again, dining out is a huge connection moment with the person you're out with or also whoever you're talking about maybe you went out over the weekend. Like you're talking about your Valentine's Day right now. We're talking about that. It's a connection moment. Okay.
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A
And this is interesting too, because if you're going out, if you're meeting someone, you kind of need to know if it's a fine dining establishment or casual dining, because that will determine what you wear, how much you're planning to spend. Right. There is a lot that's different between these two experiences. Yeah.
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B
You don't want to show up in jeans when you go to the fanciest restaurant in your entire city and everyone's in dresses and suits. Oh, my God.
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A
Exactly. You feel a little underdressed. Definitely.
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B
Guys, if you love our style, it's connection, not perfection, is what we do here on Allers English. Then go ahead and hit the follow button so that you don't miss a single episode of our show. We publish five days a week over here. If you prefer to watch us on video, you can do that too over on YouTube. Just type in all ears English podcast. Hit subscribe. All right.
- [05:58]
A
Yes, exactly. All right, let's dive into this. We're going to talk about casual dining first. So this is more relaxed. It has an informal atmosphere, a casual dress code. Right. You can definitely wear jeans and a T shirt to anywhere. That is considered casual dining.
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B
Yeah, yeah. I'd say this is probably my preference, you know, because you could still get really good food when you dine out casually. Right. It's not like absolutely fine dining has a corner on the market for good food. Right. And usually they give you more food in casual dining.
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A
Right. So true. And this is faster service, but it's not considered fast food. That is different. Right. Fast food usually has a drive through, like McDonald's, Burger King. That's fast food. Casual dining is more. Will often say fast casual. And that's usually where you go up to the register, order your food, and then you go sit down. Maybe they'll bring it to you or call your number. But it is quicker than fine dining. For sure. But step up from fast food.
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B
So does fast casual belong in the casual dining category? Aubry, would you say yes?
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A
Yeah. So I'm thinking of, like, Chipotle is a good example. Or, you know, there are these restaurants where I wouldn't call it fast food. Like, they make it pretty quick. It's. But it's casual because you're still gonna sit and eat with your party. There's no drive through. It's a little different It's a little more upscale than fast food.
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B
Fast casual a little bit better. There's kava. The brand kava is big in Denver. Or there's sweet greens where you usually go through the line. You say what you want, like Chipotle, but then you pro. You could take it out. But it's not like. Yeah, I think the key is there's no drive through. That might be it.
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A
Yeah, maybe. Right. If it's fast food, there's a drive. Everything else is casual dining. And sometimes we'll call it fast casual if it's even a little more informal or quick serve. But we still wouldn't call it fast food.
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B
I think the other kinds of places that would fall under casual dining. Brew pubs. We love to go to brew pubs where it's actually like the emphasis is on the beer. So you go and you can eat at the bar, you can eat at a table. There's families, but there's tons of good craft beer options. Like they take their beer seriously.
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A
I love sports bars, which will always have big TVs playing whatever game name is on. Right.
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B
Usually the beer is not as good there.
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A
Exactly. A sports bar is stuck and it's not craft brews.
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B
No. So there are a lot of types of restaurants that do fall into casual dining. But I think the key is maybe are you getting dry? Are you going to worry about what you're wearing or not? Maybe that's one of the key differences. Right.
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A
That's really interesting. But it's still usually quite affordable. Simple food, it can be really healthy. Right. Fast food. We usually. There are now some drive thru salad places that are more healthy. But traditionally fast food has always been collocated with like unhealthy food. Right. Whereas casual dining can be healthy options.
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B
Sure, for sure. So let's contrast that now with fine dining. So what is fine dining?
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A
Yeah, this is much more elevated. As we say, it's a more formal atmosphere. Fancier dress code is expected. Like you said, Lindsay, if you wear jeans to a fine dining estate, you'll probably be the only one in jeans. Like we dress up to go to these places.
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B
Yep. Usually it's a bit slower, um, but the service will be more attentive.
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A
Right.
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B
Um, maybe there's just more, I don't know, more attention paid to the waiter or waitress might take. Might just pay more attention. I don't know how to.
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A
I think an example of this is at a fine dining establishment. I often will ask for a tasting of wines. I'll ask for a taste of a Few different wines, and they'll bring, you know, the wine glass with just a small taste. You could never do that at a casual dining. Or at least I would never at a sports bar. I wouldn't ask to, like, taste a couple of their beers or wines. It's just a very different vibe. Right. It's fancier, it's elevated. You are paying more. Maybe that's why I don't feel guilty asking for tastings. Right.
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B
Interesting. Yeah, that's interesting. I've never asked for a tasting of wine that's interesting. I mean, usually when I order a bottle of wine at a fine dining place, I. They'll pour it into whoever they decide.
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A
They'll let you taste it first, tasting it.
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B
Right. But you're talking about, can I have a few different. Like, as if you're at, like a wine tasting. Can I have a few different options? Yeah.
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A
So we did this on Valentine's Day. There were three Cabernet Sauvignon options on the menu at this place called Black Sheep. That was pricier. And I usually will like wine, but I haven't been drinking wine that long, so I don't know for sure. And I hadn't tried any of them. So I'll just say, can I taste your three Cabernet Sauvignon? And they just bring each in a little glass, a little tasting, and they tell you the name of it. You taste it, you try all three, and then you tell them which one
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B
you would want to order. Got it.
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A
And I love it because then I know I'm getting a glass of wine that I'm going to enjoy because I might order a glass of wine and not like it.
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B
Yeah. I wonder if you'd be able to do that at a table, because I know when you. Well, yeah, because at the bar it's easier because they're not poor. They're not. You're not. They're not selling you a bottle of wine. Right. To open for you. Right.
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A
No, it's just a glass. And this is at a table. They would, like, bring the three to the table. Right. So. But I wouldn't do that at a brew pub or sports bar because the. It's. You're not paying as much. And so it doesn't feel like I. I don't feel like I have the right to ask for that. That kind of service.
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B
Interesting. Okay. Yeah. So there's a lot of things that make it distinct fine dining. The food is usually better quality.
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A
We hope, at least it usually is a prettier presentation. Right. More work going into the present. Often smaller portions actually, like you mentioned
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B
also the menu is usually much more ornate. Some kind of special wordsmithing is done around. Often there's like a farm to table vibe going on. Describing each ingredient and more in depth description of where each ingredient came from is usually what you'd see at fine dining.
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A
Right. Yeah. Everything's classed up a little bit. The menu. There usually are less options at a fine dining restaurant, whereas at the Cheesecake Factory or somewhere these places will have like thousands of options.
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B
I know.
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Or a diner. It's like pages and pages of menu.
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Yeah. Diner is definitely not fine dining.
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A
No, but that's a good example too of casual dining. Right. Any diner is a good example.
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Any diner, any kind of cafe you. Most cafes are usually find are usually casual dining.
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All of that coffee shop. It's casual.
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Yeah, yeah. Yep, yep, yep. And of course the inevitable higher prices is usually what you'll find at fine dining. Right? Yep. Yes.
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Count on it.
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B
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A
What words? This is interesting. At least in the States, we would now refer to them as servers. Anyone who is bringing food to your table. We used to call them waiters, waitresses, but that's really gone away. And we mostly just say servers now.
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B
Yeah. I guess I have to break that habit because I still. I still say waiter and waitress.
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A
It's interesting, really calls like the 50s diner. Now we say waiter, waitress, but I'm not sure exactly why. But server has just sort of replaced that.
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B
Yeah. When you walk in, certainly you know, you have a host. Sometimes even with a casual dining space, you have a host and they will use the word server. But I think for me, like in my social circle or just people, I think still use waiter, waitress.
- [14:58]
A
Interesting. When they're referring. I wonder if a lot of it is because it's removing gender. Like where you have to say waiter, waitress, you have to know their gender, whereas server. They're all just a server and you don't have to know gender. You might.
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B
Yeah.
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Accidentally mess up the gender if you're using waiter, waitress. So maybe it's that.
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B
Maybe that's why it could be that interesting. And some other words that you might hear that would signal, okay, we're talking about casual dining. I can wear jeans, laid back, no frills. Family friendly. Self service is interesting when you have a buffet and you're gonna go up. Right. Grab food, come back to the table. What else, Aubrey?
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A
Or as we said, a diner buffet. You mentioned family style. We often will order family style, especially at an Asian restaurant where you're ordering several things from the menu and then everyone's sharing. You're sort of taking a little bit of each entree. So family style, regardless of often Italian places, people will do this to just order several items and share.
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B
Yeah, I mean, in Japan, this is all we did. We went to the Izakaya, which is kind of like a bar restaurant with co workers or friends. It was just people would just order a bunch of plates for the table and everyone would share. There was no this is my plate.
- [16:08]
A
I love that pretty American concept. I want to try everything.
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B
Yeah, for sure.
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A
Yeah, for sure.
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You also eat less, I think.
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A
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Right. Taste everything and you don't feel like you have to finish your entree. Yeah.
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B
And then fine dining, you might hear the word table service. Meaning what? Aubry.
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A
Yeah. So that's a server is taking care of your table, bringing you, you know, everything that you would need. Upscale adjective we use to describe these fancier restaurants. We'll say it's upscale or elegant. We mentioned another interesting. It's a French word we use prefix, which means a fixed price for a specific menu. You'll be told, you know, the appetizer entree, dessert, maybe drinks. It's all a set menu that the chef has prepared for sort of a special occasion. Usually.
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B
Yeah. I mean, even when we were in Italy, this was a thing at many of the restaurants on New Year's Eve. So there's. It's usually certain nights, like maybe Valentine's is one of them for many restaurants. New Year's Eve, maybe Christmas Eve restaurant
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A
here does that, where it's like a special event and they have a prefix menu. You're. You're paying a set price for a
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B
fixed menu or tasting menu. What is a tasting menu?
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A
What is that?
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B
Yeah.
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A
So this. At very fancy establishments, you'll have. It's tapas, really. Right. Where they're small plates that you. You're just getting a little bit of it to try and taste everything. So similar to, like, tapas in sp, A lot of places will have a tasting menu and you're ordering small plates just to be able to taste a lot of things on the menu. And then you could order more of it if you choose.
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B
Nice. I like that. And then locally sourced. This is what we were talking about earlier. Often at a fine dining establishment, they might really go into where each ingredient came from in that meal.
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A
Right. Right to table. Or this is all local. And it might be about the drink state, the county.
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Yeah. The farm. The name of the farm it came from. Gourmet is another word. I think a lot of our listeners know that. I think that's a French word.
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A
Right, exactly. Just meaning, you know, elevated food. And then a wine pairing or a sommelier is like a wine expert who may be able to recommend specific wines, specific drinks for food, for certain dishes at the restaurant. And then you could do a wine pairing. That's the kind of thing that just does not exist at. At a casual restaurant.
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B
Right, right. For sure. And then this is. These are conversation starters. Right. This is connections, where connection starts. So when it comes to choosing a restaurant, how do we start the conversation? Aubry, what could we say?
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A
So I might ask you, what kinds of restaurants do you like?
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B
I like fancy places, especially for special occasions. It's fun to get all. All dolled up and treat yourself to a nice experience. That's a bonus. All dolled up.
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A
Yeah. It just means to get dressed a little fancier than you normally would. You get all dolled up. Up? For me, that's just makeup and a dress. I'm all dolled up.
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B
Yeah. Nice. Nice. Or are you more into casual places or fine dining?
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A
And I might say I prefer casual it's no frills and there's no need to dress up. It feels more natural and great vocabulary
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B
coming out of today. No frills. Really good one. No hassle, no fuss. Right. No stress.
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A
Exactly. And that's true. I'm like you most the time. That's my preference. I want to be comfortable. I want to know I'm enjoying the food and I want it to be special occasion to go somewhere. That's fine dining. Right?
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B
Right. I couldn't handle every weekend going to a fine dining restaurant. That would be too much.
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A
My budget couldn't handle it either because no way.
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B
No way. All right, let's get into a role play. So, Aubry, here we are deciding on our restaurant for dinner.
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A
Okay, I'll start us out. Hey, where do you want to go for dinner tonight?
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B
Should we try that new restaurant downtown?
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A
It depends. Is it casual or more fine dining?
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B
Definitely fine dining. It's super elegant tasting menu, wine pairings, the whole thing.
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A
I don't know if I'm in the mood to dress up. Is it okay if we go somewhere casual? I was hoping for something more laid back and budget friendly.
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B
Of course, we can save the fancier restaurant for a special occasion.
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A
Nice. Yes. This would be me. Every now and then, if one of you kind of feels like dressing up and the other just isn't, like, let's not tonight.
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B
Especially if you're going out on a Friday night. I find Fridays really hard to rally and to, like, get dressed up. I just want to be really casual. Friday night. Yes. Maybe Saturdays are a better chance. Or Sundays, but not Fridays.
- [20:44]
A
Yeah, but let's go through this role play. This is a fun conversation. Like, even if it's you and a friend deciding where to go for dinner, all of this vocabulary could come up, Right? I said, is it casual or more fine dining? And this, it's smart to ask, right? You do need to know what to wear, how much time to plan on, how much to spend. So rather than just showing up up, you do need to know if it's casual or fine dining.
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B
Yes, please. Definitely ask those questions.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And I said, it's definitely fine dining. It's super elegant tasting menu, wine pairings, the whole thing.
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A
Nice. Very fancy. And then I said, well, I just want to go somewhere casual. I was hoping for laid back and budget friendly. That just means affordable. Right? Casual dining places are always going to be more budget friendly.
- [21:28]
B
Yeah. And just a bonus here to highlight Aubrey, this could be another great episode for allers English. You said, I don't know that I'm in the mood to dress up, but you actually changed it to another option, Right? I don't know if I'm in the mood to dress up. So both are correct. But maybe the vibe is slightly different or they're just these are options for our listeners. So what do you think about sort
- [21:51]
A
of like someone's own personal choice if one feels maybe a little more formal or not? That would be a great episode. Be sure to hit follow, guys. We'll do a follow up about that.
- [22:00]
B
Yeah, guys, go to 2558 now to keep listening. Let's talk cars part three essential car vocabulary. This is another deep, deep dive on a popular connection topic. Cars, food, lifestyle, travel. We can go so deep into these and really learn about people, right?
- [22:19]
A
Yes. And they make for the most fun conversation. So they really series about cars. Today's episode, a lot of what we talk about here on Allers English is going to prepare you for these very fun conversations, these fun ways to connect in English.
- [22:33]
B
Yeah. So the goal should be to deepen our vocabulary for these common cultural connection topics. Right. So this is what we've done today. And Aubrey, I'll see you back here on the show very soon. You have a good day.
- [22:43]
A
You too. See you next time. Bye bye.
- [22:50]
B
Thanks for listening. To all ears English. Would you like to know your English level? Take our two minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward/fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything. See you next time. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Because behind every headline is a bottom line. Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. And when you see the money side, you understand what others miss. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now@bloomberg.com Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No joke judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try. At mintmobile.
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