IF YOU’RE LIKE me, when it comes to dining, you’re perpetually in search of a deal. It’s not so much to do with financial concerns, although you can’t be too frugal these days.  For many like me, it’s more about the challenge. It’s just fun to find a great value after putting some small bit of effort into the search.

Wine is a good place to start. When ordering an expensive wine on occasion I expect big things and can only be satisfied or disappointed (although I expect the former). But if I take a chance on a $35 bottle that I don’t know anything about, there’s an “excitement of the chase” that’s also brought “to the table”.

I can’t help but get excited, that this may be my next great find, my new favorite that won’t break the bank. In this spirit, and that of the New Year, I plan to try new things. It may be a wine from a new region, a new style, a new varietal.

This determination applies to other aspects of the dining experience.  It may be a new exotic beer or a freshly invented cocktail. My adventure may well go beyond beverage and into the realms of the kitchen. I look forward to trying a new fish I’ve never heard of or pasta that I’ve previously ignored.

One thing I am certain to find on such a quest with this type of mandate is new territory. That’s what it’s all about. That’s the tastiest morsel, the part that is most memorable. I can’t think of any better approach, to dining or to life in 2012.

The featured blogger for this post is Station Casinos Vice President of Food & Beverage Mark LaVoie