Whether dining in an expensive cafe or grabbing a quick scrambled egg sandwich to munch on the way to work, chowhounds hate to ingest anything undelicious, and they won't hesitate to go far out of their way for Slightly Better. For a true hound, the curve of diminishing results is more an exciting challenge than an imposing dead end. Check out A Tale of Two Chowhounds for colorful profiles of two real-life hounds.
Foodies eat where they're told.
They'll go to unfamiliar neighborhoods to eat, but only with their Zagat securely in hand to guide them to The Accepted Places. Chowhounds, by contrast, are iconoclasts who spurn trends and established opinion and sniff out secret deliciousness on their own. Chowhounds are driven to deliciousness, period, and they'll go way out of their way to find honest, evocative eating at any price range. That said, they're also savvy enough to appreciate value, so they'd rather not buy their rugelach at Balducci's when the same pastries are available at the baker's outlet in Brooklyn at a fraction of the price. But you can't get foie gras for six bucks, and Chateau Margaux is one heckuva great drink.