”Culinary Confessions” is a series that opens the books on our eating habits and shares our shopping, cooking, dining and diet strategies with you.

We visit many different restaurants. Yes, we have favorites, but we enjoy such a wide range of foods that we’re always interested in new discoveries.

One thing that ties all our various dining-out experiences together is that we never share with a restaurant staff that we’re food bloggers when we visit a business. We simply want an authentic experience, and we’re not looking for free meals everywhere we go.

A lot of people who call themselves bloggers or “social media influencers” develop special relationships with clients or organizations that they promote. Much of the “sponsored content” you see on Instagram and Facebook works that way. Whether it’s for money or products, such bloggers receive benefits from businesses to which they refer customers. That’s absolutely okay for them, but that’s not why we’re here. And that’s not the type of relationship that advances the mission of #FoodieScore.

We just want to share great food we love, both recipes and restaurants, with you, so that you have the opportunity to enjoy it, too. We love simple foods that aren’t complicated, snobby or expensive, and that’s what we seek. You’ll find recipes here for burgers, tortilla chips and pies, not fancy French dishes most of us can’t correctly pronounce. You’ll find restaurant suggestions in cities across the South mostly for diners, barbecue spots, local grills and taco shops, not upscale places few people can afford.

Sometimes we leave a #FoodieScore business card at our restaurant table along with our tip as we depart. We want restaurants to be aware of our site, know that we visited their business, and check out what we share about their food and service. But we don’t expect a free meal or any special treatment. In fact, our experiences and our reviews are more authentic that way. That means they benefit you more, too, because you should be able to expect the same experience we had.

If a restaurant knew we were going to post about them online for other potential customers to see, they might attempt to provide us special service or take extra measures to serve us their best meal. That’s not what we want. It’s our goal to discover food that just tastes great, comes at a great price and/or offers the most iconic restaurant experience in a community. That happens when we stop in unannounced and eat like any other customer.

So that’s who we are, just two people who love food and love enjoying it together. We’ve all got to eat to live, so why not enjoy it, right?

If you see us in a restaurant and make the connection that we’re the couple who produce #FoodieScore, that’s great! We’d absolutely love to talk to you about restaurants and recipes you think we should try. But we don’t expect any special treatment. We just want to score some great food. We just want to eat something simple and delicious that’s worth telling others about!

Have a restaurant or recipe suggestion for us? Please share by commenting on this post, or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest!