My typical approach is to just go with the ORM approach while keeping an eye on various query metrics. If I begin to see signs of a slowdown related to a specif

My typical approach is to just go with the ORM approach while keeping an eye on various query metrics. If I begin to see signs of a slowdown related to a specific query being generated by the ORM, then I will replace it with hand tailored SQL. I'm not sure if this is the best way to go about it, but it works well for me.