Shitake mushrooms are subbing for morels.
Hanger steak gets the nod instead of strip sirloin.
Lump crabmeat garnish for that chilled gazpacho? Forget it. Today the rosy soup will be garnished with paper-thin ribbons of daikon radish.
As Frank Bruni puts it in today’s New York Times story about how restaurants are handling the economic downturn, “It’s clear that it’s no longer business as usual.”
Across the country, restaurateurs and chefs are hustling to devise new strategies to make a buck at a time when consumers are increasingly reluctant to part with them.
Some eateries offer special twilight deals, more value meals, happy hour snacks and late night noshes that can stand in for dinner at half the cost. And extensive bar menus, with comfort food at comfortable prices, are becoming the norm.
“A profusion of items with modest digits attached to them lures diners into the menu, reassuring them that they can navigate it without going broke,” Bruni writes.
Bruni’s article is primarily about restaurants in New York, a city that is notoriously impervious to the act of pennypinching. In San Diego, some restaurants are opening on Sundays for the first time to attract a different clientele. Some are offering a special, price-wise menu mid-afternoon to capture the “ladies who shop.” Many are featuring smaller portions and a wider variety of appetizers for customers who want to make a meal of “small plates.”
The subject was discussed at length today on The Gourmet Club, a San Diego Union-Tribune Web site talk show hour that I do every week with Robert Whitley and Caron Golden.
Today our guest was the savvy, well-spoken Bernard Guillas, chef of The Marine Room. Long considered one of the most upscale and expensive restaurants in San Diego, the oceanfront Marine Room has its own arsenal of ploys to attract a skittish dining public.
Some of the best news in Bruni’s article is about wine service around New York, and, I suspect, around the U.S.
“People are spending less on wine right now, and they’re not spending to impress,” says Paul Bolles-Beaven, a partner of Danny Meyer of Gramercy Park and Union Square fame. To that end, according to Bruni, servers are being coached to “spotlight affordable wines within diners’ narrowly circumscribed comfort zones.”
www.ushgnyc.com
Amen. As one who pretty much steers clear of restaurant wines over $75 (and even that kills me), I’m thrilled that something positive might come out of our sagging economy. There’s plenty of terrific wine out there that doesn’t cost 75 bucks a bottle. Maybe now we’ll all discover it.
I’d love to hear what restaurants in other cities are doing to keep happy customers coming in the door. Please tell us what you’ve found.
Hi, Maureen!
Amen, indeed! Though I feel the pain of restaurant owners, going to any restaurant that is over $30 a person feels like a bit of a luxury these days.
Some of the fancier places in OC like Marche Moderne (and another that has slipped my mind) have started offering low cost prix fixe lunch menus for $25. Though the portions are smaller, the food is well-executed and presented. Restaurant portions had gotten too big anyhow. It's luxury on a budget, and it's a nice way to introduce people to the restaurant and make them regulars.
Posted by: howie | September 04, 2008 at 09:36 AM