Support your local restaurant

Mimi Sheraton, the former New York Times restaurant critic, told me that when she gave up reviewing restaurants, she couldn't wait to cook -- and stay -- at home again. She relished the thought of not having to go out every night. But on her third or fourth night at home, she and her husband sat down at the dinner table, looked at each other, put down their napkins -- and acknowledged the inevitable. "Let's go out," she said. And they did.

Cabin fever had set in. And it can happen to any of us. Now that broad swaths of folks across the country are tightening their belts, negotiating a budget (sometimes for the first time) and deciding where to cut expenses, dining out might be getting the ax. Never did staying home and cooking your way through that stack of cookbooks gathering dust by the bed ever look so, well, virtuous. Why go out when we can cook just as well as most restaurants for less than half the price?

Actually, there is a very good reason. If everyone suddenly gives up restaurant-going when times are tough, those favorite restaurants may no longer be around when times get better. Which means it's a good thing, every once in a while at least, to give in to that cabin fever and go out for dinner.

Oh, eating in every night is fun for a while. Cozy family meals on weeknights, dinner parties or potlucks on the weekends, pancakes Sunday morning. But then there's the shopping, the cleaning up -- the claustrophobia. Only you and your dear ones. And piles of dishes to wash up.

Lately, I seem to be hearing more often from friends who have adopted the stay-at-home diet with a vengeance. "What's new? What's hot?" They plague me with questions about the restaurant scene without the least intention of going to any of these places. Kind of like my father, who read every movie review yet never went to a movie.

A place like Palate Food + Wine, where everything is miraculously below $20, may get their attention. But it's so far, they'll say. Or they'll complain that you can't just waltz in on a Friday night.

Easier reservations

And I have to point out that while your modest neighborhood restaurant may be doing good business, other restaurants are languishing, especially during the week. These days it is possible to walk into Pizzeria Mozza and maybe find a spot at the bar or occasionally nab a reservation at Osteria Mozza later than 5 p.m. and earlier than 10. Need I say more? A table at Cut may still require some lead time, but not as much as before the economic meltdown. Last week, with only a couple of hours' notice, I got a table at XIV, the new Michael Mina restaurant in West Hollywood.