snooty dining drops

the UT has an article on the recent dropoff in upper-end restaurants in san diego, due to the sputtering economy. it notes down traffic and/or reduced prices at several local establishments, including stingaree downtown, bite in hillcrest and anthology in little italy (speaking of which, those pat metheny shows next week were a pretty big score for them). we haven't noticed any empty restaurants recently, but we don't hit the very expensive ones too often. tonight on our 9 pm walk over to ponce's here in kensington we noticed a packed bleu boheme, and then waited 15 minutes for a table at a slammed ponce's. of course midweek dining may be a different story, but it seems like these places are doing ok.

while i was reading the article, i kept wondering why the high-end places were suffering. aren't the folks who go to these restaurants relatively immune to higher gas prices and deflated real estate values? but then i realized that plenty of people living large based on their overvalued home(s) and the money they borrowed against them. now that they're in foreclosure, or approaching it, they can't flaunt the bucks they no longer have. after all, isn't part of going to mille fleurs or the marine room or bianca and paying $75 for a kobe beef steak about showing off the fact that you can do this? it's probably not too far-fetched to say that a significant percentage of patrons at high-end restaurants in san diego are people who were living beyond their means and have hit the wall. these people won't be coming back (unless their money does, which is doubtful), so it could be a rocky spring until the zonies pile into town in june. and phoenix hasn't exactly been immune to the real estate bubble either.

until the next moneyed lot comes along, there could be some closings or re-toolings. i'd be particularly concerned about anthology, given the challenging concept for san diego (jazz supper club) - let's hope the owner has some deep pockets, because losing this state-of-the-art facility would be a huge shame.

it wouldn't be surprising to see some of the higher end places shut down or re-tool until the next crop of big spenders comes along. in particular, i'd be worried about anthology, which offers up a tough concept for san diego (jazz music). that would be a huge shame, given the money put into this state-of-the-art supper club. hopefully the owner has some deep pockets.