Dining
Minding the Tab as Times Get Tough
Alan Zale for The New York Times
SMALL PLATES Restaurants like Blue, top right, and 42, bottom right, both in White Plains, have tried different approaches to lure more diners during the economic crunch. The $17 short-rib burger at far left is part of the effort at the Sterling Inn Café and Wine Bar in New Rochelle.
By EMILY DeNITTOPublished: October 2, 2008
STERLING SMITH opened the Sterling Inn in New Rochelle about three years ago as an elegant, high-end French-influenced restaurant. But last spring, Mr. Smith, the chef and owner, had an epiphany at the gas station.
“I was filling the tank in my small Toyota at $4-plus a gallon, and I saw a guy with a truck shaking his head as his pump’s register got higher and higher,” Mr. Smith recalled. “He looked like he was in pain.”Mr. Smith asked the man why he didn’t just trade in his vehicle for something more fuel-efficient. “It turned out he owned a construction company and he had no choice,” Mr. Smith said. “That’s when I realized, my customers are hurting and I need to do something about it.”
Mr. Smith changed the whole concept of his restaurant. Renamed the Sterling Inn Café and Wine Bar, it now offers a more casual menu of less expensive items. Whole lobster was replaced by a lobster roll for $14. A $45 rib eye is out; now diners can order a short-rib burger at $17. There are personal pizzas for about $12 each.
“We’ll have the occasional fancy special, but nothing tops $32,” Mr. Smith said. Previously, most entrees were priced over $30.
The Sterling Inn’s transformation is indicative of shifts going on in restaurants across the county as residents struggle with a volatile stock market, staggering oil prices and rising unemployment. The challenging economy is translating into less dining out and a resistance to fancy fare and high prices, said restaurateurs.
“It’s devastating,” said Anthony Goncalves, the chef and owner of 42, a much-anticipated high-end restaurant that opened in the White Plains Ritz-Carlton in January. “At first you wonder if you’re doing something wrong — why isn’t business better? Then you talk to other chefs and you see that we’re all in this together.”
Mr. Goncalves has created a four-course prix fixe menu for $79 to offer greater value and has added a number of small plates, available in a lounge area, for under $12 each. Oysters are priced at a low $1 each from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. “We want customers to be able to come in and have a small, less-expensive meal as an alternative to committing to a big meal,” he said.
In a move that reflects the hard times many are experiencing, 42 no longer requires jackets. “No one wants to get dressed up right now,” Mr. Goncalves said. “Everyone just needs to be comfortable.”
Vincent Corso, co-owner of the upscale Blue and moderately-priced Graziella’s, both in White Plains, sees comfort food as a big trend today. Speaking the week after the demise of Lehman Brothers, he said: “Graziella’s had one of its best weeks ever. It’s the price point, but it’s also because we’re offering traditional, comforting Italian food. It’s a relaxing, comfortable place.”
Blue is still crowded on weekends, but Monday through Thursday can be tough. “We’re across the street from the White Plains offices of Wachovia Securities and Merrill Lynch, and dinners are definitely off. This summer was 30 percent off of last,” Mr. Corso said.
He has had to lay off some kitchen workers at both locations. Blue stopped offering a $45 cowboy steak, replacing it with a $35 New York sirloin. “Lots of restaurants are changing menus and ingredients in order to drop price points,” he said. “The $45 entree, even if it’s Kobe beef, is just not marketable anymore.”
Of course, restaurants are suffering some of the same economic pressures hitting their customers. Higher gas prices have prompted a new “fuel charge” on all deliveries for months now. Restaurants are swallowing bigger electricity bills and increases in the costs of many ingredients. “We can’t pass that on to customers, so we just have to weather the storm,” Mr. Corso said. “My profit margin has been cut in half this year.”
A version of this article appeared in print on October 5, 2008, on page WE14 of the New York edition.
For some, particularly lower-priced spots where the margins are thinnest, rising costs have been fatal. Blooms, a Jewish deli-style restaurant in Yorktown Heights, closed a few weeks ago. The Emerald Diner, a Yonkers fixture for years, shut down in July; the reason, as reported in The Journal News, was an eviction notice from its landlord for back rent. Talk among restaurateurs frequently turns to speculation about who will be the next to close.
“I can't conjecture,” Mr. Goncalves said. “It's too depressing. But, yeah, I've heard the talk.”
Not everyone is suffering equally. Peter X. Kelly, chef-owner of X20 Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers, whose opening last year was perhaps the most anticipated in the county, said he has yet to see any falloff in business. In part, he acknowledges, that's because he has been through economic hard times before as the proprietor of three other longtime Hudson Valley restaurants, and has taken precautionary steps.
“We included a lounge space in X20 because we knew there needed to be a more casual area with lower prices,” he said. “I'm also using less foie gras, fewer truffles, less caviar. I won't stop using those things, but I will use less and find more creative, unusual ways to include them.”
The key, Mr. Kelly said, is not so much price but value.
“My feeling is that while guests won't eat out as much in times like this, they'll still eat out — and they'll make better choices,” he said. “You can spend $50 and feel it wasn't worth it, and you can spend $200 and feel it was really worth it. It's all about the quality of the experience.”
Still, even Mr. Kelly is preparing for future battles. He just ran an ad campaign in local magazines and papers with the tag line “Sometimes a little elegance is called for.” And he noted that those calling about company parties for the critical holiday season are “getting more aggressive on pricing, looking for a more modest wine selection and are maybe cutting back on an entree.”
Said Mr. Corso of Blue: “I wake up every morning wondering what's going to happen. Will it be a joyous holiday period? How can we make up for the past July and August? But we have to hope.”