Thanks for your comments and visiting. I should be embarrassed for not responding to your comments before this.

Both factors, one more significant than the other, in my view. I am going to do a couple of additional posts on the subject and will expand on your thoughts in those pieces.

It’s sad, because losing fine dining in the city is like watching the last sequoia go to the lumberyard. You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.

Of course, I agree that the circumstances are more complex than I expressed in that post. My intent was to write a short chapter rather than the entire book. If visitors are interested, I will also write about the shift from dining at home, the dramatic changes in restaurant dining options available to us, the surge of chains, the emergence of the “near fine dining” category, changes in tax laws, and many other factors that affect both supply and demand.

On the subject of New York, however, I have heard the local/tourist split for Restaurant Daniel and the Comisar family’s estimate of that split for Maisonette during the good times. Although I do not recall the precise numbers, Daniel gets a higher percentage of local business than Maisonette did.

Nice piece. I do agree with some, but I do think it’s more complicated than even you present (that was supposed to be funny). May I weigh in?

Times have changed. Yes. We’ve lost some of the resplendence, yes. We’ve become an ADHD nation where allowing ourselves to be untethered for very long is rare. Yes, the luxury of a long repast is one of the casualties.

However, in the era you speak of, most of our meals were at home. Dining out was a special occasion, and thus restaurants were fewer (although ironically, Cincinnati had a very diverse restaurant scene in the 50’s, 60’s & 70’s. Polynesian, Spanish, and more).

With hardly anyone at home cooking (except for you, naturally), the restaurant industry has boomed over the past 20 years. Over 30% of Americans dine out for dinner weekly. The percentage is much higher if you include lunch, carryout, and overpriced coffees. Our shrinking borders, increased travel, food education, accessibility to and demand of premium ingredients have all raised the bar. Yes, there are a bunch of crappy chains. Sigh. But there are also more quality restaurants competing for your dining dollar.

With so many good options at all levels of price points, “Fine dining” restaurants (for the sake of category only, you and I have similar definitions) are difficult to keep afloat on their own. It is common nowadays for chef-driven restaurateurs to build a portfolio of restaurants at several concept/price levels. The fine dining flagship is often kept afloat by the others, because traffic for chef-driven fine dining depends on a strong tourism industry.

In cities like NYC, the customer base of the venerable fine dining restaurants is largely visitors to New York. Since you referenced Restaurant Daniel (absolutely comparable to Pigall’s in many ways), I can honestly say New Yorkers are not dining there on weeknights, or even weekly (there may be a brief 2nd honeymoon with Bruni’s 4 stars). In truth, New Yorkers dine at Daniel about as often as Cincinnatians have dined at Pigall’s.

Is it any coincidence that all the high-end chef-driven places are in Las Vegas? Tourism. (Las Vegas residents do not go the strip nor dine at Le Cirque). Same scenario for Gary Danko in San Francisco and French Laundry in Napa – the customer base is made up of a large percentage of visitors.

We have not reached that critical mass yet in Cincy. We are getting there, but it will take some more time. Still, even this analysis is only part of the reason for demise of Pigall’s (and this is neither the time nor the place for commenting on that). Ultimately, as sad as the “divorce” is, I think the phoenix (JR) will arise from the ashes. Don’t you?

And – “fine dining” is important in our culture. I don’t see it going away, I just see it getting redefined.

Andrew — Agreed. And thanks for stopping by.

5chw4r7z — Of course you could have as much fun at Rockin Robins. Part of the joy is having the choice among widely diverse entertainment options. Some days are right for dine dining; others for a trip to a dive bar.

http://5chw4r7z.blogspot.com/2008/02/pigalls-twist-lounge-bar.html