Diners Say: We Want Less

A survey of more than 4,000 diners finds that a substantial majority believes restaurant portions are too big. Fifty-seven percent said portions were too large; 20 percent said they were too small; and the 23 percent who had no opinion apparently thought they were just right. The results, reported in Nation's Restaurant News, an industry trade journal, were heavily skewed by gender and income. Sixty-seven percent of women believed portions were too large, while only forty-seven percent of men reached the same conclusion. Meanwhile, sixty percent of respondents making between $100,000 and $150,000 said portions were oversized. And that figure rose to seventy percent among those making more than $150,000. In contrast, and perhaps not surprisingly, only twenty-seven percent of those with incomes under $25,000 thought portions were too large.

IN THE NEWS: The Mercury News' Aleta Watson reviews Onyx (374 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose). mercurynews.com ... Metro Active critic Stett Holbrook raves about chef Mike Miller's Trevese (115 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos). metroactive.com ... Blogger A Taste of the Suburbs tasteofthesuburbs.blogspot.com recommends fondue at Crepes Cafe in Menlo Park. ... FoodNotebook.com reviews The Palo Alto Creamery Fountain & Grill, "a Palo Alto institution formerly known as the Peninsula Fountain & Grill (which is still on the sign above the door). It has been downtown since 1923 and expanded a couple of years ago to a second location at Stanford Shopping Center. Great breakfust – that is not a typo as that is what they call it. All American breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not a place to go to for the latest food fad or seasonal cuisine as the menu proudly proclaims "Same Great Menu Since 1988."

Compiled by Pat Embry, WhereTheLocalsEat.com