Outstanding article on wine bargains in restaurants nowadays

[Roy Hersh]

Would this dynamic encourage you to dine out more frequently?

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la ... 1881.story

[Andy Velebil]

Since the L.A.Times wrote it I don't believe a word of it i can't say I've seen the per bottle prices dropping here in L.A. If they are buying them cheaper they sure as heck aren't passing the savings on to the consumer. I'm a firm believer that if restaurants would scale back their massive mark ups they would sell far more wine in the long run and make more money in the long run as a result. just my

[Brian C.]

I'm not seeing much in the way of wine specials here in Chicago, but I am seeing restaurants deeply discounting their food items. One restaurant by us offers half off all food items from 5PM to 6:30PM every evening. Another one offers $15 coupons all the time. The thinking is that it makes it more affordable for people to have that wine they wouldn't order otherwise.

[Moses Botbol]

I'm a firm believer that if restaurants would scale back their massive mark ups they would sell far more wine in the long run and make more money in the long run as a result. just my

:stupid:

Not only that, the consumer would have a better experience of enjoying nicer wine with the meal. New customers would notice all the nice bottles being served and restaurant would now have a higher status with such great wine being served. People take notice at wine prices and a few of my regular restaurants we go are based on what their wine list is priced at.

[Eric Ifune]

I think that good, creative wine lists and service will always be appreciated. Any good wine program will take what they can and make something good of it. Those lists that only had blue chips without any thought will suffer.

[Roy Hersh]

I have a feeling that in this economic situation, a well\-priced wine list can go a long way to attracting and keeping regular clientele. By taking advantage of consumers, restaurants will suffer. We're seeing the same thing with credit card companies that are jacking up every possible segment of fees to where they'll lose their best customers and wind up with just risky business.

[Brian C.]

Since I last posted, one of my usual restaurants started permitting BYOB without corkage for a few nights each week. The BYOB trend is getting popular here in Chicago. I wish there were more restaurants near me that did this, as long they don't charge a ridiculous corkage fee.

[Moses Botbol]

Since I last posted, one of my usual restaurants started permitting BYOB without corkage for a few nights each week. The BYOB trend is getting popular here in Chicago. I wish there were more restaurants near me that did this, as long they don't charge a ridiculous corkage fee.

I wish it was allowed in Boston.