Goodbye Truffle Oil, Hello Simplicity? End of the 'Restaurant' as we know it?

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The 'restaurant' business has slowed markedly since September 2008.

In his column Why the term 'restaurant' may soon disappear (FT Week-End, November 22), Nicholas Lander notes that it is now much easier to get a table quickly and that the line of people waiting at the bar to be seated is much thinner.

He is not quite sure how some chefs can maintain two establishments with different price points on the same block.
One might be called a bistro or a cafe, the other one a restaurant yet they more or less offer the same food.
He seems to imply that in many cases the simpler, less expensive alternative will be the one to survive...