Meals in Philadelphia are getting pricey - and not just at Le Bec-Fin or Deux Cheminees.
Experts say that, even at the city's modestly priced establishments, the cost of a meal is going up. Some restaurant owners say they're paying higher costs for the basics of running a business, costs that get passed on to the consumer.
That means that getting a quality meal for two at mid-priced restaurants may be difficult for under $50.
Liz Johannesen, senior manager of restaurant marketing for OpenTable.com, a Web site that takes online reservations nationwide, said economic pressures such as higher fuel costs are affecting restaurants.
And those in the industry recognize the problem.
It simply takes more money to run a restaurant today than it has in the past, said Bill Tillinghast, the director of the culinary-arts program at the Art Institute of Philadelphia.
"There is a cost of operating," he said. "If restaurants make a 6- to 10-percent profit, they've had a great year."
Fatou Wilson, owner of Fatou and Fama - an African and Indian restaurant at 4002 Chestnut St. -- said she has had to adjust the menu for recent changes in the cost of supplies and operations.
"Food costs are higher than in the last couple years," Wilson said. "We used to get delivery free, but not anymore."
Still, the restaurant's entrees do not exceed $15.
Wilson added that the increasing cost of gas and insurance has also contributed to the price changes in the Fatou and Fama menu.
"Everything is higher," she said.
But, in addition to the economic changes, cultural shifts have made it more acceptable for restaurants to hike the costs of food.
"As fine dining becomes more fashionable, chefs are finding more willing and appreciative customers to indulge their creativity," Johannesen wrote in an e-mail.
Creative preparation and high-quality ingredients "come at a premium," she said.
Tillinghast said that, in the 1970s, when he started in the restaurant industry, no menu item was over $10, even at the city's dining hot spots.
"Two people could get in and out of there for well under $50," he said.
But times have changed, and Tillinghast said it isn't unprecedented.
In the early 1990s, when many Stephen Starr establishments began to open and when Walnut Street came alive with restaurants, "prices really kicked up," Tillinghast said.
He called the recent rise, which he says is a continuation of the boom that started in the early '90s, one of several "restaurant renaissances" the city has seen.
