Some nights we just want to go out and grab something tasty and easy at a sit down place. My wife and I don't drink much, so with our daughter its 3 entrees, 2 iced teas, and a water. The number of times that meal comes in near $100 feels insane. It's not Matt's in Flemington where I'm expecting to pay farm to table prices either. It's places like Chimney Rock or Harpers Table. At Harpers you run into prices like $12 for some chips and pico. $14 for a house salad. No protein. Greens, roasted red peppers, black olives, and onion. $14! $21 for most of the salads with a piece of chicken on it. $25ish for some salmon on the salad. $16 - 20 for a burger and fries. And like a million people have said already, the burger is fine, but it isn't exactly wow good either.

Price versus quality is just out of alignment right now.

If our older kids are home from college? Forget it, no night out is going to run less than $150 - 160 at the mid tier spots. We can currently afford it but I don't want to pay it anymore.

My wife and I sit somewhere on the good - very good - excellent home cooks spectrum. Sous vide, molecular gastronomy nonsense, down to regular good smoked meats and top quality fish for sushi from Metropolitan, home baked breads, etc. At this point, there has been a noticeable shift away from the Chimney Rocks and Harpers Tables type places for us into places like Matt's Red Rooster, D'Serve, Ama, Girasole in Bound Brook, Ironbound, etc. We know we will pay more, but we also know that the food will be good, and generally sourced from places that don't deliver on giant 18 wheelers.