The way things should be? [Photo: Robyn Lee]

Today in the Post, Steve Cuozzo pens an unapologetically nostalgic ode to the white tablecloth:

The infantilization of dining in the name of "informality" has been going on for years... Creeping casualization has turned too many eateries into clublike zoos and dumbed down others with tacky "grazing" menus, overgrown lounges and unbearable noise.

Claiming that calls for "casualization" come only from "illiterate bloggers" and "websites written by children"—come on now, Steve, tell us how you really feel—he cites Corton, Marea, and Eleven Madison Park as three hotspots that prove formal dining isn't dead, and the demand for it isn't, either. The idea that customers want a toned-down experience is just "blog-driven baloney"; what the people really want is the dining of old.

I'm unconvinced. It's not as if restaurants at the very top of the market have torn off the tablecloths; sure, many have lounges, but their formal service is more than intact. Corton, Marea, and Eleven Madison Park are intended as fine dining experiences, special occasions, not the sorts of establishments any but the wealthiest actually frequent. He cites these as tablecloth vindication, but the trend he's decrying is really going on a few dollars down—restaurants where customers may indeed want to stop in for just a bite, not restaurants they budget time and money around.

Do some restaurants take "casualization" too far? Sure, but I'd bet just as many diners are happy to sample the menu without committing to a three-course cost, particularly in these economic times. What do you think?