If you're a restaurateur squeezed between rising food expenses and guests looking to cut costs as fears of recession intensify, what you going to do?

Well, you can rewrite your menu so prices don't stand out so much. Or you could increase the price of a $7.95 dish to $7.99; who's going to notice that? Or you could start to use smaller plates so a smaller serving really doesn't look smaller.

These are a few of the tactics that restaurateurs are learning as they try to survive these challenging economic times. To learn more about penny-pinching changes that could be under way at your favorite bistro, take a look at this David Segal feature from The Washington Post.