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Restaurants Breaking Out All the Old Tricks to Deal With High Food Costs

The arts of conjuring and deception are never far from the mind of a savvy restaurant owner, and the current food-price crunch is bringing all the old tricks back around, the Washington Post reports. Small plates to make portions look bigger, lighter silverware to make them feel heavier — it’s a regular house of mirrors out there. Our favorite trick, though, involves shrimp, a low-cost item to begin with. “What you do is skewer the shrimp before you boil them,” one chef is quoted as saying. “It straightens them out so that when you serve them, they look bigger. Now you can buy a smaller, less expensive shrimp.” Is it wrong of us to love stuff like this? Of course, it’s not so funny when you’re the one getting served such tricks.

Objects on Your Plate May Be Smaller Than They Appear [WP]

Restaurants Breaking Out All the Old Tricks to Deal With High Food Costs