Kathryn Matthews in Portfolio discusses how small plates mean big business for restaurants: "At first glance, the concept seems customer-friendly: With these appetizer-esque portions, you can mix and match and taste and graze, and each serving costs less than a main course. But there’s a little secret: Serving less can mean selling more, thereby boosting a restaurant’s bottom line."

I love small plates, but only when I'm eating in a group of four or more (three if everyone likes to eat as much as I do), otherwise as the piece points out, the tab can get surprisingly huge if you've ordered what I consider to be a reasonable variety of tasty things. [via The Food Section]