I always am surprised at the BYOB folks who crack some insanely good wine with their cheap dinners. Not because good wine is too good for cheap food but shouldn’t the quest for good cheap eats should go hand in hand with good cheap wine?

Portfolio.com
has an interesting article on this topic though I’m not sure I agree
completely with his conclusion. I’m assuming by palaver he means
hype… (and yes, I had to look that up)

Interestingly, it’s the grander, more high-theater holdouts which still
tend to have the magnificent wine lists full of really expensive
bottles. Maybe the more casual places know that without the
accompanying palaver, a great wine won’t seem quite as magnificent.

He also references a NYT article highlighting the woes of the dollar’s exchange rate.

Cost-wise, it’s the mid-range restaurants in Rome that are the most
rewarding, though they’re slightly less rewarding than they were before
the dollar’s seemingly never-ending plunge.