The Blue Hair Special

The practice of dining out early has always been seen as something old people do. Jerry Seinfeld had a field day with that on his sitcom, frequently mocking his Floridian parents and their cronies who went out for the Early Bird Special. The implication was that the old coots were eager to get home and take their teeth out.

This despite sound nutritional evidence that stopping eating by 7:30 at night helps you lose weight, sleep more soundly and digest your food better. Scientific findings have proven that after eating your body converts those calories it doesn't burn immediately into triglycerides, and so plopping into bed leaves you with high levels that actually increase your risk of heart attack and stroke. And indigestion, the feeling that your entire dinner is hanging out at the bottom of your esophagus just waiting for you to make one wrong move before it comes marauding back, makes you regret you ate that much, so late.

But still, late dinners are so much more sophisticated, or so it's been said by those people who make up The Rules of Conduct. Until now, that is. Suddenly Manhattan restaurateurs, tired of all those unsold 5:30 reservations, have begun spinning it as "cool" to eat dinner early, avoiding a long wait for a table and combining happy hour with dining. To entice people stuck in their safe ruts (and who isn't) to give it a try, restaurants are promising special attention from the staff and first crack at the evening's specials.

Pretty soon only dummies out of the loop will eat dinner late.