New restaurant trends in Seattle: plywood furniture, gastropubs, stone-bricked accent walls, bone marrow. But the one that promises to endure: smaller is better. We're talking tiny restaurants like How to Cook a Wolf and The Art of the Table—where the ratio of customers per staff member is in the single digits—as well as gourmet food stands like Pike Street Fish Fry and Lunchbox Laboratory. We're thinking of the continuing success of small-plates menus, which allow you to try many dishes instead of sticking you with one gigantic entree and a pound of leftovers. Best of all, we're talking smaller prices—you can drop a bundle for a big night out at places like Cafe Presse, Dinette, and Quinn's Pub, but you don't have to. Come in on a Thursday evening to split some "toasts" and a salad with your partner. Stop by after a movie for a plate of country ham and a glass of red. More and more, restaurants here don't feel the need to prove that Seattle's capable of big-city sophistication. They assume it. —Jonathan Kauffman