Sounds like an odd header, but in the restaurant world, it applies. Take a Washington, DC area landmark like the family-owned Lebanese Taverna which can trace its roots to the early 1980s. They are now a restaurant empire with six full service restaurants, four cafes, a catering business, and a market. Each restaurant is unique to its location, servicing the expectation of the perceived demographic. The most basic compliment is that they are survivors of restaurant whims and trend dining. They have survived by offering consistently high quality foods. Menus of course have commonalities but why mess with something that works.

The irony is in this stressful dining out time, they just opened their largest location and quite possibly their most beautiful, in potentially overgrown Bethesda, Maryland, a top livable city. There is a lot of restaurant space, both indoors and outdoors, and even a takeout entrance. To survive in this economic environment, you need multiple persona. They are a child-friendly environment but also a wonderful restaurant for an adult Mediterranean experience.

They have made themselves both an adult and family dining destination. Certain days of the week, there are lunchtime activities with a musician or a clown where the entertained child eats free with an adult purchase. That works.

Other nights have menu specials such as multi-course, prix-fixe dinners. There are, of course, coupons for email subscribers, a strategy that works well for almost any restaurant.

This is a whatever it takes environment that recognizes quality cannot be sacrificed. Whatever they are doing sends a strong message to other restaurateurs: be creative, it takes work to make it. It can be done.

These are the type of restaurants that will continue to thrive as long as we remember to reward ourselves by dining out.