What you knew intuitively turns out to be true: Menu prices are rising quicker than overall prices, according to numbers from the National Restaurant Association. The biggest problem is wholesale food prices, which have skyrocketed.  Forbes.com says that they rose nearly 8 percent in the first half of '07.

In the past year, prices have gone up 3.1 percent at full-service restaurants and 3.3 percent at quick-service places. Here's the link to the Forbes story. One thing I learned of interest was that consumer traffic has dropped off at most restaurants, with the biggest drop being in casual dining. My sense has been that everyone was just eating more and more meals out these days.