I know that I eat out less frequently than I did a year or two ago even though I make more .

I find that I have cut out a lot of the throw away meals: meals you eat out because you don't feel like cooking or you are already out. And those type of meals would be at places like the Mexican restuarant you mentioned. I'm far more likely now to just go to the grocery store and pick up salads, cheeses or chicken.

I'm not sure you can claim it is the economy. I ate there once after the favorable reviews and walked away bewildered why anyone thought that was "Best Mexican Restaurant" in any survey that includes anything beyond just Perry Hall. So it just might be they weren't good enough to survive.

I have also cut down on the middle of the week lower cost restaurants as an alternative to cooking. However, I think the proliferation of better quality prepared foods in markets (Wegmans, Fresh Market) is more of a contributor to this then the economy.

I'm totally burned out and still taste goat when I sneeze, so maybe I won't make sense and I had a dream where I was boring myself. Self-awareness or Bulgarian goat-fever?

Prepared foods .. good point. Maybe basic food and ingredients are getting better for the casual cook and I don't know what madness happened in my absence regarding booster seat pear-morphic Rachel Ray but maybe she is partly to blame. Hang on, here's my logic. Maybe people who never thought they could cook and couldn't have now elevated themselves and their self-confidence to her wretched level. Yeah she's crap compared to a real chef, but she's just fine for a Tuesday night. Does that make sense?

I need a nap.

Maybe an idea for a TTT? Best non-restaurant sites to take home a restaurant quality meal.

I know that i cut back on eating out during the week and on the weekend don't go to as many expensive places.

One of my single male friends told me he can barely afford to date these days, for the same reasons Kiko's listed for closing.

Bad luck for your GF Owly ...Anjou adieu. Yummers.

I have been there. The food was ok, but most mexican in the area (El Salto, Don Pablo's) is less expensive.

This is kind of off topic but have 30+ years Produce Galore in Columbia is going out of business.

This is actually more on topic than a lot of posts. Do you know why? EL

They claim they couldn't survive with the "larger stores" but I don't think all the blame can be put on everyone else. In my opinion, their produce which was what their main stay used to be, was not that great in the past few years.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/bal-md.ho.produce12mar12,0,2102057.story

We made a trip out on a rainy night right after they were in Best of Baltimore in 2006 and didn't understand how someone decided upon this label because we were not impressed enough to venture back. As someone here mentioned already, it seemed expensive compared to El Salto (which we love for its simplicity) so it never made it into the rotation.

FootBooty, great name.

I just saw a promo for Rachel Ray's program today. She is making the Ultimate .... ham and cheese sammie! When the hell did that happen to "sandwich"? I don't know what it entails but she ensured us that it made her husband squeal last night (?) when they had them for DINNER. I see Owly's point; people can rise to that level of excellence. "Hey, Rachel Ray made sammies for dinner. Let's do that!" Boom! Brains splattered onto wall near desk. Sammie sammie samie sammie sammie sammie SAMMIE!

RokchiK, that silly female never makes a straightforward sandwich...it's always a cutesy "sammie." Her "cutesy-goo" factor is way over the top! Gack!

Did Rokchik just pull the comedy rule of 7 on us? (one time is funny, then not funny, but by the seventh time it's funny again? Something like that.) And then pound it home with that Andy Kaufman video? Kool. And she only uses "K"s in her name - another komedy axiom. I think she's really Krusty the Klown in drag.

I live in Perry Hall and had heard these rumors. Such a shame that they are true. Shame to Sarah who compared Kikos to Don Pablos. This was a real Mexican family making real Mexican dishes. They will be missed!!

Real Mexican food in Baltimore? People probably didn't know what to make of it. Sarah, if you don't have a shame suit, I could lend you mine. One size fits all.

I blame the economy on my receding hairline and the rapid meltdown of the glaciers.