If there was any doubt as to how restaurants are doing in this recession, a few recent developments have made the struggles of dining establishments clear. Last week's National Restaurant Association Show--its 90th annual show-- drew just 54,000 attendees . That's a 24 percent drop from last year. And the cable tv news station TV1 found in a poll that half of New Yorkers have stopped eating out . Monica Bertran of Bloomberg spoke about the challenges for restaurants with Julia Stewart , chairman and CEO of DineEquity . DineEquity owns Applebees and IHOP, and Stewart tells Bertran that the restaurant is probably paying the price for overbuilding during the last decade. But she is optimistic that things are turning around: Meanwhile, New York restaurateur Danny Meyer tells the Wall Street Journal's Katy McLaughlin that many eateries will have to accept lower margins, as he has. And he expects more and more higher end restaurants to close in the coming months, as the economy just isn't supporting expensive meals: I don’t think there’s going to be sustainable demand for restaurants that force you to spend hours there. Long tasting menus will continue to be elected by some but cannot be legislated by the restaurant. We’re going to have more bistros and trattorias. People will have luxury items—caviar, foie gras, truffles—less frequently, having done without them for a year and a half, but they will come to appreciate them more because it won’t be at every bar and grill in the city. Read A Future with Fewer Reservations here .