Stoddard's, set in a 19th-century building, hews closer to the comfort food/hand-crafted cocktails formula. Appetizers include a smoked Gouda fondue and house charcuterie plate; among the entrees are a chicken pot pie and prime beef rib-eye plus potatoes prepared two ways.

3. Raising the Bar on Bar Food

More restaurant operators are discovering that eating and drinking are not mutually exclusive. Many patrons who spend time in the lounge area are looking to supplement their liquid refreshments with something more than popcorn, peanuts and nachos. As a result, more restaurants are taking bar food seriously.

Denver's Bones offers its entire menu until 2 a.m., including steamed buns, made with suckling pig or pork belly; roasted bone marrow; halibut tempura; and a variety of noodle creations.

Another Denver spot, Olivea, has elevated ho-hum bar nuts to a mix of peanuts, cashews and almonds roasted in rosemary oil and served in individual parchment paper cornucopias. And addictive fried chickpeas are served with harissa aioli.

House-made potato chips are showing up across the country. The Biltmore in Newton, MA, serves its own chips, along with “Hog Wings” (specialty cut mini pork shanks grilled with their own barbecue sauce) and ballpark sliders — marinated and grilled franks with sauerkraut and relish.

Parish, in Atlanta, puts a “better for you” spin on bar food. Choices, made with local ingredients, include Jambalaya bites (spiced braised local chicken and andouille sausage rice stew); the “PB&J” (crispy pork belly, pepper jelly, apple sourdough toast and pickled onion slaw) and the Georgia trout melt (toasted brioche, roasted apple butter, smoked trout salad, Gruyere fondue).

The Empire Lounge & Restaurant in Louisville, CO, serves calamari salad with frisee and lime miso dressing; house-made mozzarella, risotto with borlotti beans and cabbage and slow-roasted Berkshire pork butt on a challah roll with fried onions, jalapeno and pecan slaw.

Poste Restaurant in Washington, DC assembles small fish plates, including Crispy Little Fish (smelts, lemon, parsley, aioli) and Sardine Escabeche Provencale (sardines marinated in fennel, citrus, garlic and olive oil, served over picholine olives and heirloom tomatoes, finished with pickled shallots, chive flowers and capers).

New York City's Dovetail recently expanded its bar area menu to match its enlarged bar area. Classic choices include deviled eggs; Reuben sliders; avocado salad with watercress and hearts of palm, soft poached eggs with ramps, bacon, oyster mushrooms and snap peas; and sauteed foie gras with graham crackers and huckleberries.

In midtown Manhattan, Palace Gate at the New York Palace Hotel, turns out decadent and shareable burgers, truffle potato fries with garlic herb aioli, a charcuterie platter, stuffed piquillo peppers with saffron rice and other small plates.

4. Attack of the Snacks

Many of us are no longer willing or able to sit down to a proper meal. “By innovating menus with various snacking options, restaurants can boost sales throughout the day and drive guest traffic during nonpeak hours,” says Eric Giandelone, director of foodservice research for Mintel Menu Insights. Not surprisingly, Mintel reports, early and late afternoon are the busiest time for snack attacks.

Mia, in downtown Miami, has taken snacks to a new level, with global selections including croquetas oozing with Manchego cheese and Serrano ham, goat cheese crostinis with roasted garlic, thyme and organic honey; diver scallops flavored with vanilla oil and served with crispy fennel atop potato puree; or “breakfast,” which is confit pork belly served with a crispy egg yolk, bacon bits and potato puree.

The casual menu at Cindy Pawlcyn's Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena, CA, includes fun inventions such as Oysters Bingo and a shrimp salad BLT&A. She's also serving up mini Colorado lamb chops that can be considered finger food.

Doughnuts are turning up everywhere as building blocks for snacks or desserts. At Red Star Tavern in Portland, OR, chef Thomas Dunklin presents a unique interpretation of the classic red velvet cake: a trio of cooked-to-order doughnuts tossed in toasted pecan sugar and topped with cream cheese ice cream and chocolate.

5. Eat Your Veggies

When the lardo-loving Mario Batali embraces the Meatless Monday movement and promises to menu at least two vegetarian entrée choices at all of his restaurants, you know vegetables are hot. He's been joined by others, including Jose Andres, who told CBS's 60 Minutes that meat is “slightly boring” and says he finds cooking with produce sexier.

Moody's Bistro & Lounge, near Lake Tahoe, CA, runs a Dinner in the Barn Series each summer serving produce picked hours before (along with farm-raised meats). In nearby Napa, La Toque executive chef Ken Frank recently created a five-course vegetable tasting menu to showcase produce.

One of Wolfgang Puck's newest ventures, The Source, is becoming a mecca for DC-area vegetarians. Meatless options have included tempura tofu 3 ways, or Assam-style vegetable curry. The restaurant also offers a vegetarian tasting menu.

Miami's Wish offers a Vegetarian as You Wish option: Guests can dictate what they do/don't like, or leave it up to the chef to build a personalized tasting menu.

And, in case you're wondering, portobello burgers are officially cliché. Restaurants like Alexandria, VA's Vermilion are pushing the envelope with daring vegetarian fare such as spring pea ravioli with sheep's milk rocotta, Davon Crest spear-mint, lemon zest and morel froth; and Path Valley Arugula with rhubarb preserves, toasted pistachios and crispy goat cheese.