The dinner party is back as the affordable night out, and the money story mostly checks out.
- US restaurant prices have outrun groceries for years: food away from home rose 3.8 percent in 2025 against 2.3 percent for food at home (USDA).
- A ribeye you cook starts at about 25 dollars a serving, under a chain steak that opens north of 30 and runs to 32 at its priciest (Food Drink Life).
- The lonelier number: time spent hosting or attending social events fell by half from 2003 to 2024, and by about 70 percent for under-25s (Derek Thompson's analysis of the American Time Use Survey).
- The new codes are earnest: assigned courses, table captains, phones in a bowl by the door.
The catch is the price gap is already closing, and we are still setting the table. We wanted closer, not cheaper.
