Los Angeles restaurants are packing them in.

L.A.'s appetite for restaurant food is becoming downright voracious. After climbing steadily for the past three years, aggregate sales at Los Angeles-area restaurants have been accelerating in recent months, according to a Business Journal survey of more than two dozen restaurant ownership groups.

Local restaurateurs reported revenue increases for the first five months of 1999 of anywhere from 5 percent to 20 percent, with a 10 percent jump being the most frequent response.

By year end, local restaurants will have pulled in $8.6 billion in revenues, according to California Restaurant Association projections. While that's only up 6.2 percent from last year, the upper-end restaurants have been enjoying much more dramatic growth.

Though spending $50 per meal on dinner was considered unusual just a few years ago. Angelenos are routinely dropping $75 per person at the upper-end restaurants today.

"People are spending more money. Our average check is up 10 percent from last year," said Joachim Splichal, owner of Patina on Melrose Avenue, Cafe Pinot downtown and several other L.A. restaurants. "They are ordering more-expensive wines, having two appetizers instead of splitting one, and ordering more dessert."

A Business Journal survey last week of 10 top-rated Los Angeles restaurants found that getting a mid-week dinner reservation can be a hit-or-miss proposition. When calling on a Wednesday at 11 a.m. for a table of four at 7:30 p.m. that evening, Patina, Matsuhisa, Spago and JiRaffe were among those that had nothing available - though a number of other upscale eateries did have seating.

Making reservations that Wednesday for a table on Saturday was tougher still. At Spago, the only times available were 5, 10. or 10:30 p.m.

Not surprisingly, the most frequently cited reasons for the surge in restaurant-going are the economy and the stock market.

Michael McCarty, owner of Michael's in Santa Monica, said Wall Street's prolonged bull run has been a primary factor.

"You can't heat the stock market. It's a joyous thing to have in our business," he said. "People are comfortable about where (the stock market) is. The last few years, they may have thought it was a short-term thing. But it didn't turn on them last year, and it hasn't turned on them this year, for the most part."

Not only are Angelenos trying out restaurants they've never eaten at before, they are also frequenting their longtime favorites more often. Whereas a few years ago locals may have stopped into their favorite bistro a few times a month, they are now showing up once or twice a week.

"People who used to eat here just for dinner are now coming in for lunch as well," said Anthony De La Cruz, co-owner and executive chef at Delmonico's Seafood Grille in Encino. "My customers are buying more without feeling guilty. Their own business is doing well, and if they are doing well, my business is doing well."

The tendency of Angelenos to return to their favorite spots may he partially the result of restaurant owners' stepped-up efforts to ensure customer satisfaction - a frequent refrain in consumer surveys. Other factors include the increasing popularity of [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] food magazines and television shows, which has given rise to a middle-income population that knows more about fine dining than ever before, several local restaurateurs said.

"People recognize the quality of the product far more than they used to," said John Rucci, food and beverage manager at the Belvedere dining room at the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel. "There is much more culinary awareness, thanks to shows like those on the Food Network."

Consumers also are more likely to be knowledgeable about different kinds of wines, and to ask about the ingredients in a dish.

"Californians think about their health; which is one of the reasons fish is so popular," said Nobu Matsuhisa, owner of Matsuhisa, a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar regularly cited as one of the top places to eat in town. "You have to use the best ingredients. Customers are now looking for food they know is good. They may come here the first time because it is different or unusual, but they won't come back unless the quality is high."

Even the snootiness quotient, a subject of endless parodies in movies and television shows, may be cooling off a bit.

"There is still a lot of attitude in L.A., but service and friendliness is much more important," said Robert Carey, assistant manager at Cafe La Boheme in West Hollywood. "You have to buy the best product and offer the best service without attitude."

All these general trends - increased knowledge, insistence on fresh food and a distaste for snootiness - can be summed up in a heightened demand for value. Locals are spending more than ever at restaurants, but they're demanding their money's worth. And that could be an outgrowth of the hard times that were weathered in the early '90s.

"You always compare things to the '80s, when it was spend and spend," said Stephane Clasquin, manager at L'Orangerie in West Hollywood. "I don't think (the restaurant business) is doing as well as it was back then. People aren't as extravagant."

While local restaurants are being booked for more private gatherings, for example, they tend to be intimate parties rather than the blowouts of the '80s. when business executives could more easily put the tab on their expense accounts.

Another indicator of today's more subdued environment is the lack of new expensive restaurants springing up.

"How many upscale restaurants have opened in the past three years?" notes Wolfgang Puck, owner of Spago and several other popular local eateries. "Given where the economy is, I would have thought there would have been three or four restaurants opening where $4 million was being spent just on getting it to open. That isn't happening."

Puck also points out that there are fewer "white-linen tablecloth" restaurants these days, which may be helping Spago generate annual revenues of around $14 million.

While Puck reports that his upscale restaurants are doing well - sales at his Chinois on Main are up around 10 percent this year - sales at his more-affordable Wolfgang Puck Cafes are up 20 percent, more evidence of the search for value. Not everyone can be like Marvin Davis, who eats at Spago 250 times a year, Puck says.

"There is no doubt that people are more conscious about how they spend their money now," he said.

Yet another factor contributing to robust restaurant sales, said Puck and others, is the relatively cool late-spring weather.

"We were sure we wouldn't have much a crowd the other night when it drizzled, but we were packed, and it was a Tuesday," said Liz Quinlan, manager at the Daily Grill on La Cienega. "People come out when it's cooler."

Whether this food rest continues, however, depends far more on the sustained health of the economy than on the weather, or any other factor. Some restaurateurs are concerned about inflation because while many have raised prices a bit over the past year, their vendor costs have inched up in lock step.

"Our check amount is higher by at least 10 percent (this year)." said Estelle Prineas, co-owner of Delphi in Westwood. "But that doesn't mean I'm necessarily making more money."

One way local restaurants' situation could be further improved, some say, is for of Los Angeles to work at developing its reputation as a food town.

"If L.A. could concentrate on the mission of making it a destination for shopping, for food, for where you can have as good a time as anywhere, it would help," said Elizabeth An, owner of Crustacean in Beverly Hills. "Before, (L.A.'s reputation) was 70 percent atmosphere, 30 percent food. The reputation has improved, but it could be better."