I've seen a few blog posts about this, so....
What Not to Order at Fancy Restaurants
New York Times Restaurant critic Frank Bruni has done a lot of thinking about whether New York City's fanciest dishes were worth their sticker price. He boils down his best menu reading advice into a few snarky-but-true lines.
Bruni is noted among the Times' food critics for having a keen eye, and a sharp word, toward restaurants that stuff dining experiences with artificial finery to justify ridiculous bills. His final piece for the Times answers a bunch of often-asked questions he received (or wished he'd received) during his tenure, including this revelation about what to avoid on any menu:
Scratch off the appetizers and entrees that are most like dishes you've seen in many other restaurants, because they represent this one at its most dutiful, conservative and profit-minded. The chef's heart isn't in them.
Scratch off the dishes that look the most aggressively fanciful. The chef's vanity - possibly too much of it - spawned these.
Then scratch off anything that mentions truffle oil.
Choose among the remaining dishes.
What's wrong with truffle oil?