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Michael Bauer's blog entry yesterday brought up a thought-provoking exercise: tired dining trends. Before sharing his own, the Chronicle food man asked the Food & Wine folks what restaurant trends they were "over." Some of the more common responses included truffle oil, tapas overuse and bad sake cocktails. As for Il Bauer, here are his "top five pet peeves":

• Crudo and fish tartare. Don't get me wrong; I love it when done right, but it's become such a must have on menus that many restaurants do it poorly.

• Salumi. Same as crudo. Just about everyone thinks they can make it, with very mixed results.

• Kobe-style beef. It's everywhere, and often times not very good.

• Molten (or flourless) chocolate cake. Is there no end in sight?

• Loud music (or entertainment). It seems restaurants are cranking up the volume on the sound system, which only adds to the already riotous din.

As one commenter points out, one could make the argument that Bauer just doesn't like bad food, as crudo, salumi and Kobe beef are all delicious when prepared correctly. At the same time, it does most certainly seem as though too many restaurants are trying to hop on the bandwagon, thus forcing poorly-executed dishes onto their menus in an effort to be trendy.

And since you asked, here are our the things that we are tired of when it comes to dining out: prix-fixe menus that feature a dozen "supplemental" charges, upscale comfort food ($20 for a burger and fries?) and the saturation of pretentious, subpar wine bars. We'll also echo the noise sentiments above.

Trends we're over [Between Meals]

[Photo courtesy: Life in Italy]