Elizabeth Malik donned a white chef's outfit for an evening of cooking in the basement of the Jessie Harris Building late in the Spring semester.

For two nights a week since August, Malik has attended the UT Culinary Institute, a 10-month certificate program that provides aspiring chefs with hands-on tutorials from local professionals.

"I've loved cooking ever since I was little," said Malik, a senior in food science at UT. "My mom would let me play around in the kitchen."

Now as a soon-to-be graduate, Malik hopes that love of cooking combined with a food science background will enable her to land a job out of college.

Even amid the national economic crisis, Malik is optimistic about the resiliency of the industry.

"You always have to eat," she said.

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The current recession, however, has altered Americans' dining habits, according to experts within UT's Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management.

Rather than pay for expensive meals, Americans are seeking more affordable eating options, said John Antun, assistant professor of hotel, restaurant and tourism, and director of the UT Culinary Institute.

Fast food chains in particular have fared well, Antun noted.

"(Patrons) don't stop going out," Antun said. "They just go down a step. The people at the bottom rungs of the ladder, they're doing better."

Up-scale restaurants like the Orangery have borne the brunt of diners' exodus to cheaper alternatives. In March, the swank, French-flavored restaurant in Bearden went out of business partly because of the poor economy.

"Those folks are being hurt the most," Antun said.

Local restauranteur Mike Clark, who owns Old College Inn and the Butcher Shop, can attest to this trend. At OCI, a Cumberland Avenue restaurant and bar where the check average typically ranges from $10 to $12, Clark said profits have increased by 10 percent since last year. But sales have dipped by that same margin at the Butcher Shop, a steakhouse nestled in the World's Fair Park where meals cost from $25 to $30.

"I think the higher the check average, the bigger the hit," Clark said.

Clark noted that traffic from regular customers at OCI had been low, though in the last few months it had improved.

"I think people are still going out, but I think they're trying to find the maximum amount of value for their dollar," Clark said.

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Restaurant sales are expected to reach $566 billion this year, according to the National Restaurant Association's 2009 Restaurant Industry Forecast.

Compared to 2008 figures, this projection equates to an inflation-adjusted decline of one percent, according to www.restaurant.org.

With the economic downturn, the demand for back- and front-house employees (waiters, hosts, servers, etc.) at restaurants in general has declined, according to Steve Morse, director of the UT Tourism Institute.

Still, the NRA reported that the industry is projected to employ 13 million people this year, comprising the nation's second largest private sector employer.

Antun said UT students pursuing restaurant management positions have received some job offers, though not as many as in the past.

"It's not as good as it was," Antun said. "It doesn't mean that they're in trouble. It just means that it's a little more difficult."