That's an excellent article, TE.
Thinking back on it...my kids have always gone to restaurants. We started at birth, in fact. I don't believe I've ever once been to a restaurant that didn't have a server that whipped out the little packet of saltine crackers. Those little suckers are like cocaine for kids, for some reason. I don't know what the hell they put in those things, but my toddlers in high chairs always had a gleam in their eye the minute they saw the packet. And they'd sit happily munching crackers while we ordered. Then my husband went into his "all the cool things I learned to do with the paper off a straw" routine, which they never got tired of.
And frankly, how difficult is it to bring crayons and coloring books *with you* when you take a kid to a restaurant if they aren't provided? Those baby bags are big for a reason. I always felt like they took less equipment for the landing at Normandy than we took when we took the kids out.