Here’s One Revolution That Has Left a Good Taste in Everyone’s Mouth : Food: No longer do travelers eat “in” only as a last resort. Now in almost every major city, some of the best restaurants can be found in hotels.

Not long ago, travelers ate at hotels for only one reason: They had to.

Hotel food was perceived as about on a par with airline food. It was at best adequate and, more often than not, just plain bad.

And how bad was it?

“It was a disaster,” says Paul Limpert, general manager of the Park Hyatt in Washington. “When I first started in the hotel business in England, most of the food came out of large, institutional-size cans. Our goulashes and stews came in plastic bags. And at one point, some hoteliers had never heard of fresh vegetables. You might as well have been a patient in a hospital.”

Limpert had no doubt who was to blame for the predicament.

“The decline of the reputation of hotel restaurants was our own fault,” he says. “We went out and bought frozen foods, canned foods, convenience foods. But not anymore. Hotel food today has become nothing less than a revolution in fresh food, good taste and service. If you want a really good meal in a top city, go to one of the better hotels.”

Limpert isn’t kidding.

Today, in virtually every major city in the world, you can find great restaurants at hotels.

In London, the restaurant at the Inn On The Park is superb. La Plume, at The Regent in Hong Kong, offers not only a world-class menu and world-class service, but one of the best wine cellars in Asia.

In Santa Barbara, at the Four Seasons Biltmore, chef Wendy Little has earned a well-deserved reputation for the hotel’s La Marina restaurant, which offers a spectacular Sunday brunch.

And at the Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo, there’s Restaurant Louis XV, run by chef Alain Ducasse. It’s perhaps the most exclusive, and memorable, hotel dining experience in the world. Louis XV is a Michelin three-star restaurant, renowned not only for the food and service, but the prices as well. In fact, travelers with heart problems should consult their doctors before asking for the check. Dinner for two can easily run more than $650.

However, a great hotel restaurant doesn’t have to be wildly expensive. But today, it does have to be good. And the chef has to be a visible part of the dining experience.

“When you hear people talk about hotels these days,” says Peter Bates, head of marketing for The Savoy hotel group in London, “they not only talk about the great rooms or the great views, but how fabulous--or how unfabulous--the hotel chef is.

“A lot of the time, one of the reasons guests return is for the food.”

As a result, hotel chefs have soared in prominence and power within the hotel business. “Our executive chefs today have total flexibility to be creative,” says David Vadikoff, vice president of food and beverage for Hyatt hotels. “They carry their own weight. And a large part of the success of hotel restaurants is the personality of the chef. Their personality can make customers come back.”

“The advantage of being associated with a hotel,” says Raimund Hofmeister, executive chef at Los Angeles’ Century Plaza Hotel and Tower, “is that we can serve excellent food and still be able to be moderately priced because we are in a hotel. Our profit doesn’t just depend on the restaurant.”

Hofmeister’s top entrees, including salmon medallion and venison, average $22, more than 20% less than comparable entrees at upscale Los Angeles dining spots.

In many cases, what is now drawing guests to some hotels--more than anything else--is the quality of their restaurants.

Recently, when the Dorchester was renovated in London, particular emphasis was placed on the food service--and a state-of-the-art, multimillion-dollar kitchen.

Hotels such as the Dorchester compete aggressively in the world market for world-class chefs. So do the Savoy, the Ritz and the Four Seasons hotel groups.

When the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel hired Boris Keller as chef de cuisine, it had to lure him away from the one-star restaurant he owned in Germany.

“I liked the hotel and the location,” says Keller. “Who wouldn’t? But I was worried about the quality of hotel food. But when I got here and saw the quality of the food, the staff and the capabilities of the kitchen, I knew I could not only duplicate my work, I could surpass it.”

But not every top-ranked hotel thinks it can create a world-class restaurant as part of its operation. “A lot of hotels forget what they are,” says Jonathan Tisch, president and chief executive officer of Loews Hotels, “or even where they are when it comes to food. As a hotel, you can be an excellent provider of good food and good service, but in some cases, you shouldn’t try to be what you’re not.”

For example, the Regency Hotel in New York, part of the Loews chain, has developed a different niche when it comes to food. The Regency has marketed its location and clientele to become Manhattan’s “power breakfast” spot. Getting a reservation at the Regency for breakfast sometimes requires nearly papal dispensation.

“It’s become our identity,” says Tisch.

There are, however, some great hotel restaurants in New York. Le Cirque, at the Mayfair Regent hotel, is a gastronomic legend. And Mark’s, the restaurant at The Mark hotel in Manhattan, is quickly becoming one. Mark’s is run by innovative French chef Philippe Boulot. The menu and service is nothing short of superb.

In both cases, it could be easily argued that these are not hotel restaurants, but great restaurants that just happen to be surrounded by 200 hotel rooms.

Indeed, that is the battle plan for marketing some of the better hotel restaurants.

In Seattle, most people would probably not make the restaurant at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel and Towers their first choice for dinner. However, most locals know the restaurant only as Fuller’s, one of the city’s better restaurants, which just happens to be located within the Sheraton.

Silks is a gourmet restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in San Francisco.

In Montecito, near Santa Barbara, the Stonehouse Restaurant is actually part of the San Ysidro Ranch.

In almost every case, hotel restaurants have also had to adapt their menus to the changing desires of their guests.

“There’s a new respect for food at hotels,” says Marc Ehler, chef de cuisine at the San Ysidro Ranch, including the Stonehouse. “And our guests not only want good food, but they want it simple.”

“I’ve been cooking for hotels for 10 years,” says executive chef Richard Hoff of Silks. “Sliced prime rib and creamed broccoli used to be the norm. Today it’s grilled tuna or house-cured salmon.” And at Silks, it’s not unusual for more diners to be San Franciscans than guests at the hotel.

Finally, there’s one additional benefit to eating at one of these great hotel restaurants. If you’re staying at the hotel, you stand an excellent chance of getting a reservation.