Like Darden, Landry's Restaurants (NYSE: LNY) is a large, diversified player in the casual dining segment.

One significant difference is its participation in the casino space with the Golden Nugget. The acquisition of Golden Nugget has not resulted in much benefit for the company as of yet. In fact, the deal increased LNY's debt level, which now stands near $1 billion.

LNY's stock dropped hard after trading for some time at the $30 level. At the bottom, one could buy shares at $3.60 per share.

The current recession has touched all sectors. The rules of the game have been changed, and nobody is safe. The paradigm is shifting.

One of the consequences of the current state is a new-found appreciation for savings in the U.S. A consumer who does not spend is bad news for the retail sector, and it is bad news for an economy dependent on consumer spending.

The one glimmer of hope comes from the restaurant space. When it became clear that this recession would be long and deep, consumers clamped wallets shut. Dining out in this environment was an easy luxury to cut.

One of the first movers seeing an uptick in spending due to increased consumer confidence is the restaurant space. Only a few diehards really like to stay home and cook. Dining out is a great way to escape. Even better is going to a restaurant for a meal that's affordable.

The fact that dining has suffered during this recession is indicative of how bad things really have been.

Given that confidence is rising, it's no surprise then that Landry's Restaurants (NYSE: LNY) has almost tripled in value since hitting bottom in early March.

While consumer confidence might have soared in April, the move seems to be in response to a two-month surge in stocks versus any real strength on the home front.

The jobs market is still poor with stagnant or declining wages. Corporations are still in lay-off mode and oil prices are marching ever higher. In other words, there are still hurdles to overcome before the "all clear" can be given.

I don't mean to rain on the parade of recovery, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

On today's STOP TRADING! segment on CNBC, Jim Cramer was out on the road at UT in Austin. On the Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) warning he said this should have been somewhat assumed (we pondered the same thing). The company begins a $3 billion buyback next week. Cramer thinks this is why it's moving to Dubai because it's 60% "levered" to North America. He said he'd buy it. He doesn't think the stock actually needs to be public now.

As far as all of the other buyouts, he has a new list of public companies that should go private: Sysco Corp. (NYSE:SYY) is public and doesn't need to be public. Ceridien Corp.(NYSE:CEN) can avoid its problems if it goes private. Landry's Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:LNY) reminds Cramer of Dollar General in that it doesn't need to be public. He thinks that LNY can go private and then come back as a public company in each of its units.

On Motorola (NYSE:MOT), Cramer said that Icahn's actions against MOT may be the savior of the company.

Separately, Cramer didn't note today if the New York Post article against him was fair and full of the full disclosure; although we were asking if News Corp (NYSE:NWS) was being fair and balanced itself.