what price your entree?

[m brown]

can we talk?? i know the economy is on a groove and all, but what is up with the outragous prices! you have to take out another mortgage to buy dinner at some places. (and that will be getting harder with the fed raising rates.) is it just me? am i chicken little, or is the sky really so high? (or is it about to fall)
god i wish i had an expecne account!
please share your thoughts here on the late night cafe.
i'm still a fan of cheap food cooked well.

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Thank You,
mb

[Pete]

Prices do seem to be getting higher and higher, but they have to. I am now paying around $17 a pound for filet after cleaning and portioning, $13 a pound for venison, $4-5.50 a pound for guinea hen. We use very high-end product and thus have to charge high prices. I have a couple of entrees under $20, up to $32 and a guest check ave. of about $55-60.

I hope you guys saw the NYTimes Wednesday food section this past week. It was about these crazy prices. Sure everything has gone up (rent, prices of food and staff) but for some of us, our salaries didn't double like others. Here in NY its crazy. A one star restaurant here sells a steak for one for 49.95 with nothing on it but chopped parsley. Le Cirque has a 16.00 soup and Lespinasse has a $36.00 soup with langoustines. And these restaurants are packed 3 deep to the bar. Honestly when I go out I eat well but I try to cut corners. Example: my girlfriend and I will have maybe a glass of wine each, thats it. We will have an app each, and entree each(never the same) and maybe split a dessert. We try not to go with everything when we go to a three or four star restaurant or it will cost a fortune. If you start with a drink, then a bottle of wine, then a cordial, coffee, and dont forget the crazy additional $12.00 added to the already prefixx $65.00 for 3 courses, all because you decided to have the lobster salad instead of the green salad. Its crazy,

Prices are way up, I agree. Fortunately for me at my restaurant, I am out of the downtown area and don't have the HUGE overhead so I charge significantly less for the same things you get downtown....But i like eating out downtown so I pay! Oh Well.... Hey Pete, I like Harvest a lot.
I often go to neighborhood ethnic spots for budget dining... There is a great vietnamese neighborhood in Chicago and the food is FAB. and really cheap.. You just have to seek them out.

Anyone buying any copper river salmon this season? Its obscene what they can get for a fish.

[youla]

PRICES ARE GOING CRAZY, WE JUST DID OUR NEW SEASONAL MENU AND OUR PRICES WENT UP AGAIN...I TRY TO GIVE PEOPLE THEIR MONEYS WORTH BUT WE WORK TO STANDARDS...WHAT GETS ME IS THAT WE OFFER SOME OF THE SAME ITEMS IN TWO DIFFERENT EATING AREAS AND SOME OF THEM HAVE A TEN DOLLAR DIFFERENCE FOR EXACTLY THE SAME DISH!!! I RECENTLY TOOK SOME NON.CHEF FRIENDS OUT FOR A DEGUSTATION MENU WHICH WAS BRILLIANT BUT I HAD TO EXPLAIN FOR DAYS AFTER WHY IT COST SO MUCH [IT WAS 100 DOLLARS A HEAD FOR 12 COURSES] THEY COULD NOT UNDERSTAND THE WORK THAT HAD GONE INTO THE MENU WHEN THEY COULD GET A BOWL OF VIETNAMESE SOUP FOR 5 DOLLARS AND BE SATISFIED!!AND THAT WAS THE COMPARISON I KEPT GETTING THOUGH THEY ALL FELT IT WAS AN EXPERIENCE AND TOTALLY ENJOYED THE WHOLE MENU......AUSTRALIA IS GOING WITH A GST STARTING 1 JULY SO EXPECT MORE PRICE RISES THEN...BUT I FIND DINING IS AN EXPERIENCE AND I AM JUST AS HAPPY WITH THE SOUP AS LONG AS IT TASTES GOOD AND YOU REALISE YOU PAY FOR THE WHOLE DINING EXPERIENCE NOT JUST THE FOOD THAT APPEARS IN FRONT OF YOU.

copper river salmon is worth every penny. we charged $29.95 in minneapolis and sold out quick.

mcdonalds is still pretty cheap. if you want quality, youve got to pay. if it was bad quality, they better pay you back.

p.s. new york doesn't count when it comes to prices.

Things are definately higher on my end as well. I struggle all the time trying to keep my food cost at 28% and still offer great specials. Corporate work can be a drag when you have to stay in a certain food cost range. It really limits what you can serve your customers.

[chefjohnpaul]

What I hate the most is paying big money and have the feeling of a poor value for what you get. Being a chef is tough also because when I go out and am spending a lot I start thinking of preparing the same thing myself and how I could have saved money if I had just made the same meal at home, and then you kind of stop enjoying your dining experience. I don't mind spending if I'm blown away, but I don't want the feeling of paying a high price simply because the guy has a lot of overhead. That's why when we go for example to SF we useually eat in the SOMA district because the rent is low and many high end chefs are opening low rent spots to pass on savings to the diner and still blow them away with the cuisine.

[shroomgirl]

Mid 20's-a few mid 30's standard for the top 10 restaurants....a new restaurant opened a year ago with NYC prices and caught grief....they are thriving and actually have $18 foie gras as an appetizer.Pretty good for the Mid West.