318 replies to this topic

[Orik]

Possibly. Although if it's amazingly good you'd hope they can succeed without the annoying gradual price hike process we've grown used to.

[oakapple]

I have to give the Torrisi boys credit for one thing: they kept the price at $50 LONG past the date when they could've gotten away with increasing it (which they eventually did).

[AaronS]

I saw Ryan Sutton tweeting about the price. A big gap is opening up in tasting menu prices. I've eating tasting menus recently at La Quenelle and Gwynett St for $75. I believe Degustation is still hanging in at that price. Yes, this is ten courses - which is more courses - but it's not like those were small meals at the places I've visited.

It's not so much that $150 is an unfair price for ten courses, as that he is not allowing the option of ordering à la carte, which La Quenelle and Degustation both do.

Degustations's $75 for ten courses is really remarkable.

20 to 25 courses (some just tastes) at the Minibar type places run by Jose Andres are ony $150-160 pp. And he has his own TV Show.

I've heard that the portland restaurant was considerably better than minibar.

[Orik]

I have to give the Torrisi boys credit for one thing: they kept the price at $50 LONG past the date when they could've gotten away with increasing it (which they eventually did).

$45 when Torrisi started, but yes - a modest 33% hike to current levels is commendable compared to some of what I've seen, and a $15 bribe for positive reviews (or you can view it as a risk premium for intrepid bloggers) is really moderate.

The restaurant that made all of this reality - L'Astrance, started out serving a 26 Euro (250 Franc) dinner menu, and with every blog post, every review, every star, and every month they kept hiking the price until its current levels (around 220 Euro, I think). Needless to say, the food has not been following the same trajectory.

[Sneakeater]

(believe me, when this crowd is hostile, it's possible to tell - try starting a thread here about your "new blog, thanks in advance").

Or saying you don't like the Beatles.

[hcbk0702]

(believe me, when this crowd is hostile, it's possible to tell - try starting a thread here about your "new blog, thanks in advance").

Or saying you don't like the Beatles.

I don't like the Beatles.

[Sneakeater]

You're mentally ill.

[Sneakeater]

(How have you been avoiding deep involvement in that thread?)

[AaronS]

I also strongly dislike the beatles.

[Sneakeater]

And you guys just left Wilfrid to flap in the wind?

[nuxvomica]

prix fixe- and tasting menu-only formats are primarily designed to get whatever minimum cover per customer is needed to pay the bills, esp. when relatively limited number of seats are involved and high labor. whether they are painting themselves into a corner remains to be seen, may end up like Romera - or like BK Fare.
one way critics with expense accounts can be useful

[Wilfrid]

Gold stars all round.

Meanwhile, @qualityrye (Sutton) tweets:

Atera, at $150, is more expensive than Momofuku Ko, Eleven Madison Park's 4-course, Le Bernardin, Dovetail, Del Posto, Stone Barns 8-course

Atera, at $150, pricier than WD-50 tasting, Craft, Ai Fiori tasting, Schwa, Cyrus, long tasting at SAAM by Jose Andres. So: BETTER BE GOOD

It's about impressions.

[Orik]

I also strongly dislike the beatles.

What's the beatles?

[AaronS]

it's the title of a 50 page thread I'm not going to read.

[Orik]

They should come up with a meaning in New Nordic next.

Didn't have to wait long:

Though Portland is even farther from Scandinavia than New York is, some of the creations will echo the Nordic approach, especially in foraged ingredients like greens, wild mushrooms, lichens and wild onions. The chef has enlisted the services of Evan Strusinski, a wild-food specialist from Camden, Me. “It will be interesting to see what we get as the weather warms,” Mr. Lightner said. “This is an almost herbal-based cuisine.”