$40.00 Entrees? A New Trend?

Just read this interesting article...

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/200 ... ices_N.htm

I was wondering what my fellow Forumites thought about this new "trend" at up-scale restaurants.

[Robin Garr]

Just read this interesting article...

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/200 ... ices_N.htm

I was wondering what my fellow Forumites thought about this new "trend" at up-scale restaurants.

My sense is that we aren't quite there yet in Louisville, just as the prix fixe at the Oakroom and 610 Magnolia hasn't yet crossed into three-digit territory.

Quite a few of our upscale places have some entrees in the $30 range, though, and that already makes me suck in my breath. Didn't Rivue cross the $40 barrier with a few mains on its original menu, but then came out with an across-the-board reduction when they opened? I'm thinking that Jeff Ruby's comes close to $40 with some of its steaks, too.

Problem with that price range is that you become a special occassion restaurant only for most folks. I can't rationalize $100 for two people BEFORE I order a bottle of wine as a regular dinner out.

I agree. It's definitely not something that I would partake in, but if someone can pull it off successfully, I say more power to 'em!

I can't imagine having any level of wealth that I could bring myself to spend $40+ on an entree on a regular basis. I am more than willing to spend that occasionally, for a meal that WOWs me. But I would say then, only a couple times a year. I tend to be disappointed in the quality of food you get when you spend that much.

Case in point, I had a $32 steak at a local eatery recently. It was served with grilled limp asparagus, and while fully edible, the steak or asparagus wasn't exceptional or flavorful in any way. Then I went to Kaelin's (for the first time ever) and had a beef tenderloin stuffed with blue cheese that was on special. It was 14.95, came with a salad and another side (spinach souffle was my choice). It was perfectly cooked, full of flavor, and tender enough to cut with a butter knife. I felt like I was robbing them by not paying more for it. I would have HAPPILY paid $32 for that steak.

I agree that I am much more disappointed by very expensive meals, and likely not to return if the food or service is less than stellar. Once you start charging those kinds of prices, you are seting the bar very high for yourself. You have to execute.

I'm thinking that Jeff Ruby's comes close to $40 with some of its steaks, too.

Think again.

Steaks at Ruby's push closer to $50 (and up!)

Jeff Ruby's Louisville Menu


for what i'm assuming is just the price for a piece of meat, i do find that excessive.

If it was an entire dish on the other hand, i could rationalize biting the bullet moreso - but not just for a steak.

[Robin Garr]

Steaks at Ruby's push closer to $50 (and up!)

Jeff Ruby's Louisville Menu

Durn, you're right. They've bumped up a few bucks (but not much proportionately) since my Dec. 27 review, wherein I wrote "The specialty of the house is dry-aged prime steak, ranging from $29.50 to $49.75"

for what i'm assuming is just the price for a piece of meat, i do find that excessive.

Your assumption is accurate within a statistical margin of error. Again based on a Christmas-season dinner visit: "They were garnished with a pile of leafy green escarole and bitter white frisee (which I like a lot, even if it is rabbit food) and three silver-dollar size 'sweet corn pistachio grill cakes.'"

dry-aged meat is always very pricey because the meat loses so much of its water weight and only works for beef that has good marbling, i.e. very expensive beef.

very difficult to find a restaurant that offers prime beef dry-aged on the premises at prices much lower than Ruby's.

I actually have less of a problem paying big bucks for a dish in a restaurant where I know that the bulk of that cost is from the expense of the raw ingredients. Things like truffles, caviar, prime, dry-aged beef, real kobe beef, foie gras, etc.

Corn has been the root of most beef prices going up; or at least that is what they tell us. Also we have seen shipping charges and fuel surcharges double & triple in the last 3 years based on ethanol. Again that is what they tell us.

The price of fish is on a major rise. Sushi grade fish prices have risen 35% in two years. Shellfish in some areas (lobster) is up 50%.

Finally as more "independent restaurants" are being purchased or opened by investors with corporate backgrounds many places are being forced to produce profits well beyond any measurement we have scene before. For example business pro calculates in 2005 fine dinning restaurants averaged 4.71% profit. In 2007 the same planning tool is estimating that fine dinning restaurants are asked to yield profits of 9.5%. They are forecasting that by 2010 profits will be asked to be 12%.
That gives you three choices either cut labor, buy cheaper items or raise prices. You can not cut labor because you need the staff to get the job done. Your diners or clients have grown accustomed to you serving quality products so going cheaper is out. The only thing you can do initially is raise prices; or you can do like some great chefs have decided like Joel in Atlanta you shut your place down, revamp the whole concept and serve tapas and a very casual menu.

I can tell you it is only going to get worst.

thanks for that insight Chef.

sounds like we need to be using more locally raised, grass-fed beef to save on corn and fuel costs.

whatever happened to cattle drives anyway? seems like that would cut-down on the fuel cost of moving those cattle to market.

whatever happened to cattle drives anyway? seems like that would cut-down on the fuel cost of moving those cattle to market.

In a word, Ron: Barbwire.

damned barbwire, ruining my cattle-drive solution to the cost of beef!

My wife and I just returned from Chicago. One of the places we dined was the Chop House one of the oldest steak houses in town. My 14oz fillet was $48.00 We looked at several other steakhouses alll in that price range. Charlie Trotters pre fix 5 courses $165 per person. I bit over the top for me.