$40 entrees on the table in many restaurants
NEW YORK -- When it comes to entree prices at restaurants across the nation, 40 really is the new 30.
From Seattle to Houston, Los Angeles to New York, Denver to Chicago, $40 entrees are practically as common as cloth napkins at an increasing number of restaurants.
Three-digit prix-fixe menus were already the norm at exclusive places such as Masa ($400) in New York, Gary Danko ($63-$112) in San Francisco, Le Bec-Fin ($90-$138) in Philadelphia and Charlie Trotter's ($135-$200) in Chicago.
Now, a-la-carte prices are a mouthful at lower-price dining establishments.
Chef Laurent Tourondel, who co-owns the BLT empire that includes restaurants in New York, Washington, D.C., and San Juan, Puerto Rico, with expansions planned for L.A., Dallas, Miami and White Plains, N.Y., says he has no option but to price his food as he does — $45 for Dover sole, for example, and $41 for a 12-ounce filet of beef.
"It was a very scary step to do a couple of years ago because $40 is a big amount of money for a main course," Tourondel says. "Now in every single (upscale) restaurant you go, you have the $40 entree."
And then some. Macaroni and cheese with shaved white truffles sells for $55 at Waverly Inn, the New York hot spot partly owned by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.
"It's incredible mac and cheese with truffles," acknowledges Tim Zagat, founder, CEO and publisher of the Zagat Survey guides. "But $55 for mac and cheese?"
If diners mind the high prices, they aren't showing it with their wallets. Sales at full-service restaurants are expected to reach $181.6 billion this year, an increase of 5.1% over 2006, according to the National Restaurant Association. Menu-price inflation was 3.5% from July 2006 to July 2007, compared with a 2.4% increase in the overall consumer price index for All Urban Consumers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"People comment and express awe when they see a $40 entree, but they don't seem to be particularly angry," Zagat says. "There are quite a few restaurants in the U.S. that are way above the $100 mark. As that happens, it sort of inoculates people against getting upset about a $40 entree."
