Restaurants, pricy or not.
I love going to restaurants. Checking my previous KTKs, I have written about restaurants frequently. What caught my eye this morning was an article about a local coastal destination we have been to in the past, which has just had a multi-million dollar renovation. Rooms start at $350. The described dinner sounded good, till I noted that it was fixed-price: $150. Thus a couple would be out $650 without including tips and wine. Breakfast was extra.
Median household income last year was 56K.
Now I know we live among the “coastal elites” so my price perceptions are probably skewed, but prices at higher end restaurants and events are getting bizarre. So often I see a notice in the paper about a sweet event at a winery. “Looks like fun”, I say. Then I discover that the price is something like $250 a person. No way.
One of our local restaurants, Single Thread, has been predicted to be on the list of the 50 best in the world next year. The menu is $225 (before tax and service charge), with a wine pairing available at $155, or $295 for reserve wines. Though I would no doubt love it, it will never happen for me. We often say around here, “if I won the lottery”. I would never spend that kind of money for a meal, no matter what.
On the other hand, I’ve had some revision in my thinking about wine. I had never paid more than $20 for a bottle of wine, and we have been pretty happy with vin ordinaries from Safeway. Mrs. side pocket’s cousins, whom we visit, drink higher-priced wines, which are pretty spectacular. And best of all, our next-door neighbor pours at a very good winery and sometimes brings us a bottle which has been opened, and OMG. I check the prices on google. She laughed when I told her that. She said “I knew you’d do that.”
I don’t envy much; I have a good life. But when I see articles about lobbyists treating politicians to $400 bottles of wine (Ryan) I do feel a bit jealous, now that I know how amazing that can be.
Do you ever get a chance to get a wretched excess meal? Have you been able to get someone else to pay for it? How fine is your wine?
(I have to cut this short because my daughter just called for Father’s Day and we spoke for a long time.) Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there.