A Critic Selects a Last Meal

(I thought y'all might like to read this, even if only for the poetry.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/dining/reviews/per-se-nyc-restaurant-review.html?hp

It's clearly how the 1% dine. I caught the comment about how you can eat in the cheap seats at the bar for "under $100.00".

Don't get me wrong, it's interesting. We have a restaurant just a couple of miles from my house which is the local area's equivalent -- all of the "beautiful people" dine there. I've been there a couple of times, once we had a department holiday party there, and later, someone gave us a gift certificate. Honestly, the food was pretty, but there was nothing on the menu that I couldn't recreate at home and make better.

Too many people in this country have to wonder when the next time they will eat is going to be. Conspicuous consumption in the face of need.

Thank you.

I live in an area of the country that is consistently ranked in the top ten most food insecure areas of the nation.

The article is an interesting read - though mostly for reasons that are completely unrelated to the food.

From the article:

"A meal at Per Se can stretch to four to five hours....."

"...such pleasure comes at a cost. The menu has a set price of $295 a person, excluding wine. Nine or more courses are prepared, along with canapés to start and mignardises to finish. A conversation with a sommelier can easily double the cost of the buy-in. Dinner for two can scratch at $1,000 — or about the same as the median weekly household income in New York State."



Somehow I find this reminiscent of the excesses of ancient Rome.

alent amount to the food bank, and hope some of them do. I agree with you, a bit of fiddling while Rome burns.

while we peasants dine on the choice muscle meats, all in the name of scarcity and exclusivity.

That is if we're working at jobs that pay us enough to eat meat.