Recognizing that I am the product of $0.24 McDonalds hamburgers growing up, $4-5 seems a reasonable price for a burger. Maybe $8 for something spiffy. $15 is a lot for burger. It’s going to need something pretty attractive to be good value for money.
I do remember a restaurant in Washington DC called Mr. Smiths that had a $200 burger - came with a bottle of really nice champagne. When I met the manager he said that in his many years they had sold one.
Here in NYC, $15 would be a cheap burger in a sit down place. We have them $25+ now. I blame it on Boulud. That foie grass and short rib stuffed burger was worth the price but most of what you see these days is just not.
My mom is as frugal as they come and certainly has no interest in gourmet foods. Any time I’m spending more than $10 on a dish she reminds of the times when an order of small fries at McDonald was 10 cents, and hamburgers were a quarter.
You’re all youngsters–I can remember when McDonald’s burgers were 15 cents.
Yes there is some tradition of stagiaires and apprenticeships but I’ve seen a few signs of moving away from that. Now the local cooking school expects you to pay the apprentice, and I’ve heard of cooks demanding to be paid for their pre-employment ‘working interview’ stage shift.
While Michelin frequently claims that they rate on food quality and preparation, it is obvious that they pay at least as much currency for atmosphere, flowers, staff livery, etc, etc. Very early on in our travels I was warned that there was more hype and pretense in 1stars than in 2 or 3stars, who are more secure. I have found this to be true. Some if not most of our really disastrous meals have been at 1 star where the house was insecure, self-conscious and often riding on an archaic menu that had first brought them to Michelin attention.
I often put my tongue in a cavity by recalling a country 1 star we booked as a last minute replacement. The place was forbidding and stiff. We were attended by the FOH. My main course was if not inedible, at lease not worth eating. Venison 3 ways. I lamented that that deer died in vane. Our woman approached the table to see if everything was alright. I thanked her and told her it was just a very large plate. She told me to sit back, eat slowly and finish my meal. I bit my tongue to keep from telling her that my life was too short to accomplish that.
Why not tell her the truth and perhaps they could have rectified the problem in some way?
Ah, just noted the date on the post I responded to. Comment still stands.
How would they rectify a stale concept and heavy handed cooking?
Not sure the stale concept is for you to fix but if people were honest with them they may have done something about the concept before it got stale. Regarding your particular dish perhaps they could have changed it for something else? Again if people had been honest with them over the years perhaps a new chef would have been in place by the time you had visited. 
Cauliflower “steak.” If I see that rubbish on any menu, I would skedaddle.
Then there’s L’Enclume in my region of England. Good that it’s finally received its third Michelin star. Not so good that, on the strength of that, it’s jacked its price up from £195 to £250 (plus an unspecified service charge which I bet will be at least 12.5%)
Other than ridiculously priced wines and drinks, the things that usually turn me off are all sides and salads being a la carte, double digit, and usually pretty ordinary. It is spreading from steak houses to many other types of restaurants. I can (sort of) see $50 for an absolutely incredible and perfectly prepared steak, but $12 per for wedge salad, hashed browns, and creamed spinach? I’ll pass. I can see paying those prices for a culinary labor of love that I could make but lack the patience and would need to do some serious shopping.
It’s good, though.
So is a mint leaf in tea, but does that warrant a 35$US price tag?
Not to mention, cauliflower is common. It’s not like I’m nibbling on hotaruika, or a Piemontese truffle.
But all you said was cauliflower “steak,” without mentioning the price tag or anything else. And beef is at least as common as cauliflower, so I’m still unsure what you object to.
What’s the point of mentioning the price of cauliflower steak? There’s no meat in it, just cauliflower.
And to say Sendai or Kobe beef is the same as a slab of Inglewood beef is equally ludicrous.
Noooo! Not L’Enclume. All I can see and hear are Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan doing their Bond schtick at the table.
L’Enclume is a great restaurant and absolutely deserves its third star. If it was in London, it would have received it years back.
Since you mentioned that you were offended by the price of a mint leaf, I assumed you were also railing at expensive cauliflower on menus. And since the topic of this thread is
on the part of restaurants, that made sense to me. (Sort of. I’ve never seen a cup of tea that cost $35, but I haven’t been everywhere. ) But this
doesn’t. Because no one is saying this. Just pointing out you called cauliflower “common,” and beef - in general, not in rarefied form - is also common.
