What is pricey?

Okday, so semi-food chat - below is something I just posted to Chowhounds in response to a reaction that I found Le Lan "pricey" when even with a promotion, the meal for two people was $120 with two glasses of wine and a three course fixed price meal.

Thus, my question, "What is pricey?"

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Pricy is all relative.

We can purchase our groceries for a week (including organics from the farmer's market) for less than $60 for two people. Most of the time when we eat out, we eat someplace where the total tab, for two people - tax and tip included, is less than $50 often much less.

Thus for us, a meal that is over $100 is "pricey". We tend to eat places in a way that is more $20-25/person than $50-60 person (often by not eating three full courses, which at many places around town is too much food).

In terms of portions we were both satisfied, the portions were just about right. The appetizer was not huge, but the portion and flavors extremely good - worked well and was so finely executed as to be worth it. The entree was decent sized, two lamb chops and a portion of duck confit, two small polenta rounds and some greens. The polenta was tasty but didn't add much to the overall dish. The greens were very good, if somewhat inconsistant (greens with peppers and onions so taste varied from bite to bite - not a bad thing but also seemed to vary between my plate and my girlfriend's plate).

The pricing was certainly accurate - your estimates are pretty close (2 glasses of wine were each $9, the coffee only $2.00).

Price is something that I think varies quite a bit across Chicago and only rarely indicative of the quality (or portions). There are many restaurants around town where a dinner for two, with a glass of wine each, can be had for well under $40 a person (4 Taste comes to mind - 2-4 dishes @$10 each and a couple of glasses of wine, easily under $80 for two)

I've had meals which for two were under $30 that were every bit the equal of meals for over $100 (a dinner at TAC Quick - Sheridan just south of the red line el stop - with 5 dishes and Thai coffees for two people, under $40 for just one example).

In Chicago there are a few dozen places that are over $100/person (either ala carte or a tasting menu), there are dozens more that are between $50-100 a person, but while I enjoy these, we tend to concentrate our dining dollars on places more in the $20-30/person range as there are still hundreds of such places around town and the quality is still extremely high. (Topo Gigio for example I have eaten at many times by myself over the years quite happily for under $30 including a glass of wine - generally by getting a salad and an appetizer or pasta and a wine by the glass).

It helps to stretch my dining dollars that I am a very light drinker, almost never drinking more than a single glass of wine. Further, I try to focus on tasting a range from a restaurant, but only rarely having more than two courses (either entree and dessert or appetizer and entree) this is both a budgeting "trick" and portion control. Further, many of my favorite places, such as TAC Quick are "family style" so we share a range of dishes instead of each having a single dish - again more flavors, less cost, more manageable portions.

What do you consider pricey?

Shannon

[edited to correct typo - 8/24/2004 @ 2:19pm]

HI,

I will probably ring in later with something more, but anything which is poorly made and presented with a check is always pricey. If it is bad, then any price they ask is unacceptable. It does not mean I always complain. Often, I do wimp out, grumble to myself, pay the fare, tip considerately and never return.

I think this is an interesting question. Here's my take on it:

When I use the term "pricey" (which I spell with an "e") I probably use it differently than you do. I consider "priceyness" to be a function of cost only. Therefore, something can be pricey and be a bargain, they are not mutually exclusive in my mind.

Basically, as soon as a meal crosses the $50/pp range after tax, tip, etc., it has crossed into pricey territory for me. Not that I can't afford it, but it becomes a lot to spend on a meal no matter how you slice it. I don't care if you're getting 4-star service--$50/pp is getting pricey.

Now, let's say you are getting 4-star service, a bottle of wine, 7 courses, etc. for your $50/pp. Then, you have a pricey meal which is also a good deal, a bargain, if you will.

When you have to pay for one item at McDonalds from their value meal on layaway then to you that is pricy.I cannot remember ever spending more than $15.00 per persom so anything more than that to me is pricy.

A couple of nights a week, I either work late or spend too much time at the gym and decide to eat out. In those cases, I think that $15pp is my limit.

For an anniversary, birthday celebration or the like, $25-30 is my limit.

For a "great meal" at a restaurant, perhaps $30 is my limit two or three times a year.

Personally, I have found that there is little correlation between enjoyment and the price. Next month, I will be eating shrimp or crawfish etouffe at Joyce's Restaurant in St. Martinsville, LA for $4.95 with two sides and a slice of white bread on a picnic bench in the middle of a shack. And it will be a lot better than some of the places that I have eaten at recently.

Once I approach $30pp, I have to think that I can produce one heck of a meal for that price. And if I cook at home, I will have plenty of leftovers for lunch at work for a couple of meals.

I know that my price limit will keep me out of the Charlie Trotters and Emeril's and the upscale Mexican joints. Oh well.

Engineers may get this, the rest of you think we're nuts anyhow.

To me there's a price to deliciousness curve, think price on the X axis and deliciousness on the Y axis. For each restaurant or meal you can plot a point where you spend money, and decide how delicious it tasted. Then I draw an arbitrary line through the center outward, and decide that all points below the deliciousness-to-price line are too pricey, and all points above the deliciousness-to-price line are reasonable. The more expensive a restaurant is, the threshold for reasonableness becomes harder to attain. But really good cheap food always wins.

Rich4 wrote:Engineers may get this, the rest of you think we're nuts anyhow... ... ... But really good cheap food always wins.

I like that. It makes sense/cents.

A

Rich4 wrote:Engineers may get this, the rest of you think we're nuts anyhow.

To me there's a price to deliciousness curve, think price on the X axis and deliciousness on the Y axis. For each restaurant or meal you can plot a point where you spend money, and decide how delicious it tasted. Then I draw an arbitrary line through the center outward, and decide that all points below the deliciousness-to-price line are too pricey, and all points above the deliciousness-to-price line are reasonable. The more expensive a restaurant is, the threshold for reasonableness becomes harder to attain. But really good cheap food always wins.

Exactly. A $25 entree that's worth it isn't pricey, but a $25 that isn't worth it definitely is.

That being said, I think even if it's more delicious than it cost you to purchase it, the Tour de Force at Trio is definitely pricey, at least to me.

The most I'll pay per person for a meal with any regularity is $60, before tax/tip. But I'll only do that about once every two months. I'm considering saving up for a while and making reservations at Alinea in early spring/late winter, but we'll see.

For what it's worth, my last $60/person dinner was at Katsu, and it was most definitely worth the money.

-ed

Let it be said that I tend to splurge on wine, even at places that could be inexpensive, but for my splurginess. On average, when I and Mrs. JiLS dine out, the tab is about $125, with tip. For example, we had dinner Saturday at Sabatino's, and over 50% of the bill was the bottle of wine I ordered. Shame on me, I suppose. Once or twice, we've more than doubled our average -- on very special occasions, and usually because of a very special bottle of wine, we have peaked in the $450-$500 range for one meal. On the other hand, when we eat in, it's usually a fun challenge for me to keep it super cheap -- I'm a master at finding $6.00 bottles of wine that are worth drinking, and we are ardent fans of Costco. I guess I'm willing to pay a lot of money for someone else to create a fantastic meal for me that I would be unable to duplicate. I rarely feel I've paid an unfair price.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:I'm a master at finding $6.00 bottles of wine that are worth drinking

Care to share? In fact, I wouldn't mind a continuing thread on the Shopping & Cooking board detailing where to get bargain wines. I like the $6/bottle stuff myself. In fact, I think I'll go start this thread right now, rehashing an old listserv pick.

going back to Shannon's first post, what I want to know is, how do you spend 60$ a week on two people for groceries? I'd love some tips about that. (Besides coupons, etc.). Thanks![/quote]

messycook wrote:going back to Shannon's first post, what I want to know is, how do you spend 60$ a week on two people for groceries? I'd love some tips about that. (Besides coupons, etc.). Thanks!

I should outline my next receipt from Marketplace on Oakton. I do it all the time, and I'm usually under $50.

Well we generally can spend even less than that many weeks, a rough breakdown based on the past few months:

1. About $20 or so each week at farmer's markets - some of this at times being flowers (however), but mostly on fresh fruit, greens, vegetables, generally enough for 3-4 breakfasts and one or two dinners.

2. Once a month, or so, trips to Trader Joes for basics - frozen dinners to have on hand, oils, vineagers, etc. Usually about $75 or so, depends on the number of bottles of wine we buy, but typically buy a few bottles and about $50 worth of groceries - enough for about 10 packaged meals and various components of other meals.

3. About $20 a week for milk, eggs, soft drinks, cereals etc from a combination of Treasure Island, Walgreens, and occasionally Jewel - depending on sales mostly. A bit higher than it might be as we tend to by single Quarts and buy Soy milk, 2 percent, and skim milk.

4. Occasional runs to Costco (once every 2-3 months) to stock up on staples and for items such as frozen salmon individually sealed. Generally about $80 each trip.

5. About $20-30 a week for the rest of our components of meals that we eat in - whether it be a frozen pizza, roast chicken, or fresh meat. Also generally keep a stock of hummus on hand, along with good bread/pita bread.

We tend to eat a lot of salads - using whatever is fresh along with a protein source (chicken sausage bought in bulk from Costco or Salmon from Costco are two of our favorites). At least a few nights each week we also eat a very light dinner - bread and hummus with some fresh fruit for example.

This summer we have not cooked as much as we have in the past, which has helped keep our groceries costs down - but even when we do more frequent cooking, it is a rare grocery run that costs us more than $30, mostly we buy in $20 or less increments, with rare (once a month or every month) buying a large quanity from a less convienant store such as Costco or Trader Joes. We try to keep staples on hand (pasta, sauce, frozen pizza, sausage, salmon etc).

So I think our typical week is about $60, generally in about 2-3 trips to grocery stores. Some weeks it will be closer to $100, but many weeks it will be actually even less.

Hope that helps,

Shannon