That costs what?

by Kat Kinsman, Posted Jul 11th 2008 @ 7:00PM

In some sectors, it's practically de rigueur (and awfully hilarious) to rip on the rarefied findings of NY Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni, but I've gotta say I tend to dig his indignation as expressed through the fewer-holds-barred medium of the website's Diner's Journal. I certainly jibe with his notions of the judiciously applied dress code and the diner's right to doggie bags, but I'm almost irrationally delighted by his use of the bully pulpit to call out the stealthy price jabbings of high-end restaurants.

He specifically cites the same outrageous charges (his boiling point is $7, mine was $6) for postprandial tea that I'd kvetched about a while back. Nothing falutin', not a monkey-harvested Pur-eh or shade-grown sencha -- just in his case a mint T-brand tea (which tea purists would prefer we refer to as a "tisane" rather than a tea as it's actually an herbal infusion, but I digress) which at $17.95 for 1.76 oz tin, retail, would surely produce, uh, more than 2.56 cups. Yes, service, water heating, cups, rent, etc. don't come for free but still, the whole enterprise is quite crabby-making in this strained economy.

Mr. Bruni, we salute your foray into the consumer advocacy front and will be following the "That Costs What?!?" series ~~juuuust as soon as you get that pesky RSS tag fixed~~ ravenously.

[via: New York Times Diner's Journal]

Filed Under: Budget Cuisine, On the Blogs, Food News, Drink Recipes, Chefs & Restaurants, Restaurants
Tags: america, consumer advocate, ConsumerAdvocate, food prices, FoodPrices, frank bruni, FrankBruni, new york times, NewYorkTimes, restaurant pricing, RestaurantPricing, tea