Well, that’s rich.
Humble comfort foods are now dangerously close to becoming unaffordable luxuries for many New Yorkers in the age of menu-flation.
With rising food and labor costs, restaurant owners risk biting off more than they can chew, leaving customers to make up the difference.
“You must ask yourself, ‘Sacrifice quality and keep price as is, or, never sacrifice quality and raise prices?’ That’s our business model,” Brooklyn Chop House director of operations Stratis Morfogen told The Post.
For now, customers appear willing to fork over the extra dough.
“While the rising recession fears and the labor shortage are factors in why menu items have increased across the city, we have not seen it impact the demand for our restaurants,” Sean Largotta, a partner at Gansevoort Hotel Group, told The Post.
Here’s what you can expect to pay for some of the most popular food and drink items at New York City restaurants right now.
Burger
The famous Black Label Burger with fries will now cost you $50, after tax and 20% tip, at Minetta Tavern. The classic was listed as $36 on the menu last year, but the base price, including fries, has now ticked up to $38. That’s not the only burger in town with hard-to-swallow prices. Downtown, the sticker price of the burger at Chicago import Au Cheval is $22, up from $19.95 in 2020. Adding in thick-cut bacon and egg, you’ll pay closer to $31 today, before tax and tip. At the Chester, an American gastropub inside the Gansevoort Hotel in the Meatpacking District, a burger is now $24, up from $22 a year ago. So even if you’re not getting fries, you’re still forking over $30 after tax and tip.
Chicken Parmesan
The once economical, family-style fave — breaded chicken, mozzarella and red sauce — might as well be a slab of filet mignon in today’s economy. Indeed, at Quality Italian in Midtown, the restaurant’s pizza-shaped chicken parm-for-two is priced on the menu at $76. In 2018, it went for $68. At Theater District mainstay Carmine’s, a chicken parm dinner is now $38, up from $36 in 2020. The cost of the dish at the Italian restaurant mini-chain has gone up nearly $9 since 2013.
Steak
Just last fall, the porterhouse-for-two at Peter Luger was $130. Now, that same steak is priced at $136, up to $175.27 with tax and tip. A 42-ounce, dry-aged porterhouse at downtown steakhouse Brooklyn Chop House, which cost $160 in 2021, is now on the menu for $190 and $244.86 with tax and tip. The Carnegie Diner & Cafe in Midtown has seen five price increases on its meat since 2020, a rep for the restaurant told The Post. Their New York strip steak went from $33 last year to its current price of $40, or $51.55 with tax and tip.
Pastrami
Fat chance you’ll walk out of a classic Jewish deli for under $30 these days. A pastrami sandwich at Katz’s Deli will run you $26 ($33 with tax and tip), a whopping increase from $17 in 2014. In Red Hook, Hometown Bar-B-Que charges a hefty $28 for its sandwiched smoked-meat fest, up from $17 in 2019. Meanwhile, at the reincarnated 2nd Ave Deli, the cost of the sandwich has spiked from $17 in recent years to $25 in 2022.
Croissant
Sky-high butter costs are impacting bakeries in a big way. At Manhattan mini-chain Breads Bakery, a croissant is now $5, up from $4 last year. Soho bakery Dominique Ansel, meanwhile, raised prices on its croissant to $4.75, up from $3.50 last year. And TikTok-famous Brooklyn Heights French bakery L’Appartement 4F, which opened earlier this year, sells croissants for $4 — a steal compared to its $50 hand-rolled, mini-croissant cereal.
Pizza Slice
One of the Big Apple’s most iconic cheap eats is getting more expensive by the month. Walk into one of Midtown’s many dollar-slice joints now, and you’ll likely pay at least $1.50, sometimes $2.50, for what only recently sold for 99 cents. Basic favorites like a regular slice at Famous Original Ray’s Pizza in Times Square now command a steep $3.75 each. And around the city, trendy new pizzerias like Fini Pizza in Williamsburg seem intent on stretching the limits, charging $5 — and sometimes more — for slices made with higher-end ingredients.
Cocktails
Remember when $15 cocktails were considered wildly expensive? These days, the asking price all over Manhattan is closer to $20. At townhouse-turned-celebrity-filled watering hole Pebble Bar in Midtown, standard drinks can run you up to $28, while a simple Corpse Reviver at José Andrés’ Nubeluz, high atop the new Ritz-Carlton hotel in NoMad, will run you $22.
