Originally published at: What $335 gets you at the fanciest vegan restaurant in New York | Boing Boing
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There is a HUGE market for veggie / vegan fine dining; whenever we find one that’s highly rated it’s an automatic splurge. Best one I’ve had so far: Cookies Cream in Berlin. I couldn’t even figure out how they made half of the meal, but oh my was it good.
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After four hours and one slice of cucumber, you leave, immediately suggesting a place to get dinner for real, this time.
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$335
That’s like 20 tasty meals from my local curry house?! 
I guess that the price is okay so long as $335 is no big deal for the diner. I mean, that’s pretty much enough to buy a new Warhammer 40k army.
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Yet I get the suspicion that the staff of this establishment would object if one were to start painting one’s newly acquired Space Marines at the table.
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I got to have a small lunch at Eleven Madison years ago, pre-vegan menu. I remember it being quite good, but the coffee was the real show-stopper. Best darn cup of coffee I’ve ever had.
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It all depends on how many people they seat, but if you’ve got 40 chefs working in the kitchen for you for four hours, and you pay $335, that’s a steal.
That’s not to paper over the absurdity of the privilege and wealth that surround spectacles like this, but if the time and expertise of the chefs is what you’re paying for with this kind of meal, you’re getting value.
(Also, abolish restaurants.)
(OK, I am not sure I really believe that but it makes some good points.)
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Can you imagine the pressure living in a social class where you need to do this (or something like this) nearly every day, just to “keep up with the Jones’s?” It must get exhausting.
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This kind of thing isn’t at all my scene, although in my limited experience of very fancy restaurants, the vibe isn’t as overtly snobbish and posturing as you might imagine – that’s more the domain of slightly fancy restaurants.
It’s not the price – $335 for dinner is no more or less silly than spending it on drugs or plastic model kits or jetting off somewhere to lie in the sun. I’m just kind of uncomfortable with the idea of strangers spending hours to cut up a cucumber so I can eat their work in three bites. Even if they enjoy it and have good terms of employment, I can’t shake the feeling it’s somehow not good for me spiritually.
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I can’t help but read this and think “40 people working 4 hours OR we can murder a chicken”
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I enjoy preparing vegan or vegetarian dishes for friends and loved ones who do not eat the meats.
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Eh. Considering the number of people involved in the prep, at least the price means they’re probably being adequately compensated. This is a perverse luxury item, but no more perverse than paying that much for a non-edible luxury item made by artisans, like jewelry or fashion or visual art.
And certainly less perverse than the no-doubt more numerous (but conspicuously not as often covered in publications trading in clickbaity outrage?) luxury omnivore restaurants, which layer all the same crimes as this place on top of a bedrock of cruelty and environmental unsustainability.
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Food for thought.
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My thought is - a recipe like this should be open sourced. Cuz if I want to spend 40 hours cutting cukes, I want to know your cuke secret also!
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I went for a drink there once with Mrs. Quesero, years ago. Certainly a classy place. It did bring to mind Kermit blanching (in the Great Muppet Caper) that the roast beef at a fancy supper club was the same price as an Oldsmobile.
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I have to confess I’ve never understood the attraction of “fine dining” vegan or otherwise. There is just no meal that I can see being worth more than $25 per person. And especially at “hole in the wall” ethnic restaurants you can have an excellent meal for far less than $25, and many cuisines are vegetarian or vegan by default.
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