Restaurants

My son and I have come to the same, sad conclusion. Restaurant prices have become outrageous.

Dining out is one of life’s great pleasures, and like so many other things, it has become only for the financially endowed, those folks who never have to look at the price. Moderately priced, full service, ambient restaurants are a rare breed these days, and we treasure the ones that have managed to survive.

I learned to appreciate restaurants at an early age. My parents both loved eating out, and I was not consigned to a babysitter. Every Saturday night of my childhood was spent at the La Joy Chinese restaurant in Milwaukee. I loved the dimly lighted decor with dragons, scrolls and latticework. I loved the chicken and shrimp chow mein. I hated to even look at the egg foo young my father ordered every time and still think it’s a disgusting puddle of ugliness.

My mother finally rebelled at all that Chinese food and wanted a more varied menu. I must have been the luckiest kid ever because they switched to a gorgeous restaurant, the Boulevard Inn, for almost every Saturday night of my teen years. With large picture windows overlooking a park, crisp, snowy white linens, soft lights and flowers, this restaurant was the epitome of elegance. And my very middle-class family could afford to do this weekly.

These fabulous restaurants still exist, but my husband and I will not be frequenting them. It’s not much of an overstatement to say that America’s current restaurant scene consists of cheap, unhealthy fast food prepared by teenagers or healthy, fresh food prepared by trained chefs. Hang on to your wallet if the restaurant proclaims itself to be “farm to table”. Those will be the most expensive carrots you will ever eat.

The other day I did a computer search for a reasonably priced Italian restaurant in Minneapolis. When I read the following item and price on one menu, I knew that restaurant prices have gone berserk.

Listed as a “starter” salad to your entree:

Wedge Salad

Iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber, blue cheese dressing, bacon lardons… $15.95

I fully understand that my dinner price must include money for the building, equipment, energy, taxes and decor. I also know that with a tip of over 20%, I am paying a huge piece of the employees’ wages. But a $16.00 iceberg lettuce chunk still seems unjustified.

As we were eating our Saturday night dinner at home last week, my husband and I were discussing the super inflated restaurant prices and out of curiosity decided to calculate the cost of our entire dinner including the glass of wine and beer. It came to just under $10.00 for everything on the table. Since a meatless pasta entree, salad and wine for two plus a tip at the “iceberg” restaurant would be over $100.00, I think some outrage is justified. It’s enough to make you lose your appetite.

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