General griping post (after yesterday's seriousness)
After yesterday's last post, I just had to write something a bit more lightweight.
- What kind of idiot supermarket cashier or "bagger" would deliberately pack a grocery bag in such a way that a jar of gefilte fish was placed directly on top of a cake???!!!
- All my husband had was a bowl of soup and a quarter-pound hamburger with steamed vegetables. All I had was a bowl of soup and three pieces of roasted chicken with steamed vegetables. The bill? Sigh. "Why is it that, lately, every time we eat out, it costs us around $50?" "Because you insist on eating in places with hashgachah [rabbinical supervision to ensure that a restaurant or food is kosher]." Oh. Sorry I asked. :(
- Among the many jobs that my father once held in an effort to make ends meets was taxi driver. But he was from the "old school"--he used to get out of the taxi and walk around to the other side to open the doors for his passengers. Now, we have taxi drivers who just press the "unlatch" button and sit there while a 69-year-old puts his own suitcase (full of college textbooks) and backpack (full of Pesach/Passover groceries) into the trunk by himself.
- The taxi driver's lament: "Everyone pays by credit card. I have no cash to buy gas."
posted by Shira Salamone at 4:16 PM
6 Comments:
Nah, you go to overpriced restaurants for basic mediocre food.
I've eaten in the City for much less (and MUCH MUCH more) than you've spent.
American food is medium to high end restaurants is expensive. Going out for a burger (except at a fast food place) is expensive, especially since grilling one up is so cheap.
You're certainly right about the hamburger. For the life of me, I can't understand why any burger should cost more than $10, if even that. Fast-food burgers are certainly cheaper.
The chicken dish was priced quite reasonably, but came with only one "side dish." The soup was extra, and some rice would have been nice. Instead, I stuffed myself with bread, which isn't the healthiest thing for someone trying to limit her yeast intake.
My parents once treated us to an anniversary dinner in a kosher Japanese restaurant, now out of business. The food was delicious, but the meal cost my poor parents roughly $100. Needless to say, that's not the kind of money we can afford to spend every day.
I had a business dinner at Prime KO, it was phenomenal. I was able to get a REAL Japanese meal, for the first time since keeping Kosher... But $100... we paid more than that per person... But rounds of drinks, appetizers, etc. :)
For a burger, the treif place I went to 9 years ago was $8-$11 a burger. Even a chain restaurant like Chilis was $7-$9/burger back then. Yes, fast food burgers are cheap, but at a restaurant, they aren't.
Kosher meals aren't dramatically more expensive than non-Kosher ones (the differential is 10%-15%), it's that there aren't a lot of low end Kosher establishments, because those are mostly chains focused on high efficiencies.
A little while back I went to this little hole in the wall place in Time Square under a good Hashgacha. I doubt we spent more than $15 a person, and the food was AMAZING. I also went to an Indian place for a buffet lunch @ $13/person that was AMAZING.
No excuse for complaining, you have tons of options in the five boroughs.
With restaurant prices, particularly in NYC, keep in mind that you're not just paying for the food, or even the cost of the staff. You're paying for the rent. Rent for these joints is astronomical. Now, add in just a moderate profit, because none of these places are that profitable. For the location, your burger is not unreasonably priced.
" . . . it's that there aren't a lot of low end Kosher establishments . . ."
So I've noticed, Miami Al. What some people call coffee shops and others call diners, with menus as long as the gantze megillah and reasonable prices, don't seem to exist among kosher restaurants. I used to order one salad and my husband used to order one broiled fish dinner, and we'd split the fish fillet (which was big enough for two), as well as the baked potato and vegetable that came with it, then split a rice pudding, and get a substantial meal for only about $30. We'd be pretty hard pressed to match that in a non-fast-food kosher restaurant.
If you can remember the name of that kosher hole-in-the-wall place around Times Square, please let me know! I'm sorry to say that I can't eat Indian food, other than Indian bread and the yogurt-based raita, because I can't handle pepper. More's the pity, because it smells delicious. But what can I do? If I ever had a cast-iron stomach, it rusted years ago. :(
Too Old To Jewschool Steve (what happened to the rest of your name? :) ), rent is certainly a problem in NYC, and probably puts more businesses out of business than anything else in this city.
Eek! It's about 14 minutes before Shabbos. Why am I still on the computer? I'm outta here! Shabbat Shalom, everyone.
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