Another high end SF restaurant is closing (Aphotic), and while I think they had a good run, I don’t think they were worth $400pp.
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@skinnylatte please tell me that's not in USD
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@arestelle yes it is
There is also a US$150pp ramen place ahahaha
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Yes the real estate and labor market is messed up, and permits are hard, but every single major food city in the world has the same problems, and same prices, and the ‘nice’ restaurants are much, much better
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@skinnylatte how do places like that signal to the pleebs "this is not for you"
I find this fascinating. I don't think there's anything in my city that expensive.
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@nirak my theory is it’s not even a food biz anymore. It’s a status symbol at that range
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A really interesting model I’ve seen first hand: because Singapore has this socialized infrastructure for ‘hawker stalls in a clean and nice place’ (initially for street food vendors), *many* fine dining chefs who were out of work during Covid, went screw that let’s do our own thing. So they have hawkers stalls doing.. really experimental food!
Like, Hokkien prawn mee with Iberico ham. Top dimsum chefs doing cheaper versions of fancy dimsum. Syrian food in hawker centers. I like that a lot
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Thinking about this today coz usually, for my birthday for the last 20 years I’ve really enjoyed picking a really nice restaurant and going there for it.
But this year, perhaps my tastes have changed, the economy feels weird, but also I don’t feel like I want to spend that type of money anymore, unless I know it’s something really interesting, not just good
And interesting is no longer the same as what it meant to me, tho I’m struggling to define what exactly.
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@skinnylatte My father-in-law is usually just as happy with a good burrito as with a 3-star restaurant. Though he would concede that the wine list is generally better in a 3-star restaurant.
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@gglockner high end Chinese restaurants have solved this conundrum by getting stars AND great wine lists! I still like those
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@skinnylatte this sounds a lot like the high-end chef in Portland who opened a lasagna shop out of his home kitchen
one lasagna once a week, take-out reservations only
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@skinnylatte I bet he would love that! Now if only there were a "high end Chinese restaurant" in Phoenix…
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@kf I would like that
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@gglockner London, Toronto, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, mostly maybe even San Gabriel Valley but with caveats. Gotta be a place with lots of Chinese business people who like great Chinese food and good wine
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@gglockner @skinnylatte Bistro Na's in SGV (SoCal) is pretty good! In case either of you find yourselves in that area.
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@skinnylatte happy birthday!
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@skinnylatte it's interesting because I agree that SF's high end dining has really kind of blanded out... it's generally uninteresting and not a great experience and expensive to boot. But New York hasn't had the same problem -- like I ate at bōm back in August (high end Korean with French techniques) and it was *excellent*. Interesting and delicious. Lots of unusual fermentation which I loved. And a killer non-alcoholic pairing.
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@skinnylatte I wish I'd succeeded at El Bulli. But now is now and that was then.
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@samantha @gglockner yay thank you!
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Paul Lalonde last edited by [email protected]
@Flux I got a table just in time for my college ‘grad trip’. It was fun. Not sure it would be for me now, but I also remember it being vastly cheaper than some of these mediocre restaurants here I’m talking about
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Adrianna Tanreplied to Samantha last edited by [email protected]
@samantha I think the only places in sf that sound close to that are Ssal and Benu, and I don’t know that I would do that.