#qualityrye

STK is a restaurant whose website features a woman stepping on a steak with her stilettos. The West Hollywood location is offering a deal through Gilt City, presumably because rational people avoid joints where steaks are portrayed as being placed on the floor and stepped on. The deal is two cocktails, a chopped salad, "lil burgers," a porterhouse for two and a platter of desserts. When we added up the a la carte prices, it worked out to around $179. Why is this a BAD DEAL? Let's look at this from a perspective of TRADEOFF and RISK versus REWARD.

RISK: $150

TRADEOFFS: Non-refundable, have to pay in advance, can't use deal on Fridays or Saturdays, you give up any ability to choose what you want for dinner, you might be full after entrees in which case you've squandered the value of your deal, oh and you have to use the deal by August 31st or you could be SOL. 

REWARD: 1.8 cocktails (drinks are $16; you're saving about $29).   

Want to check out Sole East's Saturday-night concert series in Montauk? Gilt City is charging $250 for reserved seating, a rather steep markup given that the concerts are free. That's right. The concerts are gratis. You only pay if you want to sit down when Dirty Vegas rocks it this Saturday. I'll stand up and dance, thank you very much. And I'll call this one a BAD DEAL. 

Details: The price tag includes seating on an outdoor bed for six people and one cocktail per person. A rep for Sole East tells me 18% ($45) is added onto the bill, bringing the REAL COST to $295.  

Related: $45 bucks is a helluva service charge for six drinks.

Gilt values this deal at $600, which is amusing on many levels.  

My advice: go for free, order a $12 cocktail, & enjoy the two-hour show standing up. Sole East assures me no one is turned away at the door. 

Gilt City also has a VIP option. For $1,500 ($2,360 value) you get the outdoor bed, a magnum of champagne during the concert (instead of cocktails), and a set dinner for six afterwards at Sole's restaurant. Again, the restaurant tells me they add an 18% service charge ($270), bringing the cost to about $1,770. Is this one BAD DEAL too? It sure is. Here's why:

Alcohol is not included with dinner. So let's tack on an extra $200 for six people, bringing your REAL COST to around $2,000. 

Gilt doesn't state what type of food you'll be eating or what type of champagne you'll be drinking. That's a pretty big unknown when you're spending over two grand, don't ya think? 

A few of the bands are not yet confirmed, so you might not know who'll you'll be listening to either. 

The deal is non-refundable. Your five friends better show up. 

The concerts are rain or shine. Wouldn't it kinda suck if you dropped $1,500 in advance for a rainy concert that's free for everyone else? 

Most dishes at the restaurant cost $30 or under. So if we assume that dinner for six would cost $420 (before alcohol, at $70 per person), and if we assume the magnum of champagne costs, say, $300, then you're still paying over $1,000 just for the privilege of sitting down at a free concert.  

When you call up Sole East, they tell you the only way to buy seats is through Gilt City, so I'd be suspicious of how real those markdowns are. Are you really saving money if $250 and $1500 are the only prices at which they're selling seats? 

Del Posto has raised the price of its tasting menu's wine pairing by $10 to $135 per person -- a stealth hike I discovered in early June while researching my Real Cost dining column for Bloomberg. I call it a stealth hike because The Michelin-starred restaurant has still not yet updated its website, so for the past couple of weeks, potential diners have incorrectly been seeing the $125 price point, which matches with the $145 tasting menu. Hey, it's just another $20 bucks per couple. No big deal, right? Well. . .

Let's look at it another way. Pretend a much cheaper restaurant, say, The Dutch, increased the price of its steak from $45 to $55, but didn't change their website for a month. People would be pretty angry when they showed up and the New York strip was $10 more expensive than expected. Thing is, with Del Posto, it's easier to forget the extra $10 because you're spending a lot more money. But in my book, $10 is still $10. 

In fact, the $10 hike pushes the REAL COST of dinner for two with pairings just over the $700 mark after tax and 18% tip. Updating a website isn't optional anymore. And let's recall that the $145 tasting menu is up $20 from the $125 price point during my critique last fall. So BUY, HOLD OR SELL? I'll issue a HOLD based on mymixed review, but a lot of smart people dig this place, and New York Times Critic Sam Sifton penned a lovely four-star write up, so many will justifiably consider it a BUY. 

Paul Liebrandt, chef-owner at Corton in Manhattan's Tribeca District, raised the price of his entry-level menu tonight by $10 to $99, according to fellow owner Drew Nieporent, who was kind enough to notify The Price Hike via phone call (thank you). The price will then rise again to $115 after July 6th, giving Corton the same starting price point as Le Bernardin & Del Posto. This is not a "same food for more money" hike as the new menu, at just under $100, will increase the course count to six; the previous $89 menu was a three course prix-fixe. The wine pairing will go up to $20 to $85, a 31% hike, as there will be more vino poured throughout the meal. The $155 chef's tasting menu will remain as is. I'll still rate Corton as a STRONG BUY based on the almost impeccable experience I had at the two-Michelin starred spot during my review for Bloomberg. More details after the jump: 

Recall: Corton opened with a $76 three-course menu and a $110 eight-course tasting. The $115/$155 menus are 53% and 41% higher. 

"A Matter of Taste," the documentary about the British-born Liebrandt, will premier this Monday on HBO. Good move getting (part of) the hike in before the (presumable) bump in business.

PROPS to Nieporent for announcing a month in advance that his menu will rise to $115, giving consumers a chance to eat at Corton before the hike.

The Modern, Danny Meyer's Michelin-starred museum restaurant, has raised the price of its only tasting menu by $15 to $155 per person, an 11% hike. The change was made yesterday, per a receptionist, who initially quoted the old $140 price (gotta read those price hike memos). The wine pairing has risen $20 to $135, a 17% increase. The four-course menu remains at $98. This is NOT a case of "the same food for more money" as the new menu has an extra savory course and "a trio of desserts", compared with the older $140 menu still on MenuPages. The change in wine prices: "reflects more glasses of wine as well as a change in the wines being served," per a Danny Meyer spokeswoman. A few notes on historical pricing: 

Tasting menus were $105 and $125 back in 2005 when New York Times Critic Frank Bruni reviewed the museum restaurant.   

The non-tasting menu was 3-courses and $75 when Bruni awarded two stars; he later awarded three-stars to the more casual bar room. 

The new menu is more representative of Chef Kreuther's classics -- such as the famous chorizo-crusted cod, which the $140 menu omitted.