Even the rich are suffering :-)

[Retrograde]

Maybe not so much them, but the people catering to them sure are. This Upper East Side eatery is having to adapt to the times.

Choice quotes:

'“Since the economy started to tank and everybody’s husbands are so depressed, I started going there with my girlfriends for lunch so we could all have kind of a comfort zone,” said Alice Tisch, whose husband, Thomas J. Tisch, runs an investment fund and is Brown University’s chancellor. She estimated that she eats at Sette Mezzo five or six times a week. “I go there so much I get my mail there,” she said.'

<snip>

'Aside from the prominent people who go there, what makes Sette Mezzo unusual is the magnitude of its prices in proportion to the relative lack of ambition of its menu. Where else, patrons say, can you spend $42.50 for a spiedino of shrimp over greens, or a breaded veal paillard with olives, and not even have seen the chef on television?

<snip>

Sette Mezzo does not take credit cards. A meal for four can easily cost upward of $500 with a few glasses of house wine, but almost nobody brings wads of cash. “I would say 85 percent of our customers have house accounts,” Mr. Esposito said. “Most of the people who come are here a couple of times a week. We send a bill once a month.”

Mrs. Tisch said she wasn’t sure what her family’s typical monthly tab amounts to. “I don’t keep all that stuff in my head,” she said. “There’s a division of labor here.” Besides, she added, the way she and her friends eat at midday hardly makes for an expensive meal. “A girls’ lunch ends up around $30 to $40 each. We get salads.”

Yeah, let the little people sully their beautiful minds thinking about money. But $40 for a salad? I know that includes tax and tips, but that's still rather high, even for Manhattan.

I have to give the owners credit, though, for finding a way to overcharge for what seems like mediocre food for people with more money than sense.

[hatrack]

1. Weeping here. Just tragic for the poor little rich Mrs. Tisch. Tragic, I say!

:puke:

[marybourg]

2. What's a "spiedino"?

I thought it was one of those new swimsuits. :dunce:

[EmilyAnne]

6. I think its like half speedo, half Spider Man costume.

Doesn't sound too tasty, but then again my palate must be pretty unsophisticated.
Maybe I need to try a 30 dollar salad.

[Parker CA]

8. Spiedino = skewer

[Mike 03]

3. Jesus fucking christ. Those lunch tabs are unbelievable. I could eat for a month on what

they are spending on lunch and wines. No wonder the people here hate wealthy people so much.

It's not about wealth, it's about what you do with it. And having a conscience. These examples are examples of pathetic human beings who toss it our face how much they have and how much they consume.

[rvablue]

9. Exactly...someone could give me $20 million tomorrow and I simply

couldn't find it possible to spend that on lunch 5-6 a week. Or once a month for that matter.

It is not the money, per se. It's the attitude. Like when she said, "Oh I can't worry my pretty little head about the bill." Disgusting!

[davidwparker]

10. So, you've heard of this restaurant? Where is it located? I weep tears for

these poor little rich people, but I have no idea of this restaurant.

I hate it when the rich can't get their nightly caviar and champagne.

[monmouth]

4. As a retired senior(ish) person, that salad would fund most of my weekly food bill. LOL...n/t

[leftofthedial]

5. poor rich people.

It's time to end their misery, que no?

[Journeyman]

7. I saw a sign the other day, it said "Art in America is What You Can Get Away With". . .

Seems Sette Mezzo has applied the same scheme to pricey restaurants.

[mitchum]

11. There's a place that needs a good outbreak of salmonella

[wroberts189]

12. Does not accept credit cards?

That is awfully strange.. I wonder why that could be? Tax records perhaps?

[Retrograde]

13. the restaurant runs a tab for them

and sends a monthly bill. Smart move on their part - they don't have the hassle or expense of dealing with the credit card companies, they keep more of the take, and can make sure they add generous tips and fees. I somehow don't think the people getting the bills look too closely.

[wroberts189]

14. Yep that must be it ..I missed that part ..thx nt

[Kansas Wyatt]

15. The rich are nothing, but Glorified Scum

If the lower and middle class squandered what the rich squander, gleefully, they would be persecuted for their failures and obscene actions, then thrown to the gutter to rot.

But no, the rich have squandered and ruined everything, yet they shove the lower and middle class in front of the on-coming train instead. And fucking politicians keep protecting these gluttonous bastards!