Greetings,
Had a nice meal at Auriga. Interesting wines. 6 whites and
12 reds. This week, we've been invited to Warren and Ruth's for
Turkey. Vin du Jour is wines that will match up w/ Turkey.
Cheers,
Jim
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 11:07:16 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
> I-94 to Cretin-Vandalia. Go south to Randolph, East to 2139.
>
> Warren, Ruth Gregory 651-698-5337
> 2139 Randolph 55105
Yeses
Warren/Ruth Turkey and Taters (?)
Jim/Louise Breads and ??
Gueses
Bill GPS, Compass, topological maps, flare gun, etc.
Lori
Karin
Nicoli
Dave T.
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
Greetings,
Nice meal at Erte. My entre was less than half of $40,
did include soup/salad although the side was extra.
Such a deal.
This week, Shiraz and Syrah wines at Auriga.
Sparkling/white/ringer/dessert wines always welcome.
Last trip was in June/July:
Auriga Rest.
1930 Hennepin Ave, Mpls, 55403
612-871 -0777
Who: (mostly guesses)
Wine Pro Part-timeous Bob
Betsy
Annette S.
Bill
Nicolai
Karin
Jim
Russ
Give Bob a call. 612-672-0607 Or reply to me/the list.
Cheers,
Jim
October 21, 2006
Entrees Reach $40, and, Sorry, the Sides Are Extra
By JODI KANTOR
A new dish is appearing on menus across the nation. Restaurateurs say they have little choice other than offer it, though it horrifies many customers.
That item is the $40 entree.
Until recently, such prices were the stuff of four-star, white-tablecloth meals, the kind that ended with a diamond ring on the petit four tray. But now entrees over $40 can be found in restaurants that are merely upscale, where diners wear jeans and tote children. In geographic terms, New York and Las Vegas have led the charge, and in culinary ones, luxury items like steak and lobster were first and are still most prevalent.
But the $40 entree is migrating: to restaurants in Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale and Denver, and to ingredients like fish and even pasta. Several national chains serve entrees priced above $40.
.Forty is the new 30,. said Richard Coraine, the chief operating officer of Union Square Hospitality Group, which recently began charging $42 for a 1�-ounce appetizer portion of lobster at lunchtime at the Modern in New York. Ten percent of its lunch patrons order the dish, it says.
Hovering just below the $40 mark is an even vaster group of $38 and $39 entrees, waiting to cross the line like thirtysomethings approaching a zero-ended birthday. The arctic char at the Indianapolis branch of the Oceanaire Seafood Room chain is $38.50. Metropolitan Grill in Seattle serves shrimp scampi for $39.95. At Mike.s, a new steakhouse in Brooklyn Heights, $9.95 chicken nuggets share the menu with $38.95 veal chops.
Like the $100 Broadway ticket, $200 jeans and the $20 museum admission, the $40 entree is provoking a righteous burst of populist outrage, especially among those who pay their own way. When Angela Dansby, a Chicago diner, sees a 4 in front of a price, she thinks: .Either this must be out of this world, or it.s totally overpriced and I.m not going to order it. It.s usually the latter.. When she does pay, she compensates by skimping on appetizers and wine.
Restaurateurs say rising rents, ever more elaborate interior-decoration schemes and the increasing cost of premium ingredients . especially beef and fish . leave them little choice. Chefs, so fond of listing purveyors on menus, do not want those names to be Tyson and Del Monte. They .take pride in getting carrots or beets that no one has,. Mr. Coraine said.
Bobby Flay acknowledges that .the needle has moved very fast.. Mr. Flay recently crossed the $40 mark in his Las Vegas and Atlantic City outposts, though he says he intentionally loses money on many other entrees in order to keep prices reasonable. His entrees at Mesa Grill in New York top out at $34. (When it opened in 1991, the steepest entree was $19, or $28.30 when adjusted for inflation.)
But what makes the rise of the $40 entree so significant is not just the price creep, it.s the sophisticated calculation behind it. A new breed of menu .engineers. have proved that highly priced entrees increase revenue even if no one orders them. A $43 entree makes a $36 one look like a deal.
.Just putting one high price on the menu will take your average check up,. said Gregg Rapp, one such consultant. .My mom taught me to never order the most expensive thing on the menu, but you.ll order the second..
With just a few keystrokes, restaurateurs can now digitally view the entire history of a dish: how the lamb sold around this time last year, whether it did better when paired with squash or risotto, and how orders rose or fell when the price went from $39 to $41.
With a few more clicks and a new stack of paper in the office printer, the menu can be revised to test new prices.
.In the old days, restaurateurs printed up menus and they were stuck with them for six months or a year; now they can do it daily, experimenting with price or placement,. said Tim Ryan, president of the Culinary Institute of America, which teaches menu engineering to all its chefs in training.
The towering prices at wildly luxurious restaurants like Per Se and Masa in New York and Alinea in Chicago have set a new price in the collective dining consciousness for a truly top meal, nudging up what diners will pay for far more modest dinners. In Las Vegas, the current talk is about Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace, where desserts alone are $22 each and a meal for two can easily run $500.
.I love when I hear about that stuff, because then Craft becomes inexpensive,. said Tom Colicchio, chef of the quickly multiplying restaurants, including a steakhouse in Las Vegas.
Oddly, as entrees rise in price, they seem to be shedding their traditional accompaniments. Today a $40 main dish is often now just that. Order a side dish, and the entree price climbs dizzyingly close to the 50.s. At the highly influential Craft, Mr. Colicchio serves pricey, naked hunks of protein and charges extra for vegetables. (He says the portions are enough for two.) Porter House, a new steakhouse at the Time Warner Center in New York, even charges diners separately for sauce.
.I blame Tom Colicchio for this,. said Barry Okun, a New York lawyer who has established a personal price limit of .between $50 and $60. per entree. .It.s not that I.m happy about it,. he added.
Mr. Colicchio acknowledged the influence of his pricing, adding that restaurants like those of the Bistro Laurent Tourondel group in New York .completely ripped off the concept. of focusing on individual elements.
To which Mr. Tourondel replied, .He should look back at the old-time steakhouse menus that were around way before Craft ever existed..
Liz Johannesen, senior manager of restaurant marketing at OpenTable, which takes online reservations for 6,000 restaurants nationwide, said that in the last year diners had started occupying tables for longer periods, mimicking the leisurely pace at the very top establishments and forcing restaurants to raise entree prices because they were turning fewer tables.
.Just like in other cultural pursuits, trends filter downwards,. Ms. Johannesen said.
That applies to a taste for splurging as well. Kobe and Wagyu beef, from pampered Japanese cattle renowned for their tender meat, is cropping up at restaurants around the nation, according to Technomic, an industry research concern. Steakhouses and sushi restaurants, now so ubiquitous, have trained diners to pay large sums for specific ingredients, leading some to fall for the old .if it.s expensive it must be great. trick.
Indeed, no chef needs a menu engineer to explain a time-honored truth of the restaurant industry: many business diners look to spend money, not save it.
.If I.m entertaining clients, it.s all about making sure my clients are having the best time,. said Andrew Passeri, a private banker in New York who last week dined at davidburke & donatella, where he chose the $44 lobster over the $46 Dover sole and the $44 ostrich scramble.
At those prices, dinner is garnished with a large dusting of skepticism. Underattentive service or an overcooked piece of fish is not merely a minor annoyance but an unjustifiable offense.
.I.m happy to pay good money for something I can.t replicate at home,. said Ms. Dansby, of Chicago, .but when you get charged these prices for bad service, or quality, or visual presentation that isn.t so great, it.s really irritating..
Two years ago, when Gray Kunz opened Cafe Gray in the Time Warner Center, he said he hoped it would become a destination for secretaries who work in the surrounding office buildings. The priciest entree then was the short ribs at $34. Now they are $38, the chicken is $37, and Mr. Kunz just introduced a lobster ravioli at $41.
.The biggest gasp I ever had at menu prices was the first time I went to Cafe Gray,. Mr. Okun said. .It looks like it should be a casual .stop in here for a bite. place. For the amount of money you.re spending, you really want a special experience..
Mr. Kunz now calls his restaurant .right in between the high end and low end. and said he provided .good product for very good value..
According to Zagat, which measures what diners estimate paying, not actual prices, the average check at the most expensive 200 restaurants in San Francisco has risen 14 percent in the last two years, after remaining fairly stable earlier in the decade. At the 200 priciest restaurants in New York, Zagat users say, checks have followed the same pattern.
For his part, Tim Zagat, publisher of the guides that bear his name, said he was almost over the shock of entree prices. But now, he said, he finds himself startled by another development.
.Your $40 plate?. Mr. Zagat said. .It comes with a $20 first course..
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
Greetings,
We're going to Erte for Brdx Blends. Never underestimate the
power of a single vote.
It's a good night to join us. Group will be manageable and style
is certainly approachable.
Good seats available.
We're heading to Erte. Wine du jour is Bordeaux Blends from anywhere.
Whites, sparkling, stickies, ringers always welcome.
Erte Restaurant.
329 13 Ave NE, Mpls 55413
612-623-4211
6:30 on Thursday.
Few confirmed, 8 would be my guess.
Bob
Betsy
Annette
Ruth
Lori
Jim
Roger?
Janet?
Mark/Gloria?
your_name_here??
Regrets:
Bill's blasting bits.
Fred is traveling the world.
Cheers,
Jim
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
Greetings,
WE have two options on the table.
Brdx Blends at Erte.
Syrahs at Auriga.
We were last at E and A in June.
Erte's a bit more convenient for those working a
big sale in NE Mpls.
I'm all for both, just a matter of timing?
How about Erte this week and Auriga next week?
I'll call Bob later w/ any opninions you care to share.
While we're deciding, Champagne Brunch at Ursulas on 11/19.
Joyce,
Russ/Sue
Jim/Louise.
Price is $50 inclusive... (e.g. $37.50 plus tax/tip)
c
j
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
e Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
Greetings,
The group is going to Arezzo, 6:30 on Thursday (tomorrow).
have fun!
> on 6/12/06 5:46 PM, Jim L. Ellingson at jellings(a)me.umn.edu wrote:
>
> > Greetings,
> >
> > We're doing "Italian " at Arezzo.
Bob has made the reservation for 10.
> >
> > Bob has negotiated a $5 per person charge in
> > leu of corkage. Menu is on line. Wine list is not on line....
> >
> > Prices are reasonable, w/ $10-12 pizza and most entrees (Primi) under $20.
> >
> >> Who guesses
> >
Bob
Betsy
Warren and Ruth
Dave T
Russ
Annette S.
Bill
> >
> >
> > Arezzo Ristorante
> > 612 285-7444
> > 5057 France Ave S, Minneapolis, 55410
> > www.arezzo-ristorante.com
> >
> >
> Jim,
>
> Ruth and I will be there on Thursday... why was I not assigned to a
> team?
>
> Warren, a team of one.
>
FYI/FYE,
Interesting comments w/r/t/ restaurants charging 1/2 or even a third of
of the going retail bottle price for a glass of wine. Of course, w/
vintage champagne, that's still $40 a glass.
I don't know that we're doing anything this week.
We have an open invite to do a champagne brunch at Ursulas on
Sunday 19 November. $50 inclusive.
C,
J
WINE & SPIRITS
Sound of bubbly? Ka-ching!
By Corie Brown
Times Staff Writer
October 4, 2006
THE sommelier glides up to the table just as you sit down: a glass of Champagne to start?
If you find a Champagne aperitif irresistible . and who doesn't? . brace yourself. Champagne-by-the-glass prices are soaring, as restaurants pour an expanding array of luxury Champagnes. A $20 price tag for a glass of Champagne is standard these days; $40 and beyond is becoming common. At the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, a 6-ounce flute of 1999 Louis Roederer Brut Cristal will set you back $123.75. Yes, for one glass.
Yet even at these steep prices, Angelenos can't get enough Champagne by the glass. It's a hot seller at the Polo Lounge, says Micah Paloff, beverage manager for the restaurant; Champagne accounts for one-third of all wines sold by the glass there.
Nationally, Champagne sales are soaring. In 2004, the U.S. imported 2.2 million cases from France, up 10% from the record-breaking 2 million cases sold during the millennium year of 1999. According to Jeff Nelson, regional manager in Southern California for Laurent-Perrier, the pace hasn't let up.
Though it may seem outrageous to pay more than $100 for a glass of anything, these new higher prices are in line with wine-by-the-glass pricing that has long been at play in restaurants. With both sparkling and still wines, restaurateurs generally attempt to recoup the cost of each bottle with the first glass they pour. In other words, if they pay $20 for a bottle of Veuve Clicquot yellow label, they'll charge $20 for a glass. They expect to pour four 6-ounce servings or five 5-ounce servings per bottle.
At most of the 80 Los Angeles area restaurants surveyed for this article, these standard 5- or 6-ounce pours are offered for prices that work out to approximately half the retail price of the bottle. A handful of restaurants, including Spago, price their glasses of Champagne at roughly one-third the retail price of the bottle. Sommeliers are quick to point out that spoilage . leftover wine in a bottle that cannot be resold . is significant.
Wholesale prices for wine generally represent a discount of 25%, which means restaurants need deep discounts to get their prices in line with the "first glass" formula. And they usually get them. It's smart marketing for the winery or Champagne house. More people taste these wines, creating a greater opportunity for future sales.
Most of the pricier by-the-glass offerings around L.A. are well-known non-vintage Champagnes such as Krug, Perrier-Jouet, Mo�t & Chandon, Taittinger, Laurent-Perrier and Veuve Clicquot that retail for $30 to $50.
For the Cristal, a vintage t�te de cuv�e (a Champagne house's most prestigious bottling), the retail price is closer to $230. Paying $123 for a glass of that at the Polo Lounge may sound exorbitant, but it's actually a better deal than many inexpensive still wines by the glass.
For instance, at Morton's, a West Hollywood restaurant, as well as at the Lodge steakhouse in Beverly Hills, a glass of Poppy Pinot Noir is $10. Poppy is widely available for $10 a bottle.
Still, with expensive Champagnes, restaurants make a tidy profit if they sell more than two glasses per bottle. If the Polo Lounge sells four 6-ounce glasses of Cristal, it charges $495. That means even if it paid just 25% below retail (without the benefit of a deal with Roederer), the profit would be $322.50 . just for opening a bottle of Champagne and pouring four glasses. Any restaurant kitchen would have to do some pretty fancy, labor-intensive cooking to make that kind of profit.
Once upon a time, a glass of Champagne was a glass of Champagne. Now it can mean just about anything. At Sona in West Hollywood, sommelier Mark Mendoza pours 3-ounce tasting portions as well as 6-ounce glasses of Champagne. At ll Moro in West L.A., Valentino in Santa Monica and Ford's Filling Station in Culver City, a glass means 4 ounces.
Big is beautiful at the Lodge, Capo in Santa Monica and Mastro's, where 7 ounces is a glass. La Terza in West Hollywood, meanwhile, supersizes Champagne . there they pour an ultra-generous 8 ounces of non-vintage Billecart-Salmon brut reserve into a fatter-than-normal flute. The restaurant charges $14, while a bottle retails for about $41, making it among the best Champagne by-the-glass values we found in town.
The wide variation can create confusion. Recently at the Lodge, a bartender poured a 4.5-ounce serving of non-vintage Krug Grande Cuv�e, insisting it was the restaurant's largest by-the-glass pour available, listed on the wine list at $42. Sommelier Caitlin Stansbury later apologized, saying the bartender used the wrong glass. (For this article, we relied primarily on statements from sommeliers and wine directors regarding the volume, in ounces, of their Champagne servings.)
*
Priced to impress
THE shift to more expensive Champagnes started five years ago as part of the overall upgrading of wine-by-the-glass offerings in Los Angeles restaurants. In 2001, Spago was among the first to cross the $20 threshold for a glass of Champagne, according to Kevin O'Connor, Spago's wine director.
The larger Champagne houses seized the opportunity. "Champagne is a marketing driven product, a status symbol," O'Connor says. Having it featured by the glass at Spago was a marketing coup, so the Champagne houses started discounting their wines to get them on the by-the-glass list.
Today, "suppliers are making deals right and left," O'Connor says. Spago serves 6-ounce pours of 1999 Mo�t & Chandon ros� for $20. For a wine that retails for about $65 a bottle, it's a bargain. "All of the Champagne houses are doing a better job of hustling," says Kevin Travis, assistant manager at Boa in Santa Monica. When he found a great deal on 1997 Laurent-Perrier brut Tours-sur-Marne, a wine that is difficult to find in retail stores, he put it on the list at $20 for a 6-ounce pour. Boa also offers a non-vintage Taittinger Prestige ros� for $26 a flute. That wine retails for about $59 a bottle.
"Producers are realizing that we can go through cases of Champagne if they are willing to drop their prices a little," Travis says.
At the Polo Lounge, the glitterati who visit the hotel from around the world, as well as its super-rich regulars, think nothing of ordering Cristal by the glass, Paloff says. The surprise is that the other half of the hotel's clientele . "the people who merely act like they are rich and famous" . are spending just as freely on Champagne. It's part of the affectation, he says.
Veuve Clicquot is the most requested Champagne, sommeliers say, even if people can only remember the "yellow label."
"It offers brand confidence," says Peter Birmingham, wine director at Norman's on Sunset. "Everyone who orders it feels sophisticated."
It's everywhere, and so are the prices. Pastis offers a 4-ounce glass for $13, while Mastro's charges $25 for 7 ounces. Just looking at the standard 6-ounce serving, the range starts at $18 for a glass at Ma'kai in Santa Monica and stretches to $24 for a glass at Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian Hotel on the Sunset Strip. Its average retail price is about $37 per bottle.
Veuve Clicquot is not a Champagne that sommeliers love. "Sommeliers know that the best Champagnes are made by the guys who grow the grapes, the tiny producers who no one knows about," O'Connor says. "These Champagnes are cheaper than Veuve Clicquot's yellow label, but no one goes for them."
Krug, on the other hand, is a favorite. And the Lodge's Stansbury keeps it on her wines by-the-glass list at $42 for a 7-ounce pour. "Most people who drink Champagne drink it by the glass," she says. And she wants to offer them something memorable. At $120-per-bottle retail, it's not something most people keep around the house.
This month, Capo and Spago say they will join the Krug-by-the-glass party. Spago plans to offer a 6-ounce glass for $35; at Capo a 7-ounce pour will be $45. "Given the opportunity, people are drinking better wines," says Rod York Bonios, wine director for Capo and chef Bruce Marder's other restaurants. And they don't seem to mind paying for them.
For Champagne, $40 is the new $20, says Aaron Elliott, sommelier at Ortolan in West Hollywood. The restaurant is developing a cart to feature expensive bottles more prominently.
The more big-name Champagnes a restaurant can boast, the better, says wine consultant Bonnie Graves. The name-dropping game works well in a brand-conscious town like Los Angeles. "In L.A., what you pour for Champagne reflects the quality of your whole wine list," she says.
*
corie.brown(a)latimes.com
*
(INFOBOX BELOW)
Champagne by the glass vs. bottle
Restaurant: The Grill on the Alley
Price per glass: $18 Montaudon Brut N.V. (5 1/2 oz.)
Bottle (retail*): $20
--
Restaurant: Spago
Price per glass: $35 Krug Grande Cuv�e N.V. (6 oz.)
Bottle (retail*): $120
--
Restaurant: The Polo Lounge
Price per glass: $123.75 1999 Louis Roederer Brut Cristal (6 oz.)
Bottle (retail*): $23
* Approximate average
**
What's in a pour?
Not all glasses of Champagne are created equal.
8 ounces (La Terza)
7 ounces (Mastro's, the Lodge)
6 ounces (Spago, Polo Lounge, Providence,Sona, Norman's, Campanielle
5 ounces (Jer-ne, Nine Thirty, Belvedere, Hotel Bel-Air
4 ounces (Il Moro, Pastis, Bin 8945, Valentino
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
