Can Masa Really Be Worth THAT Much $?

[Sneakeater]

I can get an average dumpy apartment in my town for about 350 a month, at around 900 sq. feet, I assume that same apartment in Brooklyn goes for 2000 a month.  I go out for a surf and turf at the most expensive restaurant in my town, it costs me 70 dollars.  You go out to Masa, the most expensive known restaurant(is that a proper description) in your city, you sit and are pampered for hours by a master serving only you and seven others, it costs you 400, and you complain?

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The problem is, as everyone knows, that people who live in Brooklyn aren't serious about eating out.

[Nathan]

I can get an average dumpy apartment in my town for about 350 a month, at around 900 sq. feet, I assume that same apartment in Brooklyn goes for 2000 a month. 

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900 sq. feet? In a decent Brooklyn neighborhood? lol.

try anywhere between 3 and 5K a month. (which may not leave much left over...)

in Manhattan start at 4K.

[rich]

[The problem is, as everyone knows, that people who live in Brooklyn aren't serious about eating out.

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Imagine if you lived on Staten Island - or worse LA.

Edited February 23, 2007 by rich (log)

[Sneakeater]

Yeah. I mean, you sometimes come into Brooklyn, right?

I have no idea where people who live in LA go.

[Nathan]

hmm...it's not like there aren't several restaurants with seasonal white truffle tasting menus at exactly the same price point as Masa.

in addition, once you throw in alcohol (and I'm not talking about ordering an $800 bottle) it is very easy to spend just as much at Per Se or L'Atelier.

as well, the Mansion and Guy Savoy in Vegas also charge about the same as Masa for their tasting menus.

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I believe Masa's prix fixe is now up to $450. If there are several restaurants in NYC offering truffle menus at that price, can you name them?

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didn't realize it was up to $450.

Sea Grill charged $1,000 a head for theirs.

Ducasse was a relative bargain at $320.

Cru charged $399.

the standard going rate seemed to be about $385 this year....which was darn close to Masa at the time.

[rich]

Yeah.  I mean, you sometimes come into Brooklyn, right?

I have no idea where people who live in LA go.

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I know I've traveled into Brooklyn to eat a few times. And I've even been known to travel as far as the UWS for meal - strange as that sounds. Once I went to Tarrytown - after I renewed my passport of course.

If you live in LA, I think your only recourse would be to fly to SF or take the red eye to NY.

[Gastro888]

hmm...it's not like there aren't several restaurants with seasonal white truffle tasting menus at exactly the same price point as Masa.

in addition, once you throw in alcohol (and I'm not talking about ordering an $800 bottle) it is very easy to spend just as much at Per Se or L'Atelier.

as well, the Mansion and Guy Savoy in Vegas also charge about the same as Masa for their tasting menus.

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I believe Masa's prix fixe is now up to $450. If there are several restaurants in NYC offering truffle menus at that price, can you name them?

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didn't realize it was up to $450.

Sea Grill charged $1,000 a head for theirs.

Ducasse was a relative bargain at $320.

Cru charged $399.

the standard going rate seemed to be about $385 this year....which was darn close to Masa at the time.

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Sea Grill's truffles were crap. Ducasse, Cru and Masa had better truffles.

[Bueno]

Masa is still a pretty good deal compared to courtside seats for a Knicks game, and I think chef Masa's performance is a lot more consistent than the Knicks.

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I dunno... the Knicks are pretty consistent. Consistently horrid.

[leviathan]

Sure we would, because no French restaurant in town charges that kind of money. If one did, it would be unprecedented, and would be just as newsworthy (if not more so) than Masa's prices.

Sure, if there was a French restaurant, we would be talking about the high price. But, there wouldn't be this same reaction here where people are implying that its a ripoff and how it couldn't possibly justify that price given its ingredients. Let's face it. There's a certain hierarchy with regards to price points for different styles of food, where people are willing to pay more for french food. A chinese place could use the same vendors as the french place, but it would be exceedingly rare if it could get away with charging the same prices.

And, there's no similar restaurant where you have a master chef basically preparing all the dishes for you in a similar manner as Masa's. If Kellar or Ducasse was doing something similar to this, how much do you think they'd be charging for that?

If you live in LA, I think your only recourse would be to fly to SF or take the red eye to NY

Hey! As somebody from Orange County, next to LA, I must defend the honor of LA.

I think somebody is just jealous that they can't live in a McMansion, where we have more closet space than clothes, more bathrooms than necessary, and gourmet kitchens that we don't even use.

[coquus]

Another thing, I was just reading an old issue of Gourmet, it mentioned that the Maitre d'Hotel at Ducasse circa '04, Marcus something or other. He said the regulars then were spending a minimum of a grand a person. He was from Graz, Osterreich, I think or somewhere thereabouts, his family had a Gasthaus or something maybe a touch more fancy and he was expected to take over, but he defected to NYC.

[oakapple]

Another thing, I was just reading an old issue of Gourmet, it mentioned that the Maitre d'Hotel at Ducasse circa '04, Marcus something or other.  He said the regulars then were spending a minimum of a grand a person.  He was from Graz, Osterreich, I think or somewhere thereabouts, his family had a Gasthaus or something maybe a touch more fancy and he was expected to take over, but he defected to NYC.

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What makes Masa newsworthy is the high minimum price. Even if you drink tap water, you can't get out of there for under $450 a head. There is no other restaurant in New York with a minimum even remotely close to that. And if another one opened, whether the cuisine was Japanese, French, or Transylvanian, it would be big news. (I'm not sure if there's any cuisine other than Japanese for which the market would bear that price.)

People who spend over a grand at Ducasse are doing it mainly with wine. And once you start ordering wine, the sky's the limit. At Veritas, the minimum food price is just $76, but the online wine list shows several bottles over $10,000, and scores of them over $1,000. The same would be true at any of the city's major wine-centric restaurants. Even at Otto, which has no main course over $15, you can order a $375 Barolo.

I think Frank Bruni noted once, that although Masa's stratospheric minimum food price stands alone, there are no wines on its list that compare to the top-priced wines at places like Ducasse, Cru, Veritas, Per Se, etc. When you talk about "most expensive" restaurants, you really need to confine it to the food. Once wine enters the picture, you can spend a ton even at many modestly-priced restaurants. The ratio between the least and most-expensive wine on most restaurants' lists is usually at least 10:1, and it can be 100:1 or 1000:1.

[ned]

I've only been to Masa once. I'd love to go there once a week and a couple of days a week for lunch but alas, who has the time.

I walked out wondering how he makes any money.

[coquus]

I walked out wondering how he makes any money.

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You just gave my definition of an optimal dining experience.