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NewsBunny
12/11/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
Vanity Fair has an article this month about how investment bankers are being forced to cut back.

I mean, selling a vacation home. Just of them. And cutting the maid back from five days to four.

Seriously, can you IMAGINE?
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coconanas
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
He states in the article: "It was an experiment for lean times, but not an exercise in cheap eats."

Read the article before you get uptight, he's delivering information suitable to his target market!
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scullymurphy
12/11/08

@coconanas: Why am I not his target market? Actually, I am - I'm interested in fine food and seek out new cuisines and chefs - and I still find this article ill-timed and insensitive.
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ritualtheory
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
The Times lost my respect years ago with its daily 'What can you buy for...$1 million?' home feature, available daily on the electronic front page, like a hate-horoscope. Fine, Bruni knows his target audience, but the NYT appears to have an allergy to acknowledging that money is a consideration for *any* of their readers. Which is why the Village Voice is the sane New York resource for restaurant reviews geared to people who don't live on Mars.
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LaComtesse
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
Do we wonder why "Real America" and "Fake America" resonated with so many voters? Let me tell you something, oh people of "Real America," Frank Bruni may be living in Fake America, but the rest of New York isn't...

Jesus fucking Christ! I live in Manhattan, I am a New Yorker and eating for under $100 is EASY AS FUCK. I don't even mean Chinese take-out or something, I mean real, excellent dinners.
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water baby
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
I have a soft spot for Frank Bruni & quite frankly, I can't be mad at him. He SAID at the beginning of the article that it wasn't a cheap eats article & that it's for people who have enough money to still occasionally go out. Is that fair to those of us who who eat, say, soft cheese & Meijer-brand "Triscuits" for dinner (hai!)? No. But he's trying to find fine dining for a good value, and that's what he did, so I don't see what the big deal is.
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LaComtesse
12/10/08

@water baby: I see where you're coming from, but when you're complaining about a paper-cut to an amputee, all the "I mean, it's not as bad as your injury!" caveats won't help the fact that you're complaining.
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sportz.star
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
Allow me to be the dissenter to the "this crazy man knows nothing" - while I certainly don't eat out like this all the time (not the least because I moved away from NYC, sob) - he's essentially saying $75 for 6 courses of food then tax and tip = $100. That's not cheap, by any means, but to eat a great three course meal in NYC, it's a damned bargain, IMHO.

And, yes, the noodle place down the street IS amazing, has happy hour, cheap cocktails, and you can drink and eat for maybe a $20 meal, but that's not the restaurant experience Frank Bruni reviews, sells, or tht his target audience wants. So he's looking for the right expreience at a cheaper price. Found.
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GoldenRatioφ (aka -girl11)
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
"After all, even many of the most keenly cost-conscious diners can still afford - and still want to enjoy - food of some distinction in full-service restaurants with some coddling."

Um, by "most cost-conscious diner" does he mean "single mother of two on welfare"? Or is this NYC code for some other group of poors?

Look, I get the utility of this article. When I go to fancy shmancy dinner with the bf, we try to keep it to $60-$80, though with booze. This is in LA, totally possible. But the entire tone of this article...is so freaking irritating! It's not that he just goes on to review five restaurants with excellent food in a certain price range, it's the way he goes on about not being able to make reservations, not feeling "coddled" enough. And also, where I'm from, you can make reservations anywhere except Olive Garden. Though I'm sure this guy has never ever set foot in an Olive Garden. Ack.
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lisarae
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
Hey, I can't afford meals like this on a regular basis, but I see nothing wrong with going out for a nice meal once and a while. It's a tasty experience. There's no way in hell I'd be able to produce food of that caliber for myself.
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GoldenRatioφ (aka -girl11)
12/10/08

@lisarae: did you read the article tho? I don't think it's the premise, I think it's the tone that is especially appalling.
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beastybeatsy
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
Dude, £15/head, plus wine is the rule (i'd work that out in American but I'm lazy) and that's for a good, three course meal. Personally I aim for about £7 for dinner out. £45 is my (slightly decadent) bi-weekly shopping budjet.
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Mav
12/10/08

@beastybeatsy: $30/head + wine... with about a $15 dinner out and a $90 ish bi-weekly shopping budget.

We're just about 2 dollars to 1 pound.
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scullymurphy
12/11/08

@Mav: Oh no. It's now $1.50 to the £1. I'm watching my savings shrink before my very eyes!
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quatrevingtquatre
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
This guy that keeps taking me to dinner goes to places that are horrifically expensive and he sent me this article today!

I suggest cheap places, he declines and I feel compelled to split the check but he won't let me, and then I feel guilty.
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Crabby Cakes
12/10/08

@thatonegirlsays: I'm not sure how I'd feel if someone I was dating sent me this article...
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labeled
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
This is why I don't miss living in New York. (Or CT, or Boca Raton, FL...)
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alouette
12/10/08

@labeled: Yeesh, I live in CT and I have not dropped that much on anything. I can get falafel for $2.50 though!
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Norton
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
To be fair, it's not "eating for two for cheap," it's "eating WELL for two for cheap." Exceptionally well.

Which, for me, is about $40 in my crazy expensive college town.

Bruni: go for cheap ethnic places! There are some total gems out there. And by some, I mean a gazillion.
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NewsBunny
12/11/08

@Norton Hears a Who: Amen, Norton.

Come to my hood -- Jackson Heights in Queens. We have the city's best restaurants -- for a third of a price of Manhattan. Google it, and you'll see its true.

And if you like Indian, 74th Street in Jackson Heights is 'LIttle India'. Every treat from that part of the world you could desire -- complete with a subtitled Bollywood Theater to make your day complete.

We even have a piano bar.
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PinkSoxHat
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
Is this guy serious? I think I've had one meal in my whole life that cost more than $100 for two people not including booze, and that was for our five year anniversary at the Palm. When we go to our nice favorite restaurants, we spend about $80 including excellent beer. In Boston! How about you take that $100 and donate it to a soup kitchen instead of playing poor for the day?
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Haystacks
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
How about, let's get healthy groceries for a family of 4 for under 99$ Slightly more helpful.
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BluebellaElliot
12/10/08

@Haystacks: Now that is something I'd honestly like to read.
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Shallots
12/10/08

@BluebellaElliot: Try the Money Saving Mom website. She feeds a family of four on $40 a week, and it's gobsmacking how much she comes home with.
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BluebellaElliot
12/10/08

@Shallots: I just checked it out and it sure does look helpful, unfortunately a lot of it is relevant to a US audience only but thanks for the tip anywho!
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Dita Dimoné
12/11/08

@Shallots: I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'm going to assume her kids are little porkers. I can eat on $20 weekly, but it's gonna be Mac and Cheese, Ramen and water. Mmmm, calories and carbs.
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tomatoheart
12/11/08

@Crunchy Stars: exactly -- I eat lots of veggies and stuff like sundried tomatoes and fresh fish -- but my bill is a lot closer to $50/wk when i'm doing that (not including my coffee habit and soup from the deli at lunch)
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Gumbina80
12/10/08

In reply to Let Them Eat Cheap!
Um, I have a broccoli-cheese-noodle crockpot dish cooking right now, which cost me about $7 bucks. I'm hoping to live off of it for at least two days.
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DangerMouse
12/10/08

@Gumbina80: Tell us more.
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Gumbina80
12/10/08

@ejc.wants.pie.now: Chopped head o' broccoli, 2 cups of whole wheat pasta, two cans of cream of mushroom, a cup of shredded cheddar, and two soup cans of milk. It's all stewing together right now.

Up until a couple weeks ago, I would have turned my nose up at the "processed" cream of mushroom soup, Michael Pollan-style. Now I'm all about Recession-Fusion Cuisine.
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DangerMouse
12/10/08

@Gumbina80: I am impressed. Thank you for this valuable information.
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siandt
12/11/08

@Gumbina80: I made a chicken pot pie for the week (M-F) for $9. Cheapery abounds.
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