On Monday 22 Jun 2009 5:57:35 am Charles Haynes wrote: > http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/kevinhorrigan/story/F3 >C3F4A834039140862575DB000032A8?OpenDocument
> > > > We recently read in The Times about a restaurant in New York called Per > > Se, where the prix-fixe dinner costs $275 a head. That is the sort of > > clientele we are shooting for, people who can spend more on a single meal > > than many families spend on food in a week. Well there may be a deeper philosophical point on the lines of "The meek shall inherit the earth" I suspect this talk of people who are "removed" are brave words (or worse, famous last wrords), because if you were a businesman running a business would you prefer to have a clientele that includes "the removed" and the "not removed" both swelling your bank balance, or would you stick your nose up in the air and snootily declare that your business is only for those who shall stay removed in case of bad days? After all - whether your clientele are removed or not - you are still selling things and the more things you sell the more likely you are to be personally "removed". That is how the removed got there in the first place. Robert Hughes the Clive Christian guy sounds like a wannabe talking brave words. On the other hand, the owner of Per Se comes across as a good businessman who is more likely to remain personally "removed" at the end of the recession. > Back in March, the chef and owner at Per Se, the famous Thomas Keller, > created a "salon menu" for customers seated on bar stools at the front of > the restaurant. There one can choose from a menu of small appetizer-like > dishes that cost anywhere from $24 to $46. > > Chef Keller explained that he was doing people a favor by letting them > spend $46 for what amounts to a fancy snack. "It's our responsibility to > try to keep the opportunity open to a lot of guests who unfortunately can't > come to Per Se because of the situation." > > Mr. Keller is catering to what Brandweek magazine calls the "mass > affluent," or the "working rich." These are people who, during the 1990s > and early 2000s, could eat the $275 dinner. Now they eat off the salon > menu. shiv
