Thursday, March 12, 2009
Events / Restaurants Loews Vanderbilt Invites Diners to Name Their Price
Posted by Carrington Fox on Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 6:50 AM
Just how much would you pay for Yazoo-braised Gourmet Pastures beef ribs, Kenny's Farm House bleu gouda grits and wilted local greens? Or for Tennessee prawn-and-Bonnie-Blue-chèvre ravioli and roasted sweet peppers with asparagus-lemon beurre blanc? Chef Elaine Taubin will pose that type of value question tonight at Loews Vanderbilt, when the hotel's "eat" restaurant launches a bold experiment in food pricing.
As part of Loews' company-wide Adopt-A-Farmer program, Taubin will create a weekly special featuring local products and ask guests to pay only as much as the meal was worth to them.
Seriously.
What if you think it's worth five bucks? "That's fine," says director of food and beverage Johannes Diele, who hopes to raise "eat" to top of mind among local diners who may not think to visit the hotel for a meal. The Fair Price for Local Fare promotion starts Thursday, March 12, and will continue every Thursday. "I want to put the customers in the driver's seat," Diele says. "This meal is worth what they say it is worth." Now that's certainly worth a try.
For reservations at "eat," located inside the Loews Vanderbilt, call 321-1990.
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I know, you wouldn't want to underbid and have people whispering, "I bought she's never bought chèvre before."
I've seen this in a couple of other places - I think both times it was sort of hipster vegetarian joints in San Francisco or maybe Berkeley. A story I read about it said that people actually tend to slightly overpay. So maybe it's a smart move.
