It's obscenely overpriced publicity gimmick time again! Today the object of derision is the $1,000 paella now on the menu at Sofrito. Chef Ricardo Cardona says the dish—made with rice, truffles and truffle oil, baby eel, octopus, Maine lobster and Alaskan prawns—was inspired by other outrageously expensive meals, which include such greatest hits as the $1,000 bagel and $25,000 dessert. And like Karl Rove before him, Cardona seems to have divorced himself from such vulgarities......

Here we go again with another Restaurant Week, which actually occurs over two weeks (minus weekends): July 21st through the 25th and July 28th through August 1st. Over 200 restaurants around Manhattan – many of them fancy places like Bar Boulud and Anthos – will be offering prix-fixe lunch specials for $24.07 and prix-fixe dinners for $35.00. Food snobs will tell you you’re a chump for signing up for this because chefs just dump their......

Think paying $8 for a beer is outrageous? Then steer clear of ordering the Baladine Xyauyù at Park Slope's Beer Table, the 17-oz. bottle will set you back 95 bucks (but to be fair, would be the perfect accompaniment to the $175 hamburger). The new bar calls the Slope's 7th Avenue home, and the Daily News, unsurprisingly, describes the digs as "swank." As for the beer, it cannot be found anywhere else in New York,......

If you thought dropping $81 on a hamburger at The Old Homestead was enough to prove you’ve arrived, think again, hayseed – New York’s newest culinary status symbol, the “Richard Nouveau” burger at Wall Street Burger Shoppe, is going to cost you over twice that. They’re charging $175 for the experience, but money’s no object when it comes to showing the other hedge-funders you’ve completely lost touch with reality, right? Momentarily the city’s most......

The New York Times has an interesting piece of service journalism for upcoming college graduates around the country planning on moving to New York. As a recent college grad, you are likely to be poor; and getting an apartment will likely be far more expensive and disappointing than you could ever dream. Fueled by expectations of a New York portrayed in the media, people imagine themselves living in neighborhoods like the West Village in a......

We've seen expensive pancakes, hams and who can forget the $25,000 frozen haute chocolate? But now overpriced sodas are hitting the scene, and there aren't even gold flakes floating in them. Or refills! The Brooklyn Paper reports on Myrtle Avenue restaurant Five Spot, an establishment that is now charging $5 per pop (a huge change from their old price of $1)! To put it in perspective, meals there cost about 8 bucks (as do their......

If you're really, really rich, why not offer $150 million for a triplex penthouse at The Mark Hotel on East 77th Street? The Post reports that Russian-born American billionaire Leonard Blavatnik (#102 on the last Forbes list has "signed a letter of intent" for a number of units that would total almost 30,000 square feet. That's about $5,000/square foot! The Mark is being renovated to offer residences in addition to its hotel rooms. We guess......