$770 suckling pig? Wagyu for all? On menus in US restaurants, it’s a new Gilded Age

NEW YORK – When the term “conspicuous consumption” joined the language during the Gilded Age, it did not specifically apply to food. But it certainly does at many of the new restaurants opening in Manhattan’s current gold rush.

At Le Chene, a cosy new bistro in the West Village where you might expect to find boeuf bourguignon or French beef stew and bouillabaisse or French fish soup, those spots are occupied by a US$435 (S$560) tomahawk steak and a US$260 turbot fillet.