The haute cuisine restaurant that allows its customers to choose the price of their menu: $15, $45, or $125, for what is considered “a universal right.”
The news
Community Kitchen, on the Lower East Side, is revolutionizing fine dining with a sliding scale of prices to make good food truly accessible to everyone. For older people, the term “sliding scale” will probably evoke the economic mechanism adopted in Italy in the 1980s to automatically adjust wages to inflation. But in the heart of Manhattan, the “sliding scale” has nothing to do with economics in the strict sense—or perhaps it does, but in a completely new way. It is, in fact, the principle behind the philosophy of Community Kitchen, a restaurant on the Lower East Side, which, as reported by InfoBae, has decided to rewrite the rules of New York dining with a model that is as simple as it is revolutionary: everyone pays according to their means.
The restaurant's website states: “Good food is not as widely available as it could be if resources were distributed fairly. Our sliding scale is a payment method that seeks to achieve this goal...Ideally, everyone should be able to pay the same percentage of their income for a good meal. We believe that one day public policy will reflect this principle. In the meantime, our sliding scale puts it into practice.” A clear manifesto of intent, just like the name of the restaurant: Community Kitchen.
The idea, which is temporary for now—active until December, but with the goal of becoming permanent—comes from Mark Bittman, former food columnist for The New York Times and food justice activist. “Access to good food is a universal right,” explains Bittman, now the restaurant's director.
At Community Kitchen, all diners enjoy the same fine dining-inspired menu curated by Chef Sanders, but the price varies depending on the customer. There are three price tiers: $15 (the equivalent of €13) for those on lower incomes; $45 — roughly the actual cost of the dishes — for those who can afford it; and $125 (€107) — the equivalent of a 7-9 course tasting menu in New York — for those who want to support the project. “I often joke that, unlike most restaurants, we will lose money intentionally, while others do so unintentionally. This is an experiment, a research project, and also a social project. At first glance, it looks like a restaurant, but it's not a normal restaurant,” Bittman tells the EFE news agency. The philosophy of Community Kitchen is clear: a high-level gastronomic experience, accessible to all. “For me, good food means food grown by farmers who love their work, transported by workers treated with dignity and respect, well paid, cooked beautifully, and served in a way that anyone can afford.”
Last week, for example, guests at the restaurant were able to enjoy a menu that included: baked wild apple with salt; tomato tea; salad with shishitos and Spanish anchovies; bread with butter; marinated egg yolk with pea shoots and radishes; cabbage with hazelnuts and shallots; carrots with yogurt and mustard; lamb cassoulet; and plum cake. A sophisticated menu, but designed to be welcoming even to those new to the world of fine dining. “Many of our customers had never tasted dishes like these before. We try to use familiar ingredients, but in a different way. Once people try a couple of really good and unexpected bites, they trust you for the rest of the journey,” explains the chef.
The project is also supported by private donations, which allow it to maintain high food standards without resorting to the prohibitive prices typical of fine dining. “It is these contributions that allow us to offer dishes of this quality without charging the same prices as other restaurants. People come, are surprised, and often return with friends and family,” says Maya Vilaplana, communications director at Community Kitchen. Reservations are possible but not necessary: anyone who arrives can sit down and eat. It's a direct, open concept of hospitality, designed to bring everyone together at the same table.
