$40 entrees popping up all over

A new dish is now appearing on menus across America. Restaurateurs say they have little choice other than to offer it, though it horrifies many customers.

That item is the $40 entree.

Until recently, such prices were the stuff of four-star, white-tablecloth meals, the kind that ended with a diamond ring on the petit four tray. But now entrees over $40 can be found in restaurants that are merely upscale, where diners wear jeans and tote children. In geographic terms, New York and Las Vegas have led the charge, and in culinary ones, luxury items like steak and lobster were first and are still most prevalent.

But the $40 entree is migrating: to restaurants in Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale and Denver, and to ingredients like fish and even pasta. Several national chains serve entrees priced above $40.

Hovering just below the $40 mark is an even vaster group of $38 and $39 entrees. The arctic char at the Indianapolis branch of the Oceanaire Seafood Room chain is $38.50. Metropolitan Grill in Seattle serves shrimp scampi for $39.95. At Mike's, a new steakhouse in Brooklyn Heights, $9.95 chicken nuggets share the menu with $38.95 veal chops.

Like the $100 Broadway ticket, $200 jeans and $20 museum admission, the $40 entree is provoking a righteous burst of populist outrage, especially among those who pay their own way. When Angela Dansby, a Chicago diner, sees a 4 in front of a price, she thinks: "Either this must be out of this world, or it's totally overpriced and I'm not going to order it. It's usually the latter." When she does pay, she compensates by skimping on appetizers and wine.

Restaurateurs say rising rents, ever more elaborate interior-decoration schemes and the increasing cost of premium ingredients— especially beef and fish— leave them little choice.

But what makes the rise of the $40 entree so significant is not just the inevitable price creep — it's the sophisticated calculation behind it. A new breed of menu "engineers" has proved that highly priced entrees increase revenue even if no one orders them. A $43 entree makes a $36 one look like a deal.

"Just putting one high price on the menu will take your average check up," said Gregg Rapp, one such consultant. "My mom taught me to never order the most expensive thing on the menu, but you'll order the second."