Jean-Georges Lunch Is No Longer Crazy-Ass Cheap, Fool!

Sorry folks. Jean-Georges, the most affordable three Michelin star restaurant in New York and possibly America, is now less affordable. The Central Park West venue, famous for its tuna ribbons with soy-ginger sauce and foie gras brulee, has HIKED the price of its lunch offerings across the board.

Let's start with the shorter menu, previously $38 for two courses and $19 for each additional course. You more or less build your own tasting menu — not too shabby, right? Well, now that offering is $10 spendier at $48. And extra dishes are $24; dessert remains at $12. That means a three-course lunch plus dessert for two will now cost $217, up from $178. So your meal is nearly $40 more expensive than it used to be — which is about the price of two glasses of wine at Jean-Georges, or four half-glasses. And if you're feeling a bit more peckish, the six-course lunch tasting menu is also ten bucks pricier at $158.

Now here's the thing. At $48 for two courses, Jean-Georges still offers a lower entry-level price for lunch than any of NYC's other three-Michelin-starred spots; Masa is $450, Eleven Madison Park is $225, Per Se starts at $205 (service-included) while Le Bernardin is $76. But since most diners don't choose a restaurant based on Michelin stars (let's be real), it's worth noting that Jean-Georges's new mid-day price makes it more expensive than lunch at Del Posto ($39), Marea ($47), Ai Fiori ($37) or Betony ($38).

What's even more interesting is how this all might affect your decision of when to dine at Jean-Georges. Before the HIKE, parties of two who ordered four courses (three savory, one sweet) at lunch would pay $126 less than for a meal of the same length at dinner. Now, the savings are down to $88. The dinner menu, of course, is $118 for the prix fixe, $198 for the tasting, or $298 for a longer tasting.

So what say you, world? Is Jean-Georges still a BUY during lunch, when the stunning foliage of Central Park is visible from the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows? Or is dinner the smarter move, with more choices on the prix-fixe menu and more pricey supplements to choose from? Leave your thoughts in the comments and check out our interactive charts below! (Mobile users: click here).