Sexist Menu Leads to Expensive Dinner Choice

I was handed a menu that had no prices. I did not comment upon the lack of prices to Mark because I was so overwhelmed by the environment — so aware I didn’t belong — that I didn’t have the wherewithal to do so. The waiter arrived and took our order. I chose some crab thing-y to start, and some steak-y thing as my main course. Mark ordered whatever he ordered. We enjoyed the food, which was delicious, and ogled the various older gentlemen and their seemingly younger ladies of the night.

Having finished the meal, I got up to go to the bathroom. This involved traipsing through the lobby and past a display case displaying the menu. This menu had prices. The cut of beef I’d ordered had cost no less than one-hundred and seventy-five dollars.

“OH MY GOD!” I screamed.

“Oui, Madam?” asked the maitre’d.

— Sara Barron wrote a delightful essay about that one time that she went on a date and accidentally ordered a $175 steak. It is cringey! But also pretty great. Also: I don’t go to fancy restaurants, so I had no idea about the-woman’s-menu-having-no-prices thing! What a terrible thing! “Is this feminist?” Um, you’re assuming the female half of a couple has no money, so: No. PROBLEMATIC.

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