Walk into almost any restaurant in this city in 2026 and the math hits you before the food does. Bread is a line item now. Tap water comes with a pause. The free pour, the extra sauce, the thing the kitchen used to just hand you, all of it got costed out, priced up, or quietly removed. Scarcity is the business model. Charge for what used to be given, and charge again for the privilege of asking.
Then there's the jar of schmaltz on every table at Sammy's.
