By Chris Cosci

This week, some of New York City's finest (read: most expensive) restaurants are offering a special deal - prix fixe lunches, consisting of an appetizer, entrée, and dessert, all for just $20.02. Get it? $20.02 in 2002? Pretty clever, huh? While $20.02 may seem a little pricey for lunch, you have to realize that these restaurants will usually set you back anywhere from $40 to $100 for a similar meal. So, the $20.02 deal is a good opportunity to sample this fine cuisine at a lower price.

A few friends and I dined at one of these restaurants this week, and it was incredible. By incredible, I mean it was impossible to believe that I spent over twenty dollars for that meal.

The restaurant could be described in one word: pretentious. The menu they prepared for their prix fixe special was very limited. They offered only two choices for each course. Except for the salmon, there was nothing instantly recognizable on the menu, and each item was described in such obscure terms that only the world's most prominent experts in haute cuisine could understand them.

The appetizer I selected was a tomato terrine. For my main course, I chose grilled daurade, and for dessert, I opted for the chocolate sabayon. I ordered three courses without any clue as to what I was going to be eating.

My best guess is that terrine is French for "really small triangle" because that's what I received. The waiter brought out a large platter, upon which were a few sprigs of seaweed-like lettuce and a triangular wedge of tomato that was no larger than a slice on a fast-food hamburger. Needless to say, I didn't spoil my appetite with the appetizer.

The main course was a thin slice of fish that came on a plate large enough to hold a meal for twenty people. The fish was in the center, atop a piece of onion, next to a laughably small pile of some spinach-like vegetable. That was it.

Amazingly, after that truckload of food, I had room for dessert. Despite my better judgment, I held high hopes that my meal would be redeemed by my dessert. The sabayon was a mousse-like dessert, molded into a bite-sized dome and located in the center of a plate that was at least 100 times larger. Next to the dome was a scoop of passion fruit sorbet that was roughly the size of a ping pong ball.

Was the food good? Some of my colleagues were less than thrilled, finding the food to be mediocre at best. One colleague even requested that her undercooked salmon be more well-done, only to have it come back virtually unchanged. I will honestly say that I found my meal to be delicious. Was it worth it? No. If I spend over twenty dollars for a meal, I expect to walk away satisfied and not feeling hungry.

I would not consider myself an unrefined individual. I appreciate quality food and I respect the amount of work that good chefs put into creating a flavorful meal. However, as a consumer, I am insulted when I am expected to pay a lot of money for an insignificant amount of food, regardless of how good it may taste.

The chef tried to make up for the high price by presenting the food as if it were a work of art, not a meal. I don't mind when restaurants put a little extra effort into presentation, but I don't think turning food into fine art should be used to cover the fact that they're really not giving you a lot to eat.

I am perfectly willing to pay a little extra for a good meal. In return, I expect to be given an appropriate amount of food. Maybe I'm asking for too much. Then again, maybe that's their job.