Inside it's all old-world charm, with antiques scattered around, log fires, dark panelling, a billiards room, two pianos, a bar with 40 single malts and gourmet dinners by candlelight.
When a customer spends $500 on a single order of gourmet popcorn (or $100 per order each day for five days straight), they'll get sick of it pretty quickly and may never want popcorn ever again.
On the other end of the spectrum, there's Marco Canora's lasagna verde, which he serves at his theatre-district restaurant Insieme, and which Ruth Reichl, the editor of Gourmet, singled out as "the best lasagne in New York".
"I feel like I single-handedly brought down Gourmet with my expense account," she quips.
The result is not fussy and not overly "gourmet," and no single flavor overpowers the thing.
They are beloved by gourmets for their single layer of large, easy-to-peel cloves.
That is, except in the little bin marked "Bargains," where little orphan chunks that are the gourmet equivalent of Kraft Singles get wrapped up and sold for cheap.
"A trend for chocolate aficionados is single-origin and organic chocolates, from gourmet shops, and unusual, exotic new flavors," Mr. Pacyniak said.
"The limits have been pushed by the Googles and the Facebooks of the world that have these huge cafeterias serving gourmet breakfast, lunch and dinner to every single employee, every single work day, tax free," Polsky said.
