Restaurant prices are based on the cost of real estate. Cheaper places assume more tables per square foot and more turns per table. Prices are based on average spend per cover.

$12 glasses of wine seems more than reasonable for NYC, especially since natural wine often comes in at a higher cost than mass produced wine.

> it’s not working class food

Seems exactly like simple working-class food to me - preserved fish and vegetables, pickled eggs, pies, breads.

If a pickled egg if your idea of fancy then I'm perplexed.

Homemade pickles and preserves are undoubtedly fancy these days. They were only working-class foods when the working-class had to make them to have food throughout the year. Which was admittedly most of history, but the present is not the past.

Expensive and fancy are two different things. You're right, though, those prices look steep to me.