Everyone is constantly talking about inflation. You cannot have a conversation or read a news article about the price of things without inflation coming up as a topic. But what if, just if, some businesses are actually increasing their prices beyond what “inflation” actually is increasing their operating costs by, and they’re just gouging you for the sake of it and wanting to use inflation as an excuse to get as much money out of you as they can?

I felt that way after I left Ando Patisserie today. It was my day off, so after getting a cut and color at a nearby salon, I went around the East Village with Chris for a mini food crawl and to pick up some desserts from places I’d been wanting to try. When I went inside, I already felt a little weird: they didn’t have any desserts other than a handful of “models” on display. Their best-selling items were not photographed or on display, but the person at the counter told me that the oolong basque cheesecake was their best seller and was available today. He didn’t really give me much of a description at all. I looked at the price tag of $15 (before tax!) and thought it was steep, but when he said I was buying a cheesecake, I just (naively) assumed it would be a mini cheesecake that we might get multiple servings out of. That was a bad and very wrong assumption, as after I paid and got the bag, I took a peek inside and realized it was just a small SLICE of a cake that would barely be enough for both of us to share later that evening!

Prices of ingredients are obviously going up whether it’s for individual consumers or for businesses making food and buying wholesale ingredients. But this was just insane. Many other cake and pie shops that have premium items are selling cake slices for half of what this place is charging, and I’ve been fully satisfied with those purchases. Even though this cake does taste good, I’d never go back to buy it knowing how expensive it was, and I’ll always remember feeing robbed as a result of making a purchase here.