One for the price of two

Williams-Sonoma just emailed to say I could save 70 percent on a panini press, and I don’t think they’re talking $3 down from $10. Actually, I could save 100 percent just by cobbling together one with two skillets. But even that narrowly avoided hustle is not as annoying as NYC’s own Trader Gourmet’s new “New Deal” promos, complete with FDR caricatures, as if a store could be offering Depression salvation when it sells Illy espresso for $4 more than Zabar’s (which is actually not as infuriating as realizing too late that the Carr’s crackers I paid $2.79 for at Fairway are $4.29 at the Food Shitty, which used to be the cheapest place for miles). And I kinda doubt “half-portion entrees” for $20 at the poor man’s Jean Georges are going to save anyone’s bacon anytime soon. Maybe that chalkboard sign I saw outside a takeout shop on Broadway was not kidding about its “beggie” sandwich.