Gosh - I'm pretty sure the last time I walked out of Chez Panisse it wasn't for less than $250 each (with wine).. inflation surely doesn't count for this?`
Population growth is another. The Bay-area population went up by ~2 million people between 1990 and 2020. Even if the income distribution remains the same, the number of potential diners who can afford an expensive meal goes up.
Income distribution is another. If the percentage of the population who could afford an expensive meal and would buy one goes up, the number of potential diners goes up even faster.
Perceived social impact of an expensive meal is another factor. If more people believe there is social benefit in buying to an expensive meal, the number of potential diners goes up. This could be due to a larger pool of expensive meal buyers trying to impress each other, better awareness of expensive restaurants by the general population, etc.
Edit: changed "going to an expensive meal" to "buying [...]"
And with that, the housing situation in the Bay Area has seen rents skyrocket disproportionately high compared with the rest of the country. At least some of the cost of the meal goes to the restaurant baking in their increased overhead, which again, is higher than it would be in the rest of the country.
(and if Chez Panisse owns its space, you can exchange "rent" with "property tax")
I don't think that really has anything to do with it being labour intensive, nor suggests that it must be even more so in the post-lava-cake era though. It just 'went viral', was over done (no pun intended), and lost its mystique.
The same no doubt happened to all manner of exotic (or once exotic) dishes before it.
Also a soufflé has a high % of whipped egg whites versus a typical cake which has unwhipped eggs but a bit of baking powder.
Wage inflation for professionals living in San Francisco, however, does. A lot more people in SF are making ~$400,000/year, than were making ~$10,000/year, back then. Hence, the restaurant can charge ~4x, and still be fill its tables every night.
The price of Rolex watches has also massively increased, but that doesn’t go into inflation calculations either.
fine dining in a city needs a support base, and for a good deal of history there weren't enough people who could afford to eat out luxury food to support a fine dining scene.