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With the holiday season heating up and people on the lookout for that special something, I thought you all might enjoy the following short list of way pricey food and drink orders. If you’ve got money to burn (not simply through your pocket, but down to the core of the earth), one of these ostentatious extravaganzas might be just the ticket to impress someone special.
Nino’s Bellissima in NYC offers a caviar/lobster tail pie that’ll only drain $1K from your bank account. It’s thin-crust (you think they could at least splurge on deep-dish) and supposedly very very tasty. Of course, at that price, who would argue?
The $1,000 PizzaExecutive Chef Frank Tujague at the Westin Hotel in Times Square, NYC, is serving up a $1,000 bagel. What’s in it? Alba white truffle cream cheese and goji berry infused Riesling jelly with golden leaves. From the article: “The white truffle, which is known for its one-of-a-kind aroma, is the second most expensive food in the world, next to caviar, and is very hard to come by. So hard, in fact, that it’s grown from late autumn to winter beneath certain oak trees in the Alba region of Italy, where trained pigs and dogs are called upon to find the delicacies.” Trained pigs????? Say whaaa?
The $1,000 BagelThe Algonquin Hotel in NYC is offering the world’s most expensive martini. What’s so expensive about a little gin and vermouth, you might ask? Simple, it’s served on the rock. And no, that’s not a typo. I meant the rock, as in a real diamond!
The $10,000 MartiniNamed the The Frrrozen Haute Chocolate, Serendipity-3 restaurant, also in NYC, has concocted a mix of cocoa, milk, edible gold and truffle shavings served with a real gold spoon in a golden goblet decorated with 1 carat of diamonds. If you’re wondering if the good folks over at the Guinness Book have been notified, they have, and, yes, the dessert has earned its place as the dessert with the most rrrs in its name. Joking, it can actually brag that it’s now the World’s Most Expensive Dessert.
How about you all? What’s the most expensive, outlandish thing you’ve ever ordered while dining out?
I could be wrong but the sundae with the gold in it is not available as the restaurant was shut down by the board of health… LIke I said, I could be wrong but I think I read something about that.
posted by Darren on 11-29-2007 at 7:21 am
Darren’s right, Serendipity was closed due to the presence of “hundreds” of live roaches. I’ve been there enough times to know that their frozen hot chocolate isn’t really that great, especially after waiting in line for 2 hours (place is a mad tourist trap). I don’t think the world will suffer for this loss.
posted by Jill on 11-29-2007 at 7:28 am
I forgot to answer the question…
I’ve always had a hard time as an oenophile dining in popular restaurants. How they can get away with the markups on those bottles of wine is beyond me, but we did pay $100 for a bottle of Frog’s Leap Cab… I’m pretty sure it retails for about $40. Our most expensive dinner was actually outside of NYC in Charlotte, NC. We chose the Chef’s Tasting Menu, and with the optional wine selection, averaged close to $400 for two people. That was my personal splurge but I don’t doubt others have far surpassed me… but dang, that was some tasty dinner.
posted by Jill on 11-29-2007 at 7:33 am
I saw a show on Food Network and they visited a restraunt that makes a $100 Philly Cheesteak. It’s made with Kobe beef, lobster tails, truffles, and some imported French cheese.
posted by Codius on 11-29-2007 at 7:49 am
Yes, trained pigs can sniff out truffles…the problem is - they are so strong that its difficult to pull them off the truffle before they eat it…so dogs are used more often because they won’t eat the $100 truffle under the tree…
posted by donner on 11-29-2007 at 10:16 am
The most expensive thing that I, personally, have paid for at a restaurant was a bottle of wine that was about $100.
I have a hard time shelling out for food, but alcohol?? Sign me up! Actually, that bottle of wine was bought at an awesome Italian restaurant in Napa, so the cost was legit.
I’m sure my company has paid for more expensive items than that, though. But I could never guess how much some of our meals would cost.
posted by Erin on 11-29-2007 at 11:37 am
It shouldn’t count as the most expensive if you have to put gold leaf or diamonds on it to make that expensive.
For example, the most expensive hot fudge sundae should NOT be because it has gold leaf on it, it should be because it uses the finest ingredients and TASTES THE BEST!!
And, unless it greatly adds to the taste, no adding truffles or other exotic ingredients just to get the price up!
posted by Moon on 11-29-2007 at 11:38 am
Once, waaaaaay back in high school, I took my girlfriend out to eat at a seafood restaurant. She ordered lobster bisque, but they brought her a whole Maine lobster by mistake. When the waiter brought it to our table, he set up one of those little stands nearby and proceeded to crack that sucker open to extract the meat, so I didn’t realize it was for my date until he plunked it down on the table. Being a stupid kid, I didn’t complain and she ate it. However, I did have to ask her for a little cash to help me cover the bill.
And the waiter got no tip.
posted by Anthony on 11-29-2007 at 11:44 am
while trying to impress my ex-girlfriend on our first official date, i asked the waiter what the specials of the day were. after he recited them i replied with i’ll take them all. we ended up with lobster, beef and pork medalions, great soups and some really amazing desserts. needless to say we had alot of delcious leftovers. totally worth it. i’m going to visit her for christmas break.
posted by Mescan on 11-29-2007 at 1:17 pm
This year my husband and I went to Vegas for a week. While en route, we struck up a conversation to the man sitting next to us on the plane. He was discussing very calmly how he always goes to either Vegas or the Bahamas to gamble, and will normally spend around half a million or so per gambling adventure. He said as to how the casino’s basically “pay” him to come by giving him extra perks like expensive dinners or shopping trips for his wife. He then proceeded to ask us out to dinner the next nite so we can experience what he says is “the best steak in town” at the Mandalay Bay.
My husband and I thought he was “full of it”, but we did say we’d come find him the next day and we could meet up. Long story short, we did find him playing blackjack in one of the exclusive gambling halls playing with 10K chips. Of course then we knew he wasn’t exaggerating!
He later took us out to the expensive place in the Mandalay that served Kobe steaks. As he didn’t want to eat, stating he was feeling ill, he told the Maitre’d that we could order anything we wanted and to bill it to his room! He also gave my husband a $100 for tip.
In the next two hours, my husband and I proceeded to dine and had a bill of almost $900. The kobe steak was excellent, of course that alone was $200 for 6 ounces, amazing! Can’t believe people actually spend that much on a piece of meat. But with the whole experience, we didn’t have to spend a dime. It was a memorable nite for sure!
posted by Amy on 12-3-2007 at 11:35 pm
The $5 milkshake, unfortunately, not from jack rabbit slims.
posted by donnie on 12-6-2007 at 3:18 pm