Most expensive dinner?

Most of this is way out of my league.
Most expensive meal I've ever had was at the Nordic Lodge, in the sticks of RI (believe it was $59 all you can eat back in '02, when Mrs. T. took me for my birthday). Excellent meat rampage (even though getting food was a bit of a challenge, one-crutching it after tearing my ACL the month before), and the closest I've ever come to going Creosote in the parking lot.
Last time I looked, it's in the $80 range...valuewise, worth it only if you're big into lobster (which I'm not). A big meal out for me is the casino buffets, about an hour away from me and still under $20 (not counting liquor). Two Brazilian steakhouses (my brother and I's birthday meal of choice) in R.I. have folded in the last year - my fix now requires a trip to Worcester.
Mrs. T. is still raving about Minado in Natick, Mass., where she went with her co-workers Monday night. She's become a sashimi addict, and this is a $30 all-you-can-eat sushi/sashimi place - I don't do Asian raw fish, but there's enough seafood, teriyaki beef and chicken, and other stuff I do eat to make it worthwhile.

 

Hell, I've spent more than $200 eating appetizers in the bar of a swanky steakhouse.

 

I don't think I've spent more than about $80 per person. It's just not possible where I live. You'd have to be Roger Sterling to even drink enough to get to $100 in rural Ohio. And when I find myself in Chicago, I'm not confident enough to even dine in a restaurant that charges that much. I'd feel like I was totally out of place. I'd have to be with someone who knew what they were doing.

 

Biggest dinner tab I've ever paid out of my own pocket was $1200 in Vegas for some buddies who are Navy Seals.

I think there were 6 of us at dinner.

Per person, it wasn't all that much.

In total, it was.

But it was worth it, given the crowd.

One of the guys won six grand at the blackjack tables that night, so he left happy.

 

Took my folks to Ruth's Chris a few years ago when they came down for a visit. Think it set me back a benjamin. (EDIT: Probably $130 altogether after the tip.)

 

Michael Mina at the Bellagio about three years ago. It was outrageous, and there wasn't even much drinking at that table. That came later.

 

The most I ever put down for a slab of cow was Craftsteak in the MGM Grand, '07. Our anniversary dinner. I had been downing screwdrivers all day and was damn near TKO'd by the time we sat down to eat. Still ordered a big bottle of wine and another glass just because. Remember very little other than that the steak was great but not transcendent, the wine was transcendent, the butter came out almost frozen (WTF?), and I had dropped about $250.

Best steak I've ever eaten was broiled by my father. I brought the booze, so that meal put me back about $12.

 

I think I've spent $300 on a restaurant dinner for two, including drinks and wine. Might have been La Vieille Maison in Boca Raton in an old Mizner mansion, French, obviously. The demise of that one was sad.

I absolutely know my biggest personal bar tab: $968. Post-softball league in Fort Lauderdale, early 1980s. Round after round of melon balls for 15 people. I got about $400 of it back from others.

 

Bundle's 25 Most Expensive Restaurants in America, by Average Check

1) The French Laundry, Yountville, California. $957
2) Per Se, New York. $883
3) Michael Mina, San Francisco. $844
4) Alinea, Chicago. $736
5) Charlie Trotter's, Chicago. $666
6) Melisse, Los Angeles. $576
7) Tru, Chicago. $558
8) Les Nomades, Chicago. $558
9) Daniel, New York. $547
10) Everest, Chicago. $546
11) The Inn at Little Washington, Washington, Virgina. $537
12) Robert's Steakhouse, New York. $516
13) Manresa, Los Gatos, California. $515
14) Le Bernardin, New York. $506
15) Moto, Chicago. $494
16) Addison Restaurant, San Diego. $487
17) The Kitchen, Sacramento. $454
18) Corton, New York. $449
19) Coi, San Francisco. $449
20) La Grenouille, New York. $442
21) Baume Restaurant, Palo Alto, Californida. $442
22) Del Posto, New York. $441
23) Komi, Washington, DC. $439
24) Cyrus, Healdsburg, California. $422
25) Eleven Madison Park, New York. $409

http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/10/here-are-the-25-most-expensive-restaurants-in-the-us.php

 

How many people have been to any of the restaurants on that list?

I've been to one, The Kitchen, and I don't remember it being nearly that expensive.

 

I've been to Daniel & Le Bernardin, but it's been a while for both.

This list was "average check" not "party of two", so that will bring the total up.

I imagine some very expensive bottles of wine also brought up the number.

 

Is Robert's Steakhouse the one at the Penthouse Strip Club? If so, we used to call it Bob's Big Boob. The guy who runs it has a great BBQ place down the street -- Daisy Mae's.