Most expensive dinner?

$60,000 for dinner for two?

 

Dinner at The Inn at Little Washington for two - - with a drink before dinner and a bottle of wine with dinner and a cognac after dinner - - came to $1120 including tax but before the tip.

It was a spectacular meal - - the best I have had in the US. Nevertheless, I have to conclude that it was most extravagent.

 

When I was writing for a tech mag in the Internet boom years (I knew fuck-all about technology but they were so awash in ads that they desperately needed to fill pages and you could pretty much write about whatever the hell you wanted as long as you could stick in some sort of techie angle), as a token of appreciation for our good work, they let the whole staff expense meals at the restaurant of our choice up to $300 apiece. My friend and I decided to double date with his wife and my now-wife and pool the expenses. We went to Rialto in Cambridge, had apps, expensive entrees, desserts and lots and lots of liquor. Ended up having to pay about $50 bucks on top of the $600. A year later, after the dot-com bust and 9/11, we each got a coupon for Domino's and a Blockbuster rental. A few months after that, we were collecting unemployment.

I guess #2 would be my dad's 60th birthday party at the Lark in the Detroit suburbs. Best meal I've ever had. But he picked up the tab so I can't vouch for the cost.

 

Last weekend, my wife and I went to Morimoto's in Philly. We both ordered the Omakase and a couple drinks. With tip the bill was approximately $250.00. Damn good meal.

Last fall, the family went to a steakhouse in San Antonio. I forget the name and don't feel like looking it up. My uncle picked up the bill, so I don't know the true damage, but I ordered a $100 wagyu beef steak. Another damn good meal.

 

I paid $600 for primo steak dinner.

Then they came and told me the steak came from Wal-Mart.

I spent another $600 to post bail.

 

I've spent $200 at bars, but that's buying top-shelf liquor for myself and others.

 

They got off cheap, you ask me. Flying Tyrann Mathieu up from LSU for the meal costs a lot more than $69.00.

 

Back in college I received a journalism scholarship, and rather than spend it on school like I probably should have, I took a few close buddies on staff at the paper out to dinner. We spent nearly all $500 on apps, steaks and beer/wine. Great fun at the time, but when it came around to paying for school the next semester, I had to bust my ass waiting tables and working doubles to make it all up.

As far as at the bar, not the most I've ever spent, but a friend and I were on 6th Street in Austin and stopped in Coyote Ugly on $2 Long Island Iced Tea night. We ended up dropping $75 between the two of us just on those and neither remember how we got back to the hotel. Last he said he remembers was the bouncer coming up to us saying, "You and your friend need to get the fuck out." His thought, which luckily he didn't act on, "I can take this guy." I've spent the past however many years trying to figure out what exactly we did to get kicked out of the rowdiest bars in the state.

 

We had a drinks a few years back when I worked at a law firm to celebrate winning a motion. Probably about 12 people there including some summer interns. I normally would charge and expense the drinks, but I had to leave early and had someone else put their card down. Turns out the summer associates were drinking Johnny Blue all night and the bill turned out to be something like $1,500. That was an ugly next day to explain to accounting.

 

Inflation alert. In 1984, dinner for two at Troisgros was roughly $400. In 2012, the many course tasting menu dinner for four at Troisgros with wines to match was 1800 -- euros, or roughly $2350 at the time (April). Worth every penny. The wine from the Jura with the cheese (one of six wines), best lamb I ever tasted, well, you get the idea.

 

For those of you that have dropped hundreds of dollars on a meal and said it was the best X you've ever tasted, does that actually make it worth the hundreds of dollars?

What I mean is, I can't imagine being so blown away by a great steak that I would feel like it was worth $200 when I could have gotten a perfectly enjoyable steak at Outback for $20.

 

Having dropped a few buks on expensive dinners, yes. I like a $20 steak at Outback but to get a truly fantastic meal of something that I could not even thinking of attempting to cook myself is worth it.

I find myself willing to pay more for experiences rather than goods as I get older.