Most expensive restaurant meal you've had

[Simfan34]

Most I ever paid? $82 not too long ago at P.J. Clarke's. Raw oysters and clams, a lobster roll, cheesecake, and an Irish coffee. Well worth the cost, although it usually comes out to less there- like $60. I blame the fact I'd finally made it to the opera that night and the waitress was also very attractive.

Most expensive? Probably at the Capital Grille in Boston on the occasion of my cousin's graduation from MIT, last year, the steak I had was $40 or so on top of appetizers and dessert, with some 12-15 of us, and their wine considered, I'd expect it to be upwards of $2500. I might have spent more at Delmonico's on my birthday a few weeks back- I had an entree of $45 Lobster Newburg (and a rather tough one at that!) plus some oysters, bread pudding, and Madeira. Probably like $90, but I was forcibly prevented from seeing the check, much less paying.

Bedstuy, Eleven Madison Park or Per Se? (There's also a place with such prices in Brooklyn which I am neglecting and whose name I am forgetting, but who cares, it's in Brooklyn). Perhaps Daniel and Jean-Georges are contenders here.

Ultimately I am the sort of person who loves good food but would hate to pay for it- you eat and then- it is gone, just like that. And you are out $50. Which is the entry price for a great meal in this city sadly- maybe $40 but keep in mind a meal at McDonald's here is $10- and adjust your scales accordingly.

[Simfan34]

Did you go to EMP in its present four-hour-long-festival-of-food incarnation? I'm told it's overdone, but it sounds interesting.

There was a point last summer, however, where I got into a group of people who were quite the gourmets. All very tasty, but eating a $50 dollar meal every other day can be quite disasterous for your budget. I had a nice $250 in my account, all of it hard earned, and $1000 from the month prior shunted into my savings account. Next thing I knew I was in shambles and so destitute I couldn't even afford a ride on the subway, much less a ticket to New Jersey. I actually had to call to be saved from my penury and picked up. Nice gang while it lasted though, but then when one guy caught feelings for a girl and it all went tits up...

[Simfan34]

Yeah, I did the tasting menu at EMP.  In my experience, the tasting menu at any Michelin star restaurant is going to make you drunk and sick.  But, it's a cool experience to try good caviar, wagyu beef, 1968 madeira. and such.   

But, only a chump or a super rich person pays for these fancy NYC restaurants.  It's all about getting making super rich friends and mooching off of them.

I once ate at... Aureole? I think that's starred, it was a la carte however. Not terrible, not the best I've ever had, however. As for mooching off of friends, I tell my friend (who's an analyst at Merrill Lynch this summer) that we'll all go out to EMP once I get out of grad school and he's a MD at Goldman. Or something of that sort.

I remember gossiping at some Republican event, apparently the chairman of the NYU Republicans once declared his favourite restaurant to be Per Se, as per a girl at Fordham. Now this chairman is the son of a fairly well-known billionaire... but I mean, Per Se? Surely your "favourite" is something more... conventional. I mean, sure, my favourite restaurant might not be the one I go to most often (otherwise it'd be Tom's Restaurant, of Seinfeld fame, which happens to be at the end of my block), but it's not going to be the super fancy one I go to every now and then. Which would be P.J. Clarke's. But to each his own I suppose.

[Simfan34]

No, you're quite right. Although I do always enjoy P.J. Clarke's; I'm sure there's better steak to be had but I always enjoy going there after the Philharmonic or the Opera with my friends. As for dates, I did go through my bank activity to check if I had forgotten anything, and I did see a credit for an Ethiopian place in midtown in October. It wasn't much ($25), but I winced at the memories. Alas, mine aren't so fond. That and my ability to make large sums of money vanish with ease, I suppose.

That aside (provided you ignore the "balance" column to the right) these statements provide a rather nostalgic chronology of restaurants (which, with little else, are my main expense). An embarrassing profusion of McDonalds', then a sudden shift to Somerville, Massachusetts- a trip I took to see a friend at Tufts- $21.30 for lunch at a cafe with a friend in Cambridge, $17.50 for a Nepali dinner, $10.65 for crepes before I left to take the bus back. $24.00 at a vegan restaurant- dinner with a vegan friend (we invariably eat at this one restaurant). $60.00 at P.J. Clarke's, immediately preceded by $36.00 at the Philharmonic... I think I'd bought two tickets to cover for a friend (who I had owed money for a prior ticket before, so we were even). $22.00 at a frequent Thai haunt with an acquaintance who I haven't seen for a better part of a year yet who I have been trying to meet since the autumn.. and it goes on. A fascinating look at my eating my way through life.

[Simfan34]

Simfan, I feel like New York should have a better selection of very good cheap food than anywhere else in the country.

You must realise all the decent carts were replaced by "food trucks" run by white people years ago. I recall the carts from my youth with a myriad of food, today we have the halal carts still but that's drunk or tired food, certainly not "very good". They're now all selling $20 lobster rolls or $7 Belgian Waffles. No, no, it's all atrociously expensive.

[Simfan34]

Chinatown exists, yes, but it's very far away.

[Simfan34]

Last year the food highlight of my trip to Paris was a meal for two at Le Beurre Noisette in the 15th for 111 Euros.

Nice.  Vive la France!

Meanwhile, in Sudan...




To be honest, I've eaten a few 100-dollar meals as well.  Absolutely hideous.  HP.

I think that's my people actually...

[Simfan34]

Most I ever paid? $82 not too long ago at P.J. Clarke's. Raw oysters and clams, a lobster roll, cheesecake, and an Irish coffee. Well worth the cost, although it usually comes out to less there- like $60. I blame the fact I'd finally made it to the opera that night and the waitress was also very attractive.

Most expensive? Probably at the Capital Grille in Boston on the occasion of my cousin's graduation from MIT, last year, the steak I had was $40 or so on top of appetizers and dessert, with some 12-15 of us, and their wine considered, I'd expect it to be upwards of $2500. I might have spent more at Delmonico's on my birthday a few weeks back- I had an entree of $45 Lobster Newburg (and a rather tough one at that!) plus some oysters, bread pudding, and Madeira. Probably like $90, but I was forcibly prevented from seeing the check, much less paying.

Bedstuy, Eleven Madison Park or Per Se? (There's also a place with such prices in Brooklyn which I am neglecting and whose name I am forgetting, but who cares, it's in Brooklyn). Perhaps Daniel and Jean-Georges are contenders here.

Ultimately I am the sort of person who loves good food but would hate to pay for it- you eat and then- it is gone, just like that. And you are out $50. Which is the entry price for a great meal in this city sadly- maybe $40 but keep in mind a meal at McDonald's here is $10- and adjust your scales accordingly.

This is why the world hates America.

They hate our pretty waitresses and chewy lobster!