I was wondering if the SDopers might share what expensive entrees they’ve enjoyed. And, which ones would make your top-three list of most expensive dinners, even if you have yet to try it? Just curious about what premium, mouth-watering dishes people have tried! - Jinx
The best entree I’ve ever had was a Hudson’s on the Bend, a smallish exotic meat restaurant near Austin.
A venison filet, stuffed with lobster, covered with a cherry sauce. Oh man.
I suppose it depends on one’s definition of expensive, but I had an entree once(paid for by someone else, as a gift), that I think was between $25 and$30. I don’t remember the name of the dish, but there was pasta, a cream sauce to die for, and lots of tender shrimp and scallops. Creme brulee for dessert.
I once tasted caviar from a tin that cost $300 a pound(that would be about $661 per kilogram) Tasty stuff. My boss had purchased it for a wedding reception he was catering, for folks who had told him to spare no expense, they wanted the good stuff.
Steak and Lobster, a side of asparagus with hollandaise, some nice rolls, and Creme Brulee for dessert.
Probably the filet mignon and shrimp entree served at last year’s National Sheriff’s Convention. It was an excellent meal, but it was also obscenely expensive, as things tend to be at conventions.
I’m amazed at how much ‘surf ‘n’ turf’ is getting mentioned (steak and lobster/prawn) I always found the combination unsatisfactory.
A good Duck a l’orange is hard to beat, as is a nice piece of Venison in rich red wine and berry sauce. Remarkably inexpensive in Rome I had spaggetti with Lobster and sliced truffles that was extremely fine.
For my top three yet to try dinners
Chateau Briande (sp?) at a good french restaurant.
Kobe Beef at a good Japanese restaurant.
A full Peking Duck meal at a good Chinese restaurant.
I had a veal chop at an Italian restaurant for my anniversary last year that was $35 just for the chop. It was sublime, completely melted in your mouth and rivaled the best filet mignons.
I had steak and lobster at a really fancy steakhouse for about $60, too.
The one time I ate at Le Français I had sweetbreads, from which I will. Never. Recover.
I once had a combination seared rare tuna/foie gras entree at Aqua in San Francisco. Man oh man, was that delectable - the combination of the beefy sweet tuna and the buttery rich gamy foie gras was not to be believed.
It wasn’t an entree, but I ate Abalone Piccata a couple of weeks ago. Only about a two inch medallion (menu says three), but it was sooooo good! I had never had abalone before and had been meaning to try it at this place for a couple of years now. I could easily eat $100+ worth of that stuff.
A few years ago when my grandmother died, we had a memorial dinner gathering at Tuscany in Salt Lake City. I had the double-cut pork chop with mashed potatoes. It’s still on their dinner menu.
Simply divine, and the service was orders of magnitude better than at any restaurant I’ve ever experienced.
The two most expensive dinners I have ever had rival each other, and I can’t choose, and I am going to just list everything I ate at those meals:
#1 - At the Cascade Lodge, Kintnersville, PA - Caesar salad, steak Diane, strawberries Romanoff - all cooked tableside and all completely wonderful (about $50 for everything)
#2 - At Alex restaurant at Argosy’s Empress Casino, Joliet, IL - Some kind of salad with dressing made from Malibu rum, some kind of chicken stuffed with lobster and crabmeat and some kind of ethereally fabulous sauce, crème brulée, and about 5 French martinis (made with champage and Chambord) - oh dear God, what a night! (some obscene amount for everything, but someone else paid)
As for what I have always wanted to try … I would like to eat “real” Italian food in Italy and French food in France. But in those cases, the trips would likely cost more than the meals would, no dobut.
One time I got a combination game plate at the Buckhorn Exchange in Denver. Elk Steak, Pheasant, and Buffalo Prime rib. So much yummy meat at once. And so much money(but I didn’t have to pay, my boss did :))
On the down side I see they don’t have pheasant anymore.
I’ve eaten at The Ivy in London twice, at a cost of about £70-80 each time for two people. I had grilled calve’s liver the last time, which was divine, and lamb the first time, which was less divine.
I’ve also been to Bowfingers in Paris twice, paying about the same amount for excellent if not particularly exotic meals in a gorgeous setting.
All meals included a bottle of reasonably nice wine.
The best white-tablecloth dinner I’ve had to date was at G. W. Sundman’s in Helsinki. The menu was as follows:
Black salsify mousse with vendace roe
Fois gras terrine
Turbot poached in vegetable consomme
Filet of reindeer gratinated with nut bread, boletus mushroom brulee
A salad of artichokes and marinated tomatoes
Black currant tartlet with apple & cinnamon sorbet and fudge sauce
Each course came with its own pairing of wine. The total price was somewhere around a couple hundred euros.
I’ve also had some toe-curlingly good dishes at Tojo’s sushi in Vancouver, such as:
Some sort of unusual scallop sushi
Halibut-cheek sashimi with ponzu sauce
Sauteed fish (I’m blanking on which kind) with sauteed mushrooms and fried fish fin
On some other dishes, he also used the best peppercorns I’ve ever had. I’m not sure what kind they were, but they were fresh rather than dried–I ended up eating them individually, chewing slowly and thinking “My god, this is good pepper…”
With drinks and tip (and a lot of other good dishes–these were just the standouts in an already-excellent field), the total was somewhere in the low three digits American. (You can get away much cheaper than that, though.)
I’ve also had some very good entrees at the Palace Kitchen in Seattle; their entrees tend to range from about $15 to $30. Examples:
Grilled venison with braised farro and rapini
Slow-roasted pork belly with potatoes, braised greens, pea puree, and a fried duck egg
Dang it, I forgot to add in the links.
I’m still trying to figure out whether this is supposed to be an endorsement or a warning.
I want this for my 40th birthday. Some friends went last weekend and are still drooling. Hey, what’s $195 for dinner? :eek:
Here’s the bargain plate: only $150 with the wine-and lamb!
I can answer this one, it was just this past weekend. I took my SO to Morimoto’s in Philly for his 40th- he took me there for our first date. Got his pic taken with Iron Chef himself. I can’t even remember everything that came out of the kitchen - kobe beef, rock shrimp, triple fried whole fish - plus specialty sake, which is served cold. It came to almost 600 dollars. (there were 8 of us!) What a party! If you get a chance, give it a try. A gorgeous place and great food.
I used to work in the kitchen of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Scotland (as a washer-up/minor prep cook), so I got to sample lots of tidbits of simply awesome food here and there. I honestly can’t even remember all the yumminess I’ve had there.
But as a proper diner, the best main course (I get confused, because some people use entree to mean this, others use entree to mean appetizer, which, really, makes more sense) I’ve eaten was quite simple: breast of veal with a truffle sauce and whipped potatoes. It was in a little French bistro called Chez Daniel in Budapest. Started off with a creamy wild mushroom soup, and finished off with a creme brulee, it was absolutely the perfect meal. The veal was absolutely exquisite; buttery soft, yet still retaining texture, perfectly seared on the outside, moist on the inside. And the truffles … man, I love truffles …