It’s easy to Google up various lists of very high priced hamburgers. They go from the 30 dollar range to hundreds for each burger. I’m not interested in the gimmick ones with a diamond or gold bar on top, just real burgers. They are typically made from Wagyu beef, truffles, foie gras, etc.
So has anyone actually tried one? I doubt any burger can really be worth 50 bucks but how was it?
Dennis
I think the most expensive burger I’ve ever eaten was $23 at Delmonico Steakhouse in Las Vegas. Emeril’s place is on point - it was a tremendous burger, and something I’d order again under similar circumstances.
There used to be a steakhouse in lower Manhattan called Nebraska Beef.
It wasn’t bad – I had the steaks there a couple of times. Not as good as some of the other famous steakhouses in New York, but okay.
But about once a week I’d meet a girlfriend who lived near the place, and we’d sit at the bar and have hamburgers. They were expensive, and they were really, really good.
It closed years ago, but I miss it.
I had one of those fancy “gourmet” burgers at some burger specialty joint right on the strip. Burger by itself was about $25, and honestly wasn’t that memorable. Like it was a really good fast food burger, but that’s all it was, a REALLY GOOD fast food burger. If Carls Jr gave it to me I’d say it was excellent but not think much more of it.
Had a 19 euros delicatessen burger once. On the one hand, it was off the hook and delivered with enough fries to build a small house with. On the other hand, none of this could quite wash away the guilt and quintessential wrongness of blowing *that *much money on a goddamn sandwich.
Still, much like Vincent Vega, I needed to know what a 19€ burger tasted like.
Geez, and here I was thinking the $12.99 burgers at Red Robin were very expensive…
I don’t get why burgers would be in a special category compared to any number of $50+ items in high-end restaurants. Is it because burgers are German/American + working class in origin and therefore don’t have the potential to be high-end like steak or lobster?
Lobster was a food of the lower classes for a long time.
Unlike lobster or a quality steak, ground beef is a common ingredient. And there’s nothing difficult about cooking a burger. So an expensive high-end hamburger is going to stand out because it doesn’t naturally belong among the other expensive high-end items on the menu.
I like to but filet mignon, grind it, form a nice burger, then sous vide it rare. A delicious burger that is right at home with other high-end items.
I’ve never bothered with them. I can buy ground Wagyu beef in a local store for $6.99/pound if I want it.
I remember reading on Mark Evanier’s blog the thinking behind a $500 burger stuffed with truffles, lobster meat and gold-plated caviar. Probably no one orders those, but might look at the second-most expensive burger at $80 and think “You know, I could afford that one…”
Does buffalo count? I’ve ordered a buffalo burger that’s in the $30 range. It was made to order and truly excellent.
I agree. If you’re in a restaurant that serves $50 burgers, everything on the menu will be priced at least a bit high. Many, many people go to such restaurants and don’t give a thought to the price of what they want to order. Personally, while I have never ordered a $50 burger, I could see how it happens. If I want a burger, I don’t care if it’s $12 or $24. If I’m at a fancy place, I can easily imagine it might be $50. If I want a slab of salmon it might be $15 or it might be $45. Depends where you’re eating.
I would agree $500 novelty burgers are just some kind of gimmick, not something you’d normally order.
Yeah? But not in Nevada.
Isn’t filet mignon pretty lean?
The thing about burger patties is that while high quality beef does make a difference, it doesn’t need to be a particularly good cut. You don’t need the tenderness of filet mignon or the marbling of waygu beef because it’s all going to get ground up anyway.
Looking at the list, most of these really expensive burgers are made by taking a fairly normal burger and then putting expensive ingredients (foie gras, truffles) on them. They’re all gimmicks.
Yes, that’s why I buy it. I know seemingly everyone likes the taste/effect of fat, but I do not.
Probably the best burger I can recall having is Dad’s Burger from Dad’s Kitchen in Sacramento (as seen on Diner’s, Drive-Ins, and Dives). But even that is only $15.50.
I’ve had a beefalo burger. It was $20? for the plate w/onion rings. Not worth it. The rings were good though.
I’d rather have a Sonic Corndog. For, I don’t know, $2 or so.
I’m a cheap date;)
About 7 years ago, on a tourist trip to Las Vegas, I ordered a $50+ burger (from a restaurant in the Mandalay Bay Hotel.)
It was Waygu beef with truffles and pate de foie gras as toppings.
Amusingly it came in a standard burger bun (probably costing $0.20…)
It was pleasant, but I wouldn’t bother again.
It’s easy to instead get a delicious piece of steak for that price (with all the trimmings.)
+So probably $55 now allowing for inflation…