It looks like you havent even started blogging yet..? Maybe wait on borrowing until you have some original content.

I do agree that spending 500$ a person in a restaurant is alot of money, and i think i speak for most of the chefs working in these restaurants, we ourselves dont go out spending that much money either.

But then why charge these prices?
There are a couple of very good reasons for it.

1st of all to be able to serve these kind of dishes as part of a multicourse tasting menu, consistently to a full restaurant each night requires a huge amount of resources. these restaurants usually have 20 – 30 cooks running around all day, prepping food for 12 to 14 hours straight. the quipment that is used in these restaurants is rather expensive, like immersion circulators etc.

But that is not all. After you considered all the cost of the above, how would you charge the entertaining value that comes with a night out in such a restaurant. How much are you willing to pay if you go to a concert? So why not pay for entertainment in a restaurant that treats you like royalty for a night?

And my last point, and this comes from my heart. I think that in restaurants like that you not only are paying for the ingredients that you get served on your plate, but for the hard work and the creative mind that a chef put into every single dish that leaves his kitchen.

I just wanted to share my opinion on this subject from a chefs point of view, and if you would really like to try items they cook at these fancy restaurants check out their blogs, if they have one. Todays chefs are so much about sharing their recipes, techniques and dishes, its all out there for you to grab and try at home.

Jens

NOW, if I were single and a guy who drives a ferarri took me out and INSISTED on going to Alinea… I think I would not have any problem with that!

Nika

PS: thanks for the congrats! Talk about expensive, try having a child! The hospital bill for the last child was $20,000 USD! Thank goodness for our insurance.

You know, there was a post on a public board recently talking about how one couple had spent $750 on the tour at Alinea, and were disappointed. I can’t imagine that kind of letdown. I really can’t. I can’t imagine the nausea that must set in when you realize that you’ve spent several hours and what amounts to rent or mortgage for probably half the country and you didn’t even enjoy it. Nauseating.

And I have to admit, I was REALLY worried about tht at possibility, because I had hyped the damn thing so much.

PS – I absolutely didn’t think it was a dig, at all… I just think this is always an interesting discussion, and thought I’d weigh in.

PPS – Congrats on the upcoming little!

I would not mind a once in a lifetime chance to go to Masa and have sushi I have never in my life, ever.

But the fact that these restaurants are several orders of magnitude beyond my ability to pay and save for is what I feel is sad in re: it putting molecular gastronomy out of the reach of so many.

Lets just say that 1) I make my own coffees at home, I do not buy expensive Lattes daily like some (might be something like 6 months or more for me now to get one) and 2) with 2 kids and one on the way, if I saved enough money for 500 for all 5 of us, food for one night would not be what I was spending it on. Thats fine. Its all about disposable income.

Perhaps I should not kvetch. I certainly dont complain about people spending lots of money on houses and cars and second houses etc. Its their thing, its the American way, I guess. Food on the other hand seems to have a more common or more encompassing component to it (need to eat, dont need to drive a ferrari) so its easy to forget that food can be a status item as well. Because of this, the prices inflate fantastically, bloating into the impossible range.

Nothing I can say or write here will have an impact on that, its just the way it is.

Thanks so much for writing!

Nika

I think that one has to consider the context of these meals.

Our visit to Alinea was very special to us in that (a) we considered it our anniversary dinner, and we’ve had a hell of a year and (b) we had the pleasure of sharing it with two people who are very dear to us.

That meal will forever be indelibly burned in our memories, as will the weekend in Chicago. We still marvel at some of the dishes, and the creativity they contained. And we truly had a BLAST together.

So, I guess what I’m saying is that for me, a meal at Alinea is an wondrous experience. It may not be something I would do even once a year, but we made the decision to tighten our belts in other areas in order to splurge on that experience.

Think about it: putting a dollar a day into a jar for a year would give you enough for a meal at Alinea or The French Laundry, or any number of other places. Or, you could spend twice that amount on a daily latte. It’s all about what you choose to put a value on.

I wonder how many of the people who are into eating out at these uber-expensive restaurants would even know how to feed themselves, let alone a family.

My Life As A Reluctant Housewife