Most expensive dinner?

Going off the Dez Bryant thread....

What's the most you've ever spent on dinner and what was the occasion?

 

In 1984, my wife and I went to France on vacation. We ate at two three-star restaurants, Troisgros and Louis Ouither's restaurant on the Cote d'Azur. Dinner each time was $400, which'd be maybe a grand today. Worth every penny. It is an experience you never forget. Not just the food, but being treated like the royalty you always should have been.

 

If we're talking about paying for myself, we took my in-laws to a world famous restaurant to thank them for paying for our wedding. The tab, and this was with maybe 1-2 glasses of liquor total, was $700.

I've had tabs that were much higher while working. My SE took a bunch of us to dinner at a steakhouse while covering a Super Bowl and it wound up being $250 a head.

I had another one where I was out at Dickie Brennan's in New Orleans with a bunch of other writers who were a lot bolder with the expense report than I ever was. They were having wine and liquor and I was figuring how I could get out of there for about $70-$80 and when the waiter came back he said he couldn't split the tab, even though I've had split tabs there a million times before. My share, and I had nothing to drink other than a Mountain Dew, was $200. I explained to my SE and he was cool about it. I think it helped that I was so freaked out that I may not have spent another dime on food the rest of the weekend.

 

I got taken to Applebee's once for work reasons.

 

I've told this story here before, but here it goes again.

I'm in Philly covering a game and this was about a month after Esquire rated the best 10 hamburgers in the country and No. 2 was the steakhouse that was in the hotel where we were staying.

About five of us go down to try the burger, which is Kobe beef and cost around $40. We get served and four of us are saying, "Oh my god, this is the best burger I've ever eaten." The fifth person in our party was summoning over the waitress. This guy kind of was known for ruining a good time and we all start exchanging glances like "What the fuck is he going to complain about now?"

He summons the waitress over and says, "Yeah, can I have another one of these?"

 

I'm pretty sure I was part of a $1,000 tab a few times (about $150 a person), but I did not need to reach for my wallet, so I did not ask.

When the menu does not have decimal points or numbers at all, then you now you are running with the big dogs.

 

The biggest bill I signed for was $1300 for a party of eight. Great night, and the accountants didn't say a word.

 

When I was in those situations for work, I always made sure I was not the reason the bill was high. Not drinking helps that or I can say, I had one beer and I wasn't the one who asked for the wine list.

 

I have a close friend who was always much, much higher on the food chain than I ever was and he would always want to hit the big restaurants when we traveled and I always told him. That's fine, but you're going to be the one expensing it.

 

Back in the days of no kids, a wife who worked full time and more discretionary income, Mrs. W and I would go to really top notch meals a couple of times a year. Our five most expensive meals:

1) Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo. On my honeymoon. With an iffy exchange rate, worked out to about $1,000
2) Restaurant La Chèvre d'Or in Eze, France -- the single greatest dining experience ever. About the same price as above
3) French Laundry, Yountville, CA -- we went with friends who were celebrating their 10th anniversary and went more than a little crazy with the wine. About $1,000.
4) Alain Ducasse, NY, NY. The only one which was not a stellar time. They charged me for three bottles of sparkling water when I maybe had half a glass and Mrs. W had none. I actually fought that pretty hard with some nasty letters and they comped me a free meal. About $900
5) The Modern at MOMA, NY, NY. We went there for our anniversary when my wife was 8 months pregnant. She had asked her OB/GYN if she could have a glass of wine with dinner and I ended up buying her favorite bottle of wine that we every had (at an insane markup). She took one sip and said that she didn't feel right drinking it. The wine was great, but I would have gone about 80% cheaper and by the glass if I was ordering for myself. About $800.

As my old law firm, we would get taken out to a fancy steakhouse if we won the lawyer's hoop league. One time, the senior partner who rarely played said that I was in charge of the wine list and to spare no expense. Even though we had been drinking cocktails for a while, we racked up a tab of about $7k for 10 of us. He had left before the bill came and told me to pay. He signed the expense report the next morning and about a week later he left the firm. Luckily, I still got my check.

 

At one of Wolfgang Puck's restaurants in Vegas, a group of us ran up a $1,300 tab. I didn't think it was too bad.

At PJ Clarke's, basically the same group (minus a couple) ran a $1,000 tab that was mostly drinks and hamburgers.

 

Every now and then, I'll super size my combo meal. Does that count?