Culinary Poll - What's The Most You Would Spend?

[Daniel Rogov]

Questions of price and value are not uncommon. Assuming in this case a very special occasion or moment in life, what is the most you would consider paying for a meal for two in a restaurant?

Not an everyday meal of course but one that is extraordinarily special. Do not include wine or service in the cost….just the meal itself. See also the similar poll that relates to wine at viewtopic.php?f=29&t=33453

[Jenise]

I want to date the guy who will pay more than $500.

[Joel D Parker]

Hi Jenise,

Unfortunately I'm already married, but if I had the money I would gladly pay more than 500$ for a very special occasion to eat scrumptious food. Having lived in France, and now no longer there, some of my sharpest and best memories are of dinners I had with my family over the three years I was living with them near Nice. We ate in Mougins, Antibes, Nice, Cannes, Chateauneuf de Grasse and many other places. Though we didn't spend that much on meals (believe me my family is not that well off) the times we really splurged were often the most amazing on many levels, not just because of the good food.

Fine dining is worth it, and makes hard work taste really good.

Joel

[Daniel Rogov]

Jenise, Hi....


I'm also already married. I see no contradiction whatever between that and "dating" you.

Very best
Rogov

[Shlomo R]

I voted $300-400, for the simple reason that I've already done that (although I think that included wine/whiskey). My wife and I had gone to dinner with some friends, and I indulged in some serious stress relief through eating. My portion of the bill came to over $200, and my wife's portion was just over $100.

Come to think of it, I can see spending over $500 for a special occasion with some out of the ordinary dishes. Considering that I've spent the $500 just on a chauffered stretch limo to take us to dinner, I definitely should have voted "over $500"

[Jon Peterson]

Come to think of it, I can see spending over $500 for a special occasion with some out of the ordinary dishes.

I'm with you, Shlomo. When I do spend that much, I expect a meal that I will not forget for all the right reasons! I also expect dedicated wait staff, mind-readingly-wonderful yet inconspicuous service, including wine parings, and quality time with the Chef.

[JC (NC)]

It says dinner for two in the introduction to the poll and I have spent $125 for a wine dinner (for one) so indicated $200-$300. However, that $125 included several wines so maybe under $200 would be more realistic for dinner itself. In reference to what Joel said about meals in France, on our trip to Provence we had lunches at Moulin du Mougins, Hotel Martinez in Cannes, Louis XV in Monte Carlo, Bastide San Antoine Jacques Chibois, etc. Lunches are generally less expensive than dinners and the meals were included in our trip expense so I'm not sure what we were actually paying per person for our group. However, looking at the prices on the online menus, I think we were given a special deal by the restaurants in part due to arrangements by the leader of the tour, a Provence native who is now a restauranteur in Raleigh.

[Daniel Rogov]

Indeed JC, in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, lunch prices are almost invariably far less costly than dinners. I often suggest that when money is important (and how often is it not important to most of us?) that one will do well to sample from fixed price lunch offerings at many of the best of the restaurants of those countries.

Unlike many restaurants in the USA and Israel where many restaurateurs skimp on produce and offerings at lunch, the better restaurants of Europe make a speical effort to please lunchtime clients knowing that if they have been thoroughly pleased at 35 Euros they will return and spend far more for the pleasures of dining at their establishments in the evening.

Best
Rogov

[JC (NC)]

Good suggestions, Daniel.

[Jenise]

Hi Jenise,

Unfortunately I'm already married, but if I had the money I would gladly pay more than 500$ for a very special occasion to eat scrumptious food...Fine dining is worth it, and makes hard work taste really good.

Joel

Actually, I agree, and I too have spent that kind of money in search of just the experience you describe. (Though I misanswered the question the first time, missing that the poll amounts paid for two, not just one. I've revoted.)

[Jenise]

Jenise, Hi....


I'm also already married. I see no contradiction whatever between that and "dating" you.

Very best
Rogov

[kiss!]

[Matilda L]

Most of my dining out is at the cheap end of the market - a dinner for two, with a glass of wine each, for $50 or $60. But that is when I'm eating out solely to have some food. Sure, I want to enjoy it, but the aim is the food, not the experience.

Dining out for the experience is something different. For a special meal, at a special place, maybe for a special occasion - I'm happy to pay much more. I voted that I'd be happy to pay up to $500. I might add that I haven't ever paid that much for a meal for two and can't see it happening all that often!

[David M. Bueker]

It's likely about $200 max for me as most of the truly expensive food in the world is either a "no-go" for Laura (e.g. foie) or we prefer to cook & have it at home (e.g. lobster).

[Michael K]

Yup, I bid $100-$200 for my answer. when going out for dinner, i'm very concise of value for money ni the wine area. Someone in the Boston area sells 2002 Alion for $50 a bottle. I drink that EVERY time I go.

But in general, if the bottle is 2.5x, then that means I'm drinking $50-75 bottle which is nice for me without going crazy. We have a good time but if I wanted to really slurge,then I'll spend the $200 for the bottle in the store and really enjoy it at home.... now if only someone would sell Yquem at 1x in a restaurant,.... (btw, there use to be a time when the casino in Macau would have these rare bottles (for me at least) such as DRC which were well under market,. They had bought them so long ago that they were cheap then but never marked up the price through the years, ....decades,..... unfortunately that has changed.

[Jo Ann Henderson]

Jenise, Hi....


I'm also already married. I see no contradiction whatever between that and "dating" you.

Very best
Rogov

[kiss!]

Hey, wait a minute!

[Daniel Rogov]

Fear not, Jo Ann, as I have never fully believed (not in my heart of hearts) that we humans were destined for monogamy. The trick is actually quite simple and Ella Fitzgerald summed it up nicely when she sang the song from Kiss Me Kate:

For I'm always true to you, darlin', in my fashion,
Yes, I'm always true to you, darlin', in my way.

Switching to a more serious mode now, and realizing that I am in deep enough trouble already - is it not possible for a person to be truly devoted to more than one significant other? A rhetorical question of course that I would dare not even attempt to answer.

Ye faithful
Rogov

[Jo Ann Henderson]

- is it not possible for a person to be truly devoted to more than one significant other? A rhetorical question of course that I would dare not even attempt to answer.

Ye faithful
Rogov

Without question! And, in some ways, I do believe us girls have a significant advantage!!

[Bill Spohn]

I regularly pay low $100 range for special dinners and would have no compunction whatsoever in paying double that for a special meal at a starred restaurant in France.

OTOH, I am notably thrifty about spending on something I can make myself - can't understand why people lash out great amounts of money to buy a steak at a restaurant when you could buy twice as much of the same meat and cook it just as well yourself at home. Special spending should be reserved for special meals - things that I couldn't or wouldn't make myself.

[David M. Bueker]

OTOH, I am notably thrifty about spending on something I can make myself - can't understand why people lash out great amounts of money to buy a steak at a restaurant when you could buy twice as much of the same meat and cook it just as well yourself at home. Special spending should be reserved for special meals - things that I couldn't or wouldn't make myself.

Precisely my thought.

[Robin Garr]

We've paid $300 and upward for meals in the U.S., $500 for a Michelin three-star or two in Europe, but it's a rare thing to hit this limit. A couple of variables make this quirky, too: Although my home town (Louisville) is a great restaurant town for its size, New York or London prices haven't arrived here, and I can generally get a top-tier dinner with wine for about two-thirds what I'd pay for a comparable experience in Gotham. Also, because, somewhat like Rogov only in a lower league , I've cunningly found a way to pay myself for fine food and dining and get to take it off my taxes as a business expense as well, I'm a little more free to indulge than I might be if I were doing it entirely for my own pleasure.

[Robin Garr]

Wait, I wrote the above thinking in terms of dinner for two. Looking at the wording of the question, you're asking about dinner for one? I'm glad I saw that before I voted. In terms of actual experience, then, make $250 (per person) my max.

*NEVER MIND! Finally actually read Rogov's first post. Sheeesh ...