bLavish

Mario Batali’s Del Posto

June 22, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats, The Most Expensive at 10:51 pm | Comments off

Mario Batali is one of the most famous of the celebrity chefs. His cuisine is an amazing balance of rustic and sophisticated, so much so that his food appeals to everyone from hipster twenty-somethings to the most finicky of connoisseurs. His restaurants the world over re flooded with reservations months in advance. Well, that’s not exactly true, actually, because most of Batali’s restaurants only accept reservations up to 30 days in advance in order to keep bookkeeping complications to a minimum.

Del Posto is one of Batali’s Manhattan outposts, and it has just been named the most expensive restaurant in New York. Del Posto is offering a new tasting menu for couples that totals a whopping $1,126. For that price you really get what you pay for; an extraordinary twelve courses with wine pairings. Pretty pricey, even for four star fare.

This makes Masa, formerly the most expensive restaurant in the city, seem almost affordable. Their most expensive tasting menu is priced at $450 per person.

 

Sabatino & Co To Open New American Outpost

March 12, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats at 9:00 pm | Comments off

Sabatino & Co, one of the world’s foremost purveyors of truffle products, will be opening a new store in Boston on March 24th. The store will be located in Boston’s upper crust Newbury Street. In addition, the company will be starting to sell their products online on March 21st. Why is all of this news? Because Sabatino & Co is the largest American importer of truffle products, and supplies many of the most famous restaurants in the world, like New York’s Per Se, with them.

The store will carry their famous truffle salt, condiments, cookbooks, and a new line of body care products. I’m not really sure about the idea of truffle soap, but I love the idea of being able to use the same ingredients my favorite restaurants use in my own home. Both the online store and the new brick-and-mortar shop are sure to be popular with American foodies. Sabatino & Co is also planning to open stores in New York and on the West Coast by year’s end.

Record Breaking Napa Wine Auction

February 28, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats at 6:43 pm | Comments off

The 15th Annual Napa Valley Vintners at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St Helena was a real record-breaking event. This years sales totaled $2.4 million, up 23% from the event’s take last year. The average price for a case was $1,546. There were more than a thousand vintners and restauranteurs in attendance.

Scarecrow Vinyards also set a new record for the most expensive lot sold. Five cases of their wine were sold for $125,000 to a Japanese company. Formerly, the record for the most expensive lot was $80,000, which was set in 2007. This event is a great way for collectors and restaurants to buy hard-to-acquire wines. The Napa Valley Vintners Association says that the highest earning wineries were chrader Cellars, Ovid, first-time Premiere-participating winery, Levy and McClellan, Shafer Vineyards, Robert Mondavi Winery, Reynolds Family Winery, Duckhorn Vineyards, Silver Oak Cellars and Beringer Vineyards.

Chocolatier’s Table Luxe By Hotel Chocolat

February 15, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats at 7:14 pm | (1) Comment »

If you forgot Valentine’s Day this year, it’s time to start making up for it. No little fuzzy teddy bear is going to make up for it. Unless it’s made of mink, of course, in which case, you might just get away with it. But if you don’t have a plush mink cutie up your sleeve, then you better get crackin’. This Chocolatier’s Table Luxe collection by Hotel Chocolat might be a good start.

I have no idea how much chocolate is actually in this box (I tried to count it all, but couldn’t), but it’s a lot. It’s designed to give you a taste of all of Hotel Chocolat’s chocolate, and it’s bound to put a smile on that special someone’s face any day of the year. This is the tasting menu of chocolates, my friends, and it’s not just any tasting menu, either. Hotel Chocolat is known as one of the finest luxury chocolate houses in the United States.

Best Wines For Valentine’s Day

February 12, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats at 4:50 pm | Comments off

George Miliotes, the Master Sommelier at The Capital Grille group of restaurants, recently talked to Luxist about the best wines in each price range for Valentine’s Day. Mr. Miliotes contends that there is no sure fire romance wine, there’s just personal taste. But this professional wine connoisseur does have a few ideas about what you should choose depending on your taste.

Miliotes says:

If you like red…

LOW ON DOUGH: Juan Gil Monastrell…there is no other red wine as flavorful for less than $20 and it pairs amazingly well with a Filet.

IN THE MIDDLE: De Toren Z $40…Merlot/Cab blend at a world class flavor level. Partial to a Delmonico? The plush yet strong tannins here will match perfectly with the marbled richness of the steak.

IN THE MOOD TO SPLURGE: Lewis Cellars 2007 Reserve Cabernet …can run $175+ depending upon market. Is there anything more American than a dry aged New York strip sirloin? Have this great American Cabernet with the great American steak.

If you like white…

LOW ON DOUGH: Santa Julia Pinot Grigio $10…Bright crisp and aromatic from Argentina, what 95% of all Italian Pinot Grigios wish they were. Ideal crispness to match up with appetizers such as calamari.

IN THE MIDDLE: Chehalem INOX Chardonnay $22… No oak obscures the apple and pear fragrance of this hip Chardonnay. Perfect with salmon or tuna.

IN THE MOOD TO SPLURGE: Far Niente Chardonnay $80…Powerful Chardonnay, pretty romantic label. Ideal with lobster or white fish (especially in a cream or beurre blanc sauce) to make a most decadent pairing for the night.

Swine & Wine At Corkbar, Los Angeles

January 13, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats at 3:41 pm | Comments off

I am totally obsessed with bacon right now. Black Forest bacon, Applewood smoked bacon, you name it, I love it. Apparently, I’m not the only one. Bacon is the culinary world’s current obsession, which Corkbar in Los Angeles is celebrating with its Swine & Wine event February 2nd. The menu, designed especially for pork lovers and wine enthusiasts, pairs bacon-centric dishes with hand selected wines. And, amazingly, it’s only $25 plus an additional $13 for the wine pairing. That is my kind of good deal right there.

The menu includes a host of amazing dishes, including a frisée and bacon salad with roasted tomato, shallot, bacon lardons, and grain mustard vinaigrette; Báhn Mi sliders, made with cured pork belly, Hoisin glaze, Sambal aïoli, micro cilantro, and pickled daikon and carrot, served on a brioche bun with a side of Sriracha sauce; and a bacon chocolate cupcake with caramel whipped cream and bacon lardons. Holy cow, er, pig!

Goccia Umbra Black Truffle Oil

January 12, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats at 8:00 pm | Comments off

Truffles are notoriously one of the world’s most expensive foodstuffs. If you’ve ever tasted them, you totally know why. Their rich, buttery flavor is simply beyond comparison or description. They’re relatively hard to come by, though, and perishable to boot, so many chefs use truffle oil to flavor their dishes, instead of the fungus itself. Truffle oil has the benefit of staying fresh for up to a year after the bottle has been opening, and it’s easy to control the intensity of the flavor.

This high quality oil sells for around $45 for a 750 ml bottle, and has been made using the finest extra virgin olive oil. In case you might not have guessed, it’s imported from Italy, where the truffles are hand selected for their flavor. So, what do you use this pricey oil for? Basically anything. Drizzle a little on to some fresh pasta or a salad for an extra delicious treat. A lot of people even use truffle oil in their desserts because of its rich flavor.

Giant Tuna Sells for $396k

January 5, 2011 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats at 7:04 pm | Comments off

This 754 pound tuna was caught off the Northern coast of Japan, and was one of over 500 that went up for auction on Wednesday. This extraordinary fish was bought by the owners of Kyubey and Itamae sushi restaurants for $396,000 on the opening day of the Tsukiji fish market. Apparently, this is no ordinary fish market, and the opening day often garners enormous gains. In 2001, the precious record was set when a 445 pound fish sold for 20.2 yen. If you break down the price of this 754 pounder, it comes to a cost of $526 a pound. That’s some tuna.

The Bluefin Tuna is actually quite overfished, and a lot of restaurants have taken it off their menus for this reason. But the Japanese continue to consume about 80% of all Bluefins caught in the Pacific or Atlantic. New fishing restrictions have caused prices to rise, but even at exorbitant prices, it seems like there’s still a solid market for these fish.

Williams-Sonoma Finishing Salts

December 23, 2010 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats at 2:19 pm | Comments off

I have this aunt that’s a total foodie. While I know my Sal de Mer from your everyday Morton’s, my knowledge of salt is pretty paltry. It’s not one of those things that I think of as being particularly flavorful, except, of course, that it’s obviously salty.Once I saw the six dishes of salt beside the stove top that my aunt regularly uses, it set me wondering about the differences. This fabulous set of four salts from Williams-Sonoma is a great gift for a beginning salt connoisseur.

The set includes Haleakala red sea salt from Hawaii, which has a nutty flavor and goes great with fish and pork. The Kilauea black salt, also from Hawaii, takes its color from charcoal, which is known as a digestive aid. The Australian pink salt is a flakey salt with a soft flavor that’s good for seafood and vegetables. And the pyramid-shaped Cyprus flakes are perfect for salads. With this set, you pretty much have the whole salt gamut covered, at least in terms of everyday meals. Now when someone says, “Pass the salt,” you’re going to have to ask them to be a little more specific.

World’s Most Expensive Truffles Sold Last Weekend

November 29, 2010 | Posted by bLavish as Expensive Eats at 4:16 pm | Comments off

Stanley Ho, a casino tycoon from Macau, paid $330,000 for two white truffles at an auction in Hong Kong last weekend. The auction was held at Ho’s own Grand Lisboa hotel, although bidders vied for the truffles as far away as Rome and London. This is the fourth year in a row that Ho has won the truffle auction.

This year, Ho’s $330,000 won him one 900 gram white truffle, and one 400 gram truffle, about three pounds of fabulous fungi in all. The truffle was grown in Tuscany and imported to Hong Kong for the auction.

In 2007, Ho paid the same amount for a 1.5 kilogram truffle, which is about the same weight as both of these put together. Two weeks ago, a Chinese wine critic paid $139,000 for a giant white truffle in Alba, Italy. Apparently, truffle-buying is a growing trend for wealthy Chinese businessmen. At these prices, you might even call it a competitive sport.

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