Your most expensive restaurant bill?

I am guessing the wine was dead but I would be interested to hear about it.

Originally Posted by Manton

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I am guessing the wine was dead but I would be interested to hear about it.

really?

$150 at a place in Miami for me and my then gf, on a college budget... dessert was on her.

Originally Posted by SField

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really?

1960? Absolutely. Even the '61 is over the hill now. The '59 is still good.

Originally Posted by Manton

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1960? Absolutely. Even the '61 is over the hill now. The '59 is still good.

I tasted a '53 Mouton Rothschild that a guest ordered a few weeks ago. So far past its prime it wasn't even funny. Almost felt bad for the guy, but he absolutely loved it. I was kinda

^ why do restaurants even have such bottles on their list, if the sommelier knows it's not good. Would the chef put food on his menu that he knows doesn't taste that good and is just a bad purchase ?

Originally Posted by gdl203

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^ why do restaurants even have such bottles on their list, if the sommelier knows it's not good. Would the chef put food on his menu that he knows doesn't taste that good and is just a bad purchase ?
Well you buy it when it still is good. And not many restaurants are willing to take the $10,000 loss. Anyway, it didn't matter much b/c the person was truly happy with it and thought it tasted great. So a win/win I guess.

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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Well you buy it when it still is good. And not many restaurants are willing to take the $10,000 loss.
This, I obviously get. But isn't that why markups on wine are so outrageous? because there's bound to be a certain amount of loss?

Originally Posted by gdl203

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This, I obviously get. But isn't that why markups on wine are so outrageous? because there's bound to be a certain amount of loss?

Well that's part of the reason the markups on wine are so high. One of several. To be honest, I'm not yet privy to the information behind the buying and selling and managing of a wine list, though I hope to be someday. I'm just the guy who puts the bottles away and pours them for clients.

This thread is too baller for me.

That said, I've probably got to organize something for the Mrs. soon. I doubt I'll be able to get away for under four figures, but extended family will be involved.

Originally Posted by gdl203

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^ why do restaurants even have such bottles on their list, if the sommelier knows it's not good. Would the chef put food on his menu that he knows doesn't taste that good and is just a bad purchase ?

A good sommelier should guide somebody away from the potentially dead bottles.

However, there will be some customers who insist on ordering the 50's and 60's first growths no matter what. And they will enjoy them indifferent to whether or not the wine is dead or alive.

Originally Posted by gdl203

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This, I obviously get. But isn't that why markups on wine are so outrageous? because there's bound to be a certain amount of loss?

I have my doubt to the loss ever been close to teh markup. Many places souce the pricey rare wines through auction - and what they can't move, they flip again right back to auction. Having the bottles sit until dead is the exception and not the norm.

i've been using the wine thread as a supplement for my education. if you guys could keep this sort of discussion there it would help me out a bunch. thanks.

Originally Posted by LabelKing

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This is what yelp has to say about it: http://www.yelp.com/biz/nellos-new-york
This is better: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/di...ws/14rest.html One night at dinner, there was a very tall woman in elegant clothes, with skin stretched tight over her face in unnatural ways and glasses the size of salad plates to magnify that. She was eating with a small red-faced fellow with dark hair in a center part, who was wearing an ascot and green Tyrolean coat. A cartoonist might render them as an awkward French giraffe and a mischievous Austrian chimp. The woman drank wine as the man devoured a plate of pasta in tomato sauce. (Decent, and, at $29, maybe a bargain.) They were a good couple. When he finished, she wiped at the corner of his mouth with a napkin. The man signaled to a waiter. He laughed and slapped the table with his open palm. "AAAH-gain!" he cried, happily. "Once AAAH-gain!" The waiter smiled and withdrew with the empty plate. Within 10 minutes the man was eating again.

A couple of £500 dinners for me and the wife - the one that stands out for the cost (this being a fair few years back, when I was but a poor associate) was at Le Gavroche. Vintage champagne, tasting menu, domain leflaive puligny montrachet, half of chateau beychevelle. Seem to recall the armagnac was on the house.

Managed to do the French Laundry for about the same - but that's only because my wife was pregnant, and I felt bad about ordering anything too nice to drink just for myself.

In a professional capacity I have probably dealt with bills for £2k or so, for relatively small groups, but it never feels the same