Please get the hell off Mitt Romney's back. I'll bet he enjoys a good burger just like many of you.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

World's Most Expensive Burger Can Be Yours for $295 from Serendipity 3

Robyn Lee May 25, 2012
7:15 PM

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/05/worlds-most-expensive-burger-can-be-yours-for-295-dollars-from-seredipity-3.html?ref=title



Today, Guinness World Records announced Serendipity 3 in New York City as home of the world's most expensive burger for $295. What do you get for that price? Wagyu beef, cave-aged cheddar, black truffles, caviar, a gold toothpick, and more. From Serendipity 3's press release:

In honor of National Hamburger Month, Serendipity has created a haute cuisine version of the iconic American dish! Known as Le Burger Extravagant, this $295.00 burger is a mix of Japanese Waygu [sic] beef infused with 10-herb white truffle butter, seasoned with Salish Alderwood smoked Pacific sea salt, topped with cheddar cheese—hand-formed by the famous cheesemaker James Montgomery in Somerset, England, and cave-aged for 18 months—shaved black truffles, a fried quail egg and served on a white truffle-buttered Campagna Roll, which is topped with a blini, creme fraiche, and Paramout Caviar's exclusive Kaluga caviar—a beautiful golden caviar with a buttery, nutty taste and large pearls from the Huso Dauricus farm raised in Quzhou, China. The finishing touch to this incredible burger is a solid gold "Fleur de Lis" toothpick encrusted with diamonds and designed by world-renowned jeweler Euphoria New York.

...I'm almost surprised it doesn't cost more.

The profits from the burger will be donated to the Bowery Mission, "serving homeless and hungry New Yorkers since 1879."

[Scuba]

1. I christen thee the "Romney Burger".

Sure hope that gold toothpick doesn't get caught in his throat, resulting in a slow, agonizing death.

[tanyev]

2. Cave-aged cheddar, pffft.

I got some primo refrigerator drawer-aged cheddar I'll be happy to sell for half the price.

[Alexander]

3. In all seriousness, the money from this burger goes to a charity for the homeless and hungry.

Now, can I keep the solid gold toothpick?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

7. It does, and...

...my reaction was that the target audience for the burger is probably someone who would never think of writing a $295 check to feed the hungry and homeless. So on one hand, it's no harm / no foul and a hearty round of kudos to the restaurant for finding a way to help those in need. On the other, the target audience sickens me. I do understand there are wealthy people who donate hundreds / thousands / millions / billions to help others and make the world a better place. But I also understand some prick is going to buy this burger just because a $295 burger "sounds good" for lunch or dinner.

[Alexander]

10. As my dad says, there are always people with "more money than sense".

There's always going to be people who buy ridiculously expensive artwork, drink overpriced alcohol and eat meals that cost more than the kitchen staff makes in a week.

The "target audience" has always been there and always will be.

I see this as 100% positive - rich folks get a good meal, the wait staff gets a good tip (I assume gratuity is added automatically to the bill here) and the homeless and hungry get what they need the most.

And for all we know, the "prick" buying this burger may also donate lots of money to help others. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Edit: After all, donating money to charitable causes is tax deductible. I imagine lots of rich people give money to charity whether they personally care about others or not.

[spiderpig]

4. Is this the place that has the ice cream sundae with gold leaf flakes?

I think it runs something like $1000.

Too tired to look it up.

[MrScorpio]

5. Anyone who spends $295 on a freaking burger deserves to have their ass kicked nt

[jmowreader]

35. Quite a bit of that $295 is a charitable contribution, sir

The burger probably costs the restaurant $50 (which is still too fucking much) so you're making a $245 charitable contribution with every sandwich.

Who deserves to have their ass kicked: The company I work for has a hospitality division, and one of the restaurants under its banner is selling Kobe beef meatloaf. Everyone associated with that atrocity needs to be beaten with rubber golf clubs.

[MrScorpio]

36. OK, I'll concede only the $245 charitable donations

I'm anything, if understanding.

About your meatloaf crime against nature… Sounds like a job for some Detroit fellows that I know.

[drm604]

6. So,

if I grill up a burger, slap it on a roll with some condiments, and put it up on eBay with a starting price of $300, do I beat their record and get in Guiness?

[dionysus]

8. at least "The profits from the burger will be donated to the Bowery Mission"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. Yep, the restaurant's doing a good thing...

...and the people who can easily afford a $295 burger because it "sounds like fun" and just want one, not giving a thought to (or even being aware of) the fact that the profits are going to charity can blow me. I don't think the primary customers for this burger are rich folks who want to help, and if they're so keen on helping, they don't need the burger. They can just help.

[lumberjack_jeff]

25. They define what are "profits".

[NightWatcher]

11. In a seriousness, how does it taste? Looks kinds ick

Now I could grill the hell out of a burger that you'd want to pay me $300 for, but that one looks extravagant for extravagance sake.

[RevStPatrick]

12. I could eat that.

I couldn't pay for it, but I could eat it.

[DLine]

13. I love a good burger and since profits go to charity...

I would definitely get this were I wealthy enough to afford such. I couldn't imagine paying that if it didn't benefit charity though.

[longship]

14. $3.95 for the burger; $291.05 for the presentation.

Foolishness, IMHO. It is the difference between me, who eats to continue living, and Rmoney who thinks eating has to be something about some idiotic prestige.

Eat food. And, by the way, food is food. Fuck $300 presentation. I'll take my delicious grill broiled burger on a cheap bun any day. Side of canned beans and a side of cheap, home made cole slaw. Now that's good eatin'.

[dionysus]

16. in this case they're donating the money to a shelter, so good for them...

[lumberjack_jeff]

26. How much money? n/t

[Alexander]

29. The profits. Please read the OP.

Good grief.

[lumberjack_jeff]

32. So... "the profits" might be $1.50, right?

PT Barnum was right.

[Alexander]

37. You can call and ask them if you're curious

[lumberjack_jeff]

39. I just think that might have been a reasonable question to ask before heaping praise. n/t

[TBF]

15. Gross! It's pretty but I'd never eat that. nt

[Zax2me]

17. He bought that?!

I would LOVE for the President Obama team to bring it up in a debate, though I doubt he would. He's a little smoother than that.
Fucking mainstream corporate media should pick it up.
Silent as always.

[Nolimit]

18. If I know my hamburgers....

....and my beef, using Wagyu beef is pointless for a burger. This type of beef is renowned for having marbled fat throughout the cut which makes it taste so good. Grinding it up into hamburger meat and then cooking it well done will just cause the fat to melt out.

[Mr.Turnip]

20. O yeah, I never cook my burgers well done.

usually cook em Medium or Medium rare

[jberryhill]

22. That's a good point

Switching to an exotic meat would have been a better idea. Something like free range Kahmiri pashmina lambs.

[Mr.Turnip]

19. See as I was reading that I was like "that sounds really good actually" then I got to the Caviar

and my appetite was lost. Iv never gotten the appeal of Caviar didn't like it at all when I tried it.

But really it's for charity, if someone wants to spend 300 dollars on something like this I don't see the problem at all.

Now if it were just a 300 dollar burger for the sake of being a 300 dollar burger then that would be a different story.

Totally needs some onions though.

[GoneOffShore]

21. Looks good, but where's the damn foie gras!

If I'm paying that much for a burger, I want foie gras on it.

[pink-o]

23. Can I just get the cheese and the truffles for $85.00?

They can even keep the bread!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

24. The "Value Menu!"

[lumberjack_jeff]

27. "Alder smoked sea salt"? Seriously?

[FarCenter]

30. All salt is sea salt

The salt mined in places like underground Detroit is actually the remains of seas that dried up and left the salt in deposits.

So I guess you could take any salt and smoke it with alder wood in your grill.

[bluedeminredstate]

28. It was on the Today Show yesterday

I was horrified to see the chef bring out TWO of these things - one each for Hoda and Kathie Lee. Each took a bite, declared it delicious and then it sat there to rot as they moved on to the next segment.
How much can the Bowery Mission be getting for each one sold when the ingredients and the diamond toothpick cost so much?
Another version of "trickle down" for the less fortunate...

[rrneck]

31. Paging Mister Creosote... nt

[msanthrope]

33. It is wafer thin......nt

[fishwax]

34. doesn't federal law prohibit imports of Japanesse beef?

"a mix of Japanese Waygu beef ..."

It's Wagyu, for the record, and there are American producers of Wagyu beef, but I don't think the burger could actually be Japanese Wagyu.

At any rate, clearly not a burger I'll be dining on anytime soon

[Jamaal510]

38. Why does a person need both cheese AND eggs on a burger?