Cost: $750
Chef Christopher Kostow has garnered rave reviews—and three Michelin stars for several years running—for creating a unique dining experience. After you reserve your table, your party will be interviewed about food likes and dislikes, allergies, and desired level of culinary adventure. Inspired by these conversations, Kostow will transform seasonal local ingredients, some grown on or near the property, into an elaborate, multi-course experience.
Cost: $800
Chef Thomas Keller approached contemporary American food with classical technique, and his French Laundry established new standards for fine dining in this country. In 2012, Keller and the French Laundry received a coveted AAA Five Diamond Award, just another honor to add to the pile. Like is true at Per Se, The French Laundry offers a daily rotating nine-course tasting menu for $270 per head.
Cost: $1,111
One of the country’s most renowned sushi restaurants, Urasawa, sits in a small alcove above Rodeo Drive here. A typical bill for two people easily tops $1,000. Over an evening that can stretch to three hours, diners are served dishes dotted with caviar and 24-karat gold flakes. Each night, Mr. Urasawa stands behind a pristine sushi bar serving more than a dozen dishes, each with an elaborate description of the provenance of the ingredients, mostly imported from Japan.
Cost: $1,269
Masa Takayama, the illustrious sushi god from L.A., came to New York with a uniquely Japanese, if slightly insane proposition: that a meal of the highest quality is worth almost any price. Whatever you do, sit at the bar of this quirky, lavishly overpriced little restaurant, preferably in front of Masa himself. It’s not just a meal, it’s an event – complete with risotto folded with uni and truffles, Kobe-beef sukiyaki, and slabs of foie gras cooked in a little shabu-shabu pot.
