by Robert Darmody

Created on: June 24, 2009

Brocato's, an historic restaurant in Shreveport Louisiana, displayed a sign when they opened in the 1920's stating: "It's tough to pay seventy five cents for a steak. But, when you pay twenty five cents, it's a lot tougher."

The goal of this piece is to make a case that the world's most expensive restaurants are 'worth the price tag' to readers who largely, like myself, would grow pale before the prospect of paying fifty dollars for a borrowed hot plate bearing a chicken breast that has been morphed by culinary alchemy into a succulent work of art!

Is Gainsborough's 'Blue Boy' or 'Whistler's Mother' worth the price tag? Could we expect a customer at the traveling 'Starving Artists' week-end sale to authoritatively answer the question?

By comparing these and other similarities, we can disclose how culinary talent corresponds to other forms of artistic expression by transcending the common urgency of the stomach to satisfy the aspirations of the sophisticated palate!

What is a Picasso painting but oil, pigment and canvas stretched on a wood frame? How much can oil and canvas cost? Pablo assumed ambient temp long ago, yet his work sells for millions to people who so cherish the products of his genius for applying paint to canvas, they gladly pay the price. Why?

They are a different class of people and in more ways than mere financial independence. Those of us who don't belong to 'the club,' are in no credible position to define real market value of things we cannot, in our wildest dreams afford. An inherent conflict in part of this question is confusion between value and affordability.

Who doesn't occasionally covet things beyond affordability? How many times have you or I commented: "Even if I had the money, I wouldn't pay that much" for some object of luxury? From that point, it is easy dismiss the unobtainable goods with: "...and it isn't worth the price tag anyway."

Only a tiny percentage of the population can credibility to satisfy this question because they are the only ones who routinely pass a maitre d's podium as paying clients.

Many who would claim world-class expertise in gourmet dining are self-deceptive to the point of being delusional. Dining out, whether regularly or for special occasions at the best place in town is often mistakenly assumed to be top drawer. Linen covered tables and tray service with black and white clad staff in a pretty room are believed by many to signify the ultimate in dining.

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