The 29-course El Bulli dinners cost $365 for food and beverage, but not including tax and tip, which bring the total to about $473, Eater estimated.

The Toughest Restaurant Reservation in the Country – National – The Atlantic Wire

Incidentally, this is the price per person. And at the link, you can treat yourself to the convoluted, overly complicated process to just reserve a table.

I am all for fine dining (hell, I am even a food snob whenever I can) but any system where you have to actually compete to belong, where you need to be seen as “worthy” of being allowed to spend your money is just laughable. Capitalism is not enough on its own merits, it seems. Now it needs to be tied to a faux sense of competition to both inflate the marketing potential of the establishment in question and to give eaters a sense of “accomplishment of exclusivity”.


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