check please...

July 11, 2006 9:42 AM

Since become borderline obsessed with Anthony Bourdain, the idea (not that I would ever get there mind you) of going to one of the high end restaurants that he has visited (namely el Bulli or The French Laundry) and have wondered, just how much would dinner run?
posted by ShawnString to food & drink (24 comments total)

crap...meant to include these:

el Bulli
and
The French Laundry
posted by ShawnString at 9:44 AM on July 11, 2006

$210 per person is the base price for the tasting menu at French Laundry, or rather it was a year ago.
posted by luriete at 9:44 AM on July 11, 2006

(also note that FL has fixed-price menus for under $150 per person as well, not including wine)
posted by luriete at 9:46 AM on July 11, 2006

doh...should have looked on the french laundry site more...it tells you...$210 each for the 2 diffrent tasting menus
posted by ShawnString at 9:46 AM on July 11, 2006

The el Bulli episode of No Reservations blew my mind. I believe Anthony mentioned $520 a person.

I say we set up a MeFi MeetUp there.
posted by Mick at 9:56 AM on July 11, 2006

For FL I'd budget for a lot more. You'll be ordering wine, probably the wine tasting with each course. That's gonna cost about another $100. Plus tax and tip. My coworker just ate there last week with 4 friends and rang up $360/person. That is not an unusual amount there.

According to this egullet post, the menu is 155 euros or about US$200. With wine, it's probably about the same price per person as French Laundry.

For el Bulli food porn, check out Louisa Chu's blog posts on the restaurant. She was a former stage for Ferran Adria (as well as Alain Ducasse, Grant Achatz, and Homaru Canto).
posted by junesix at 9:57 AM on July 11, 2006

According to this post, their dinner at elBulli for two ran them €545. That includes 4 bottles of wine and 2 armagnacs.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:57 AM on July 11, 2006

Mick, sure assuming we could all even get in. As hard as it is to get in the door at FL, it's exponentially harder to get a reservation at EB.
posted by junesix at 9:58 AM on July 11, 2006

I've heard $700 for el Bulli, but...if you have to ask, you can't afford it, right? :)
posted by BradNelson at 9:58 AM on July 11, 2006

Wine is a huge variable. Regular tasting menu at El Bulli is €170 or $220 per person. See this Chowhound post.
posted by deadfather at 10:25 AM on July 11, 2006

Really, junesix? The FL waiting list is legendarily hard to get on. People plan their trips or vacations around getting a reservation. I can't imagine how it would be that much harder for el Bulli.

Certainly if you're talking about going to places like this, it'll be in the mid-to-high 3 figures a person, easy. You simply don't penny pinch on these kinds of dinners: they are more than just nutrient satiation.
posted by hincandenza at 10:26 AM on July 11, 2006

Masa in NYC will prolly set you back $300-400. I ate at his former restaurant in LA and it was $400/head. Bourdain loves Masa's food.
posted by gregariousrecluse at 10:30 AM on July 11, 2006

hincandenza, el Bulli is only open 6 months a year (April - September) and has exactly 8,000 seats. That's it. You don't call - you can only fax or email. With FL you can keep phoning try year-round to get a table. With EB, they begin taking reservations in mid-October for the following year. Once all 8,000 seats are reserved, they're done and you'll need to wait until next year. Louisa said they got 400,000 requests in 2005.
posted by junesix at 11:12 AM on July 11, 2006

For those planning a distance trip to FL, the trick is to stay overnight at a nearby inn or hotel. The Yountville hotels get priority reservations to the restaurant. My former roommate had an easy time getting an anniversary reservation at FL by booking two evenings at the nearby Yountville Inn well in advance and telling the concierge what night he wanted to eat there. They took care of it.

I'd imagine that once Thomas Keller completes his Inn at French Laundry in 2007, staying at the 20-room inn will almost guarantee a reservation. It's very much following in the classic French hotel & restaurant model.
posted by junesix at 11:22 AM on July 11, 2006

TFL takes their reservations (for 16 tables or so total) 2 months to the day in advance. You have to be right on the phones when they open, basically.. we're talking 5 minutes. El Bulli is up to a year in advance from what I hear.

Hell, I got my last FL reservations on OpenTable. I'm not sure that a night in the Inn would guarantee anything, since there's already more rooms than tables. I'm just waiting for his new burger joint. :)
posted by kcm at 12:29 PM on July 11, 2006

(The El Bulli books are $300-400/ea by the way, but sometimes the kids just don't need braces, yaknow?)
posted by kcm at 12:31 PM on July 11, 2006

Masa in NYC will prolly set you back $300-400. I ate at his former restaurant in LA and it was $400/head. Bourdain loves Masa's food.

Masa is $350/head before tax, tip, or the first beverage.

Plan for $1k/person and be happy when it's only $750.
posted by Tacos Are Pretty Great at 12:54 PM on July 11, 2006

kcm, Ad Hoc will be open in a few weeks. No reservations sadly. Nothing new about a 3-course comfort food prix fixe menu ($40-$45 probably?) but who knows what Keller will come up with. $10 corkage.

I'm also eager to see what the burger joint will really be like. There must be some really big ideas under his sleeve if he's taking an extra 6 months just to flesh out this burger concept.
posted by junesix at 1:15 PM on July 11, 2006

Not what you want, clearly, but fun for Bourdain groupies: Do you still live in MD? If you didn't want to spend that kind of money, why not go to Chef Tony's restaurant, Les Halles? There's a DC version. I'd say it's moderately expensive, delicious French bistrot type food - very much his kind of food. And you can get in the door today.
posted by Amizu at 1:28 PM on July 11, 2006

Amizu...i have been toying with that idea. i *KNOW* he wont be there but it would still be cool.
and then i read the essay he has in The Nasty Bits "Is Any One Home?" (its about "celebrity" chefs).
posted by ShawnString at 1:58 PM on July 11, 2006

Just to reinforce what kcm posted, I ate at the French Laundry for lunch on my birthday. We had to make reservations two months in advance, and after calling in, had to sit on hold for about 45 minutes before being able to put in the reservations.

Our tab came out to ~+$500/person with the wine included.
posted by bl1nk at 2:37 PM on July 11, 2006

and, for the record, sitting on hold for 45 minutes is still preferable the reservations process for Taillevent -- where you had to write a letter to them, in French, months in advance, formally requesting a reservation, then wait to hear their answer.

Granted this was a decade or so ago, and I've heard that they've caught up to modern times and actually use e-mail now, but I wouldn't be surprised if the old policy is still held over for the sake of tradition.
posted by bl1nk at 2:41 PM on July 11, 2006

I recently tried to book the FL. I was on the phone 2 months in advance, at opening time (well, five minutes before, actually). It took 20 minutes to get through. I ended up fifth on the cancellations list.

I envy those who managed to book it without similar problems. I suspect luck plays the major part.
posted by Decani at 6:17 PM on July 11, 2006

I just had the pleasure/honor of eating at The French Laundry on Sunday. For four, including wine and additional tip (the service is spot on there) it totalled $2,200!

FYI, my friend was able to get reservtions 2 months in advance on OpenTable, surpirsingly enough.
posted by lannanh at 8:36 PM on July 11, 2006