Outrageously Expensive Foods Slideshow
On May 31, 2012, Capitol Dawg in Sacramento, Calif., broke the Guinness World Record for having the world's most expensive hot dog. This oversized dog will set adventurous diners back $145.49, with the previous record set at $100 by a Canadian hot dog stand.
The hot dog, called the "California Capitol City Dawg," will consist of a three-quarter-pound, 18-inch, all-beef premium frank made in Chicago that's topped with ultra-expensive moose cheese from Sweden, white truffle butter (spread and grilled) on a specially prepared foccacia roll, whole-grain mustard from France, and all-natural bacon from New Hampshire steeped in maple syrup.
The World's Most Expensive Burger
Serendipity's $69 Haute Dog may have lost its "most expensive hot dog" title to a $145.49 offering from Sacramento's Capitol Dawg, but New York's den of hyper indulgence has managed to snag the Guinness World Record for the most expensive hamburger in the world.
According to a press release, Le Burger Extravagant, Serendipity's latest foray into conspicuous consumption, is made with "Japanese Wagyu beef infused with 10-herb white truffle butter, Salish Alderwood smoked Pacific sea salt, and 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."
Click here for Serendipity Snags 'Most Expensive' Title with $295 Burger.
14 Bank-Breaking Dishes
In these frugal times, you might expect restaurants to roll out inexpensive entrées and desserts to woo penny-pinching diners. More meatloaf! Less filet mignon! Some have. But others have stuck to their luxurious guns with dishes that could decimate your bank account in a few forkfuls.
We've rounded up 14 of the world's top budget-busting dishes. Which are worth the splurge? Which should be laughed off the menu? You be the judge.
The World's Most Expensive Ingredients
Would you ever pay $100 for a melon? $3,000 for a pound of white truffles? That's how much some of the world's most expensive ingredients cost, Gourmet reports.
Click here for $100 Melons and More of the World's Most Expensive Ingredients.
The World's Most Expensive Big Mac
Lonely Planet's latest book, How to Land a Jumbo Jet, includes this fascinating infographic comparing McDonald's around the world.
Some things we learned: The busiest McDonald's is located in Moscow, with 40,000 daily customers, and apparently there's a ski-thru Mickey D's in Sweden. And the most expensive Big Mac in the world? Norway's Big Mac sells for $8.06.
The World's Most Expensive Club Sandwich
Sacre bleu! If you want to order a club sandwich in Paris, you might want to check the price again. A new study by Hotels.com named Paris as the most expensive destination to order a club sandwich.
Click here for Where Is the World's Most Expensive Club Sandwich?
The World's Most Expensive Ice Pop
This $1,000 popsicle is made with Tequilas Premium Clase Azul Ultra (which sells for $1,500 a bottle), edible 24-carat gold flakes, and sugar to sweeten the tequila.
The World's Most Expensive Ice Cream Sundae
Bet you thought the Grand Opulence sundae from Serendipity 3 would be the priciest frozen dessert on this list — think again. Three Twins Ice Cream is a small chain of organic scoop shops in Northern California, and they've created a sundae more expensive that you can imagine. This $3,333.33 banana split is topped with three syrups made from three extremely rare dessert wines — a 1960s vintage port, a Chateau D'Yquem, and a German Trockenbeerenauslese. They ask that you order the sundae one day in advance so that they can arrange to have a cellist play while you devour the creation.
10 Outrageously Expensive Fast Foods
Over the past few years, several businesses have created their own variations on fast food and given them unnervingly high prices. Some were one-of-a-kind items with proceeds earmarked for charity, and others remain regular items on the menus of upscale restaurants. But what they all have in common is a price many times higher than anything normally found inside a Happy Meal.
Still, would people be willing to pay more for fast food if it were made with better ingredients? Would they be willing to pay more for a hamburger made of high-quality beef? What if it was made from fresh Kobe beef from the Hyogo Prefecture in Japan and smothered in foie gras and black truffles, while perched atop a brioche truffle bun dotted with edible, 24-karat gold leaves? Would the average fast-food consumer be willing to part with a few extra bucks for such an experience?