[Fiddlehead Ferns: The Topic]

The only reason to eat fiddleheads is to accompany the butter.

Mmmmm, butter.

Little know fact: frozen fiddleheads can be thawed and recycled to make cardboard.

[Most you have ever paid for a restaurant meal]

I have a question.  Let's suppose I pay 500$ for one plate.  And let's say it's 300$ without wine.  Where does that money go?  How much goes to the chef?  How much goes to the ingredients, and where might I find some of these uber-expensive ingreidnents??  How much is profit?  Utilities and rent are the same for a fancy restaurant as they are for McDonalds.  So where does the money go?

So food costs for fine dinning can run anywher from 32 to 36 %, higher than that, close the restaurant or fire the chef. Semi edible fast food will run 22 to 28% and unconfirmed rumours indicate that McDonalds runs in the high teens. Therefore, for your dollar, it's always best to go eat out in a high end restaurant. Also, here's a little known fact, the cheapest item on the menu usually has the lowest food cost (bad for you, good for restaurant) and the priciest will probaly be the best bang for your buck.

As for meals, Ledoyen in Paris was 900 for three, something to do with Lievre a la Royale. Otherwise, Nobu and Sushisay are always an easy 200 per person.