Most Expensive Meal I Never Ate

[srhcb]

An offhand remark on another thread got me thinking about this subject, and I decided to start a new topic.

About fifteen years ago my family still owned a civil engineering company. About 90% of our business consisted of designing infrastructure improvements for local municipalities, so we had to stay abreast of local political machinations in order to maintain good public realations with our client cities.

Every year the Minnesota League of Cities held a convention, usually in Minneapolis/St Paul, and our firm had a display booth and held a reception at one of the convention hotels for delegates from out client cities and other business associates.

One year the convention was held in Duluth, which is only eighty miles away compared to two hundred miles to the Twin Cities, so attendence from our region was up considerably. To take advantage of this we decided to host a sit down dinner at one of Duluth's oldest and best quality restaurants, which happened to feature sea food.

I spent the entire day at the restaurant making sure everything was properly arranged. I've never been one for large gatherings, especially involving politicians and beauracrats, so about the time our guests started to arrive for the free Happy Hour before dinner I was able to sneak out, and drove home for dinner.

Now Nothern Minnesota's small town officials' normal idea of "sea food" might have been beer battered fresh water fish from local lakes, frozen breaded shrimp, and maybe those little smoked oysters that came in cans on New Years Eve. Turned loose on a broader menu they were only too happy to partake of more exotic fare like shrimp cocktaill and lobster tail. Thankfully they were still provincial enough that they were afraid to order caviar or raw oysters. (There were a couple orders of oysters on the tab, but I traced those to my Dad's old partner and our most recent PE hire!)

Around 120 people had eaten diner, and probably another 100 had passed through the bar on their way to other engagements. The total tab came close enough to $5,000 that it exceeded that figure once the gratuity was added on. And I didn't even get an hors d'oeuvre, or a Doggy Bag.

SB (maybe from a sea food restaurant a Kitty Bag would be more appropriate? )

[Carrot Top]

You got off pretty easy, considering the amount of people you fed, SB. Cost per head very fair.

And really (as the TV commercial says): Cost of not having to spend the whole night shmoozing for business purposes?

Priceless.

I do think you should have treated yourself to a hot dog and a slurpy on the way home at the Seven-Eleven though.

[srhcb]

You got off pretty easy, considering the amount of people you fed, SB.    Cost per head very fair. 

Well it was at least 15 years ago, and it was Northern Minnesota, where tastes were not particularily refined. A steak and a baked potato would have been the epitomy of luxury for most people. I did notice quite a few guests had ordered "surf and turf", or even just "turf", despite the restaurants reputation for seafood. (My personal favorite was their Lobster Newburg. )

The bar bill was rather reasonable too, since beer was overwhelmingly the preferred beverage. A few highballs and glasses of wine, but nobody was in the custom of drinking wine with their meal.

And really (as the TV commercial says): Cost of not having to spend the whole night shmoozing for business purposes?

Priceless. 

My sentiments exactly!

My Dad, (somewhat reluctently), and his old partner, my Brother, my Cousin, and other employees, (quite enthusiastically), did a good job of covering for me.

I do think you should have treated yourself to a hot dog and a slurpy on the way home at the Seven-Eleven though.

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In those days, coffee and cigarettes sufficed.

SB (still drinks a lot of coffee)

[Carrot Top]

Well it was at least 15 years ago, and it was Northern Minnesota, where tastes were not particularily refined.  A steak and a baked potato would have been the epitomy of luxury for most people.  I did notice quite a few guests had ordered "surf and turf", or even just "turf", despite the restaurants reputation for seafood.  (My personal favorite was their Lobster Newburg. )

The bar bill was rather reasonable too, since beer was overwhelmingly the preferred beverage.  A few highballs and glasses of wine, but nobody was in the custom of drinking wine with their meal.

←

At just about the same time you refer to, there were *lots* of meals I never ate. That, of course, was my job, to plan and produce meals so someone else could eat them. Not my money being spent of course, corporate bucks (just as yours was) but of course in a way it felt like my money because as the executive chef who also eventually had full charge of the dining rooms overall, FOH and BOH, op and mgmt (I swear it was the cookie recipe that allowed me to manage to pull that off ) I had to answer not only for the happiness of those eating but also for how well the money was being spent, as the money belonged, really, to the partners that were eating. If that makes sense.

And of course, indirectly my bonus was dependent on how well they thought they were getting their money's worth.

Average dinner charge at that time was somewhere around one hundred ten to one hundred forty dollars per person. That never bothered me. What did bother me was when I'd ordered fine expensive wines. It is very difficult to smell an excellent vintage three or four hundred dollar bottle of wine and know that likely, they would drink it all up to the last drop, leaving none for me. If only I could just get there before the service staff clearing the tables did and find a nice small glass left. Didn't happen often enough. Pah. *That* was aggrevating.

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I bet there have been some last-minute cancelled weddings that were the most expensive meal someone never ate, though . Those would make good stories.

Edited April 15, 2007 by Carrot Top (log)

[Davydd]

I hosted a dinner at Sam's Grill & Seafood restaurant in San Francisco also about 15 years ago. It was supposed to be a small appreciation gathering of Mac Graphics Forum volunteer staffers at the MacWorld Expo. I figured maybe about 5 people and we had an enclosed booth. Well, staffers came with friends and word also got around to other Mac graphics forum regular members. I think the group finally grew to around 16 people crowded into a booth that probably could hold 8. I knew my staffers at the time. The rest were just screen names or strangers. I picked up the tab.