Vancouver's $34 dollar burger

[Ling]

Anyone read the article on the $34 burger Diva is offering right now? It's on the front page of today's Vancouver Sun. The burger contains the patty, 2 oz. of foie gras, and short rib meat, sandwiched in an in-house baked onion bun. (It was inspired by Daniel Boulud's burger).

Burger comes with onion rings and fries.

[shelora]

(It was inspired by Daniel Boulud's burger).

Inspired or ripped off?

[Oakley]

Feenie's has a version of this burger for $44.

Edited July 14, 2004 by Oakley (log)

[Johnathon]

Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro Moderne in New York introduced the DB Burger Royale in January 2003 and still holds the Guiness Record for most expensive burger.

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/index.asp?id=58760

I have had the burger at DB Bistro and the Feenie's version. Damn fine burgers but when all is said and done, I would much rather see some of the fine ingredients (foie gras, braised short ribs, truffles, etc.) in the creations treated in a more eloquent manner other than a "good grillin".

Shelora is right. This is not an inspiration for Diva at the Met, it is a replica. At least Feenie's is really just a great burger with toppings you decide and not an exact replica of the DB Burger Royale.

[vandan]

theres always the witch burger(?)served at the witch of endor pub in maple ridge, its absolutely massive, so big in fact that if you can eat the whole thing within an hour i believe, then you get it for free and don't have to pay the $30 they charge for it , last i heard no-one had been up to the task

[Busboy]

"I'll have the $15 martini and a $50 burger, please."

I'm waiting for the $30 frites made with organic Peruvian spuds hand-harvested by descendents of Inca shamans and fried in a deep fat fryer filled entirely with molten duck fat and foie gras.

Edited July 14, 2004 by Busboy (log)

[shelora]

That's really funny, mr. busboy.

While the $34. burger at the Diva makes for a good media scrum, can't chefs dig deeper in their creative unconscious and make something really dazzling and new? Or has it all been done?

What the heck is wrong with a burger made with quality beef, great bread, mustard, grilled onions and killer cheese with a price tag, of let's say, $20.? With some excellent organic fries and onion rings, perhaps fried in duck fat.

s

[paul mitchell]

Last week we had a guest who wanted his kids to try something fancy but friendly to their innocent palates - good old deep fried pheasant fingers - we are an inclusive resort with free reign on food cost but we figured that if we did charge for it it'd be $30 or so.

[Keith Talent]

Last week we had a guest who wanted his kids to try something fancy but friendly to their innocent palates - good old deep fried pheasant fingers

That's perhaps the most f'ed up thing I've ever heard. I don't want to cast undue aspersions on any particular nationality, but hell, they were Americans, right? I'm not even a good father and I recognize that's idiotic, imagine if someone that knew something about child rearing was to weigh in.

And we wonder where a generation that pines for a fifty dollar burger comes from. That's just wrong on so many levels. I eagerly await the two hundred dollar Lafite Slurpee and the foie gras stuffed corn dog.

And you've got to be a pretty damn good service professional to deliver Pheas-fingers, I'd have delivered a lecture prior to bring out the food.

[stovetop]

shelora said:

can't chefs dig deeper in their creative unconscious and make something really dazzling and new? Or has it all been done?

That is the problem with traditional French cuisine; how long can you live the past, and cook the same concept that Escoffier did 100 years earlier, to me the whole idea of cuisine is the ingredients not the chefs name or ego, like how many expensive ingredients can you fit into a dish, foie gras, truffle, why are we so hung up on all this stuff, it has all been done before, but he put it on a burger and you are original; this though is not the chefs fault, I wonder how many units he sold of those burgers last month, chefs are driven by you the critic and the customer.

We could be like jazz players and hang out in a smoky bar playing Mingus all night long to a small audience or go play crap and make a living; this decision is tough for us cooks too, what would you do, the money or the food, pay your bills, or not.

Being a "CHEF" as oppose to a "cook"; a chef to me is someone who engineers a menu, develops all the concepts research and style that goes into the menu, does he or she actually have to cook, well??

To me a good cook is someone who opens the fridge and looks inside, not much there, so what!!... they can make any thing out of nothing, 30 minutes later you have a great meal, now that is a chef to me.

Some cooks can not cook at home, chefs fridges can be a sorry sight, it is a frightening thing, and how can one be so hot at work? But at home they are just ridiculously boring, go figure, what’s up with that??

To me that is a industrial thing, they learned how to cook industrial food and that is all they know, Mom is still the best teacher, cultural food rocks for me this is cooking, not some big name chef charging tones of money for expensive stuff, good dinning is those places cooking traditional (ethnic) home cook ethnic food that was once ruled by the imperialist, fusion food, they took the best thing from their victors when they left, mix it up, Bang!! (Sorry had to do it), now that is food.

HBC

Now that is Canadian!!!

[Daddy-A]

Mom is still the best teacher,

You've never eaten my mom's cooking have you? Remember those Kraft commercials the CBC ran in th 60's & 70's during The Wonderful World of Disney? Feel my pain.

cultural food rocks for me this is cooking, not some big name chef charging tones of money for expensive stuff

Isn't this kinda similar to Fennie's Million Dollar Kitchen? The Foie Gras Burger or the $1000 Omelette ... it's all marketing. Eating as an experience has become a comodity that is being sold back to us like a pair of Nikes or The Vancouver Canucks (YAY NUCKS!). One dines out as much for the experience as for the food. Like Andy Lynes said about dining al fresco in Vancouver

I think it does indicate that there is an element of "see and be seen" to dining out in the city and that the food is not always the number one priority.

It's hardly surprising then that the chef has become a part of that experience, and sometimes the reason for that experience. If Nike markets Tiger Woods, why not Thomas Keller at French Laundry, or Mario Batali at Babbo? (I'm avoiding local chefs for no other reason than to prove I can Google ) Sure the food may be amazing, but with so many excellent choices, a restaurant, like any business, needs to find an edge and use it to its full advantage.

And as much as we may want to poeticise about the food, unless you cook it at home, it's about $.

DA

[barolo]

My take is similar to Daddy-A's - it's a marketing world out there in the restaurant business.

[stovetop]

You've never eaten my mom's cooking have you?  Remember those Kraft commercials the CBC ran in th 60's & 70's during The Wonderful World of Disney? Feel my pain.

Sorry I feel your pain, Sometimes I forget, I kind of had three moms, all could cook, all different, but all amazing in their own way, one was my birth mom, one was my dads second wife and one was a neighbor, I spent more time over there then my own house( parents). Dinner at our house was 6:30; dinner at my neighbors was about 5 sharp, I would go there and eat then go home and eat.

My dad re-married when I was 18, Margo his new wife is a great entertainer and cook, once again different styles. All theses great woman cooks had some influence on me, Yes I know that not all moms were great cooks, but at least it was a skill and cultural thing that that woman learned and past down, from mother to daughter, but learning how to killing a roast beef is not a skill and one that needs to change, we have had fridges now for well over 60 years, so we do not need to kill our meat any more, but people still have to kill it, just like mom used to make, oh well??

It has not been until the last ten years that I have really pursued the cultural aspect of food, the whole restaurant style food is really killing me, all that fat, crap and Sysco food, I longed for home style food, started getting into my cultural background for a restaurant project, a Cajun based restaurant about ten years ago, and I have not looked back since, I really enjoy my own projects, I like to let the food speak for itself, food has no ego!!

[Johnathon]

I feel your pain as well and am reminded of my own. But, I am quite thrilled my mother was a horrible cook. Bless her soul having to fill four squawking mouths in the nest on her own and work full time to keep us happy and fed.

Monday: Casserole

Tuesday: Casserole

Wednesday: Casserole

Thursday: Casserole

Friday: "The Week in Review" Casserole

Weekends: "Go to your friends house and get some grub!"

I grew up in a neighborhood resembling a miniature rendition of the United Nations. East and West Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Fijian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Polish, Ukrainian, Greek...

As a child I was learning how to make Roti in a makeshift outdoor oven with 20-30 massive Fijian women laughing at my eagerness to learn. Fresh fish lessons from the Japanese family across the lane when they returned from the boats, the "fine art" of wine making in your garage from the Portuguese and Ukrainian breads, Pierogies and Homemade Sausage from even more neighbors.

I did not set out to learn about food because I wanted to; I learned quickly to defend myself from my mother's cooking! Which I in turn turned around and recreated in our own kitchen for my younger brothers and sister. Good times! I was blessed to have this type of exposure and wholeheartedly encourage anyone with children to expose them to as much as possible in respect to ethnic and local cuisines. And for the rest of you... It is never too late to explore the new. Even if it is only new to you.

Enjoy, always.

[Ling]

(It was inspired by Daniel Boulud's burger).

Inspired or ripped off?

Well, the chef at Diva says it was "inspired". I was trying to be kind.

[shelora]

Being a "CHEF" as oppose to a "cook"; a chef to me is someone who engineers a menu, develops all the concepts research and style that goes into the menu, does he or she actually have to cook, well??

To me a good cook is someone who opens the fridge and looks inside, not much there, so what!!... they can make any thing out of nothing, 30 minutes later you have a great meal, now that is a chef to me.

You rock, stovetop. Excellent definition.

I know so many young chefs that eat at Subway or McDonald's on their days off. I don't get it.

I've eaten my way through many cultures, since I was a young'un and cooking in restaurants in my 30's inspired me even more to experiment, cook, cook, cook, eat, eat, eat and travel.

There must be a way to inspire young chefs and cooks. Maybe it could take the form of inspirational retreats/food and food culture spas.

It wouldn't even have to be in foreign lands, we've got most of it right here in Canada. The retreats would involve tours of farms and outdoor markets in cities across the country coupled with hands on workshops, dining in homes and restaurants that serve excellent ethnic foods.

Getting to the roots of the cuisines of the world, as it were.

Unfortunately they don't teach much of that in cooking school. Shame, really.

Shelora

[stovetop]

I know so many young chefs that eat at Subway or McDonald's on their days off. I don't get it.

Me too; I don't get it.

Last year I spent a whole summer on a farm in the Alberni valley, it really helped me bring energy to myself, replenishing my body and mind to get back in the kitchen and create, there is nothing like going to the garden and picking some food, walking back up to the house and making dinner.

Sysco is not food

I would like to recommend John Bishops movie Deconstructing supper, he really asks the right questions, I was really impressed with the whole movie.

steve

[Andy Lynes]

What the heck is wrong with a burger made with quality beef, great bread, mustard, grilled onions and killer cheese with a price tag, of let's say, $20.?

Whats wrong with a White Spot triple 0, fries and chocolate shake for less than half that?

[shelora]

This is a whole other fun topic - diner food.

Well, White Spot, they do toast their burger buns and they do have sauteed onions, but where is that beef coming from and those fries are not hand cut, how often is that deep fat fryer changed, how many different foods are fried in that oil and how are those potatoes grown?

A word on Sysco aka Satan. They are now in Mexico and probably other countries in South America, delivering the same GMO food products. That is a sad state of affairs.

S

[Daddy-A]

What the heck is wrong with a burger made with quality beef, great bread, mustard, grilled onions and killer cheese with a price tag, of let's say, $20.?

Whats wrong with a White Spot triple 0, fries and chocolate shake for less than half that?

You beat me to the puch Andy.

I like to think along the lines of Tony Bourdain. Good food is good food ... doesn't matter where it comes from or how much it cost. The best meal I've ever eaten was purchased from a series of stalls at a market in Lugan, Switzerland. We took the food, hiked into the hills and enjoyed it with a 5 fr. bottle of wine (with a Grizzly bear on the label no less!).

DA

["T"]

I had the burger last night and it was damn good. Not something I would order again soon but once in while, what the hell.

[Agava]

I don't know but for $34.00 I think they should be using a better quality of meat. New york strip or Tenderloin.

[stovetop]

Why would you grind up tenderloin or New York strip, besides once it is all ground up you will not know the difference and besides chuck, sirloin or but all make better burgers from what I have read and experienced over the years. The fat content in both those meats is low, also tenderloin does not have that much taste, it is tender, but chefs always put sauce on it, so its real self is hidden under the saucier's amazing port wine sauce or a peppercorn sauce.

I put pork in my burgers, meatballs and meat sauce cause pork fat rules!!

steve