The Capital Bar & Grill in Little Rock sells a $14 burger - up to $20 if you get fancy with toppings.
“The Burger” features 7 ounces of all-natural Creekstone beef served with Parmesan fries, choice of American, cheddar, or Swiss cheese and a pickle. Substitute blue cheese or pimento cheese, $2. Add house-cured bacon, $2; truffled Bearnaise, $1; grilled onions, $1.
Bargain!
Sushi Cafe in Little Rock sells a $16 burger.
Made of Waygu beef, the seasoned and lightly teriyaki-basted half-pound burger includes sharp cheddar, lettuce, tomatoes and onions on ciabatta, and is served with sweet potato fries.
Steal!
Cache Restaurant in Little Rock sells an $11 burger.
The lunch offering has avocado, fried egg, habanero cheddar and “l.t.o.,” an $11 way of saying lettuce, tomato and onion.
Giveaway!
At least they are budget buys compared with elsewhere in the world.
Admittedly I’ve always had a bit of a beef with pricey burgers (this is America, after all, home of the drive-through dollar menu with no tip required!). But now, I see local spendy sandwiches for the deals that they truly are.
For example, Beer & Buns burger bar that opened this month in the St. Giles Court Hotel in New York serves a signature Indulgence Burger. Made of Kobe beef, it features foie gras sauteed in Sauternes wine, shaved white truffles, pancetta and beluga caviar on a homemade artisan bun.
The rather hard to swallow price: $250.
Still, the Indulgence Burger is hardly the most expensive in the world, or even in the city.
Serendipity 3 in Manhattan set a 2012 Guinness World Record for world’s most expensive burger with its $295 Le Burger Extravagant, which, according to guinessworldrecords.com, is “Made from white truffle butter-infused Japanese Wagyu beef, the burger is topped with James Montgomery cheddar cheese, black truffles and a fried quail egg. It is served on a gold-dusted campagna roll spread with white truffle butter, and the roll is topped with a blini, creme fraiche and caviar.”
People with room in their tummy or funds in their account can follow it with Serendipity’s record-setting $1,000 Golden Opulence Sundae that contains edible gold, or $25,000 Frrrrozen Haute Chocolate of gold and rare cocoas “served in a baccarat Harcourt crystal goblet with an 18-carat gold and white diamond bracelet attached tothe neck.” (Yes, one gets to keep the bracelet. And any kind of heartburn-laced regret.)
Still, Le Burger Extravagant is small (fried) potatoes, compared to Fleur Burger 5000. Served at Fleur in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay, the Wagyu beef and foie gras burger patty topped with truffle sauce and shaved black truffles, served on a brioche truffle bun, comes with a bottle of 1995 Chateau Petrus Bordeaux and a $5,000 price tag.
That’s still a discount compared with a room service item once offered at Vegas’ Palms Hotel - $6,000 Carl’s Jr. burger with fries and a bottle of Bordeaux.
Wait, isn’t Carl’s Jr. just like our Hardee’s? I like a good Thickburger too, but a Hardee’s combo is hardly worth that hearty sum.
Back to that now measly sounding $250 burger.
I asked Facebook friends: “What would have to be on a burger to make it worth $250?” Here are the top answers:
“A free pass to play Pebble Beach. Otherwise, no deal!”
“Kobe beef and something from Tiffany’s.”
And my favorite: “There would have to be $242 on it.” Get off your buns and email: jchristman@arkansasonline.com
Spin Cycle is a weekly smirk at pop culture.
Style, Pages 49 on 03/30/2014