Charlie Trotter's Amazing $2,500-a-Head Blowout

If you didn't have an extra $2,500 lying around (or were sleeping with someone who did), you likely weren't at the over-the-top, 13-course extravagant $2,500-a-person dinner last night at Charlie Trotter's, marking one of the last official sit-down dinners in the restaurant's 25 years.

Only about 60 lucky (and wealthy) people, including Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his wife, Amy Rule, as well as writer Jay McInerney and chef Norman Van Aken, got to attend. As previously reported, Trotter invited three guests—Nathan Myhrvold, Tetsuya Wakuda and Sean Brock—to participate in the creation of the meal, alongside Trotter's team. The result, from the looks of this slideshow, was pretty magical.

Throughout the night, guests were treated to some incredible dishes including a liquid caprese, "cryo-shucked" oysters with pickled roses, beer-can squab with stewed tripe-filled ravioli, Queensland spanner crab with bean curd aonori and junsai, lobster with fried sweetbreads and catfish with butter beans and a lovage-whey sauce. And, of course, the wine flowed all night. Sounds like a pretty special dinner and with the proceeds all going to charity, it looks like it was worth the money.
· Last Night at Charlie Trotter’s: Inside the Legendary Restaurant’s $2500-per-Person Gala Event [Grub Street]
· Charlie Trotter Taps Nathan Myhrvold, Sean Brock, Tetsuya Wakuda for Major Charity Dinner [~EChi~]

Charlie Trotter and Nathan Myhrvold [Photo: Huge Galdones]