LA's Ludicrous New $150 Burger Includes Foie Gras, Truffles, and Shaved A5 Wagyu Beef

To anyone already wandering through the warrens of Downtown, shuddering quietly at the half-a-grand sushi places or the thousands of upscale rental units destined to come online this year, it’s probably best you look away now. Because among the sleek high rises on Bunker Hill, an even higher level of opulence has been found: Nick + Stef’s $150 cheeseburger.

To be clear, this is a cheeseburger. It is loaded with luxury ingredients and may (or may not) be served by someone continuously bowing to you as the enter the room, but it is a cheeseburger that costs more than many people’s monthly car payments. But does your car come pre-ordered with fries?

Lest you get the wrong idea about how bougie Nick + Stef’s is though, it should be noted that the burger at Downtown’s most beautifully redone steakhouse is not an all-the-time thing. Instead, it’s a PR stunt to drum up free marketing (and it’s working!), because who doesn’t love poking fun at the overtly wealthy?

So what can you expect for your cost-of-many-pedicures burger? The typical outlandish edible accoutrements that you might find draped lavishly across a plate on the Titanic: There’s a 35 day dry-aged patty with braised oxtail inside and shaved Wagyu A5 beef on top. Layered over that is some Hook’s 10 year aged cheddar, seared foie gras, shaved truffles, and a full butter-poached lobster tail. Do all those ingredients actually work together under one bun? Who knows, ask your cardiologist.

Wonho Frank Lee

Now here’s where things get morally tricky: Part of the $150 cost of the burger is actually laid into the fries on the side, which are dusted with gold. There’s another side dish too, self-described as “a savory potato ‘milkshake’ with caviar whipped cream” which, who knows what that even means. Regardless, despite the truffles and Wagyu and lobster and foie gras, you’re still putting cash down for some sippable spuds and a pile of fries that remind you of a Fleetwood Mac song.

Ultimately, the question is whether or not the $150 mega-burger is “worth it,” which is its own ultimately subjective metric that will have to take into account endless socioeconomic factors. So don’t let anyone tell you it’s “actually a pretty good deal when you think about it” because, well, that’s up to you. In the meantime, if all you’re after is a delicious burger for 1/15th the cost, here’s a handy list of options. The Nick + Stef’s $150 burger is only available in limited quantities, and just for the month of May.

• Will Sushi Ginza Onodera Immediately Become LA’s Priciest Sushi? [ELA]