The Heart of Fine Dining Why do so many of us lay down $300.00 for a few bottles of wine and a dinner for four at a fine restaurant? It's not necessarily because we're rich or as some would say because we're haudy-taudy and pretentious. We just happen to understand and appreciate fine dining and treat ourselves every once in a while to a dinner of fine wine and good food. The general public's perception of fine dining is that a $20-30.00 entree is overpriced unless it's an expensive seafood like lobster.

What many of us don't understand is that fine food involves a rigidity for fresh, high quality ingredients and is highly labor intensive. We also don't understand that culinary abilities are not only an art, but also involve experience, talent and skill.

When we talk about fresh, high quality ingredients we are talking about food that is unavailable to the average consumer. Once all the ingredients are obtained the appetizer is cooked and served. This may sound pretty cut and dry, however obtaining the freshest ingredients is a time intensive task. For example, I recently enjoyed giant scallops, wrapped in pancetta, laid in a bed of sautéed leeks with a fresh chanterelle sauce at 231 Ellsworth in San Mateo, CA. It was heaven, it was also a $14.00 appetizer. Most of us would feel this was overpriced, however when you consider what went into this dish you can understand that $14.00 is a fair and appropriate price.

The scallops were about 28 hours old by the time they reach my mouth. Scallops this fresh and of such high quality are not available because most of would not pay $24.00 a pound (not including the shipping cost) which is why they are sold only to fine restaurants. In that 28 hour timeframe, these giant scallops were picked, cleaned, iced and overnight expressed via Fed-X across the country from Nantucket, MA to San Mateo, CA. Once in San Mateo, the chef needed to decide how he would serve them, which sometimes takes a little experimenting. Then, they were prepped and cooked. The same goes for the chanterelles, these were Fed-X'ed from Oregon. Talk about rigidity for quality ingredients; Ken Ottoboni, owner of 231 Ellsworth, owns his own mushroom company called Ken Ottoboni Mushrooms. He bought this company because he sees a discrepancy between the highest quality mushrooms and what is often available, thus his restaurant receives the cream of the crop everyday.

Consider the cost of this simple appetizer. The cost of the shipping, of the high quality ingredients, the cost of freshness. In addition, there is the cost of the chef, the Su chef, the prep cook, the waiter, the wine steward and then the Maitre'd. One could go overboard and consider real estate, but I'm not going to go there!

I figure it took anywhere from 10 to 30 people to make this appetizer come together, when you include the shipping personnel. Fine restaurants are willing to go that extra step which is what I mean by rigidity for fresh, high quality ingredients and labor intensity. All-in-all, fine wine and fine food are well worth the price and I salute all who make fine meals come together.