Is it just me or is this the 100th restaurant to roll one of these out?

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You'd think they'd serve up some truffles or something with it?

Yeah, I'm down with whiner. Just use some nice beef, nice cheese, and an onion roll. A burger doesn't need to have upper crust ingredients.

It's a gimmick. A marketing tool.

Create a $100 hamburger and send out a press release. You'll get more press than you ever would with an advertising campaign.

It's the same reason you see $1000 martinis in New York...

What, no foie gras and truffles? This is the lowest QPR $100 burger that I've seen.

Throw in a bottle of Bressler, and it would be worth it!

Went to the Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas twice this week. The Kobe Beef burger is very very nice. It was the $16 one (they had one for $60 with Foie Gras). I had the Angus beef burger today which was pretty tasty too.

Making antelope burgers tonight. Grilled with vidalia onions, bleu cheese, sliced tomatoes and fresh lettuce on a toasted kaiser. Nothing else required.
Except the vino...? And the rhubarb custard pie for dessert.

This is the perfect place to ask this question.

We're having a French Foodie Club, about 60 people, over for dinner in a couple of weeks. They all think they're all gormands and sommeliers.

It want to have this be a BBQ and give them hamburgers... for $75; My budget for the food is $50, $15 for the chef and help, and I want to make $10 a head for charity.

Now, many of you know what a great hamburger I can make. It would be very similar (if not exactly the same) as the VinoCellar 2nd Anniversary BBQ we had here last year.

First question: What can I do to the hamburgers to give the illusion they are "gourmet"? The obvious answer, and not very much more expensive, is to make them a Kobe Burger. We could waive a bottle of truffle oil over the BBQ so we could say "truffle" (you know, like waving the bottle of vermouth over the glass for a dry martini). I thought about Duck Burgers but they tell me I just doubled the price. Please, help me with some ideas.

Second question: Any ideas for the fixin's other than ketchup, mustard, relish, tomato, onion and pickles?

Third question: What "fancy" name do we call this froggy gourmet hamburger?

Fourth question: What side dish/dishes should I have?

I'm all set for dessert. I'm going to do a "make it yourself" ice cream sundae (or parfait lala frog) with vanilla and chocolate ice creams, hot chocolate, caramel and marshmellow sauce, and all the tweeky stuff like jimmies, nuts, cherries, something you suggest, and of course whiped cream.

So I need to come up with the menu and then I need how to express it on paper.

Help

How about a horseradish sauce?

a variety of interesting cheeses and specialty buns/rolls to put the burgers on...
freshly made aioli

the aoli sounds great. also you can snaz up the ketchup condiment by working/blending in some smoked pepper and it will make it stand out. Local restaurant does it and it is awesome...

Just make an Ambrosiaburger French roll with ambrosia sauce...now all you have to figure out is what goes in that ambrosia sauce.

Make a garlic/rosemary aioli, ( I have a great recipe that I use on a Portobello/Basalmic Sauteed Onion Bruschetta that would work wonders on a burger ) to accompany vidalia onion, bitter greens and baby sprouts, beefsteak tomato, and maybe some asiago cheese, all on a toasted onion roll..........I personally like Bison or Elk Burgers. You could try that, or even Ostrich.....AND they are not even remotely close to as expensive as Kobe.

I also like to roast a couple of heads of garlic in the oven with some olive oil and then peel them and mash them up to mix in with the meat before I form the patties. Adds some great flavor......enough to excuse the temporary halitosis.

Mmmmmmm, now, I'm getting hungry.

Jester

Toasting (or grilling) the rolls is a good suggestion and should not be forgotten!

Grilling bacon or if you want to show off.. Pancetta for a topping.

Saute a variety of mushrooms in some garlic, thyme, wine and butter for toppings.

Basque Boulangerie in Sonoma makes great "Burger Buns". You have to special order them (they usually only sell to restaurants - but you can call and order)

Does Kobe have enough flavor to make a good burger? I know it's supposed to have great texture, but what about flavor?