In the Colonial Room of the Drake Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois, near Chicago, there’s a soup.
Not just any soup. Its price alone sets it apart. It costs around $1,900 to take part in the Bookbinder Soup experience.
On this episode of “Something Offbeat” we have a reservation with Chef Colleen Garcia, director of curriculum and content development for the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, to learn more about big ticket menu items. Are they worth the hype, or the price? The answer is complicated.
“We’re all in it for the same thing, which is guest experience, right? We all came into the service industry hoping to provide guests with a beautiful experience or an interesting experience,” she said.
With Garcia, we’ll travel from Italy to Ritz Carlton kitchens to learn more about why some items are so pricey, what its like to cook them, and how social media has changed the dining game. Listen to the full episode here.
Each week, “Something Offbeat” takes a deeper look at an unusual headline. If you have suggestions for stories the podcast should cover, send them to us at somethingoffbeat@audacy.com.