NYC Can't Compete in White Truffle Game

In 2007, a high-water mark in white truffle excess was reached when Le Cirque owner Sirio Maccioni dropped $7,000 on a 1.1 pound white Alba truffle. Now see how the mighty have fallen: Last year NYC restaurateurs were outbid for the biggest truffle of the season by Chicago, and this year Philadelphia has made the Big Apple look like small potatoes. Philly steakhouse Barclay Prime just outbid Daniel for the biggest truffle to hit town this year, a 1.1 pound monster bought for $4,100. Grub Street has video of that bad boy, which sure could upgrade plenty of cheese steak sandwiches. Of course, as Mauro Maccioni once told us, "what really matters is firmness, not size."

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By John Del Signore in Food on November 17, 2009 12:23 PM

Comments [rss]

mrguy

didn't that 2007 truffle end up rotting while in transit or storage, prompting a call from the italian truffle society to repatriate its carcass in the belief that burying it in the hills from which it came would help deliver a good truffle harvest the next year?

Snoopy

If my memory and second grade math serves me correctly $7,000 is $2,900 more than $4,100. So this year's crop was less firm than the 2007 crop. So Serio and his sons decided not to pay so much for an inferior product. One can buy a lot of Philly cheese steaks for $2,900.