The Daily Surprise

Aragawa (Tokyo): Expect to spend at least $550 a person at this exclusive but modest little steakhouse in Tokyo's Shinbashi District--most of that on steak, which is the only entrée.

L'Arpege (Paris): A meal here will set you back $495 for the mandatory nine-course tasting menu.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (London) At $224 (not including a 12.5% gratuity) the seven-course tasting menu here is the priciest dinner in town.

Joel Robuchon (Las Vegas) At this restaurant at the Mansion at the MGM Grand, expect to pony up $360 for his legendary 16-course tasting menu. The wine list is astronomically priced, with few wines below the $100 mark.

La Pergola (Rome) Its nine-course tasting menu runs $285, (choose six courses and the meal will only set you back $250--still a much better value than ordering a la carte).

Alinea (Chicago) Its 24 courses menu will cost you $195. The wine list starts at around $40.

Masa (New York) Fresh fish and shellfish flown in daily from Tokyo is just one of the reasons a meal at Masa will cost you $400 right off the bat.

The French Laundry (San Francisco): There is no a la carte dining here, only a $240 nine-course menu.

El Bulli (Roses, Spain): The restaurant closes six months out of the year so that the chef, foam king Ferran Adria, and his crew may spend time inventing new dishes at their Barcelona "kitchen lab." Fans know to always expect the unexpected from the $270 30-plus course menu.

Tetsuya's (Sydney, Australia): The 10-course minimum will set you back about $195.

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