Dining out in New York City is expensive — especially at a kosher restaurant. But Mocha Burger Lux, a forthcoming Midtown restaurant, is upping the ante with its “24K Gold Plated Golden-Burger,” which has an eye-popping price: $175.
The 12-ounce short-rib burger is wrapped in leaves of real, 24-karat gold. It’s grilled and topped with black Australian truffle, crunchy onions and chips, house-made sauce and pickles. The dish is brought to the table in a custom hand-carved wood treasure chest, which will be opened at the table, triggering a smoke show and illuminating its contents.
“You’re not paying for the piece of meat,” proprietor Naftali Abenaim told the New York Jewish Week. “You’re paying for the experience.”
Kosher restaurants have undergone a renaissance over the past 15 years or so, according to Elan Kornblum, founder of the 80,000-member Great Kosher Restaurants Foodies group on Facebook. Social media has upped the ante, he said, and kosher diners — like all diners — have higher expectations than years past. “The palate of consumers is more educated and sophisticated, demanding more,” Kornblum said. “Everyone has a phone, is a blogger, and likes to post.”
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$175 burger. That is bad [especially when there are so many people who can't afford food]. But what is far worse is the 80,000-member Great Kosher Restaurants Foodies group on Facebook.
80,000 Jews who proudly join a group that is total shpitz פריקת עול. It is פריקת עול because if one is a "foodie" then he is not living for Olam Haba ... and for Hashem. Hashem CLEARLY doesn't want people to be "foodies". If He did - He would have told us. Instead he told us קדושים תהיו which means according to the Ramban that it is forbidden to be a "foodie" or a member of a Facebook "foodie" group.
The reason this is so terrible is that unlike other aveiros - people think that this is totally fine. Not a סתירה at all. I daven three times a day. I learn daf yomi. And I am forever in the search for tastier and more exotic food. What's the problem - it's kosher, isn't it??! So people won't even think to do tshuva for this. Really a churban ha-neshama.
