Lobster is often pricy, but $2,013?

That’s what BiCE in Manhattan was charging this winter for a four-course meal that Chef Silverio Chavez created for the Italian restaurant’s twenty-fifth anniversary. The main course: fresh tagliolini crowned with wild mushrooms, black truffle shavings, and meat from a two-pound Maine lobster, which at the time had a market price of $7.99 a pound.

So what justified the four-figure price tag? It couldn’t possibly have been the courses of crab cakes or veal scaloppini, though no doubt they were delicious. Nor could it have been the signed limited edition Gianni Versace gold-leaf plate that diners got to keep  — it was valued at only $350, according to Weblog Gothamist.

We can only infer from BiCE general manager Peter Guimaraes’ comments to the Huffington Post that some people will pay $2,013 for a lobster dinner simply because it’s $2,013. Remarking that six diners ordered the meal the first week it was offered, Guimaraes said, “What started out as a marketing ploy is turning out to be very good sales for us.” Indeed. — Virginia M. Wright