What Was In The Most Expensive Lasagna Ever Sold

Lasagna may strike you as a homey Italian comfort food, but there is no food so humble that the world of fine dining can't transform it into a bit of conspicuous consumption. That's why you can find chocolate pudding and beef tacos that somehow cost more than $25,000 a piece. You would hope all that money is all about making it taste better, but the preponderance of edible gold leaf in these dishes, which is entirely flavorless, would suggest otherwise. And into this world came the "Diamond and Gold" lasagna, the most expensive slice of lasagna ever recorded, which used to be served at the defunct restaurant Portofino in the Mirage casino.

It shouldn't be much of a surprise that this luxury lasagna was served in Las Vegas, a city that loves showy consumption, but there are some things that set it apart from other headline-grabbing expensive foods in a positive way. For one it came in at "only" $100 a slice, which is bargain-basement pricing compared to some other opulent dishes. And at least in this case most of the money seems to be going to a laundry list of ingredients you can actually taste, with Kobe beef and foie gras being just a few. So what exactly went into the recipe that made this Las Vegas showstopper lasagna so expensive?

The Kobe beef, which is the most valuable beef in the world, would have made this a pricy slice of lasagna no matter what, but every layer of this pasta was infused with premium ingredients. The beef was made into a Kobe Bolognese, which was stuffed between each layer with 24-month-aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, buffalo mozzarella, and porcini mushrooms. And that's just the beginning of the high-end meat. The lasagna was also stuffed with Prosciutto di Parma — not cheap itself — and the most expensive ham in the world, Jamón Ibérico from Spain. Made from free-roaming pigs eating a very specific acorn-fed diet, Jamón Ibérico can command prices above $50 per pound.

To top everything off, Portofino used a take on alfredo sauce infused with foie gras. Oh, and also shaved white truffles, because why not? And while all of these costly items added to the flavor, the restaurant couldn't resist the obligatory flakes of 23-karat gold to top it all off. How else were people supposed to know it was expensive?

So with all this extravagance, does the "Diamond and Gold" lasagna actually taste good? Well, unfortunately, you won't be able to find out, because Portofino shut down in 2017 after only four years of operation, so the flavor of this unique culinary creation will only exist in our collective imaginations. Maybe the restaurant should have charged more for the lasagna?