Texas steakhouse launches a one-day-only special: a $285 cheeseburger

This burger will cost you $285.Carly Shuttlesworth/Berg Hospitality Group

To ring in what is surely the most important holiday of the year, National Burger Day, of course, a Texas steakhouse will unveil a one-day-only special: a burger made with flakes of 24-karat gold. 

The cost? $285. 

The burger will be available only on National Burger Day, on Friday, May 28, at B&B Butchers & Restaurant, a high-end steakhouse with locations in Fort Worth and Houston. 

Named after the small round cut of beef from which the patty will be derived, the “24k Tournedos” consists of an eight-ounce Kobe beef patty topped with seared foie gras, black truffles, raclette cheese and tomato marmalade. The gold flakes will be baked into the burger’s freshly made brioche buns. 

“I’m driving to Fort Worth right now with the gold,” says restaurant owner Benjamin Berg, calling from Houston, gold in tow.

The burger is a follow-up to a gold-flaked hot dog the restaurant unveiled, as another limited special, at its Houston location in 2017. Aptly called the Break The Bank Frank, the hot dog consisted of buns toasted in truffle butter, a Wagyu hot dog, two ounces of A5 Japanese filet mignon, sauteed lobster and truffled mustard beurre blanc. It was $125. 

“When our staff started talking about National Burger Day, we thought, ‘Let’s go big, let’s outdo what we’ve done before,’” Berg says.

That piqued the interest of Jose Hernandez, the corporate chef of Berg Hospitality Group, the family of restaurants to which B&B’s belongs.

"We wanted to have fun with this burger," Hernandez says. "But it's not just for show. It's a very good burger."

The burger’s hefty price isn’t just for the gold, Hernandez stresses. In addition to the patty made of Kobe beef, a rarely seen Japanese meat known for its well-marbled texture and rich flavor, the sandwich is made with two other top notch ingredients: Hudson Valley foie gras and Italian black truffles, the latter of which will be shaved by hand with a razor blade.

Thick, hand-cut fries also play a role in the price: they’ll come topped with crème fraiche and Petrossian Daurenki caviar. A 30-gram serving of this caviar, just enough for one person, sells for $77 on Petrossian’s website.

“When you consider all the components, it’s really not a bad deal,” says Berg, the founder and CEO of Berg Hospitality. “It’s also a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing.”

Edible gold hit its stride as a food fad a few years ago, when gold sushi and gold doughnuts became a thing. Edible gold was especially popular on burgers. Honky Tonk, an American-themed restaurant in London, made headlines for its $1,700 Glamburger, the buns for which were dipped in gold leaf. Chef Diego Buik created a burger decorated with edible gold for his restaurant in the Netherlands, reportedly to the tune of $2,300.

B&B Butchers’ gold-flaked burger is a real bargain compared to a burger found at celebrity chef Hubert Keller's restaurant Fleur, located in, of course, Las Vegas. Hailed as the most expensive burger in the world, it costs $5,000.

To be fair, much of that price stems from the item served with the burger: a bottle of 1995 Chateau Petrus from Bordeaux. For wine aficionados, it’s the wine to sip before you die.

Eating gold may seem dangerous, but nutrition experts say it’s safe, if it’s at least 23 karats. “It’s not the same gold you find in your jewelry, which may have other metals and can be toxic and dangerous if consumed,” New York-based dietitian Alexandra Oppenheimer told Food & Wine.  

Edible gold is made of pure gold or sometimes a mixture of gold and silver, according to website cookedbest.com. “As its name suggests, it is edible as gold is categorized as ‘biologically inert,’ which means it passes through the human digestive tract without being absorbed,” the site says. 

Berg did a taste-test of the B&B’s gold burger last week, and survived. 

“You might get a gold grill on your teeth," he says. "But that’s about it,” he says. 

B&B's is also offering a less expensive burger for National Burger Day. This one only costs $28.Carly Shuttlesworth/Berg Hospitality Group

B&B's is also offering another burger for National Burger Day: the "Make It au Poivre," made with an eight-ounce Texas Wagyu beef patty, fried onions, Muenster cheese and green peppercorn cognac sauce. Served with a side of steak fries, it's a mere $28.

B&B Butchers & Restaurant opened in Houston in 2015; a second location in Fort Worth opened in early 2018.

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