Over $2,000!
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it’s a charity auction.
I recently paid good money for a table at a charity auction as well, but not $2000. Nevertheless, I have seen them go for over $3000 time and time again.
That’s actually pretty cheap.
Have gone to Rao’s a few times from lots purchased at charity auctions and they were all for significantly more than a donation of the $3000 winning bid.
While I would never pay that much, Ray is big time, I am happy to pay, for a good cause, to go eat there. It is fun.
I was the purchaser only once. The other times I was a guest of the purchaser. So, I’m only medium time ![[basic-smile.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/83717c74df9b0ce202453063bc4f11baf0ee6b8a.gif "smile"){kind=small}
Aside from the issue of a nice contribution to a worthy charity, is Rao’s any good? I’ve heard its fine, but nothing that special. Fact or fiction?
While you wouldn’t know it by my name, I’m almost all Italian - southern Italian. While Rao’s food is excellent, I’d take my grandmother’s cooking over Rao’s. And while I may not be objective, I’m relatively sure that an objective observer would agree.
Wilfred,
Certain things are good. Their meatballs are excellent. Red sauce too. One of their sigs is lemon chicken. I am not a huge fan of lemon chicken, but I suppose it is good if that is your thing.
I would take my grandmother’s cooking over it as well…homemade chopped liver, stuffed derma, potato latkes, matzoh ball soup…she was a great cook.
I’ll 3rd on the exceptional food cooked by grandmothers. It is by no means all nostalgia, but more due to a way of life. Cooking was key to a happy and closeknit family, and it was great. Also the range was fantastic, from salads, meats, and fish to great desserts.
Both my grandmothers were horrible cooks…
My maternal grandmother was the worst cook in the universe. Her daughter, my mother was the second worst cook. Where I got my interest in food & wine, I’m really not sure; but it wasn’t hereditary.
My point - which I thought was obvious, but I guess it wasn’t - was not that my grandmother was a good cook, but that I ate the same food on a regular basis growing up that is served at Rao’s. And the NYC/southern Italian food I ate as a kid was as good or better - which I’m sure was also true for many others of my descent.
The food as Rao’s while good, is not special. Go there to make a charitable contribution and the atmosphere.
i like how even though you pay $3000 to eat here, you don’t get to choose the date or time 
Oh, I got it, Ray.
Agree with most of the sentiment. I generally go a few times a year and the reason to go is the atmosphere. It can be hit or miss, but if you go on a night when Frankie is there and in a good singing mood, it can be a real blast. Some things on the menu are delicious, like the meatballs and the stuffed veal. Others are typical “Italian family” type food. Culinary-wise nothing earth shattering, but almost always a great time.
I’m reasonably objective observeror is it objectionable. Whatever, when can I come for dinner?
Auction closed for $3,075.00!