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Would you pay $175 for this burger?

The burger is made with 8 ounce patty, shaved white truffle, Wisconsin's Rush Creek Reserve cheese, foie gras, and more on a homemade Parker House roll.
The burger is made with 8 ounce patty, shaved white truffle, Wisconsin's Rush Creek Reserve cheese, foie gras, and more on a homemade Parker House roll.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/Globe Staff

By Sheryl Julian

Globe staff

 Five years ago, the $21 burger at The Bristol Lounge at The Four Seasons was considered so expensive, only the 1 percent could indulge.

Turns out to be chump change.

The man said to have started the craze, Daniel Boulud, now offers a $110 double-truffle burger at DB Bistro Moderne in New York.

On New Year's Eve, as part of his "secret burger" line, Michael Scelfo of Alden & Harlow in Harvard Square is making a $175 burger that begins with 8 ounces of his house-grind Creekstone Farms beef from Kansas.

That is topped with Kobe beef tartare, an egg yolk, Rush Creek Reserve cheese from Wisconsin ("We probably consume half the supply that Formaggio has," says Scelfo), shaved white truffle, with a sprinkle of Jacobsen Salt from Oregon, on a buttery Parker House roll made in the kitchen, with homemade potato chips and pickles. It comes with a glass of Jacquesson Cuvee 736 Champagne. "Lots of expensive ingredients in the burger," says the Cambridge chef, who decided to make the celebratory one "more opulent than normal. A lot more opulent."

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Chef/Owner Michael Scelfo (pictured in January) at his Cambridge restaurant Alden & Harlow.
Chef/Owner Michael Scelfo (pictured in January) at his Cambridge restaurant Alden & Harlow.Lane Turner/Globe Staff/file

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