Las Vegas Weekly

November 20, 2008 · 6:02 PM

White truffles are a tempting treat — even at $4,000!

By Robin Leach

Guy Savoy: No one knows the truffles he's seen.

Photo: TVT

Hard to believe that an oak tree fungus could become so precious and prized that food aficionados would shell out nearly $4,000 a pound for the strong, aromatic delicacy.

Climate change along with alternate droughts and torrential rains have crippled farmers in the Alba region of Italy -- the only place they grow that well for the annual October harvest. Tightened supplies of the sought-after white truffle have sent prices sky-rocketing to well over $5,000 per kilo (2.21 lbs.). Last year a giant 1.5 kg white truffle dug up in Italy sold at auction in heavy bidding that topped off at $330,000!

Celebrated French chef Guy Savoy showed me several that he’d brought over from Europe to his stunning restaurant kitchen in Caesars Palace for his new truffle menu celebrating the new harvest! He told me that world economic conditions had dropped the prices drastically this year on the very first day they went on sale in Italy, but then they shot up sky high when food fans discovered there would be a 50% reduction in supplies.

“It went from under $2,500 a pound on the first day to almost double the next morning, and now we paid almost $4,000 a pound,” he said.

Guy has put a large number of incredible truffle-themed courses on his extraordinary menu of taste treats. Try the extraordinary risotto at $85 a serving with the slices of truffle -- it’s my ultimate favorite! He tells me that despite the economic slowdown, there’s still incredible demand from gourmands and wealthy people for the gastronomic luxury. For the record, only white truffles grow naturally in open forests, whereas the rival black truffles can be cultivated on farms.

“They become more and more rare each year, but it has become such a November tradition, we must be able to meet the requests!” he concluded.

Congratulations are in order for Guy and his son Franck, who lives here in Vegas and manages the Caesars Palace outpost in the Augustus Tower, on earning a prestigious Five Diamond award for the first time here from AAA. They are now part of an elite group of just five Las Vegas restaurants -- alongside Picasso and Le Cirque at Bellagio, Alex at Wynn and Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand -- that have Five Diamonds. There are only 59 distinguished eateries in all of the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean to get the prestigious prize.

“It’s an award for everyone at Caesars Palace,” Guy said.

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