Want to spend a weekend with Wolfgang Puck? It’s too late. Someone already beat you to it. Sam’s Club’s website was offering a once-in-a-lifetime “L.A. Foodie Weekend” for two, a travel package that includes a three-hour private cooking class with Puck himself in one of his restaurant kitchens.
But wait, there’s more. The package also includes dinners or lunches for two “with VIP seating” at each of Puck’s high-end Los Angeles-area restaurants, such as the steakhouse Cut, the Asian-theme Chinois on Main in Santa Monica, Calif.; the new Red Seven, which is actually run by Wolfgang Puck Catering, another branch of his empire; and, of course, the landmark venue Spago in Beverly Hills, Calif.
There’s also a “private farmers market tour,” which I assume means a visit to the Beverly Hills Farmers Market on Sunday mornings, where I often see Puck with his children, sniffing the strawberries and filling bags with wild arugula, just like any other Beverly Hills dad. It could also refer to the Farmers Market, Los Angeles’s historic collection of food vendors and shops adjacent to the “lifestyle mall” The Grove, but the site isn’t specified.
The buyer also will go home with two sets of Wolfgang Puck kitchen appliances, including cook-ware, a knife set, a grill/griddle and an 8-quart “multi-cooker,” as well as two autographed collections of Puck’s cookbooks. Airfare and three nights stay in a hotel are also included, plus a limo ride to and from the airport.
The cost? A mere $4,400.
Before you pick up that phone to place your order—or move the mouse, as the case may be—the website claims the package is “sold.”
Only one package was offered, and the weekend is only available when Puck is available, which could be tricky these days, as he’s just about to open his 17th restaurant within his Fine Dining Group, Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill. The restaurant, which will be located at the new LA Live complex in downtown Los Angeles, is scheduled to open May 14 or 15.
Not included on the tour is a stop at Puck’s fast-casual Wolfgang Puck Bistro or Wolfgang Puck Express, though the buyer of the package could easily stop in at one of the airport locations, depending on the terminal they pass through. Of course, if they don’t get enough of the Puck empire over the weekend, they can always run to their neighborhood grocer to pick up some frozen Wolfgang Puck Pizzas.
Puck wasn’t the only chef to host a dream-weekend package. Food Network star Sandra Lee also was available for a tour of New York, lunch at her favorite (unnamed) restaurant, and an afternoon of cooking for the relatively low price of $3,900. Sorry. Already “sold.”