On the last night of Blog World Expo, I hosted the first, and hopefully not last, John Chow Blogger Dinner by inviting some fellow bloggers to dine at Benihanna Japanese steak house. The blogs that showed up include Egontron, Zac Johnson, Darrin Carter, Gary Lee, Ms. Danielle, Mad Whips, Neil Patel, Nate Whitehill and the gang at Unique Blog Design. All together, we had 15 people. Shoemoney showed up to say hi but couldn’t stay.
I told everyone dinner was at 7PM but when I went to make the reservations they told me they were booked out for that time slot so I have to move it to 6PM. This didn’t create too much of a problem since Benihanna is inside the Hilton Hotel, which is right next door to the convention center.
Benihanna is the kind of Japanese restaurant where the chef cooks the food in front of you. It’s fun to watch the chef slices and dice the food while trying to make very unfunny jokes. The food quality is average – it doesn’t have a chance in hell of matching Spago and I doubt they ever intend to. Because of the size of our group, we needed two tables and two chefs. Here are some more pictures and a video.
Dinner for 15 came to, well, I’m not going to tell you. Instead, why don’t you take a guess. The person who come closest to the actual amount of the bill (including tax and tips), without going over, will win a signed copy of An American Hedge Fund. Guess away.
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{ 167 comments }
$450
$1920
Why is that guys always wear all black to dinner?
Mine is $1920 US Dollars by the way
Whhhhhat?! $1920!?!? Holy… gosh… I’d open a restaurant in a second.
I didn’t . . .
I’ll say $475 with tax and tip. Might be a tad conservative but who knows!
I think you are close. Assume that John had to pay roughly $31 a head , anyway including tips and since you were in blog word expo…you had to be generous with the tips. I’d say roughly $500 if not even $600 (that’d be $40 per person with tips included).
$750.
You’re not even close.
1250$ knowing john he took them somewhere very nice but not too overly priced
the first to comment? ok, i have no idea of prices there, but i say 1.100 to pay the bill for 15…
nice time you are having there!!
I’d say $1103.44.
Who has eaten Japanese food except for Sushi?
Living in Japan i can say Yes i have. Lots of the food here isn`t `Japanese` as such, it`s more other Asian food that has the Japanese touch added to it.
$1,456
Hahhaa…Gary looks hilariously uncomfortable standing like that.
i was!
I’m going to guess $650 USD
$750
Well i costed 2469$… let me know if i reeally won . . NO cheating please
it didn’t cost you anything, nothing 0 nada!
I’ll guess $720
$898.12, the 0.12 being the tip.
Huge generous tip there haha.
it depends, was there alcohol??….i’ll guess $827.
The bill cost: $3549
John,
Well, I’d say it was $485 USD
Nice, sounds like you had a great time John. Now you gotta come back to a bunch of guys in Vancouver who don’t treat you like a superstar
I have to try and make it down next year, but I had to stay up here and work before the writer’s strike sets in.
I guess $587
Some fantastic Blog World coverage you got here–especially the food posts! The worst part about these sit down cook in front of you places is that your clothes ending up soaking up the grease and smell after you’re done eating. That onion trick was pretty neat, I’m surprised he didn’t burn the place down! lol
Ah yeah I remember that… I was at a barbecue at my university cooking sausages manning the grill woo for everyone… and afterwards I STANK. I think we’re more safe with Japanese food though… healthy stuff.
How about $501?
How could our blogs in Chinese apply for these services?Seems no way, they only accept websites in English.
I’m not going to guess at the price but those are some delicious looking food pictures! It seems like it was a good party too!
Hey is is just one long party or is any business being discussed
Seriously, we would love to have some updates of what is going on when you have the time.
Yah I love how they did the onion. Very cool – prolly tastes like normal onions though lol. Who cares… it looks cool.
I’d have to say $463.93 roughly…
Glad to see such kind of party among bloggers, and waiting for more!
I guess it’s $555
$777.77
heart-shaped rice look nice! ;p
$1328
wish you were there to hang out!
I do too…
1000
420 is my guess
My guess is $688!
My guess would be… $1,136.34
$968.88
$988.54
$1,025
hard to guess if their were mega drink orders. $1,200.oo usa.
Hmmm… $100 per person x 10 people = $1000 + $200 tip = $1200???
But the big question is, “Who paid for the dinner?”
I bet John did?!?
$1,562
Chef – “what am i making?”
John – “volcano?”
Chef – “no, onion!”
Great Success!
Kzackstan approves!!
$827.63 – Boomshakalaka!! – The Winner of An American Hedge Fund
Wow that will be difficult without knowing what you guys ordered I will guess: $1541
there but let me give the list of food price lists for those that want to guess lol:
entrees
Crab claw deep-fried bread crumbed crab | $15.00
Vegetable tempura | $14.00
Mixed tempura – tempura prawn, fish and vegetable | $15.00
Tori karaage – deep-fried marinated chicken | $14.00
mains
A selection of fresh hand-rolled sushi & made to order sashimi
Benihana special banquet – hibachi chicken and lamb served with onion soup, benihana salad, prawn appetiser, hibachi vegetables & steamed rice. | $43.20
Benihana delight banquet – Hibachi chicken and king prawns served with onion soup, benihana salad, prawn appetiser, hibachi vegetables & steamed rice. | $45.10
Seafood deluxe banquet- king prawns, scallops, hibachi bug meat & snapper papillote served with onion soup, benihana salad, prawn appetiser, hibachi vegetables & steamed rice. | $69.40
white wine selection
Twin Islands Sauvignon Blanc
bottle | $42.00
glass | $9.50
Annie’s Lane Chardonnay
bottle | $42.00
glass | $9.50
De Bortoli Semillon Chardonnay
bottle | $29.50
glass | $7.00
Peter Lehmann Chenin Blanc
bottle | $34.00
glass | $8.00
red wine selection
T’Gallant ‘Juliet’ Pinot Noir
bottle | $34.00
glass | $8.50
De Bortoli ‘Gulf Station’ Shiraz
bottle | $35.00
glass | $8.50
Moondah Brook Cabernet Sauvignon
bottle | $34.00
glass | $8.00
De Bortoli —Shiraz Cabernet
bottle | $29.50
glass | $7.00
sparkling wine selection
De Bortoli — Sparkling Brut
bottle | $29.50
glass | $7.00
Domaine Chandon
bottle | $60.00
glass | $13.00
Charles Heidsieck mis en cave
bottle | $130.00
Dom Perignon
bottle | $350.00
Cocktails:
Caiprioska muddled 42 Below Vodka, with fresh Lime & Raw Sugar
glass | $13.50
Japanese slipper Midori, Cointreau & lemon Juice
glass | $13.50
Grasshopper Creme de Menthe, Creme de Cacao & Cream
glass | $13.50
Google rocks no?
Wow…no comment…
LoL I did not thought about watching the pics and maybe to try find the restaurants site and see the menu.
You should win just for the effort you put in. brown noser! LOL
Oh my dear lordy… I’m impressed haha. Impressed!
I am going to play the price is right and expect everyone to be over… so….
$1 !
hye john, i guess 1585.65
thanks
I guess $888.88
I’ll say $1103.45.
My Guess is $1221.55
674
$1600
Bleahz lets give this a shot! My guess would have to be $1,888.
$930
I would say $820.00
1844.26 , nice spread you had there
I feel like I am on The Price is Right.
ONE DOLLAR!!!
No, just kidding. My real bid …
$1,321.01
$900
$396.75 is my bid!
k i should have read the comments… i doublt it to
$793.50
$1800
$2500
$1650
$1588
Was there much drinkies?
I’ll guess it was around $400 for dinner.
Anyways, that looks like one hell of a feast!
-Mike
$1320 I guess
Knowing John, the guests must have paid to dine with him.
So his cost is $0. He must have made $$ from this dinner
$1811.52
My guess is $2018.87. I do not like to guess such things but it’s for the fun anyway.
Then again if yours a seven course then it should be $1085.99 after tax and tips.
My guess would be around $4150.10
I think that’s too high???
Possibly a little high i think!
Hmmm – party here – party there – and so many food
So I have to ask … was it a hard work or a big party? 
keep on blogging
well, if 15 people. each person will be charge $50. with tips i think will be $850
$999
I guess you paid around 699$
$726
Again some interesting pictures
ONE MILLION DOLLARS!
$923.78
I think it all depends on the tip. How do we know John tips 15% or 30%? or even more?
Maybe we should reward without tip first…
With 15 people, the restaurant adds 18% auto tip.
1012 Bucks!
I’d say 1650$
I say: Priceless.
Dinner with 14 fellow bloggers, and having a nice time, Priceless.
Do I win something for most original guess?
$1,250 and 00 cents!!!
$2000
$451
I’d say something around $1600… what do you say?
Wow someone are writing $2000-$3000$
Let me make a simple calculation :
You were 15 , so lets assume 80$ = $1200 plus a wine of $150 = $1350
(Lol I was the chief of the restorant)
$1872
$1634
my bid is 1,5000
FREE FREE FREE because maby someone give you free passes?
$830
I’ll guess $2,120.
$975.50
$762.01
Having looked at those food pictures…I thought they looked, um, less than appetizing, so of course the stuff probably cost a fortune and you’d need a whole bunch of booze to wash it down and lubricate the conversation and hilarity…say one bottle of wine per person plus all the nasty edibles…lemme get my calculator here…$1811.25
It’ll be interesting to see what it really is.
$444.42
$ 624,80.
$932
I would say,
$1700.00
$1,199.99
$830
From the pictures it didn’t look like you guys were drinking, but I am guessing a few of you were, so $577 is my guess.
Did you finally get your contest prize from Darin?
$751
I’d have to say $1345 who knows what kind of alcohol was ordered…
Click for Nick – Free Stuff Sunday
Well it depends if you were boozing it up or not? Well I would assume that they knew you were playing and got the most expensive thing on the menu as I would have if i was there so my guess is 2300 +- as dollars. Either way you write it off for taxes so it does not really matter what it came to.
I’m going to go with $1,413.79.
My guess is $815.25.
My guess is $350
http://www.seantheblogger.com
I will guess $516.00 USD. That’s if there was no booze, if there was booze I would guess around $735.00.
Hrm… well, taking the average of the price range per meal listed at their website for that location, times 15 people, plus a certain amount more to assume drinks were served, multiplied by Clark County’s sales tax rate, plus the automatically added gratuity, and I’m placing my guess at $655.60.
If I’m wrong, I’ll just be content to read Tim’s website.
Ill guess $683
OMG, Ms Danielle is HOOOT!!
No wonder Gary wanted to stand next to her.
$728
I’ll throw in my guess with $1,233.22
$1,346.76
I have eaten there on a couple of occasions the last time the chef was Mexican, but food is okay.
$950
$668.17
Okay at first I was only going to state $990 but then John told someone $600 was no where close so my guess is…….
$1350.00 I’m guessing John likes to even out numbers, no one likes pennies and such.
Looks really good John.
502.80
haha, i would guess.. but i saw
thanks again John, was an awesome night.
“Nikon… Get Out!” hahaha, highlight of the night!
$888.57
$1143
I’d say about $650 unless you really pigged out
You sure know how to eat though thats for sure!
$986.45
$984.58
Eek.. I thought my first one didn’t go through and I forgot what i guessed
I am going to say $1894.56.
$825.69
$1,115
I’m guessing it came up to around $865.46 ?
Yummy heart-shaped rice. It reminds me, I haven’t eaten breakfast.
$490
Hah the onion volcano was on the Episode of King of the Hill tonight weird. My guess is 1365.00
I would say $1379.49 for a round number.
I would like to know how you are going to read every single one of these to pick the winner
my guess $1,655
Bill comes to $462.11
I’m just going to make a wild guess: Around $3,000?
Those knives and forks and spoons better be gold plated lol.
I’ll take a stab at $2370
Damn that vid made me hungry.
Time for a little Moet and chook methanks (no really !)
I guess $1163.58
Where are you live?
haha, we are all wearing black, I didn’t even notice that
I would say $856
you should start a restaurant blog if you already haven’t done so