Lasagna may strike you as a homey Italian comfort food, but there is no food so humble that the world of fine dining can't transform it into a bit of conspicuous consumption. That's why you can find chocolate pudding and beef tacos that somehow cost more than $25,000 a piece. You would hope all that money is all about making it taste better, but the preponderance of edible gold leaf in these dishes, which is entirely flavorless, would suggest otherwise.

And into this world came the "Diamond and Gold" lasagna, the most expensive slice of lasagna ever recorded, which used to be served at the defunct restaurant Portofino in the Mirage casino. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that this luxury lasagna was served in Las Vegas, a city that loves showy consumption, but there are some things that set it apart from other headline-grabbing expensive foods in a positive way.