$52,000 lunch bill is pocket change to Roman Abramovich

According to TMZ, Mr. Abramovich treated nine guests to lunch at Nello’s on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on October 30th. Sit down ... the final tab came to $47,221.09. He generously added another $5,000 tip (on top of the mandatory $7,328 gratuity) for a total of $52,221.09.

One lunch cost more than the yearly income of most Americans.

In an email, a spokesman for Mr. Ambramovich denied the bill was Mr Abramovich’s. He said Mr. Abramovich did eat at the restaurant but that the “party spent no more than a tiny fraction of that amount - less than a couple of percent.”

A manager at the restaurant declined to comment.

The bill shown by TMZ, however, explains how someone could rack up a $52,000 tab for a single lunch: Wine and truffles, baby.

There were the three bottles of La Tache, for $5,000 each, two bottles of Petrus, also at $5,000 each, and two bottles of Cristal Rose, at $5,000 each.

The food was typical Manhattan, with most entrees going for $50 or less. But the group had two orders of truffle carpaccio for $100 each, and three truffle taglionis for $585.