'Great Price On Some Top Shelf Food': Costco Shoppers Love This Luxurious Frozen Meal

Costco shoppers love doing their everyday food shopping at the membership warehouse club, where prices for largely bulk-size items are often more affordable than at regular grocery stores. But it also sells some special items that can be a lot more expensive, running into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars, like wines, caviar, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese wheels, and whole jamón ibérico ham legs. One pricier item that customers have praised is Northwest Fish's Surf and Turf Duo Pack that comes with a sumptuous combo of top-tier wagyu beef and giant lobster tails.

For $379.99, you get two 20- to 28-ounce cold-water lobster tails from the North Atlantic off Canada and the Northeastern U.S., and two 6-ounce A5 wagyu beef filet mignons imported from Japan. A5 wagyu is considered highly luxurious — it's renowned for its incredibly rich flavor from abundant marbling, as well as for being exceptionally tender. All of the items in the online-only order are uncooked and frozen.

Reviews on Costco's website have applauded the Surf and Turf Duo's quality and the price, despite the close-to-$400 cost. One person raved, "The quality of the lobster and the steak is absolutely phenomenal," while another wrote that "the price you pay is unbeatable" for the food. One commenter acknowledged the splurge but said it was still a deal: "So totally worth the indulgence, cannot imagine what it would have cost at a restaurant."

Surf and turf's origin isn't clear, and there's a bit of an East Coast-West Coast beef behind it. The West Coast argument points to the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle, when it was made by a restaurant at the city's iconic Space Needle. But East Coast boosters cite a 1966 newspaper ad in Lowell, Massachusetts, for a "Champagne Surf 'N Turf Dinner," the apparent first time it was publicized with that name.

While surf and turf can be made with any seafood and meat components, traditional lobster and steak is a classic sea-and-land combo. The two proteins already have a "special occasion" quality, and Costco's duo ramps up the luxury. Cold-water lobsters are considered high-end, with sweet meat that's a little briny but doesn't have the fishy taste that warm-water lobsters can, and a tender yet firm texture. The pack's cold-water tails are also massive, among the largest sizes you can buy. Meanwhile, the filet mignons carry the top A5 rating, according to how Japan grades Wagyu.

The filets can be cooked in a skillet or grilled, keeping in mind some key tips to consider for cooking Wagyu, and perhaps finished with herby compound butter. Lobster tail options include steaming, boiling, grilling, or baking, possibly with garlic butter and lemon. You want to let the flavor of these two premium ingredients shine, without too much else distracting from it.