Just got back from Vegas last night, after a week in San Fran and Napa.  Here goes:

Thurs - first night there.  Ate at Alex in the Wynn.  It was excellent, though I don't know if the price really warranted it.  However, it was probably wasted, since Weds. night we had eated at French Laundry in Napa.  Enough said.

Dinner was $145, I believe, withouth gratuity.  The plate of amuse bouche was nice - tuna tartare (I think that if I see one more tuna tartare......), tomato confit on grissini breadsticks, some nice cheeses in brioche, etc.  Started with gnocchi and chestnuts, with crispy chicken.  This was very nice, and not too filling.  Entree was loin of lamb en papillotte and dessert was a hazelnut caramel crunch with praline ice cream.  Had a pinot, but it was something I'd never heard of and didn't write it down.  Nothing too special.  Prices were obscene.  If I get the name of what we had, I'll post it.

Fri. - had tickets for Barry Manilow at 8pm, so we had something light.  He puts on a great show.

Sat night - dinner at Le Cirque in the Bellagio.  This was really excellent.  Just as good as the restaurant in NY.  The room only holds 75, and it was very pretty.  If you sit in the corner, you can watch the fountains.  The amuse was a very nice cup of chestnut soup.  Very flavorful.  Started with an excellent lobster salad.  Entree was a really great magret of duck, skin was nicely crisped.  Accompanied by a roasted fig and daikon radish.  Not too big a portion, just right, so there was room for dessert.  My friend had the pappillotte of turbot - if you watched Top Chef, that was the entree they made at Le Cirque in NY.  Dessert was wonderful.  It was a hazelnut ice cream inside a crisp hazelnut dark chocolate shell.  They then poured chocolate sauce on top, and the shell melted.  It was wonderful.  Wine was Husic Cab 2004.  Wasn't as big a cab as I expected, but it was very drinkable.

I definitely recommend Le Cirque.   Alex, not so sure.  If we had more time, we would have gone to Alize at the Palms Hotel, which we've been to and really like in the past.

 

 

 

 

The highly touted Michelin dining guide accidentally posted ratings for Las Vegas and Los Angeles restaurants to its website the other day, taking all of the steam out of their highly anticipated announcement on Monday.

Here's the Vegas winners:

Michelin Guide Las Vegas : Three-Star Restaurants

Joel Robuchon - MGM Grand

Michelin Guide Las Vegas : Two-Star Restaurants

Alex - Wynn Las Vegas
Guy Savoy - Caesars Palace
Picasso - Bellagio

Michelin Guide Las Vegas : One-Star Restaurants

Alize, Palms
Andre's - Monte Carlo
Aureole - Mandalay Bay
Bradley Ogden - MGM Grand
Daniel Boulud Brasserie - Wynn Las Vegas
L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon - MGM Grand
Le Cirque - Bellagio
Mesa Grill - Caesars
Michael Mina - Bellagio
Mix - Mandalay Bay
Nobu - Hard Rock Hotel
Wing Lei - Wynn

Amuse Bouche – foie gras with something else maybe bacon and parmesan reggiano; pureed into a froth - WOW, have never tasted anything like that.

 

LES HUITRES de Kussi pochées dans leur coquille au beurre salé
Poached baby Kussi oysters with French « Echiré » butter

 

I had this with a glass of Sancerre.   The combination was excellent.  When they say that these are small tasting portions they mean it.ÂMy dish was five very small oysters.  Lovely presentation.

 

Hubby’s starters:

 

LA LANGOUSTINE dans une papillote croustillante au basilic
Crispy langoustine fritter with basil pesto

Served with a glass of good Meursault
 

This was excellent but was only three big bites of Langoustine.  Superb flavors and texture.

 

LES LEGUMES méditerranéens en mille-feuille à la mozzarella
Mediterranean vegetables layered with buffalo mozzarella

 

I don’t remember much about this one.

 

Main courses:

 

L'ONGLET de boeuf à l'échalote
French-style hanger steak with fried shallots

Mr. Winetex said this was excellent.ÂI tried one of the fried shallots and he was right.ÂYum.ÂThis was served with some mashed potatoes that may have been half butter.ÂHighly recommended.

Beef tenderloin with pepper

It was served with beautiful tiny potatoes and also the bowl of mashed potatoes.ÂIt was an excellent steak, perfectly cooked.

Desserts:

LA FRAMBOISE en surprise dans une coque ivoire acidulée au yuzu
Fresh raspberry surprise inside white chocolate sphere, yuzu ice cream

This was an amazing dessert if you like white chocolate and raspberries.ÂYuzu is apparently a Japanese citrus so it picked up some citrus flavors.ÂThey brought out a sphere of white chocolate on a plate then poured the raspberry sauce over it so that the sphere melted in a beautiful pattern.ÂNot only did this look spectacular but it tasted great!ÂHighly recommended.

LES TARTES de tradition
Traditional tarts

This was a plate with five different tarts – three of them chocolate.ÂOne of them they actually called Snickers but it wasn’t on the menu.  Hubby gave this thumbs up.

I wished we would have had the Foie Gras hamburgers but hubby doesn’t like Foie Gras very much.

The sommelier was knowledgeable about the wines on the list.ÂOnce he realized we were winos he started letting us try the different wines they had open by the glass.ÂThe list was large and French-centric with a whopping 3X mark-up.ÂWe wanted to drink Burgundy but our meals would have killed any of the ones on the list so we went with a very good Rhone – the 2003 Marcoux CdP.

In all a fantastic meal with very unique food and presentation.ÂIt was difficult for us to decide how much to order but the waitstaff helped out quite a bit.ÂThe open kitchen concept is interesting to watch.ÂWith Joel Robuchon actually in the kitchen the staff was walking on eggshells.ÂHe was totally quiet and hardly said a word, just pointed and stared.ÂI think that was enough.ÂRobuchon was going between the LDJR kitchen and the Robuchon kitchen.ÂLDJR deserves its one star rating but be prepared for some sticker shock at the end.ÂThe website says $125 per person and that was about right WITHOUT tax, gratuity and most importantly wine.

How great of a dinner is it when you can actually write -

"I don’t remember much about this one"

about a course?  I'm lusting away; well done.

Winetex - was it hard to get a reservation? We'll be there in late January....