Docsconz- The Blog

Le Bernardin 2009 - The Desserts

My friend, John Curtas, the pre-eminent food critic, journalist and attorney from Las Vegas has stated in his superb blog on Las Vegas dining called Eating Las Vegas that "Vegas has the deepest collection of pastry talent in the country." No doubt that Las Vegas has an abundance of top-notch pastry talent, but I still maintain that New York City remains the epicenter of the US restaurant creative pastry renaissance with such incredible talents amongst others as Alex Stupak of WD-50, Pichet Ong of P*Ong (unfortunately closing this weekend, another casualty of the economy), Sam Mason of Tailor, Robert Truitt of Corton, Johnny Iuzzini of Jean-Georges and not least, Michael Laiskonis of Le Bernardin.

Laiskonis, who maintains a fantastic blog chronicling his work in the pastry kitchen of Le Bernardin, has as strong a reputation for creative and delicious desserts as as any restaurant pastry chef in this country. Our dessert experience this past weekend did nothing to dispel that reputation. Since we are acquainted and he knew that we were there, he sent us a few additional desserts to try beyond the two on the tasting menu. Fortunately, we still had time to enjoy them thanks to the early reservation and the late theater curtain.

The table received seven different desserts. For each of the two principle dessert courses, the ladies were each served one dessert and the men another with yet another placed in the center of the table to share. Between the two courses, each diner was served Laiskonis' signature EGG. Our sommelier, Rocky, paired beverages with the desserts. Descriptions of the  desserts are from Chef Laiskonis. obtained via email after I returned home.

For the first round, the gentlemen received:

PANNA COTTA

 

"The cylinder of panna cotta is comprised of Greek yogurt and heavy cream, with vanilla and a touch of citrus. It's topped with pomegranate pearls (pomegranate juice, with a bit of raspberry as well, cooked with agar agar and dropped into cold oil), candied orange peel, and mint. Alongside are a pomegranate sorbet, lemon cream, and a simple broken-up streusel."

This dessert was totally satisfying. I love Greek yogurt and the balance of flavors was superb. The pomegranate added nice color balance while the flavor remained suitably muted. This was paired with Castelnau de Suduiraut, Sauternes 2001. This is the second label of Ch. Suduiraut. It possessed good flavor and botrytised depth, though it lacked some of the acid structure of its big brother.

While the ladies had:
 
YUZU

"The yuzu parfait begins as a conventional yuzu 'curd' which is then lightened with whipped cream and set with gelatin, followed by a spray of white chocolate. A green tea biscuit serves as a base for green tea ice cream, and a 'false' meringue made up of yuzu, water, sugar, and versawhip (a soy protein that emulates the whipping characteristics of egg white). A thin conventional meringue and a ginger caramel finish the plate."

Yuzu and green tea were the predominant flavors of this spectacularly delicious Asian inspired dessert. While these are no longer novel flavors to most NY palates, they were handled deftly. This was my second favorite of the desserts and ironically as it was not served to me, but to my wife in the first round, I unfortunately neglected to photograph it. This was paired with Torrontez Sparkling -Deseado Familia Schroeder, Patagonia. The wine, reminiscent of an Italian Spumante worked nicely.

The table received:
 
CHESTNUT

 

"A frozen chestnut parfait set upon a rum soaked chestnut biscuit, alongside a chestnut wafer and coconut sorbet, offset by a touch of lemon and mandarin."

Though I liked it, this was perhaps my least favorite of the desserts, perhaps because I enjoyed the other two sent alongside it more or more likely because I could not attack it with abandon. Our friends, however, found it to be one of their favorites. In comparison to the other two desserts, the flavors were more muted with a greater balance towards the sweet.

In between the two rounds, we each received an:

EGG

  
"I began doing the Egg back at Tribute in Detroit some 8 years ago now. It started with the purchase of the egg topper, an impulse buy that I didn't really have an intended use for. I hit upon the combination of flavors and textures that make up the Egg almost immediately; it's the one dish I don't think I've ever found necessary to change or tweak.
 
Starting with the whole, raw egg: the top is removed, the egg emptied out (used, of course, in other preparations), and the inner membrane carefully removed. The shells are then returned to the cardboard container and filled half-way with a milk chocolate custard. The eggs are then placed in a water bath, covered, and then baked (or rather, steamed) until set. Upon firing, the eggs get a layer of liquid caramel, a caramel foam (caramel creme anglaise in a nitrous canister), then a touch of maple and a pinch of Maldon salt.
 
Here's a link to my first ever blog post, which on one hand introduced the Egg to many, yet on the other, was a way to put it aside and 'move on':
 
http://michaellaiskonis.typepad.com/main/2008/01/the-egg.html"

Elegant, complex, yet visually simple, this dessert was a true stunner, winning on every level. It was one of the best variations on an Arpege egg that I have ever had.  I was afraid as the waiter described it, that it might be too sweet, but It was just right! Here the pairing was a beer, Westmawe Dubbel Trappist Ale, an inspired choice that helped round out the dessert's sweetness without fighting it.

For the next round, everyone was served Late Harvest Tokaji, Oremus, 2001. Not as unctuous as the luscious tokaijis of multiple puttonyos or eszencias, it was nonetheless delicious and a nice addition to the chocolate based desserts. To which, the gentlemen received:

HAZELNUT

 
"This is one of my favorites on the menu, not just for the flavors presented, but also because it demonstrates how a bit of re-engineering through 'science-based' cooking can simply make things better (as opposed to merely making something 'avant-garde'!).
 
The gianduja parfait itself is based on a traditional pate a bombe method, where a whole lot of sugar is cooked and poured into whipped eggs to provide structure and volume. We've altered the base by using a method that reduces the sugar to a fraction of the original, which produces the same mousse, but allows us to actually taste the chocolate and hazelnut.
 
The brown butter ice cream, too, used to be made with massive quantities of whole browned butter. It tasted fine, but it always walked a textural tightrope, in that such a high fat content quickly turns disastrous in an ice cream machine. I was shown a technique some time ago that utilizes the milk solids in heavy cream rather butter (pound per pound, cream has twice the amount of solids- the stuff that tastes good when browned); the cream is slowly reduced until the solids precipitate out of the fat and brown, thus leaving clarified butter and the extracted browned milk solids. These solids can then be introduced into the ice cream without the extra fat, maintaining more textural integrity.
 
Without a true 'molecular' approach (which I see as simply having an understanding of your ingredients and what happens to them when you cook, rather than describing a cooking 'style'), I don't think we would have stumbled upon these and other improvements!
 
Anyway, the remainder of the dish includes a praline cream, roasted hazelnuts in honey, and caramelized banana."

Simply put, the dish worked. I don't believe that I can add anything more to what Chef Laiskonis wrote.

The ladies received:

CHOCOLATE SWEET POTATO

 
"We're phasing this one out as we head into Spring. Built around a dark chocolate cream (set with small amounts of agar agar and gelatin), the sweet potato enters in the form of a sorbet, pearls (produced in the same manner as the pomegranate), and a fried garnish. We also incorporate a pistachio powder (pistachio paste and maltodextrin), grated jaggery, and vanilla-infused salt."

Another fine dessert, I appreciate its seasonality.

The shared dessert:

 
CHOCOLATE PEANUT

 
"This is my chicken- the dessert that kind of has to stay put on the menu while I'm free to explore other ideas with the remaining dishes.
 
A chocolate tart shell is filled with chopped salted peanuts and a layer of caramel, followed by a dark chocolate ganache. It's accented with a lemon puree (what all the kids refer to as a 'fluid gel' these days), candied lemon, peel, a peanut butter powder, and a praline citrus sorbet: hazelnut and almond praline paste lightened with orange and lemon. And as a friend and fellow chef-blogger mentioned recently, peanuts need a little love these days!"

This dessert had a strong comfort level to it. Chocolate and peanuts have become such a classic combination and deservedly so.

Lastly, we finished with an espresso and mignardises.

They were from 7 O'clock going clockwise:

BEIGNET
 
"This is a simple fried pate a choux that's filled with a vanilla cream, then dusted with a bit of sugar and Saigon cinnamon."

CARAMELIZED WHITE CHOCOLATE
 
"A dark chocolate shell is filled with a caramelized white chocolate cream; essentially, we roast the white chocolate in order to brown the sugars and milk solids. The result flavor is reminiscent of dulce de leche. We finish this with some chopped pistachio and a few flakes of Maldon salt."

PAIN DE GENES
 
"This is a pistachio version of the traditional French pain de genes. It's soaked in a Pernod syrup, set on to a rectangle of white chocolate, then topped with a lemon cream, candied orange peel, and a piece of caramelized almond."
 
CACAO TRUFFLE
 
"This is a dark chocolate ganache that also contains a special Ecuadorian cacao liqueur that a friend brings me every so often."

We were quite satisfied, sated but not bloated. I looked forward to the walk back to my hotel and then on to the theater.

Though it had been some time since I last visited Le Bernardin, that time has treated the restaurant kindly. Ripert and his staff have not rested on their laurels. If anything, I found the restaurant to be even better than it was in the 90's and it was wonderful then. One thing that did not go un-noticed was that with the possible exception of cod (I don't know if the cod on the menu was the endangered Atlantic or the more abundant Pacific), the seafood was all rated as sustainable. Even had the food been only half as wonderful, the meal would have been laudable just for this.  As with Rick Moonen in Las Vegas, it is heartening to see such high quality, well prepared food coming from a sustainable larder. It shows that few, if any sacrifices in degustation need to be made even at the highest levels.

Yes, Mr. Curtas, Las Vegas has great pastry chefs and perhaps for its overall population, it may even have the greatest concentration of top-notch pastry chefs anywhere, but I still believe, offering Michael Laiskonis as evidence, that NYC remains the capitol of restaurant pastry in the U.S.

Breaking News: Rick Moonen Reinventing the RM Seafood Experience

When I read on John Curtas' outstanding Eating Las Vegas blog that Chef Rick Moonen was closing his upstairs flagship restaurant, RM Seafood, I grew concerned that was another high profile casualty of the downtrodden global economy. ELV went on to explain that the downstairs classic American seafood restaurant would remain open and that Moonen planned on eventually re-opening the upstairs fine dining restaurant, but that it would be "shuttered... for the forseeable future." Curtas wrote that Moonen is bringing in Chef Adam Sobel to help him revise his menus. Not being entirely sure of what this all really meant and still fearing for the worst despite Curtas' reassurance, I got in touch with Chef Moonen directly and spoke with him on the phone tonight.

I was pleased to hear directly from the source, that this is not a "doom and gloom" situation. Believing that every crisis presents opportunity, Moonen views the current economic and political situation in this country as an opportunity to get his message of sustainability and the importance of maintaing the environment out to the public. He plans on "reinventing the dining experience" of RM Seafood, which is about to undergo renovations before re-opening this summer alongside the opening of The Lion King at Mandalay Bay (replacing the recently closed Mama Mia).

Needless to say, I was relieved. There is altogether too much bad news floating around at the moment. I am happy that this is one less piece of it.

Leaving Las Vegas

Las Vegas is more complicated than it appears on the surface. A city of glitz, glamor and excess, it also is the home of real talent and dedication. During the few days I spent there, I met and got to know a number of people with class, skill, personality and yes, "soul" - people like John Curtas, Paul Bartolotta, Rick Moonen, Frederic Robert, Boris Villatte and Lionel Clement to name a few who combine their skills and passions to create products that are second to none. The Wynn Hotel, where I stayed, has class. Even the casino has class and I am generally not a huge fan of casinos. Steve Wynn has continually upped the bar for hotels in Las Vegas. I expect nothing less from Encore, his newest hotel that is set to open on December 22nd.

I did, however, experience some disappointments and other less attractive sides of Las Vegas, even at the Wynn. The food was great at the places I chose to eat and clearly show that Las Vegas is a worthy destination for those interested in good food despite a rampant infestation of clones, copies and just plain crap. Other elements of my visit were less wonderful and more in tune with the Las Vegas that is over the top. I was disappointed in the show La Reve despite the intricate set and grand athleticism of its performers. I found it overwrought,repetitive and simply boring. As an ardent fan of Le Cirque du Soleil, I was surprised by that, but so it was. Another discovery was that I am simply not into the overpriced, overhyped and oversiliconed nightclub scene such as I experienced at Tryst. $450 for a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label and that the cheapest on the menu with at least a 1 bottle minimum at a table? Come on. The show was a minor disappointment, but the nightclub is a scene I can do without.

After my dinner at RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay, I walked the length of the strip back to the Wynn, tucking into a number of hotels along the way just to see what they were like. Most, like many of the restaurants along the way, seem to revel in mediocrity and separating money from those who seem to be least able to afford it. One grand exception is the Bellaggio and its dancing fountains. I never tire of that grand spectacle set to music. While it may be a symbol of the unnatural excess of Las Vegas (a large decorative body of water within a dessert), it is undeniably a marvel. I actually like the lights of Las Vegas and the spectacle and the people watching may be second only to NYC in the US.

Las Vegas is such an enigma. It is sleazy and it is grand. It attracts the rich and those who would like to be. It has poor food and it has wonderful food. It has schmaltzy shows and it has incredible shows. It has elements that titillate and elements that disgust. It has people who are simply out to make a buck and it has people with soul who do what they do in Las Vegas, because the city has given them the opportunity to do their best there. While I certainly do not like everything about Las Vegas, there is clearly enough there that I do like that does attract me and makes me want to return. The best part of Las Vegas is that one can be selective and filter the elements that appeal, leaving most of the schlock and sleaze behind.

Alex at the Wynn: Opulent Decadence

 

Alessandro Stratta, aka "Alex" is one of the chefs who defines what Las Vegas cuisine is all about. Stratta first came to Las Vegas in 1998, likely making him the longest tenured chef cooking in residence in that city. He started in Las Vegas at the restaurant "Renoir" at the Mirage Hotel when that was run by Steve Wynn. Continuing their long association, Stratta followed Wynn to the Wynn Hotel and restaurant Alex in 2005 when the hotel first opened. Prior to Las Vegas, the Wisconsin-born Stratta learned his craft from some of the best including Alain Ducasse in Monaco at the restaurant Louis XV, before moving to NYC and cooking under Daniel Boulud at Le Cirque. His first job as Executive chef came at Mary Elaine's restaurant at The Phoenician in 1989.

When stepping into the dining room of Alex, one makes a grand entrance down a flight of stairs that opens into the impressively ornate, warm, wood and crystal filled space. The tables are well spaced and the seats quite comfortable. A small ottoman was brought for my camera bag.

I was at Alex for the food, certainly, but I was also there to spend time with two of my best friends from H.S. who live on the west coast and flew into Las Vegas that day so we could hang out together that night. My friends enjoy food and dining, but are not quite into it in the same way that I am.

Alex is not inexpensive, but then few restaurants with the details and space that Alex provides are. In addition to the physical space and objects, Alex focuses on luxe ingredients such as foie gras, Nantucket scallops, Brittany lobster, langoustines, Wagyu beef, etc. as one generally expects at a restaurant of this caliber. My friends and I, having show reservations down the road, opted for the three course menu instead of the deluxe tasting menu. 

We were started with several amuses, all of which I recall as being rather tasty and a good start to the meal. The fact that I can not specifically recall what they were even with photos tells me that as good as they were, they weren't truly extraordinary. The wine we had, Ambullneo Vineyards 2005 Pinot Noir Solomon Hills from Santa Maria, California, suggested by the sommelier, was delicious. It also represented reasonable value for that wine list.

Amongst the three of us we had a variety of courses, however, I will only describe and comment on mine.  My first course, which I left to the discretion of the chef, was Nantucket Bay Scallops with Roasted Lettuce, Crispy onions, oven-dried Tomatoes and Iberian Ham. The flavors were assertive and the combination truly tasty as one might expect. Unfortunately for me, I found the dish to be a bit salty in spots. Now, I generally like and appreciate salt. It wasn't salty to the degree that the dish was ruined or even bad. It was just salty to the extent that I found the dish unbalanced. My other and perhaps more significant criticism of the dish was that, as tasty and beautiful as it was, the  significance of the fact that the dish featured Nantucket scallops was essentially lost. The supporting ingredients overshadowed the special attributes of the scallops. The scallops could have been more ordinary ones and the dish would not have suffered much.

My main course was Sous Vide Duck Breast with Orange Butter Braised Cabbage, Pate on Brioche and 5 Spice Duck Jus’. The duck was cooked to the perfect temperature as one would expect from meat cooked sous vide and the flavors meshed extremely well. The overall enjoyment of the dish was blemished, however, by the fact that I had a hard time cutting through the duck with the steak knife provided. The cut of meat on my plate had sinews that made it difficult to cut. It wasn't very tender.

I selected the Malted Chocolate and Banana Napoléon for my dessert. Once again, balance or lack thereof came into play. I simply found this dessert to be too sweet for my preference.

I am being extremely critical. The food was beautifully plated and quite tasty. There were no clunkers. It is just that there were flaws, none of which were substantial enough to complain about or send back to the kitchen. Many of my points are admittedly very subjective such as the saltiness of the scallops and the sweetness of the dessert. Both of these elements may have seemed ideal to other palates. I was surprised though that the cut of duck was as tough as it was. Despite my criticisms, the point is not that the food was somehow bad or of inferior quality. I have no doubt that the quality of the ingredients was top notch. Touring the kitchen as our meal concluded, it was apparent that the staff was quite disciplined and skilled. The point is that at a restaurant at the price point of Alex, there is no room for a sense of imperfection, even if subjective. 

I was clearly not overwhelmed by Alex and ultimately found the value of that particular meal lacking to me. However, the kitchen is not completely at fault. At least some of the blame falls on me, the diner. I have long insisted that dining is a team sport. The kitchen and the front of the house staff must do their parts for a meal to be a success, but then the diner must as well. The diner must have an attitude and approach in sync with that of the restaurant. Any disconnect and the meal is not likely to succeed no matter how good the food may be for any given style. I cannot say why I had a disconnect with the food at Alex that evening. To some extent it was the food and the restaurant. To some extent it was me and the context of my visit. To a significant extent it was a sense of how the evening's minor imperfections played against the meal's significant cost. The bottom line is that I did have that disconnect and when a meal for three costs as much as this one did along with that disconnect, one is left not fully satisfied. The meal was opulent on many levels. Opulence can, at times, be uplifting. I was left, however, with a feeling of ennui and a sense of decadence.

For more photos, please see the album.

Under the Wynn: Pastry and Bread - Part Two - Bread

Frederic Robert, by no means old nor old looking, looks the part. He looks like he could be the head of such a large and prestigious hotel pastry department. He looks experienced. Boris Villatte, on the other hand, looks young enough that he could still be in school or doing an apprenticeship somewhere. So when Chef Robert introduced me to Chef Villatte, I was somewhat surprised. That surprise, however, soon gave way to an understanding as to how Chef Villatte is in the position that he is. Simply put, he is extremely bright, supremely knowledgeable, supremely energetic and supremely talented. I have no idea how old he really is nor does it matter.

Villatte, who trained at Maison Kayser, the famous Parisian Boulangerie, has experience that goes well beyond how old he appears. This experience translates into the 90 or so different bread varieties that he and his staff make at one time or another. On any given day they make a minimum of 60 different varieties of bread or 14,000 to 20,000 pieces per day in their state-of-the-art, climate controlled bakery. They supply all the breads to the entire hotel including specialized breads to each of the hotel's restaurants.

Bread baking, especially so many different varieties and at such high volumes is not easy work. Villatte and his staff work hard. He is at work everyday by 4AM and routinely  works 14 hour days to oversee the continual cycle of baking fresh breads for the hungry hotel population.

I have never been one to take quantity over quality, but that is not an issue here, as Villatte maintains superb quality of product. I had the opportunity to eat a number of his breads throughout my stay at the Wynn and all were outstanding. During my tour, I tasted some flaky, savory rounds that he was experimenting with for the soon to open Encore!, the all-suite, sister hotel to the Wynn. With some containing ham and sun-dried tomatoes and others with bacon and leeks, these were absolutely wonderful - meals in themselves.

The equipment includes several brand new state of the art baking ovens as well as practically any other toy a bread baker could hope for, including devices to mix dough, bagel extruders, flat-bread producing machines and much, much more. There were a number of proofing rooms as well to proof the various types of breads to be made.

As I was leaving, I watched one of Villate's artisans create a beautifully braided bread loaf. She made what she was doing look so easy. Boris Villatte does that for the entire bread baking program at the Wynn. That makes it one of the premiere magic show in all of Las Vegas.

For more photos, please see the album.

Under the Wynn: Pastry and Bread - Part One - Pastry

I have been to a number of medical meetings including some in Las Vegas. It is not unusual for them to supply a continental breakfast in the morning before the meeting gets going. It is unusual for that breakfast to be more than edible. Not only were the breakfasts provided to the medical meeting I attended at the Wynn hotel edible, they were downright excellent. I inquired as to their origins and discovered that they came from the hotel's pastry and bake shops as do all of those items in the hotel with the exception of specific items served in some of the hotel's restaurants. I was impressed and endeavored to find out more. Thanks to Amy Rossetti, the senior food and beverage public relations manager for the Wynn, I managed to make arrangements to meet the chefs and have a tour of the facilities.

Underneath the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas lies a sprawling labyrinth of passages that  hold much of the inner workings of the hotel. Added to this warren of activity is an extension under the soon to be opened Encore. In order to be allowed into this inner sanctum I had to be accompanied and leave my driver's license with security. My guide was the lovely Susan Driskill, a public relations specialist for the Wynn. Once below, I was ushered into a hive of activity starting with an employee commissary. Meandering beyond that, I was lead through a number of passages before we arrived at the pastry department, where I was introduced to Frederic Robert, the Executive Pastry Chef of the Wynn and now Encore Hotels.

Chef Robert, a good size man, held a sparkle in his eye as we discussed making pastry at the Wynn while he showed me around the entire, impressive operation. Chef Robert's qualifications and resumé are indeed impressive. Prior to opening the Wynn Hotel as Executive Pastry Chef, Chef Robert spent twentyfive years working alongside Alain Ducasse, the last thirteen of which overseeing all of the desserts, pastries and breads for the entire Ducasse empire. Robert also co-authored the book Grand Livre de Cuisine: Alain Ducasse's Desserts and Pastries along with Ducasse.

Robert started his tour, where else, but in the chocolate room. The scent was absolutely intoxicating as we walked through the doorway. The aroma arose from the chocolate processing machine from which molten chocolate was flowing through a faucet. I thought I was in heaven. Chef Robert introduced me to his chief chocolatier, Lionel Clement. who happened to win the 2008 United States Master of Chocolate competion held at the French Culinary Institute in NYC in November in conjunction with the New York Chocolate Show. Clement, who was born, raised and trained in France will go on to represent the United States at the World Master of Chocolate competition in Paris this coming October.

Robert, Lionel and their chocolate staff are responsible for making all the chocolates consumed in the hotel, both culinary and decorative, from the chocolates placed bedside during the nightly turndown service to chocolate sculptures prepared for display or special events. They showed me a number of the smaller pieces that they had produced in advance of the opening of Encore and upcoming New Year's Eve celebrations at the hotel - impressive. Robert and Clement use Barry-Callebault chocolate in thier work.

From the chocolate room I was led, albeit reluctantly, back through the pastry area's main kitchen, passing by a worker utilizing left over breads to craft rather delicious appearing bread puddings. My reluctance upon leaving the world of chocolate began to evaporate seeing this and then the room wher the Wynn's croissants are produced. These are amongst the best I've had with the only ones in the U.S. in my experience to compare are those of Michael London at Mrs. London's in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Both Robert's and London's are on a par with the best I have ever had in Paris and surprisingly enough in India at the Oberoi Hotel in Delhi. Croissants as good as these are truly rare and truly special. Robert said his secret was using top quality French butter.

Our next stop was the ice cream room, where Robert and his staff make all of the ice cream for the hotel, which is also for sale at Sugar & Ice. Because of Robert's background he makes "ice cream" and not "gelato," however fashionable the latter designation may be. They have large vats that they fill with the specific ingredients for a given recipe (all the baked additions other than Oreo cookies are made within his department) and once mixed are left for twenty four hours to mature before they are finally made into ice cream. Off to the side within the room lay some of the most beautiful and fragrant vanilla pods I have ever seen. Robert sources his vanilla from Mexico.

The last stop on our tour of the Wynn's pastry department was their cake shop under the guidance of Flora Aghababyan. At the time of my visit Aghababyan and her staff were busy creating beautiful strawberry cakes.

 

From the cake shop, Chef Robert escorted me all the way to the opposite end of the Wynn's basement to introduce me to the Wynn's Executive Head Baker, the amazing Boris Villatte. This will be continued.

For additional photos, please see the album.

Bartolotta & RM- Another's View of the Same Meals

For John Curtas' take on our meals at Bartolotta & RM Seafood please see his post in his blog, Eating Las Vegas.

RM Seafood - Savoring Sustainability

Ever since I saw his presentation at the 3rd Starchefs International Chefs Congress in NYC this past September, I knew I wanted to visit RM Seafood the next time I would be in Las Vegas. Chef Moonen's approach to seafood as well as his reputation convinced me that this would be a restaurant with character in the Nevada desert. Once I knew that I would be visiting the city, I made my reservation.

I actually ran into Chef Moonen the night before my reservation at RM Seafood while dining at Raku, a Japanese aburiya restaurant located well off the strip. He had just returned from a visit to NYC where he had a photo shoot with Art Culinaire magazine. I was happy to see that he recognized me from the Starchef's congress.

As I was getting ready to head over to Mandalay Bay, where RM Seafood is located, I was pleased to receive a call from John Curtas, saying that he would join me for a drink at RM Seafood  before he had to head out to another event. I very much enjoyed John's company at Bartolotta a few nights earlier, so this welcome indeed.

Although I knew its general location at Mandalay Bay, I still had trouble finding the restaurant as it was set back and not easily visible from where I was standing between the ticket booth for Mamma Mia and the House of Blues as directed from the restaurant's website. Fortunately, John saw me as he was coming to the restaurant and saved me the ignominy of having to ask someone else where the restaurant was, especially as it turned out to be hiding in plain sight in front of me.

We sat at the bar for a cocktail. I asked the bartender for recommendations on any house cocktails and he made me a "Gardener," made with Hendrick's gin, fresh lemon juice, a little simple syrup and basil. I had asked for something not too sweet. This delivered perfectly. It was delicious and dangerously inviting. At this point, Chef Moonen appeared. Although we would be dining in the more formal and sophisticated upstairs fine dining restaurant (there is a second, informal restaurant located on the level directly below), he wanted us to try an item from his new bar menu and brought out a couple of seafood "sliders." One was a burger of diced big-eye tuna with dijonaise and house-cured pickles. The other was a Pacific codcake with tartar sauce and butter lettuce. Both were quite tasty.

After chatting for a bit at the bar, we moved into the sleek, modern dining room and sat down for dinner. John was able to stay for a bit and Chef Moonen sat down with us. We drank champagne throughout the dinner, which worked well through the variety of presentations I would be receiving.

The meal started with a definite Asian bent with the restaurant displaying a flair for sushi with an amuse consisting of big-eye tuna nigiri with Tsar Nicouli osetra caviar and kaku-rei plum sake reduction. When the tuna came out, I jokingly took out my I-phone to text in 306-44 to check on the sustainability of the tuna, knowing full well that Chef Moonen was not about to serve something endangered. Unlike some of its tuna cousins, most notably the much-prized blue-fin tuna, the big-eye, or ahi tuna is still rated in the green zone. The caviar, as the link above indicates is taken sustainably from sturgeon raised in California. With my conscience clear, I enjoyed the sushi all the more.

The next course called "tako-taco", consisted of diced octopus and aromatic vegetables served on a tempura fried shiso leaf with a fresh leaf underneath. The name is a clever pun on the word "tako", which means "octopus" in Japanese. The taco was the fried shiso shell. The flavor combination was wonderful, aided by the fine textural crunch of the fried leaf.

The Asian theme continued with pan-seared arctic char toro served with shiitake, eggplant, scallion and a wonderfully acidic and aromatic lemon-dashi broth. Charred lemons were used to provide the lemon juice, adding an unusual, enjoyable smoky note to the citrus flavor. I could have drunk the dashi all evening. The acidity provide wonderful balance to the fattiness of the char. Given the fish and the lemon, the dish could well have been named "char-char," however, that would perhaps have been a bit too cute, especially after the "taco-taco." The dish also contained sea beans, which added an additional textural contrast.

The last of the Asian inspired dishes was a teriyaki style big-eye tuna with maitake mushroom and a blood-orange emulsion. The fish was beautiful, reminding me of the yellow-fin tuna my sons caught last year in Cabo. The emulsion, using fresh blood orange juice was the perfect foil, with the citrus adding acidic balance and great flavor.

European influences were apparent in the contemporary day boat scallop with sweet corn foam and foie gras flan. The scallop was perfectly seared and plenty sweet in its own right. The flan added richness and depth. Chef Moonen mentioned that he prefers scallops as an appetizer rather than a main course as they can be too unidimensional in larger portions. As much as I love scallops, I tend to agree, although I could certainly have enjoyed more of this.

The European tone continued with sautéed baby turbot (farm-raised) with butternut squash, pecans , capers and brown butter. The capers added just the right note to elevate the dish without taking it over as capers can sometimes do.

The butter poached Maine lobster with gremolata sunchokes and lobster bordelaise (using white Bordeaux) was sensational. The lobster was perfectly cooked, moist and flavorful. I have never had a better example of lobster cooked with this technique.  The sunchokes added a savory counterpoint to the lobster that worked well with the main.

Dessert was interesting and delicious, more than enough to entice me through a very full stomach. After a palate cleansing intermezzo of lemon sorbet with brunoise of meyer lemon, the butterscotch ice cream sandwich with pecan shortbread and spiced hot scotch milk served two purposes. It was dessert and after dinner drink in one. The Scotch whiskey laced throughout both elements of the dessert not only made for a good pun, it cut the sugar and gave great smoky depth and complexity to the plate making for a very satisfying end to the meal.

John Curtas left after the arctic char, but Chef Moonen stayed throughout the meal, dining along with me. He proved a great dining companion as well, explaining his dishes and his philosophy as well as engaging in discussions on topics from the economy, local and global, dangers and opportunities presented by the state of the economy, mutual friends and acquaintances, the history of dining in NYC from the 1970's on, the restaurant business in general and much more. He is a well-informed, gracious and thoughtful man in addition to being a superb chef. While he was dining with me, his kitchen did a fine job throughout the meal of preparing dishes that were perfectly cooked, flavorful and beautiful. His staff is clearly well trained and quite competent. Chef Moonen not only proved to me that dining on sustainable seafood can be delicious and rewarding ina restaurant devoted to haute cuisine, but that it is feasible to do so at a reasonable tariff in the desert location of Las Vegas.

For more photos, please see the associated album.

Located in the entrance to Mandalay Place - BetweenThe House of Blues and the Mama Mia  box office.

3930 Las Vegas Blvd. So.
Las Vegas, NV 89119

702-632-9300

Aburiya Raku: Hidden Japanese Gem

Most of my experience with Japanese food comes from sushi and ramen restaurants with a few higher end NYC stars like Soto for composed dishes cooked and uncooked. So when I asked for suggestions on where I should eat while in Las Vegas and  people like David Varley, John Curtas and Paul Bartolotta enthusiastically shouted Raku! I jumped at the opportunity to try something new to me.

Raku has been considered a major find by its growing legion of fans that include many of Las Vegas' top chefs and foodies. I can understand how it would be so considered as it is located well off the beaten track in the back of a small strip mall west of the Strip. The place is small with only six tables and a small bar with a handful of seats. On the other hand, Raku is not a restaurant without a pedigree. Chef/owner Mitsuo Endo came to Las Vegas from the highly regarded and very expensive NYC  Japanese restaurant Megu.

When I mentioned to Paul Bartolotta that I would be making my way to Raku, he got very excited and asked if I would mind if he joined me there when he was done for the evening at his restaurant. Having such an interesting dining partner as well as one who could help guide me through the restaurant's menu was an opportunity I could not and would not pass up.

It was about 10PM by the time we made it over to the tiny restaurant. Though I had called earlier to make a reservation, I was told one wouldn't be necessary and to simply walk in. Of course the place was full when we arrived, though fortunately a table cleared within minutes. Chef Bartolotta studied the menu and we were shown the small blackboard with the additional specials of the day. I was game for anything and Chef Bartolotta ordered a variety of items.

As an aburiya or Japanese pub, Raku is not a sushi restaurant even though it does serve fish, both cooked and raw. It specializes in broth based dishes as well as the Japanese charcoal grill of the robata style, though robata apparently is not actually the correct term as the grilled items are not served on paddles as true robata is supposed to be. Being a pub, we ordered beers, draft Sapporo that came in large, pretty glasses.

The food started arriving  with a couple of small amuses including an edamame paste with rice cakes served before quickly grilled head-on Pacific shrimp and yellowtail sashimi. Highlights of the meal included the beautiful and wonderfully balanced agedashi dofu with crisp on the outside, soft on the inside deep-fried house made tofu served in a perfectly sweet and salty dashi along with salmon roe, small mushrooms, scallions and a little julienned seaweed; the moist and delicious deep-fried chicken roll; the haunting oden hotpot that included soft beef tendons; slightly crunchy, grilled pork cheeks; soft and gelatinous grilled beef tendons and Kobe beef skewers with soy. The only plate that felt out of balance was the Kobe beef with garlic and soy. The garlic was strong and added a little bitterness to the dish. This may not have been noticeable had we not had them alongside the better balanced Kobe with just soy. I happen to love garlic, too.

The flavors were deep and intense, while the textures were every bit as important a component of the foods that we ate. While I have not historically been a fan of many of the most gelatinous textures favored in many Asian dishes, I have recently started warming to them. The beef tendons, in particular the skewers, were quite gelatinous and, I found, quite delicious. They were perhaps the biggest revelation to me as I don't think I would have quite taken to them 5 or 10 years ago.

There was plenty on the menu that we could not and did not partake of due to appetite limitations. The food left me intrigued to try more and were the restaurant nearby to me I would happily do so.

The restaurant's reputation as a magnet for the area's chefs was borne out during our meal when we were joined by Larry Forgione, who has taken over as the chef at Tableau (soon to be An American Place) at the Wynn. He seemed to be even more familiar with the menu and the staff than Bartolotta! A few minutes later, Rick Moonen of RM Seafood, where I would be dining the next night, came in with his girlfriend, just having flown back from an Art Culinaire shoot in NYC.

Aburiya Raku is well worth a visit when in Las Vegas despite its location. Small and unpretentious, it is an antidote to the glitz and glamor of the strip when that gets to overdose levels. The food, unique in the city, is a good enough value and delicious enough that one need not wait for that to happen to justify a trip there.

For photos, please click on the links above or visit the album.

Raku

5030 Spring Mountain Rd , #2, Las Vegas, 89146
Directions
Phone: 702-367-3511

Bartolotta - Ristorante Di Mare: Mediterranean Seafood with Passion

One of Tony Bourdain's cardinal rules of restaurant dining is to avoid eating seafood in restaurants on Mondays. He must not have dined at Bartolotta - Ristorante di Mare in the Wynn Hotel. I showed up at the restaurant at 6PM to meet John Curtas, the foremost restaurant critic in Las Vegas, per his suggestion. I had previously heard some very good things about the restaurant from friends who had dined there and Chef Paul Bartolotta himself has an impeccable reputation dating back to his days at San Domenico in NYC and Spiaggia in Chicago, but I was still skeptical. After all, it has so far been snubbed by Michelin and how good could seafood shipped all the way from the Mediterranean be in Las Vegas?

I sat down at the table before Mr. Curtas arrived and ordered a Negroni cocktail. He arrived shortly thereafter and joined me with a cocktail of his own. In my line of work, I prefer to avoid lawyers on a professional basis, but when it comes to dining and socializing, I have found them to generally be well met indeed. John Curtas, an attorney originally from Connecticut, is no exception to that as he proved to be a wonderful dining partner - witty, knowledgeable and a great conversationalist. It would be a pleasure to dine with him any time. It so happened, however, that for this evening, we also had an additional table mate, Chef Bartolotta himself, who joined us initially to explain his food, and then to engage in what became a fascinating conversation that covered a range  from Italian to Mediterranean seafood to the economy to Las Vegas dining and dining and cooking in general. As wonderful as the food was, and believe me, it was truly wonderful, the company and conversation was even more outstanding resulting in an evening extraordinary on every level.

Chef Bartolotta generously led us on a tour of his ouvre starting with his frittura di paranza, which  consisted of small plates of fried acquadelle di Chioggia, flavorful small silver fish from the Adriatic, totani or flying squid, gamberi rossi imperiali, large red prawns from Morocco, and gamberoni, whitish prawns from Sicily. All were immaculate, unique and delicious. The totani, in particular, had a depth of flavor one does not typically find in basic calamari. It was also a pleasure to receive the prawns with the heads still attached. It is all too unusual in American restaurants to be able to undertake the vastly pleasurable European tradition of sucking the juices and flavor from the heads. I could have eaten any of these all evening, but chef warned us to take it easy.

That proved fine advice, as a parade of amazing dishes continued starting with the small Venetian softshell crabs known as moleche, a dish I had only previously experienced in Venice itself. This was followed by lightly boiled Sicilian prawns served with wonderful olive oil, grilled cuttlefish strips, umami-rich Sicilian amberjack with an anchovy sauce, sweet Sicilian grilled langoustines, Ligurian octopus salad and perhaps the best pan-sauteed clams I have ever had, small, meaty Manilas from the pacific Northwest. Each dish was remarkable and delicious, requiring much self-control to keep from over-eating this delectable bounty.

It was just as difficult to maintain that self-control when the pasta and the risotto were brought to the table. Risotto ai frutti di mare and spaghetti con ragu di crostacei both provided exquisite tastes of the sea combined with the textural sensations only well cooked pasta and rice can provide.

Each of the dishes was washed down with lovely Italian wines as well, all of which had enough acid structure to marry well with their respective courses. Each was also distinctive and delicious in its own right. For the earlier courses we drank NV Gosset, Grand Rose Brut, Ay, Pinot Noir. For the seafood pasta and risotto we had two different wines. For the pasta, we enjoyed the wonderfully earthy and sauvignon-like 2006 Cave di Vin Blanc, Blanc de Morgex, Valle d’Aosta, Prie Blanc and the mineral-rich 2006 Schciopetto, Collio Tocai Friulano, Friuli, Tocai with the risotto. The sommelier, Luca, did an excellent job matching the different dishes with wines that had character and paired well.

After the seafood pastas, we were served more pasta, but for the first and only time of the evening outside of dessert, there was no seafood associated with the dishes. Two different ravioli were brought to the table. The first was ravioli di ricotta con tartufi bianchi and the second was a Bartolotta classic, Uovo in Raviolo "Maestro Valentino" that Bartolotta learned from  his mentor Chef Valentino Marcattilii at the Restaurant San Domenico in Imola, Italy, who in turn learned it from Italian inventor, Nino Bergese, who had been the chef to the king of Italy prior to being the first chef at San Domenico. Michael Carlson, who does a variation of this dish so well at Chicago's Schwa learned it from Bartolotta at Spiaggia. These dishes define flavor and gustatory pleasure. The classic combination of cheese and truffles may not be novel but it is extraordinary and something that I expect and hope that I will never tire of. These were paired with the beautiful 2006 Bruno Giacosa, Dolcetto d’Alba, Piemonte, Dolcetto.

By this time I was getting rather sated, but not so much that I couldn't appreciate the beauty both visual and gustatory of the Orata al Sale that next appeared. A whole Mediterranean gilthead sea bream was roasted in a salt crust aromatized with wild fennel and other intoxicating herbs. The fish was exquisitely moist and flavorful incorporating the scents from the herbal crust into its juicy flesh.

 

With the savory portion of the meal brought to a triumphant conclusion, it was on to the desserts. Our table was arrayed with a "Sinfonia di Dolci" that included three each of gelati (vanilla, coconut, pistachio), sorbetti (mango, lemon, raspberry) and granite (pineapple, grapefruit, latte di mandorla) as well as a chocolate almond cake with white chocolate gelato and chocolate sauce; Tahitian vanilla bean semifreddo with dried figs in red wine syrup and bitter chocolate sauce and Ligurian lemon cake with rosemary gelato and sweet balsamic syrup. The frozen items were all lovely examples of their forms with clean, true flavors. The non-frozen items were also fine examples of their classic forms. While there was nothing groundbreaking about the desserts they were all well executed and fine finishes to this amazing meal. After the desserts we retired to the bar for a digestivo, which for me was an amaro nonino.

While we were enjoying such wonderful food, I had  mentioned that the conversation was scintillating as well and covered a number of topics. While business has remained robust at Bartolotta and the Wynn in general, that does not appear to be the case for Las Vegas as a whole. Like the rest of the world, the recession seems to be having effects here as well, as one might expect, with volume off at many of the top restaurants and hotels on the strip. Even those who are still busy are anticipating more difficult times and making adjustments accordingly. Despite the universally troubled economic times, Las Vegas and the Wynn Hotel in particular have provided Chef Bartolotta with the freedom to run a restaurant that does not cater to the lowest common denominator. It is not that he is not cognizant that the style of his restaurant runs counter to the prevailing attitudes of most Americans and indeed many of the people who visit Las Vegas. He is. There is a reason that few restaurants in the United States serve shrimp and prawns with the heads still attached. Yet, at the Wynn, he has found a sufficient clientele, American and international, that is appreciative of what he is able to provide. He manages to make them as well as himself and the hotel happy.

Another avenue of discussion centered around the concepts of traditional cooking methods versus some of the more contemporary techniques in play in many restaurants. Chef Bartolotta is a traditionalist when it comes to technique and eschews contemporary ingredients such as hydrocolloids and even cooking methods like sous vide. He said that it is not that he does not respect those chefs who utilize those techniques well. He simply gets more pleasure out of using classic cooking methods and reserves his greatest admiration for those who cook well in that style. His personal preference is to eschew the more esoteric stylings of the technoemotional school of cooking in favor of being creative within the confines what he considers solid technique.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I am an ardent fan of technoemotional cooking done well as well as a supporter of traditional cooking methods. As a result, the discussion was lively, but consensus was reached as we all agreed that there is plenty of room for different styles and approaches to cooking and that it is important that though cooking needs to continue to evolve, traditional methods and dishes need to be preserved and maintained.

Clearly I received special treatment and enjoyed a truly extraordinary meal. Though my experience would not have been  exactly the same had I walked in off the street under different circumstances, I am still able to draw a number of conclusions about Chef Bartolotta and his eponymous restaurant. He is clearly a passionate chef, who cares deeply about his food, cooking and putting a great and unique product on the table, making the kind of food that he loves to eat as well as cook. He clearly provides his restaurant with "soul." Secondly, though we were extremely well provided for, the cooking is such that inferior product can not hide. Supporting ingredients are used to enhance the natural elements of the product, not to bury them. Clearly despite the difficulties of importing seafood as they do, my initial skepticism was not borne out in the least. Chef Bartolotta proved to me, that it is in fact quite possible to put outstanding plates on his Las Vegas table even if the product is highly perishable and has come from from nearly half way around the world. How long he will be able to do that from both economic and environmental bases is another question and remains to be seen. In the meantime, unlike Michelin, I have become a fan of Chef Bartolotta and admire his skill, personality and restaurant. To think, this all happened at a seafood restaurant on a Monday night!

For all the photos please see the album.

Sugar and Ice

It's not for the faint of heart nor for the faint of stomach, but the croissant with egg, ham and Swiss cheese from Sugar and Ice at the Wynn Hotel is good, real good. Combining a croissant from noted French Patissier and former head patissier for the Alain Ducasse empire, Fredéric Robert, with a folded egg omelet, a pile of ham and an ooze of melted Swiss cheese, this two-handed sandwich is designed to provide sustenance for some time after one is finished enjoying its buttery richness. I lasted from morning until a late dinner fueled from the sandwich alone. Given its already reasonable price for Las Vegas and figuring that I saved who knows how much more money, by not having to eat lunch, the sandwich proved to be a great investment in addition to a satisfying gustatory treat.

Entering Las Vegas

I'm back in Sin City.  The main reason for my being here is to earn continuing medical education credits, but I can't say that the dining opportunities available were not a factor in choosing this destination. There certainly are plenty of dining choices, though many are of the clone and cookie cutter variety, which don't particularly appeal to me. In between my educational time I hope to visit a few of the more unique restaurants and dining opportunities Las Vegas has to offer.

I have had an on-going discussion on eGullet with David Ross, a food writer from Spokane with a soft heart for Las Vegas, about whether or not the Las Vegas culinary scene has a "soul." I doubt that in the few days I will be here that I will be able to discover whether or not that collective soul does indeed exist. I already know from personal experience that there are chefs here such as Richard Chen of Wing Lei in the Wynn Hotel and restaurants like L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at the MGM Grand that cook great food with passion, precision and personality that is not designed to cater to the masses or the lowest common denominator. Does that indicate a cohesive soul?  My experience is insufficient so far to draw any conclusions, but I aim to expand upon that. To aid me in my quest, I have enlisted the help of the foremost culinary critic of Las Vegas, John Curtas. John, David and a few others have pointed me in directions that should hopefully lead me to outposts of culinary grace in this city known most for its vices.