I turn 30 this December. Sometimes I feel old. My knee hurts when I run. My hip joint has been bothering me lately. I can't party a lot without looking like Mike Tyson beat me in the face the next morning. My daily regimen of skin care products now is up to 4.
Then again, I still play videogames, I find "that's what she said" jokes profoundly funny. The simplest "your mom" joke still leaves me in stitches.
Through college and the first couple of years at Deloitte, Vegas weekends were the epitome of excess. Drinking, gambling, ogling at girls at the clubs. We stayed up till 6am every night, woke up at 10am to bake in the Vegas sun and ate large quantities of crab, prime rib and other haute cuisine at the Mandalay Bay, Paris, Bellagio, Rio and even the legendary 24 hour $9.99 Surf Buffet at the Boardwalk Casino (How they managed to serve surf and turf buffet at $9.99 makes me wonder at what kind of irreparable damage I caused to my intestines after eating there) Anyways, Vegas was a weekend devoted to debauchery in all shapes and forms. The youthful me could do all this in stride. Nary an effect after subjecting my body to all this.
Friday afternoon as the plane took off from Burbank, I said to myself "You are still young. You can do it. Let's show these young bucks what partying post tech bubble bust was like. 2002 in the house!!"
First stop. Checking in at the super high class Monte Carlo hotel. I've stayed here before but allow me to amuse myself with this rant.
The website states:
Seriously. Why stay at the Wynn, Encore, Aria, The Hotel, etc. when you can have all the luxury of these hotels without the snobbiness. I hate snobs.
Checked in just fine. Walking over to our room I noticed that the wallpaper is peeling. This place is legit. Unpretentious and almost bohemian.
Oh man. This must be like some sort of snob eradication tool. Only snobs would try to push the down button. Their snob sweat causing an electrical current to flow from the exposed wiring to their snob heart, killing them instantly.
Ah, the good ole Monte Carlo. Can't complain for $120/night when the MGM Grand was going for $180/night. The actual room itself was fairly nice and very standard fare.
To kickstart our Vegas weekend, I booked dinner at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. I can't afford the full Joel Robuchon experience so we opted for the more casual fare at L'Atelier.
Vegas is becoming a fine dining mecca. The West Coast only has two 3 star Michelin restaurants. Napa with French Laundry and it's not LA or SF but Vegas with the other: Joel Robuchon.Vegas now has 1 - 3 star, 3 - 2 star and 12- 1 star restaurants. LA on the contrary has 0 - 3 star, 3 - 2 star and 11- 1 star.
You'll have to excuse me. Some of the photos are from Kevineats because our camera is on its last legs. I promise I'll get a new one for Oktoberfest.
The front of the restaurant. Slots ringing up a storm about 30 feet away but once you step inside you won't notice it.
Looking down the bar. The rationale behind the bar arrangement was to bring the diner and the chef/server/sommelier closer together.
The view from your seat. As you can see, the point is for it to be an intimate dining experience. The smells, sights and sounds of the kitchen are all part of the meal.
We opted for the 9 course tasting seasonal discovery tasting menu. Retail price $155. And now at the new spectacularly low price of $155.
In tiny print they point out there's a wine pairing to go along with this for $105. I sat there contemplating how many zeros that was for a meal and was going to suggest to the SO a nice glass of wine to go with our meal. I hemmed and hawed at which glass to get when the SO looked at me and said, "We're in Vegas. Let's live a little. I'll pay for it" so I promptly ordered the wine pairing and wondered how the hell I managed to trick this girl into marrying me.
L’AMUSE-BOUCHE
Avocado and cilantro flavored grapefruit gelee
A very nice Champagne was served with the amuse bouche.
LE CRABE ROYAL
King crab on a turnip disc with a sweet and sour sauce
Very, very delicious. Paired with a pinot grigio, I believe.
LA SAINT-JACQUES
cuite en coquille à l'huile de ciboulette épicée
Sea scallop cooked in the shell with chive oil
A little too buttery but the lemon brought some zest back into the dish.
blanche sur une flamiche aux asperges et lard fumé
White onion tart with smoked bacon and asparagus
The puff pastry underneath was great. Loved the bacon. Who doesn't love bacon though. Robuchon is almost cheating.
chaud de canard au confit de kumquats acidulées
Duck foie gras with confit kumquats
My absolute favorite dish. Paired with a nice Riesling. I almost cried it was so good. Seriously.
en filets, jeunes poireaux étuvés au gingembre
Dover sole filet, baby leek with ginger
The sole was okay. I think after the high of the foie grais, any dish that immediately follows is gonna be a bit sole-less. Don't think for a minute I was gonna be all high-class throughout this post.
de bœuf à l'échalote
French-style hanger steak with fried shallots
The SO isn't a big fan of foie gras so she opted for the steak. I got more foie gras.
LA CAILLE
au foie gras, caramélisée avec une pomme purée truffée
Foie gras stuffed free-range quail with truffled-mashed potatoes
au foie gras, caramélisée avec une pomme purée truffée
Foie gras stuffed free-range quail with truffled-mashed potatoes
Both dishes were paired with a very nice cabernet sauvignon. Once again absolutely spectacular.
en biscuit dacquoise, gianduja à la feuillantine au goût chocolat
Hazelnut dacquoise, gianduja crunch and chocolate ice cream
Not a big fan of foamy stuff but still thought this was good.
LA PASSION
en crème glacée à la mousse de noix de coco sur une transparence de Champagne
Fresh passion fruit in a coconut meringue, Champagne brut
This was the better of the two desserts. At this point of the meal we've had 8 courses and about 4 glasses of wine/champagne plus our pre-dinner cocktail so we were pretty loaded.
In case you forgot where you were dining.
The reality of what just happened was made aware by the piece of paper in this little folder. Still, I have to say that this is now one of my Top 5 dinners. The service was amazing. The server and the sommelier knew their stuff. The sommelier was particularly cool. He took the time to explain to us how he selected the wine, the notes on the wine, etc. Food was top notch and everything was prepared brilliantly. I came in with high expectations but left with a sense of contentment, knowing that I just had one of the best meals of my life.
Oh yeah, this was supposed to be about living up the party life and my youth. Not about fine dining and wine pairing.
. To be continued....
. To be continued....
No comments:
Post a Comment