For our first night out (ignoring The Golden Steer as a night I didn't choose dinner), I wanted seafood. There were a lot of options but it's hard to find a table for six with no notice. When I called American Fish, Michael Mina's place, they mentioned they had no tables, but there were a few tables open in the bar area which served the full menu. So I grabbed my group and we ran over there to snag the last open table in the bar. It was a tight fit, but we made it happen.
So why did I take this picture of this bread? Well, it was really freaking good. I also had a horse's neck which was over-bittered. And then a sidecar.
For my dish, I got the branzino. On the menu, it's described as baked in sea salt and served with squid ink risotto, saffron sauce, red wine artichokes, and arugula.
The fish itself was good, but a tad overcooked. As one who cooks and loves branzino all the time, I know exactly where branzino is perfectly cooked. The risotto was great and incredibly rich tasting. It was the best thing on the plate. The artichokes brought acid to the plate, but I found them to be incongruous.
For dinner the second night, we went to Nobu. When we arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel, I was sure we were in the wrong place. The place felt seedy and punk, and we were certainly out of place. As it turns out, Motley Crue was playing there that night, but it was still a weird vibe.
Our reservation was for 9.30 and for those on Eastern time still, it was painful. We were seated and the four of us at there with no water and no menus for at least twenty minutes. Finally, we flagged someone down for menus. When our punky waiter arrived, he was clearly set on talking up how great Nobu was. We had to order water, which took another fifteen minutes to arrive.
He recommended three cold dishes and three hot dishes. I'm unsure if he meant for each of us or for the table, but we all decided to order for ourselves since each plate was about $30-$50 each. He was clearly not happy about that.
For my first dish, I ordered the ankimo, which is one of my favorites at Taka. My theory on ordering this was to see how Nobu handled it and I knew I would like it. Overall, it was okay. It came with a rich wasabi-flavored sauce, but it was nothing that really set it apart.
For my second dish, I ordered sushi: tuna, giant clam, uni. I specifically ordered nigiri so I would have some rice. It was ... okay. Not even wow, awesome like when we were having the toro tartare at Morimoto's in Napa. It was just okay.
So obviously I ordered wrong and it's my fault, but I was very disappointed. I did counsel Dan to get the miso-marinated black cod which Nobu put on the map. I tried a bit. It was incredibly unctuous, rich, and as silky as one might imagine.
Superbowl Sunday. I had Nathan's for lunch at the convention center. You should feel for me. Though I do like my Nathan's.
The convention always runs on Superbowl weekend so it always ends early on Sunday and then my company throws a party. This year, it was at Blondie's in Planet Hollywood. It's open bar and open food. It's pretty funny to see the Superbowl on big screens with our company logo next to it.
There was a bar set up with wings. I had a pile of them. A small pile. There was a "spicy blue cheese" to go with it. The wings were tasty and incredibly tender. It's hard for me to say that I've had wings that turned out quite this tender before. They were damn good.
I also had some potato skins.
Dinner three. We were able to get an early reservation at Jaleo, Jose Andres' place. The service at this place is amazing. Perhaps it was because it was pretty quiet when we got there. Perhaps they are just dedicated to it. We never had a water glass go empty and this is in the desert. When we mentioned to our server that one of our companions had a shellfish allergy and one had a tree nut allergy, she said, "I have menus for you!" Then she went off and came back with a menu specifically for shellfish allergies and one for tree nuts. I think that's pretty awesome.
We ordered a good selection of tapas. They were playful in presentation which was usually pretty cool but sometimes weird. Overall, everything was very salty. And I seemed to have ordered wrong again.
There was an iberico ham paella that I really wanted to try. Maybe next time.
The first thing I ordered was this salmon crudo served with anchovy-lemon oil. The first question they ask is if you like anchovies, which I do. No one else at the table did, so this dish was really just mine. The anchovy paste was SO salty. And then there were pine nuts and olives. I found it hard to eat too much of it. But does this dish look anything like you imagined?
The second thing I ordered was this cod salad, ‘Esqueixada’ de Bacala, shredded cod salad with tomatoes, onions, and black olives. It was really good and well balanced.
These chicken croquettes arrived in a sneaker. I don't know why.
These chistorra envuelta en patata frit were chorizo wrapped in crispy potato. Chris described them as the best corndog ever. I bet Jose Andres would be horrified to hear that.
These Dátiles con tocino ‘como hace todo el mundo, fried dates wrapped in bacon, were extremely salty. Extremely.
These fried empanadas were drizzed with honey...
... and filled with a light, creamy, bacalao filling. It was lightly fishy and delicious.
These mejillones a la ‘marinera are mussels in a spicy traditional sauce of tomatoes and herbs. They were too spicy for me to eat more than one.
These salmon tartare cones were topped with ikura.
Inside, they were filled with a mayo-based tartare.
This flan al estilo tradicional de mamá Marisa con espuma de crema catalan, flan with an espuma of Catalan cream and oranges. It was SO good.
No one could stand more convention food on the last day. We ordered in a pretty respectable shrimp pad thai.
Our last dinner was at Mesa Grill. I actually really like Bobby Flay, at least his recipes.
Josh had come to Vegas the week before and told me to get the Pappy's manhattan. It was $22. It better be good. And you know, it was pretty thin and kind of bland. Very disappointing. When I showed Josh this picture, he said they messed it up because no manhattan should ever have a white film like this on it. Bastards messed up my drink!!
We started off with the goat cheese queso fundido which was simply delicious.
For my main, I chose the whole grilled dorade. It came stuffed with orange, cilantro, and jalapenos. My first bite was incredibly spicy but then it evened out. The thick sauce that came around it was good, but not enough to really flavor the whole fish.
Again, as one who cooks whole fish, I know when it's overcooked. This one was. I chose poorly again.
Since the waiter mentioned that the dorade was served a la carte, he seemed to be encouraging a side. So I got this cauliflower gratin which was quite good, but since it took me like an hour to eat my fish, I didn't have much of it.
My cohorts ordered the spinach which they surprisingly raved over. When I tasted it, it was so familiar that I questioned what they thought made it so special. But since I've made spinach since then I have realized that it tasted just like we have in a Chinese restaurant.
So I was a bit disappointed overall, but perhaps it was my ordering.
No comments:
Post a Comment