Las Vegas Restaurant Week Part I: Fixed Menu Highlights - Feature
The impetus of any Restaurant Week is to highlight the local culinary inspirations of a given city with a fixed price menu. But when it is Las Vegas as the site of such an integration, the stakes are much higher and diverse because of the influx of great world-renown chefs that integrate into this annual citywide occurrence.
From Rio & The Palms to The Flamingo & Encore, the possibilities are far reaching but reflect a structure of both local flavors and world-based cuisine. Stretching beyond the Strip and maintaining structure but also distinctifying a nature of experimentation with a dexterious menu, Las Vegas Restaurant Week offers a balance of different gastronomical adventures for both the seasoned traveler and the new couple out for a fun experience in food without overwhelming their taste buds.The proliferation of Las Vegas Restaurant Week and its ideas truly form within the kitchen so the participating venues imbue the diversity through and through whether within the peak of lunchtime meetings or in the mood-drenched twilight of dinner.As a starting point, Martorano's, inside The Rio, persists one always with the unforgettable vista of its owner towering over Flamingo Road. Part Miami cool, part Vegas style, the eatery loves its slick but black and white essence of Italian and hearty food mentality. While by no means light, its sauces hit with their thickness staying true to the quick.
Their fixed dinner menu offers a lucid charge beginning with a vibrant and dressing filled Caesar salad as a starter choice though the fried mozzarella, another choice, intensifies the experience with a thick Marzano tomato sauce that simply scintilates.
The main course entree selection on the pre-fixed again revels in its thickness. The Chicken Cutlet Martorano uses a generous portion of chicken meat draped in deep meat sauce with slices of provolone surrounded by a side of house made gnocchi which flies off the plate with surprising speed.
Another choice for entree that was simply divine was the melting love of the Bucatini Carbonera. The smooth but heavy inferrance of pancetta, egg, cream and luscious amounts of reggiano cheese conceded a weight to the dish's power which isn't for the faint hearted but utterly fulfilling in its possibilities.
Two small possibilities off the Restaurant Week menu at Martorano's have to be mentioned. The cheese-filled ravolis topped with a pork so tender it flakes like a brisket tumbles the taste buds while Martorano's famous meatballs which soak in sauce to attain their countenance taste so homemade that as soon as the flavor hits your mouth, its reminds one of heaven.Over at Flamingo, as the sun crests over the mountains, Steakhouse 46 parallels its cuisine with its more resolute but just as flavorful permutation that, while idealized of the filet, uses a variety of differential ingredients to truly intensify the Restaurant Week experience.
Cocktails reach for the essence of balanced consistency. Though not included on the pre-fixed menu, mixology adds a bit of brevity and a fusion of intensity to the experience. From the 46 bar, a Red Apple Martini, dark but silky in texture, begins the beguine with a generously luscious and bitter taste.
In terms of starter choices within the fixed menu, the lump crab cake, though crispy and tangy, lacked from a greater overarching taste while the French Onion Gratinee filled in kindness with its cheesy and wholesome countenance.
The main entrees at 46 offered exceptional diversity across the board with a pan seared King Salmon resting on a bed of cous cous pearls offering a light but specific seasoning while a roasted half Petaluma chicken reveled in its buttery loveliness further vivified by the inclusion of figs which acted as a trigger mechanism of taste.
However, the entree of choice, as 46 is known for, was the grilled Filet Mignon surround by an artisan vision of root vegetable hash which brimmed with zest as its glaze reflected a vision of those grand steakhouses of yesteryear, dark and cozy with that undeniable taste of both style and experience.
The included dessert within 46 pre-fixed menu did not disappoint with two options equally vivid in their appeal. For the lighter taste, the Strawberry Shortcake dazzles with a cream glaze while not overwhelming the stomach with overarching richness. In balance, the Chocolate Dome with raspberry mousse is decidedly more rich for those cacao aficionados that crave all things dark.Off Strip, many venues catering to a more locally based and discerning crowd also permeate the functionality of Restaurant Weekin uber-detail.
Vintner Grill, located on West Charleston near Summerlin, understands the lure of old school fundamentals accessorized with an open style of coolness balanced between the essences of Frankie Valli and Dean Martin without overwhelming the sensibilities.
Unlike the heavier conceptions on the Strip, Vintner appealed by using strategy in terms of its fixed menu more visually in terms of its ideas beginning with a chopped spring vegetable salad that simply floated with utter clarity mixing corn, peas, spring beans, carrots, red peppers and a maple sherry vinaigrette with a crunchy and utterly ironic tomato draped crostini that perfectly balanced the intro.
In terms of the main course, the undeniable selection of choice was the crispy free range half chicken, arguably the best entree sampled for Restaurant Week, simply because its taste comes close to perfect with a truffle honey mustard glaze that pops in its strength but doesn't overwhelm the idea to a fault. Served with a cavatelli "mac and cheese", again pushing against the grain, this selection adds a vivacious feel as its drapes the vision with languid stalks of tasty broccolini.
As if the first two courses weren't enough, the blueberry-meyer lemon cheesecake registers so incredibly rich as the fruit enhanced compote kisses its sides with utter debauchery in the most clever and possible way.On the opposite side of town, beyond the reach of Henderson, Marssa at Loews Lake Las Vegas, takes a more Japanese approach in reflection of its sushi tendencies. Balanced in vision by Master Chef Fuji, who also oversees the uber popular Sushi SoBe at Loews Miami Beach in Florida, the approach on the idea of the fixed menu is a collaborative paradox of appetites that speaks to both the traditional and the experimental.
In reflection of the starter, the first plate is a trifecta of different reactions using one taste to volley off another to their core strengths. The initial yellowtail pico de gallo envisions a tangy pop with a citrus taste while the walnut prawn is undeniably sweet with an orange sweet glaze that surprises. An avocado sushi ball tangles off the proceedings with a cream filled center that is neither sweet nor sour yet perfectly delicious in its antecedent.
The main course again moves against the grain using what the chef calls "testing" by bringing a contrasting bridge of flavors. The filet tataki fillet, neatly cut, doesn't overwhelm on spice but uses a slightly tangy ponzu sauce to elevate the reaction without creating too much of a broad interpretation but also balances the Japanese throughline back to core with the garlic and wasabi permeated mashed potatoes that register both light and vivid at the same time.
Simplicity again is reflected in the chef's eyes with a simple dessert course of chocolate mousse to give that right balance of crunchy and satisfaction without bringing the consumer too far away from their comfort zone.By comparison, RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay mirrors and diverges with Marssa in terms of certain thought processes of theRestaurant Week menu by using utterly simple and limited ingredients to create an effective yet experimentally textured flow of taste that both jumps and soothes, indicative of Chef Adam Sobel's background which combines worlds as varied as NYC's Tavern On The Green and the CIA [Culinary Institute Of America] (having been one of its youngest students).
Cocktails, as prevalent in the twilight hours experienced at other venues, depends on a mix that will both enhance the experience but not confuse flavor with too many ingredients. The Gardner Martini, named after one of the resident bartenders, uses Hendrick's Gin with infused cucumber and a slightness of lemon juice which gives it an utterly smooth resolve. Again not part of the set fixed menus for Restaurant Week but definitely a suggestion of worthy possibility.
The starter here envisions a texture of the Shrimp Louie served in a classic preparation with butter lettuce and lovely chunks of avocado over a thinly sliced bed of tomato, its inventiveness both light but tangy nontheless.
The main course of king salmon reflects in its brilliance because of its slow cooked grilling method highlighted by an ingenious herb crust that simply lifts its taste beyond the figurative level. Add to this lemon fueled buttery inference, the accompanying summer succotash allows a feeling of home with bursting flavor that is both intrinsic and lovingly true at the same time.
Like the idealization of 46's Strawberry Shortcake, Sobel's selection for dessert reflects in the sweet with a Strawberry Cream Puff that feels more pastry driven filled with chunks of the luscious fruit draped in a creme brulee glaze with a slight dollop of sorbet on the side for good measure.
For the lunch ideal of Restaurant Week on the go, the concept is all the more solidified by Society Cafe at Encore and its simple but utterly clever implementation of a boutique dining experience.
The starter choice of salad or soup is one of the more difficult choices. The roast tomato bisque is smooth and thick with its light feeling but the creamed corn soup with chunks of lobster cannot be denied. Paradoxically, the Market Chop Salad mixing avocado, turkey, Havarti cheese, pumpkin seeds and a taragon vinaigrette is so brisk with utter confidence in the fact that it knows it doesn't have to overwhelm with dressing to highlight its flavor.
The sandwich and dessert plate is served consecutively on the same plate which promotes understanding of its function. The prevalent option of filet mignon sliders are bathed in caramelized onions with a slift and powerful tang of horseradish sauce. The thickness of the meat resonates in its ability to create intensive flavor in a smaller package while a waiting bag of donut bites is great running out the door.
Not to be forgotten but one of insanely beautiful possibilities that comes with every meal at Society is their pretzel bread which, like the earlier mentioned Martorano's meatballs, is like a gift from heaven. Dipping the bread in the Cafe's homemade dijon mustard sauce just jumps off the charts to the point that it could become an addiction.The multiple possibilities of the menus across Las Vegas Restaurant Week shows the texture of value and requisite talent that is utterly apparent across Las Vegas both on and off the Strip during this destination of culinary delight. With proceeds going to benefit Three Square, whose chefs populate the membership across many of the restaurants sampled, foodies can feel both informed and enlightened by the possibilities that awaits them.