When the chips are down ...

Forget the white tigers, now you can experience the magic of
America's hottest chefs, 

Gael Arthur

Gael Arthur finds  'Food for Thought '       in Las Vegas

Las Vegas?  Isn't that where you go to diversify your portfolio with some high risk / high return investment opportunities?  Where the guestrooms are so small, your best option is to stay at the casinos, eventually succumbing to the cash advance machines?

Not any more.  Now, a trip to Las Vegas is more of a culinary
pilgrimage.  Thanks to Gourmet Magazine and Wine Spectator feature stories, food lovers are flocking to one of the weirdest cities in North America.  Forget the white tigers, now you can experience the magic of
America's hottest chefs, including Julian Serrano, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Joachim Splichal, Jean-Louis Paladin and Mark Miller, all without leaving Las Vegas.

Wolfgang Puck was one of the first, opening a Spago in the Forum
adjacent to Caesar's (don't worry, they still have the scantily clad
Roman gladiators and the girls to match - some things never change).  At last count, he had five restaurants in Glitter Gulch, including Chinois
- one of the best efforts at fusing Asian flavours and American
innovation I've seen in ages.

The transformation of Las Vegas from the place to line up for
all-you-can-eat $1.99 buffets to the $46 veal chop (that's US dollars,
thank you very much, and if you want the double baked stuffed potato to
go with it, add another $8.95) has been surprisingly smooth.  In a town
where 5,000 room hotels spring up almost overnight, all it takes is
vision, determination and money.  The money is a simple matter of
mathematics - a billion dollar casino pencils out at a million dollars a
day, so getting people into the property requires more and more
imagination.  A ride in a gondola, a Star Trek show, a Coney Island
roller coaster - all are passé almost as soon as they open.  But the
hottest chef in America?  That's something to bring in the crowds.

Las Vegas is about excess.  Steve Wynn's Bellagio seemed over the top when it first opened in 1998, with its Dale Chihuly glass ceiling
dangling over the lobby, an art collection including Degas, Gauguin and
Renoir, and a strict but politely enforced no-children policy.  Bellagio
had raised the bar, and the rest followed.  Once the hotel was up and
running, attention was turned to the food.

Among several restaurants, the Bellagio flagship is Picasso, so named
because of the USD32 million in artwork by the Spanish master.  The room is relatively spartan, but the art warms it up and is not overpowering.   Huge plate glass windows overlook fountains that perform every fifteen  minutes, bubbling up slowly and rhythmically flowing through their routine (music outside attracts crowds that used to hang out at the volcano down the road, but, in the sanctuary of Picasso, it is a lovely mimed performance of dancing water in the middle of the desert).

The food?  Well, Picasso gets full marks, with its choice of four or
five course prix fixe dinners, with optional wine pairings.  The foie
gras was perfect, served with a simple Madeira sauce.  Roasted scallops with a jus de veau were perfectly matched with an example of what Pinot Gris can really be, concentrated, spicy, buttery, fruity, nutty, all
hanging off an acidic backbone to meet the scallops head on.  The
truffle crusted lamb was everything lamb should be, including very
tender - to say I could cut it with a fork would be an exaggeration, but
not a big one.

The prices are steep by Canadian standards, but in line with San
Francisco and London - $85 for a five-course menu dégustation, plus
another $48 for the optional wine pairings. The wine list is good, but
the pairings make more sense, giving you decent wines properly explained by wait staff.  The wines change on a very frequent basis, and fit well with my own ABCC attitude (Anything But Chard and Cab).

The night we were there, the restaurant was full, but service was
smooth.  It's reassuring to know that French waiters everywhere complain about the same things - too bad they assume their patrons only speak English.

Across the street at Paris, the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower has location, including a great view down on those same Bellagio fountains.  Arriving, past the mini Arc de Triomphe, into the huge casino and up
the elevator in a half-size Eiffel Tower, the first view is of a gorgeous open kitchen, sparkling stainless steel and immaculate staff, from chefs to kitchen slave.

The menu is an interesting mixture of classic French with bits of America wedged in between (a purée of parsnips to accompany the ballotine of quail - perhaps not).  Romaine lettuce with roasted bone
marrow and garlic croûton made for a great starter and I will neveragain hesitate over seafood in Vegas - the grand seafood platter was outstanding.  Staff showed amazing aplomb in performing above and beyond the call of duty - while the power had gone out and the rest of the hotel was being evacuated, restaurant staff carried on valiantly.

Along with Picasso, the other stellar restaurant, I am told, is Renoir
(at the Mirage).  I expect to taste some of Renoir's best this month, as
part of a foodie weekend organized by the American Magazine Bon Appetit.   It's their twelfth annual Wine and Spirits Focus, one of the best food and wine events I have EVER attended.  Last year, it was hosted at the Venetian, and this year, May 18- 20, the main events are at Bellagio, with a few of the seminars at the MGM Grand, the Mirage and Treasure Island.

The Grand Tasting on Friday night is a walk around tasting of 40 Las
Vegas restaurants, interspersed with lots of wine.  Last year, with the
temperature poolside in the 90s, we drank a lot of champagne - Deutz, one of my personal favourites, was there, along with a decent selection of others.  This isn't really an event to think hard about the wine - the food is the attraction.  A restaurant's ability to put out stunning and tasty food which can be consumed with a plastic fork is surely a valid measure of understanding context and customer.  After all, nobody wants to be struggling with a hard to eat morsel while holding a glass of wine and clutching various other goodies (last year, a beautiful cookbook was included in the ticket price).

This is a fundraising event, including a silent auction, with proceeds
going to a great charity, The Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Last year, at
several Wine and Spirits Focus events across the US, more than $100,000 was raised. The balance of the weekend is filled with serious education - a sushi & sake workshop, a vodka and caviar tasting, even a course on Brazilian home barbecuing.  I won't be attending the foie gras tasting, as I did the foie gras and sauternes seminar last year, but I'll be at the imported cheese and port course.  By Sunday, after a Champagne and Jazz Brunch, over at the MGM Grand, I'll be ready for some serious investigation into health spa ranches!

And, if all this talk of foie gras and champagne leaves you lusting for
the old Las Vegas, have no fear, it's still there.  Head to one of the
three Fatburger drive-ins.  For $5.29, you get a Fatburger, fries and a
regular soda at the burger joint that's been around since the 50s.
Spring a bit extra for the chocolate shake - you won't be disappointed.


Addresses:

Picasso:  702-693-8105  www.bellagiolasvegas.com
Eiffel Tower: 702-946-7000  www.paris-lv.com
Fatburger:  702-870-4933  www.fatburger.net
Make-A-Wish Foundation:  www.wish.org