Jay and I have had such great experiences at Emeril's restaurants in Orlando and New Orleans that it seemed like a no-brainer for us to finally dine at one of his Vegas establishments. Table 10, located in the Palazzo, offers a menu with a wide variety of American classics with the standard Emeril / New Orleans twist that we've come to love. Couple that with strong recommendations from friends and drool-worthy pictures from Yelp, and we decided that this was a restaurant worth visiting on the final night of our trip with two of our favorite peoples in the whole wide world: Frank & Fran!
I do, however, have to qualify this review with the following: the gutworm and I were in a constant battle during this trip and he really made himself known during our last day and evening in Vegas. I pushed the envelope at Table 10, regardless, and ended up paying for it in ways that you do not want to know about; I think it's fair to say that played a definite part in my overall attitude towards the restaurant and our experience there and just wanted to be honest with everyone about it.
Don't worry, there's more than one table
Two of our favorite peoples!
While we were trying to figure out what we were going to order for eating, we were presented with a taste treat from the chef: one single nacho with lovely salsa and jalapeno cream sauce. In a word: delicious!
Nacho Happy Mouth
I agonized over the drink menu for some reason that I can't explain; most likely because my gut was telling me to back off while my brain was simultaneously giving the gut a two-fingered salute. I asked our server for a recommendation and gawd help me, he's ruined it for every server I will ever have for the rest of my booze-infused life, of this I am sure. Based on his glowing endorsement of a cocktail that supposedly won an award from people without taste buds, I ordered something so bitter and vile that I'm still not sure it wasn't tinged with poison.
A specialty drink so bad that I've forgotten its name
Now let us never speak of this "drink" again; instead let's talk appetizers, of which we ordered three! I selected the Certified Black Angus Beef Tartare with Dijon Emulsion, Crostini, and traditional garnishes. This is the first time I've ever tried beef tartare and I did enjoy it, but given a choice I think I prefer beef carpaccio.
Steak Tartare ...
Jason ordered Emeril's Grilled Jalapeno & Corn Hush Puppies with Tomato Currant Chutney - bless his heart he's a sucker for anything with jalapenos and he said these were really good with a great spicy after-burn.
Spicy Puppies
And one final appetizer for good measure: Summer Sweet Corn Popovers with Orange, Onion, and Petite Arugula with Basil Cream. I was surprised at how good these were - very light pastry with a wonderful blend of flavors that seemed to scream SPRINGTIME!!!
Popovers
In a last ditch effort to to try one more "something different" I ordered the Free Raised California Buffalo with Red Wine Marinade, Gruyere Cheese Potato Gratin, and Red Wine Demi Glace. This was the other big disappointment of the evening - it was tasteless and drowning in sauce, no doubt because the buffalo was so over-cooked as to resemble shoe leather. As for the cheesy potato gratin ... it was thick and congealed and gacktackular. This dish was an epic failure on the part of the kitchen which is not something we are accustomed to experiencing at an Emeril restaurant.
Buffalo, are you there?
Jason chose the Salt & Pepper Crusted Texas Farm Raised Striped Bass - it was a skin-on whole fishie stuffed with lemons and herbs and served with Gremolata sauce. Pardon the expression but this really was the catch of the night! The preparation, the presentation, and the taste were spot on and Jason relished every bite.
Now that's a plate of fish!
Fran selected the other item on the menu that I seriously considered ordering and in retrospect I wish I had. She went with the Seared Maine Scallops with Jumbo Lump Crab, Lima Bean and Tomato Succotash, Creole Tomato Glaze, and Parmesan Cheese. The plate looks a little messy to me, but apparently this was a tasty, tasty entree. And really, with scallops and crab how could it not be good? The kitchen would have had to have been dedicated to failure to screw this one up!
Scallops
Last entree of the evening; Frank ordered the Slow Roasted Prime Pork Tenderloin with Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Green Chili Mole, and a Rum Brown Sugar Glaze. Again, I think the presentation was lacking ... it actually looks a bit disgusting ... but from all accounts this tasted very good and as I've said before, that's the most important thing!
Pork
We decided not to order dessert but because we were celebrating a birthday (which I must have mentioned when I made the reservation months in advance) they brought out a little something special for the hubba: White Chocolate Malassadas Rolled in Cinnamon Sugar with Vanilla Bean Cream Anglaise.
Malassadas is a fancy name for donut holes.
Enjoy; Tuck in; and Eat it already! are Jay and Bendy terms that, loosely translated, mean: watch your fingers because we are remorseless eating machines when it comes to dessert donuts! These were amazing, deep fried, warm little balls of dough dusted with sugar and they sang a beautiful song when dipped in that creamy vanilla bean sauce. They would have been spectacular with some boozy coffee but unfortunately that wasn't on the agenda this evening thanks to the worm. Still, this was a terrific dessert option that was great for sharing and one we would love to have again!
Donuts!
Once we were finished with our meal, Frank and Fran walked back over to the Encore with us to say goodnight. What happened as we rode the escalators down to Las Vegas Boulevard is a powerful reminder as to why mom always said don't speak to strangers ...
There was a dude dressed like a pirate headed up the escalator with a parrot riding his shoulder. I thought he was part of the show over at Treasure Island and was on his way to work for the night; Fran saw him and being the friendly sort, greeted him with the universal pirate salutation, "Arrrrrr!"
That was all it took. He reached the top of the pedestrian bridge linking the Wynn and Palazzo and immediately turned and rode the escalator back down, catching up with us so quickly it made my head spin. Before we knew what had happened he and his parrot were posing for pictures with all of us.
Note that everyone had to wear a special hat: Fran got the pirate hat; I got the court jester hat because I couldn't stop laughing; Frank looks to have been given a soft, stovepipe hat, and Jason received the captain's hat. You will also note that the parrot, whose name was actually Polly, really seemed to like Jason and she gave him a kiss in one picture. She also seemed to like my laugh because she kept repeating it, which just made me laugh even more ... a truly vicious cycle!
It was a fun and unexpected way to end our evening and it's really the kind of thing that doesn't happen in many places outside of Vegas. Trust me when I tell you this certainly doesn't occur in Stinktown - wahahaaa! As for Table 10, I seem to be the only one of our group who wasn't all that impressed, so I'm going to give this a "try at your own discretion" rating. My hope is that you will have a better overall experience there than I did ... and whatever you do, don't ask for a drink recommendation from the wait staff!!!
1 comment:
ahhh! I had a bird that mimicked my laugh. He died a little over a year ago thanks to Kota. :( when I laugh the kids still look around and ask where Beaker is. Sorry your stomach was not doing well for the trip. It sucks when the gremlin rears his ugly head! I hope it didn't last too long.
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