Last year our evening of lounge hopping ended at Sage with fabulous service, amazing food that included the digestive epiphany that was foie gras brulee, and sooper-booze on fiyah. The entire experience was so memorable that Jay and I made it a priority to book dinner at Sage on this trip so that we could properly wallow in glorious gluttony. We chose a Thursday night for dinner, assuming that the dining room wouldn't be as crowded as on a weekend - that was the first mistake.
There was a wedding party celebrating in a private dining room and a large group of business travelers taking up space at a round table in the main dining room - no big deal, these things happen all the time in Vegas and we weren't bothered by them. Unfortunately the serving staff looked to be a little short that night and our server in particular was not very friendly or helpful ... obviously he was bothered by all the activity. I will refer to him from this point forward as Surly Joe.
The Lounge
The bar in the lounge
The dining room
We were at something of a disadvantage because we'd met up with my parents and Jay's aunt and uncle for an early dinner; while we didn't eat a full meal, we did share some appetizers and sucked down a few monster margaritas. I know that this early "snack" affected my appetite to the point where I was unable to order Chef McClain's tasting menu as I'd planned. Jason, however, was still up for the challenge and he went with the four-course tasting paired with beer rather than wine.
Once we made our choices for the evening a pretzel roll and a bacon roundie showed up at our table with some delicious hand-made butter and a cellar of Murray River Sea Salt. We were also presented with an Amuse Bouche for the evening, unfortunately I have no longer have any recollection as to its composition. It looks like a spoonful of celery and beans and the fact that I didn't find it memorable tells me that it must have been on the dull side. As Jay would say, "It was real average!"
I'll eat bread and butter like this all day long!
Amuse ... it's a mystery now
Because I knew that Jay would be receiving foie gras brulee with his tasting menu, I selected something different: Chilled Dungeness Crab Salad with Lemon Chili Marmalade, Frise'e, Confit Fennel and Garlic. This was quite good; the sweetness of the crab was offset nicely by the spicy tartness of the lemon chili marmalade, and I loved the fennel and garlic cracker straw wrapper which tasted great, provided some much needed crunchy texture, and was just plain fun.
Chilled Dungeness Crab Salad
Jay's first beer arrived with my Manhattan - it was Dogfish Head Midas Touch which the brewery describes as a smooth, sweet, dry ale that falls somewhere between wine and mead as far as taste is concerned. I wish I could tell you that Surly Joe provided us similar information but he didn't and he seemed put out every time we asked for an explanation as to why certain beers had been selected for each pairing. I had to badger him for the names of the beers all night long because they weren't listed on the tasting menu and we didn't want to forget what we'd tried.
Midas Touch Brew in Manhattan
As I may have already mentioned, Jay's first course was Sage's Foie Gras Custard Brulee with Blood Orange, Toasted Cocoa Nibs, and Salted Brioche. We tried this last year and it was so amazingly good that we talked about it for months. Sadly, this time around it just wasn't as tasty as our first experience. The texture wasn't nearly as smooth or light, the orange seemed to overpower the foie gras' delicate flavor, and there was too much salt from the brioche.
Foie Gras Brulee
For Jay's second course he was poured a Sierra Nevada Ovila Dubbel. This was apparently the product of a project Sierra Nevada is involved in with Ovila to bring Belgian-style ales to the poor deprived peoples of North America. This brew had a deep copper color with a lot of malt and some spicy sweetness - it was one of the more enjoyable beers that he tried that night.
Sierra Nevada Ovila Dubbel
His food choice was Maine Dayboat Scallops with Braised Oxtail, Wild Mushrooms, and a Salted Caramel Reduction. The scallops were really tasty with a nice sear and the caramel reduction was lovely - this was a smaller portion of the same dinner entree, which I think would have made for a great meal.
Dayboat Scallops
Jay's third beer was Ommegang BPA, which is Ommegang's interpretation of what they term a true Belgian-style Pale Ale. It was fruity and hoppy and bitter and I didn't care for it. Actually the bitterness of this brew kind of reminded me of Surly Joe who seemed equally bitter as the evening progressed.
Ommegang BPA
Jay selected Iberico Pork Loin with Milk-Braised Cannelloni, Green Asparagus, and Creminelli Mortadella and he said it was fabulous - easily the best dish of the menu. And how often does a Stinktown resident have a chance to order Iberico Pork anyway?
Iberico Pork Loin
I ordered the Grilled American Kobe Skirt Steak with Smoked Eggplant Puree, Garbanzo Bean Pesto, and Roasted Treviso. The portion was ridiculously generous and the first few pieces I ate were very good - tender and flavorful. Unfortunately the remainder of the beef was in turns over-cooked, chewy, or salty. There were definitely issues in the kitchen this night as the quality of our meal was quite uneven; given the level of expectation we had this made for some real disappointment at our table.
Wondering what the heck treviso is, by the way? I had to look it up because Surly Joe didn't linger long enough for me to inquire. It is an Italian vegetable - a red radicchio that is often used to lend bitterness to a dish.
Kobe Skirt Steak
Our final drinks of the evening included a glass of Royal Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos, or as I prefer to call it The Mad Hungarian, and Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I have been in love with the Tokaji since we first tried it a number of years ago at Victoria and Albert's at Disney World - it's a wonderful dessert wine with hints of honey and apricot that somehow manages to be not too sweet. And it tastes fabulous with foie gras!
Booze and a surly Bendy
Jay's double chocolate stout paired really well with his dessert selection which was Crunchy Chocolate and Peanut Butter Tart with a Blackberry Sphere and Toasted Marshmallow Sauce. This could have been a mind-blowing dessert but there were too many flavors warring with each other and we could only assume that the blackberry sphere was supposed to remind us of jelly and make us think we were eating a fancy-schmancy PB&J sandwich. It didn't work.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart
I ordered Panne Cotta with fresh fruit, meringue cigarette butts, and an unfortunate sauce that ruined the whole thing. The panne cotta on its own was wonderful - light and delicious with just a hint of vanilla bean. In my book all you need with cooked custard is fresh fruit, but when Surly Joe poured cold fruit soup into my dish I knew it was all over. My meringue smokes were soggy and my custard was gloppy - they ruined everything, those ruiners!
Looks like a fruity ashtray
At this point I did the only thing I could do - I played with my food.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
Interestingly enough we were also given an end of meal amuse - in this case a wee cup of warm chocolate soup. This was great; I would have ordered something like this for dessert if it were available. And if you ask me it should be - the chef and his staff seem to be suffering from an overwhelming need to impress everyone and I actually think they and their guests would be better served in the long run if they simplified some of their dishes. And I hope they remove the fruity ashtray from the dessert menu immediately.
Chocolate Soup
This was a really hard review to write because I wanted this full dining room experience to meet or exceed the one we had in Sage's lounge last year. It just wasn't our night, however, and while some courses were quite good others suffered from too many ingredients or not being properly prepared. Jay and I agreed that there seemed to be too many ingredients in some of the dishes resulting in muddled flavors. And the service was just not good.
Would we return? I think the answer is yes but it would be the lounge that we'd choose to re-visit rather than the dining room. I offer all of you a cautious recommendation to try Sage but be forewarned that quality may be uneven based on this most recent experience. Here's hoping that your evening is a better overall one than ours!
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