Julian Serrano; Aria, Las Vegas

Still Eating and Drinking - Vegas Lounge Hop, Part II

No offense to the James Beard Award winning chef Julian Serrano, but our visit to his new Vegas restaurant was really designed to be nothing more than a pit stop before the serious lounging began elsewhere. But we had some good eats and drinks while we were there and the menu was interesting enough that Jason and I would definitely consider a return visit. The cuisine is classic Spanish and features a wide array of tapas, paella, and seafood - it seems like a really great place to come with a large party and share plates of delicious food all night long. The great thing about this restaurant is that it's open for lunch as well as dinner, so you and your friends could conceivably show up at 11AM when the kitchen opens and keep the food-n-booze train chugging along for a twelve hour tour. Now that's our kind of chew-chew-chew!!

Serrano is located right smack in the middle of the Aria, and by that I mean that it's actually open on three sides to the hotel's restaurant row. If you are looking for a quiet, romantic spot for dinner this might not be the best place but if you want a casual environment with lots of energy then you've probably found a home.

You will never forget where you are ...


We arrived during peak dining hours and headed straight for the bar, which was quite large and comfortable. I really liked the decor which was bright and playful - I'm a sucker for glass apothecary jars filled with bright, pretty, colorful items that can be eaten or added to a beverage or both!

Pretty jars all in a row ...

For our beverages at this location Jason and I ordered red sangria and white sangria - both were quite good but I still prefer the red.

Red and White Sangria

Catherine ordered Tuna-Raspberry Skewers for her snack: Ahi Tuna, Molecular Raspberry, Wasabi, and Sesame Seed. She wins the award for coolest presentation in a tapas selection. Rumor has it that these tasted pretty damn good, too.

Tuna-Raspberry Skewers


Continuing my insatiable vacation fromage quest, I ordered Serrano's cheese platter (their words, not mine). While the cheeses themselves were fine, and actually quite tasty, the presentation was ... lacking. Actually as I look at the picture today I wonder if I might have been the first customer to ever order their cheese plate - that might explain why it showed up looking like the bartender's five-year old assembled it in the side kitchen. And added a quince slug for good measure.

Cheese Platter? More like Cheese Splatter!


The cheeses above in no particular, sloppy order were: Cana de Cabra (goat); Manchego (sheep); Cabrales (cow); and La Serena (sheep). As I previously mentioned, this wasn't going to win any awards for presentation but the cheeses were good and were at least products of Spain, which is more than I can say for that tragic cheese offering at Stratta.

For his snackaroo Jason selected the Mixed Seafood Ceviche: Shrimp, White Fish, Octopus, Cilantro, and Lime Juice. As is often his wont with these types of dishes he asked for, and received, extra tentacles. I didn't try this but have been told by reliable sources that the ceviche was "fargin awesome."

Mixed Seafood Ceviche


Pardon me, but your octopus is staring

So there you have it - short and sweet but a definite treat. Serrano is absolutely worth a repeat visit and the menu really deserves more time than we were able, or willing, to give it that night. Whaddya say we get a big 'ol group together and stop in a for a round of drinks and tapas in April?

Red Square; Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

Let the Eating and Drinking Begin; Vegas Lounge Hop, Part I

Once our final Vegas Uncorked event was finished ... Afternoon Tea at Payard's which I've not yet posted ... Jay and I hoofed it down to Mandalay Bay and Red Square to meet our friend Catherine for a night of lounge hopping. This is something that we have always wanted to try but have never managed due to the perpetual food coma we eat ourselves into while visiting Vegas.

Catherine was waiting for us at Red Square's icebar, which is a unique design featuring a solid block of ice down the center of the bar that keeps drinks nice and cold. I started the night off with a Bolshevik Bellini, which was made with champagne and a choice of peach or raspberry vodka. You can tell from the picture which vodka I chose - it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me well! This was a lovely drink - a vodka variation of a Kir Royale, which is one of my all-time favorite cocktails.

Bolshevik Bellini


Jay took Catherine's advice and ordered Red Square's version of a Bloody Mary, which was made with Red Square's infused pepper vodka, homemade spicy mary mix, and fresh lime juice garnished with lemon, lime, celery, and bleu cheese stuffed olives. He said this was one of the best bloody marys he's ever had and he really liked the heat from the pepper vodka.

Russian Mary


For snacking we decided to try the Beef Pelmeni - beef dumplings in fennel consomme with dill sour cream - and Salt and Pepper Fried Calamari - squid dusted with a five-spice blend and served with sweet and sour sauce. Jay and I have had pelmeni previously thanks to our college Russian professor - the ones from Red Square were just as good as the ones we tried at our professor's house many years ago. These tender dough pockets filled with well-seasoned meat (think ravioli for comparison) were floating in delicate meat bathwater and topped off with a dollop of sour cream lightly flavored with dill - what's not to like?

Actually, we didn't like that the serving portion only included five dumplings because they were so good we could have eaten many, many more!

As for the calamari, it's my sad duty to inform you that I don't like it and so I have no opinion to offer. Jason and Catherine, however, like squid just fine and said this was really very good - properly cooked and well-seasoned.

Pelmeni ... and a fluorescent pig???


Squid platter with extra tentacles

Before pulling up stakes to head for our next snack-n-slurp stop, we had to order some liquid dessert. On a previous visit to Red Square Jay and I ordered this for our actual dessert and we loved it so much that we convinced Catherine to give it a try with us this time. It's a really cool presentation: four two-ounce shot glasses each filled with the restaurant's liquid desserts (alcohol included, of course) and served in a Red Square ice block to keep them extra cold!

Our dessert shooters included the following, starting with the upper left-hand corner and moving clockwise: Key Lime Pie (smirnoff vanilla, keke beach liqueur, pineapple juice, and lime juice); Russkie (zone banana vodka, creme de cacao, creme de banana, and half & half); Espresso Martini (espresso, smirnoff vanilla twist, bailey's, kahlua, and creme de cacao); and Anastasia's Dream (van gogh double espresso vodka, frangelico, chambord, and half & half).

While I don't care for banana flavored much of anything (other than an actual banana) all of our shooters were tasty and well-made; they also packed quite a punch! My personal favorites were the Key Lime Pie and Espresso Martini.

You can shoot me with this any time!

This was our second visit to Red Square and it remains one of our Vegas favorites thanks to tasty and inventive food and drink options. And it has some of the most interesting and unique decor of any Sin City restaurant, featuring a mix of imperial Russian and Soviet photographs and posters. We enjoy it so much we're going back again for dinner in April 2011 ... here's hoping for continued deliciousness!

As an aside, should you like to read about our 2008 dinner experience at Red Square, just follow this link to my blog review from that trip:

http://oybolshoi-gastropodtravels.blogspot.com/2008/04/red-square-mandalay-bay-dinner.html

Table 10; The Palazzo, Las Vegas

The Last Vacation Dinner ... Again.

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!!!