Mr. Puck, You Make the Only Grub What Satisfies My Gut Worm - Cletus Spuckler, February 17, 2002A funny thing happened before we decided to book this event back in January, and it served to reinforce just how clueless your devoted, gluttonous scribbler really can be sometimes. The Vegas Uncorked website listed their events by date, time, chef, and venue. Initially it just showed a luncheon with Wolfgang Puck and then shortly thereafter the same listing had a single word alongside the Puck's name: CUT.
Bummer - the event was axed before it even got rolling. I told Jay that we'd have to keep an eye out for a different lunch because this one had been cut. I then helpfully proceeded to inform my internet friends via facecrack that Puck's lunch was no longer being offered. Imagine just how idiotic I felt when someone kindly pointed out that CUT is the name of Puck's restaurant at the Palazzo.
D'OH!
Turns out CUT is a steakhouse, not a verb.
Turns out the Puck has
two restaurants named CUT - one in Vegas and the other in Los Angeles.
Turns out I am a maroon ... an ig-na-ray-moose ... and a nin-cow-poop.
Ahem.
You may
(or may not) recall from an earlier, slightly flat review that we had just finished up our not-so-fizzy lifting drinks at the Laguna Champagne Bar; not knowing whether we would have assigned seating or if it would be a drunken free-for-all, the three of us wandered over to CUT about twenty minutes before the luncheon was scheduled to begin to ensure that we could share the same table. We were happily surprised to see a swinging cocktail party well underway in the lounge and plunged right in, nabbing a glass of Moet & Chandon Imperial Rose Champagne as we did so.
Much as I enjoy a good glass of bubbly, this was not the best beverage making the rounds. That honor goes to the Cucumber Dill Martini, which Catherine first spied in the hands of other attendees. This was apparently a very popular libation and it took some time before she could flag down a staff member and request one, but it was definitely worth the wait. Initially I didn't think it sounded very appealing - after all, cucumbers are for pickling and eating, not for drinking; but then I took a sip and it was such a revelation. This drink was light and refreshing with just a hint of floral-herbiness - it wasn't too cukey and it wasn't too dilly ... it was just right!
Cucumber-Dill Martini
A very thirsty Catherine the Great!
The Puck does nothing by halves. In addition to fine champagne and wowza martinis he offered several delicious appetizers to warm up our taste buds before lunch officially started: Tuna Sashimi on Crispy Rice Cakes, Potato & Parmesan Knish with House Mustard, Kobe Pastrami with Thousand Island on Pumpernickel, and assorted Spago Signature Pizzas.
The tuna was fabulous - light and sweet - while the rice cake provided wonderful, crunchy texture. The knish was a delightful little pocket of cheesy-potato goodness and it really sang with the addition of the Puck's house-made spicy mustard! And the pizza, while nothing really surprising, was still very tasty; I have it on good authority that the mushroom pizza was excellent even though the sight of it made my blood run cold. The only item we didn't have a chance to sample was the Kobe pastrami sandwich; it looked great - we saw it wander by on a serving tray more than once, but damn if the platter wasn't always empty by the time it reached us.
Tuna Sashimi ... I'll take the whole plate, thanks!
Mushroom Pizza ... bleh!
Knish me!
Margarita Pizza ... yum!
Snackables and Boozeables make everyone happy!
The Lounge ... filled with people mobbing Andrew Knowlton
The right to indulge in two-fisted drinking has been written into our marriage contract
CUT's lounge is sleek and contemporary - there are a lot of shiny, slippery white floor and wall tiles boldly accented with splashes of bright color. There wasn't much room to sit, so most guests had to figure out how to juggle appetizers and drinks, but that inconvenience was a small price to pay for the digestive joy the afternoon held for all of us. The cocktail party lasted until 12:30 or so and then everyone was invited to choose a seat in the dining room. We were among the first to enter and I spotted a large booth for four with plush leather seats and comfy, soft pillows - it looked perfect and we settled in right away before someone could steal it from us!
The most comfortable dining spot in Vegas!
The tables were laid with wine glasses, silverware, and the afternoon's menu; as the hostess for the event, Barbara Fairchild - Editor in Chief for Bon Appetit- spoke some words of welcome, the waitstaff were busy pouring water and delivering tasty breadsticks and cheesy poufs to all the tables. The breadsticks were incredibly delicious foot-long parmesan straws that we alternately tried to fence with or used to impersonate Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But as good as they were, my favorite was the cheesy poufs ... warm, delightful little clouds of cheese-infused pastry!! I could have eaten all of them and did, in fact, ask Jay and Catherine if they minded my inhaling the fourth one since no one else was seated with us and that last little pouf looked so lost and alone in the basket. They told me to go ahead and inhale so I did, only to feel like a complete and utter pig moments later when a young man wearing a Press Badge stopped at our table and asked if he could sit with us for the remainder of the event.
Parmesan straws
Cheesy poufs!
Our new friend in dining, Terry Wong, is a web producer from Food Network, Canada, and he was covering the Vegas Uncorked four-day extravaganza for their website. Damn - now there's a job worth having! He was a fun, engaging addition to our little group and we really enjoyed having a chance to talk food with him. If we frightened him with our silliness he did a great job of hiding it and even conducted a brief interview with us at the end of the event to get our thoughts on the lunch and the food scene in Vegas.
Wanna see our 1.40 minutes of foodie fame? Follow this link ... at your own peril!! http://community.foodnetwork.ca/forums/t/19532.aspx
First Course: Austrian White Asparagus with Sauce Gribeche, Upland Cress, and Aged Balsamic served with Prager, Gruner Veltliner "Hinter der Burg" Federspiel; Wachau, Austria, 2007.
Austrian White Asparagoose
This was the first time that Jay or I had ever eaten white asparagus and we both really enjoyed it - the flavor seemed milder than that of green asparagus and it was very tender. The serving was quite generous - there was another row of 'goose underneath the top layer - and the sauce grebiche provided a tangy bite to the dish. If deconstructed salad could be this good every time someone served it, I would order it for the rest of my life! Colorful, creative, and really tasty - this was a great start to the meal. As for the wine, I seem to recall that it was a little crisp but had nice balance and paired really well with the food. Such a refreshing change of pace from the previous evening's dinner with those wonky wine pairings!
Before the second course was presented, our various serving teams came around with baskets of fresh bread for us to choose from. The Puck is known for his yummy breads and it was hard not to ask them to just leave the entire basket, but I managed to show some restraint and selected a warm pretzel roll and some rosemary bread; I believe that there was also fresh pumpernickel to choose from but I passed on that one.
Fabulous breads ...
Second Course: Butter Poached Maine Lobster with Corn Fondue, Morel Mushrooms, English Peas, Rhubarb, and Sauce Ala Orange served with Ridge, Chardonnay "Montebello", Santa Cruz Mountains, California 2006.
I have to be honest - when I first saw this menu in advance of the lunch event and realized that we were going to be served lobster I gnashed my teeth and waved my fists at the dining gods who I felt were having a good laugh at my expense. I don't like lobster. If it happens to be mixed in with a bunch of other seafood or has been turned into a creamy, booze-infused bisque then I can tolerate, and even enjoy, the angry red crustacean. But I don't like lobster in and of itself and really felt that it was a cruel irony we were going to be served it as a main dish at the Puck's steakhouse. Where were the big, thick meat straws; the marrow flan; the awful offal; and the Austrian snausages???
Turns out I wasn't the only one disappointed; Catherine isn't a fan of lobster either. My husband was one happy man because he ended up with six good-sized, shelled lobster claws for his digestive delight. Once again the serving size was very generous and the presentation was colorful and fun; and the corn fondue was really delicious and buttery. Jay said that all of these flavors actually worked really well with each other and he thought it was a wonderful and creative dish.
The wine was the big surprise for me with this course, because as I've grown older and even more pickier I've moved further away from Chardonnay. Rather than giving us a big, oakey, harsh chardonnay we found ourselves with a light, fruity, slightly spicy wine that was a joy to drink with or without food. I enjoyed it so much that I would actually consider purchasing a bottle to add to our rack ... once space opens up!
Lobstah ...
Lobstah Redux
Course Three: US Kobe New York with Creamed Spinach and House-Made Steak Sauce served with Chateau Montelena, Cabernet Sauvignon "Estate", Napa Valley, California 2006.
Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? It was, and that's the beauty of it. Instead of being given a few thin slices of meat with a whole bunch of spinach and fancy sauce drizzles, we were each given a good-sized Kobe steak, cooked to perfection so that each bite practically melted in our mouths. The steak sauce was tangy and just a little spicy - a terrific accompaniment to the meat. And as for the spinach ... well, I was too busy eating meat to worry about creamed, leafy, green vegetables and I completely ignored it. And please let me tell you how amazing the wine was - a gorgeous, ruby-red Cabernet with lots of fruit and spice and a silky finish - there was not a hint of gackiness to this red wine and I loved it! That is a strong endorsement friends, because Bendy and heavier red wines do not always play nicely together.
Kobe Steak and Gerber baby food
Course Four: Baby Banana Brulee with Banana Cream Pie and Banana Ice Cream served with Kracher "Beerenauslese Cuvee", Burgenland, Austria 2007.
And then there was the final course. I wasn't very happy when I saw this on the menu, either, because I'm not a big fan of banana desserts unless they've been doused with rum and set on fiyah! Once again the Puck proved why he is the master: aside from the layer of banana just below the whipped cream, this dessert was a cool, creamy, subtle delight with a slight hint of banana that was nowhere near as overpowering as I had feared. Our final wine of the event was another sparkler, this time from Austria, and it was sweet with a lot of vanilla and peach overtones; I enjoyed it tremendously and thought it really paired well with the dessert.
Banana is as banana does
I can't say enough good things about this luncheon. Wolfgang Puck made a point of stopping at each table to thank everyone for attending and he posed for pictures and signed menus and was generally one of the most gracious, accessible celebrity-type people we've ever met (not that we come across many to begin with!). Once the event was over, he stayed at the restaurant to personalize the cookbooks that all the guests received - that spoke volumes to me about the generosity of his nature because he certainly didn't have to do that and it was a thoughtful gesture on his part that I'm sure every guest truly appreciated.
Mr. Puck, it was an honor to pay you to cook for us!
Anyone here remember how I ragged on the Bradley Ogden event for not providing, among other things, friandise at the meal's conclusion? Well, lookie lookie it's a plate of candy and cookies! Freshly made lemon bars, fudge bars, caramel cashew, some chocolate-nut surprise, and wee sugar cookies!
That's what I'm talking about! That is how a signature event is supposed to end ... with a sweet little plate of love from the kitchen to take home as a reminder of a wonderful event shared with wonderful people. The staff at CUT was just as gracious as the host - they boxed this all up along with a separate container of parmesan cheese straws for Catherine because she'd mentioned how much she liked them and one of our awesome serving staff found some extras for her. It was gestures like these that took the event from the realm of really good into just plain amazing.
It's so beautiful and tasty...
You can't take that until everyone has snapped a picture!
Terry Wong & Catherine
Terry was gracious enough to have his picture taken with Jay and me as well, but yours truly looks like a beached whale in that shot so I've decided to spare you the horror of that particular vision. Instead, let me tell you just how kind and gracious Andrew Knowlton was at this event. Jay and I very much wanted to meet him - he's one of our favorite Iron Chef judges and we have a fond place in our foodie hearts for him and Mark Ruhlman, who snarked at each other through the entire first season of The Next Iron Chef. Every time we spotted him at this lunch he was surrounded by hordes of women who probably wanted to play with his hair. Jay actually flagged him down as we were straggling out of the restauant and he was nice enough to chat with us for a few minutes and posed for a picture. He was really easy to talk to, was interested in our comments about the lunch, and had nothing but high praise for the meal and the wine selections.
Seriously, a really nice guy!
What else is there to say? This event not only met our expectations, but exceeded them in every way possible. At this point in our brief foodie adventures, Jay and I are so enamored of the Puck's culinary skill and generosity that we would book a signature dinner at Mount Trashmore here in Stinktown if he were hosting. We would book this event again in a heartbeat and would tell everyone we know to do the same; in the interim all we can do is visit a couple of his establishments in Orlando this fall, but we are certain that the food will be just as amazing there as it was in Vegas.
Mr. Puck, you make the only grub what satisfies my gut worm - Bendy, May 7, 2010
