ELV wasn’t his usual self the other day, so instead of polishing off a bottle of viscous, lychee-redolent gewurtztraminer (Zind-Humbrecht or Trimbach, usually), followed by a nice, perfumy Volnay, he decided to slug down a couple of cocktails at lunch — just to take the edge off the afternoon…if you know what we mean.

And since the best cocktails closest to his office just happen to be at Wynn/Encore (courtesy of mixmistress Patricia Richards), off to a liquid lunch we went.

Two drinks later — a Wazuzu Smash and a Yuzu Black Cherry Collins, we were happy as a besotted clam and a tad hungry, so we got the sushi and barbecue meat samplers — just to take the edge off our appetite…if you know what we mean.

And that barbecue platter was pretty pedestrian (semi-dry pork, not-so-fatty-duck, and so-so chicken if memory serves through the alcoholic haze), but the sushi platter was pretty fabulous…but also pretty darn expensive ($60). The fish slices would be considered crassly large by a Tokyo sushi master, but they’re probably just the right size for overfed Americans, and the rice they came on — and the composition in general — was flawless.

Our lunch for one was really enough for two and came to: $122.84 + $23.16 tip = $146.

$146 may seem expensive, but Wazuzu is now offering a $30, three course dinner that’s quite a bargain. We haven’t had the special dinner per se, but we’ve tasted just about the entire menu, and the food offered for that price represents a 50% discount from the normal menu.