COUNTRY CLUB Jazz Brunch
ELV hates jazz. Loathes it. With every fiber in his body.
Even worse are jazz fans. So convinced of their coolness are they…maybe because they’ve trained themselves to listen to music designed to give you a headache without getting one.
Jazz is music for musicians. And it sucks.
Joe Queenan said it best for Spy Magazine back in the early ’90’s:
Admit it and you’ll feel a lot better. You’ve never had the slightest interest in an art form dominated by guys named Toots and Dizzy and Philly Joe Something-or-Other. From the first time you heard Art Tatum playing “Tea for Two,” you’ve always felt that jazz is a dipshit idiom that chomps the big one.
But ELV loves everything New Orleans: the food, the people, the culture, yes, and even the music. When we’re in The Big Easy we can’t get enough of whatever sounds are playing and whatever food they’re serving.
Somehow the music and food just seem to go together there.
Just like they do every Sunday at The Country Club Steakhouse or whatever they’re calling it these days. Finally….finally the F&B honchos are letting uber-chef Carlos Guia do a menu of the things he does best, which is: to duplicate the food of his native N’Awlins.
And duplicate he does, with eggs Versailles on a tender brioche, shrimp and grits straight from a southern kitchen, and a hollandaise to dream about. That hollandaise is given some green chile kick before it naps poached eggs atop barbecue pork atop a bacon-cheese muffin — the whole becoming ethereally greater than the sum of its parts.
Guia was top toque at Commander’s Palace for its entire run, and would that he would only be allowed to duplicate that menu here. Because let’s face it: how boring is another steakhouse in this town?
Pretty boring we’d say, no matter how well it’s executed. So for the time being, those seeking a Creole food fix need to check out this all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch. Sixty bucks a pop is a lot o’ lettuce, but when you factor in the house-made sausages, house smoked and cured salmon, superb ingredients, gorgeous setting and all those wonderfully rich egg dishes (including an over-the-top French toast bread pudding), it’s probably not too much to pay for what is sure to be your only meal of the day.
Heck, the food’s so good, you might even enjoy the jazz.
THE COUNTRY CLUB
At Wynn Hotel and Casino
3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702.770.3315
Restaurant reviews, quips, picks and pans-with some seriously salivating history-from the man who eats his way through Sin City every day.
December 12th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Yay! Once I get back from NYC I’ll be able to spend that kind of dough on that good grub. It’s good to see Chef Carlos getting back to the Creole.
December 13th, 2009 at 8:47 am
ELV–you are much too hard on your photographic skills. While the photo of the Gumbo may not be to your standards, the photos of the Shrimp and Grits, French Toast and “gooey, runny, eggs,” are, by my standards, (which I admit are high), exceptional. Those photos could easily run in a glossy travel brochure or on the pages of Bon Appetit.
Good food photography, like the aforementioned pics, should entice the reader, bring us into the story, and make use salivate for the very dishes protrayed. Based on both your story and those delicious photos, I’ve got this brunch on my list.
Now the Gumbo photo may not be your favorite, but with just a bit more clarity, that would probably be my top photo of the montage. I personally think a photo of a bowl of gumbo, (with dribbles down the side of the bowl), can be much more captivating than a more scripted, set photo.
Nice job all the way around.
December 13th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Sixty clams to shell out for a brunch is just a tad too high for me. Eating sixty clams worth is also not a good reason either. Looks good though.
December 14th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Great job Carlos!!!
December 14th, 2009 at 11:49 am
All of this looks SO GOOD! And props to Mr. ELV for the great looking pics. Next time I try a Sunday brunch, I want to go here. It’s about time Steve Wynn let Carlos Guia do what he does best.
December 15th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Esteemed ELV, I love your blog. But, I have to call you out on your Philistinistic attitude towards jazz. You complain endlessly (and accurately) about the uselessness of general polls and top lists like the Review-Journal’s “Best Of” because the voters generally don’t have a clue. That’s why Outback and Olive Garden dominate such things. However, for you to claim that jazz “sucks” and to deride those who differ with you simply marks you in the musical sense as a peer of those who would vociferously declaim their preference of “Joe’s Crab Shack” over “Joel Robuchon.” Tsk, tsk. Who is it that you listen to, Adam Lambert?
December 15th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny! You’re KILLING me with your anti-jazz rants! Maybe it’s improvisational jazz you don’t like. What about Scott Joplin? Duke Ellington? Count Basie? Buddy Rich?
You should be more open to the different sounds, the different styles. NOt everything can be THe Beatles and Bruce Springsteen. Open your mind…
Open your mind…
…open your miiiiiinnnnnnnnd!
December 18th, 2009 at 11:43 am
I never knew you hated jazz. So should I have taken offense when you referred to me as an “uber-hip-goth-jazz musician-turned-food-critic”? LOL. By the way, nice take on Lola’s, but I’m surprised you didn’t try the oysters. In my opinion, they’re the best in town (preparation-wise).
December 27th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Surely jazz is to music what Mr. “Twist” at Aria is to ordinary dining . . . jus’ sayin’