If someone had dropped a bomb on Restaurant Guy Savoy last night between the hours of 6-8 pm, it would’ve set Las Vegas’ culinary destiny back twenty years. Such was the assemblage of top toques from across the valley (and from beyond the pond as well), who came to kibbitz and consume incomparable comestibles (jamon iberico de bellotta de pata negra, pumpkin soup with white truffles, oysters en gelée, Paris-Brest pastries, and two croquembouche towers of nonpareil profiteroles) and champagne in the consummate style the French do better than anyone.

Über-French-chef Guy Savoy hosted this  gathering of eagles — the folks who make our restaurant scene soar above almost all others in the world — and provided the food and wine to kick off our book launch with ultimate in good taste.

Congrats to all the restaurants that made the book (despite the title, over a hundred a fifty eateries get mentioned in the various chapters — Cheap Eats, Steakhouses, Old Vegas, et al) and a big merci beaucoup to Celena Hass, Anthony Curtis, Robin Leach, and especially Guy Savoy and Caesars Palace for putting on such a food and wine display the likes of which no cocktail party in this town has ever seen.

RESTAURANT GUY SAVOY

In Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino

3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.731.7286

www.guysavoy.com

EATING LAS VEGAS – The Fifty Essential Restaurants (2012) gets its big reveal at a media launch party this evening at Restaurant Guy Savoy, and then another one at the Top of the World restaurant on Wednesday night.

More restaurants. More reviews. More vetoes. More steakhouses (to Mancini’s chagrin). More bitching, carping and sniping — plus better graphics — make this a more comprehensive and fun-to-read jaunt through the best of Las Vegas’ food scene.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to wade through the pedantic and paltry prose of others before you can savor the bounty of ELV’s  bon mots, but that’s the price you have to pay to be in the presence of his omniscience.

To purchase unlimited copies at the low, low introductory rate of $9.72 (plus only a $3 shipping charge) call 1.800.244.2224, or click here for details.

And don’t forget: It makes a great stocking stuffer!

You have to admire what Michael Mina and Marc St. Jacques have done to this venerable seafood-er, tucked away for over twelve years now in a corner of the Bellagio Conservatory. Since the departure of Anthony Amoroso a couple of years ago, this place has struggled to find its sea legs as the ebb and flow of a choppy economy have threatened to leave it floating adrift as it navigates an ocean of heavy tides and difficult sailing. (Block that metaphor!) In other words: Michael Mina (the restaurant) has been searching for an identity ever since our economy hit the skids.

Originally opened as Aqua, it was an offshoot of a world-beating restaurant in ‘Frisco featuring a hot young San Franciscan chef with an Egyptian last name. In its original incarnation,  it was all about expensive things that swim, whole lobes of foie gras, caviar tastings, a lobster pot pies, and a wine list whose prices would choke a horse. (Mix that metaphor!) In 2002, Mina split with the Aqua group,  retaining his interest in his Vegas restaurants, and promptly renamed the restaurant after himself. The menu, however, changed little in the ensuing years, retaining its focus on seafood and many of the signature items that made Mina famous.

Through it all, though, some things have remained constant. The Tony Chi-designed room is still as sleek and elegant as it was in 1998. Everyone seems to look good amongst the blond woods and muted lighting. The semi-open kitchen has always attracted top talent, and the wine program — regardless of what you might think of the prices — has always been rich with white wines from around the globe that compliment this cuisine. These days, that wine program is supervised by  M.S. Joe Phillips (formerly of Sensi) and like our economy, it has been brought back to reality. Phillips told us his list is now focused on small producers from around the world, meaning the list is peppered with plenty of affordable bottles, and you’ll be tempted to order a couple, since two good labels can easily be had for what one used to cost, i.e. around $150.  Of course, if you want to blow 22 grand on a bottle of DRC here, he can help you with that too.

Aside from the wine prices, the real surprise is the re-jiggering of the entire menu. While not exactly going downmarket, MM is now a place that doesn’t intimidate. Seven starters and mains are offered, and quelle horreur, only half of them are seafood. Those wanting to drop a Benjamin+ on the lobster pot pie or whole lobe of duck liver can still do so, but you can make a beautiful meal out of a platter of hamachi crudo ($21) followed by a truffle-stuffed Jidori chicken ($36) or a enough braised pork short ribs to feed two ($39) and feel like you’ve actually gotten a bargain.

This is a leaner and meaner Michael Mina. Gone are all the trios (and their exotic presentations) that defined his style for over a decade. In their place is something akin to comfort food, using the best groceries, but still plated beautifully. That hamachi crudo is flawless, as was a playful dish of what St. Jacques called “Brazilian ceviche” — fresh yellowtail blanketed with a coconut foam to be served on a squid ink cracker with popcorn(?). “That’s the way they do in Brazil,” he told us, but we were too busy scarfing it down to pay much attention.

This was one of those “we’re going to strut our stuff for the critic” meals, so the plates kept arriving far beyond our ability to appreciate and discern the fine points between them. Our actual hunger was fully satisfied somewhere between the decadent, whipped foie gras with huckleberries and the intensely crabby Dungeness crab tortellini. Neither dish was anything like the previous, almost Japanese-like sensibility of this place, but both provided the right measure of rib-sticking warmth on a cold winter’s night. Equally substantial, but less successful, were the twin, deep- fried quails. The batter provided too much crunch (and held too much oil) for this palate, and overwhelmed the sweet gaminess of the birds.

Aside from that misstep, the rest of the menu showed the careful cooking for which Mina and his minions are famous. Sturgeon is presented like two, encrusted fish sticks and could make anyone a lover of this bottom feeder….although the $42 price tag might raise an eyebrow or two.  (It also would’ve benefited from more than a schmear of the refined sauce gribiche that came on the plate.) A better deal is the aforementioned braise pork short rib(s), presented on a bed of Anson Mills grits (polenta), and beautifully glazed with pork hock jus flavored with quince. The menu pays one nod to its past with a “Three Seas” trio of Japanese fish, that was so beautifully composed and delicately-flavored, it could’ve come from Bar Masa.

Desserts have been simplified as well, but they wisely kept the root beer float with warm chocolate chip pecan cookies on the menu, or ELV would’ve throttled somebody.

In re-positioning his namesake, Mina is seeking to distinguish it from his two seafood emporiums (American Fish and Sea Blue) and the excellent Nob Hill, while maintaining the upscale élan that made it and him a household word in the food world. The new Michael Mina is a simpler, gutsier affair (and less of a wallet bender), but no less beautiful than it’s always been. The new menu straddles the line between what it was and what it wants to be, and if Mina can pull this off (and the crowds here seem to indicate he can), then he’s even more of a wunderkind than we thought he was.

ELV’s meal was comped. He left a $100 tip.

MICHAEL MINA

In the Bellagio Hotel and Casino

3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.693.7223

http://www.bellagio.com/restaurants/michael-mina.aspx

PS: Oh yeah, and the Five Star Butter here is fantastic! (see comment #1)

• Eating Las Vegas Book Signing Party 6:00 Nov. 29th at Unicahome

The Las Vegas Foodie Bible?

Written by the three of Las Vegas’ most noted (or notorious) food critics: John Curtas, Max Jacobson, and Al Mancini, Eating Las Vegas covers what the LV foodie triumvirate could agree on without resorting to open dueling. Eating Las Vegas also features lists of the best restaurants in a dozen specialty categories, such as Best Old Vegas Spots, Best Cheap Eats and a special Veto Section, where the writers can freely let their egos a go-go.

now in stock HERE.

A book signing party featuring many of the chefs listed in this book will be held at Unicahome on Nov. 29. If you are planning to travel to Vegas for the holiday weekend, plan on staying a day later. Guests include Rick Moonen of RM Seafood, Kerry Simon of Simon, Karrie and Kevin Wu of Ping Pang Pong, and more. Please join us for a celebration of Food, Wine and Las Vegas. More information will be forthcoming.

Beverages provided by:

Food provided by:

Entertainment from Christian Tamburr on vibraphone and piano.

Unicahome

3901 West Russell Road

Las Vegas, NV

702.616.9280

Q&A: John Curtas, co-author of Las Vegas’ new restaurant guide

Spencer Patterson

Wed, Nov 17, 2010 (8:35 p.m.)

Illustration: Chris Morris

What happens when three food critics get together and try to pick the city’s 50 best restaurants? We ask the Weekly’s John Curtas, who teamed up with Max Jacobson and Al Mancini on Eating Las Vegas: The 50 Essential Restaurants, out this week on Huntington Press.

Did the three of you approach the project planning to include 50 restaurants, or did you arrive at that number once you evaluated Las Vegas’ food scene?

I think the 50 kind of evolved. My first top-50 list had 75 restaurants on it, but 50’s a good round number. Vegas probably doesn’t have enough of a broad-based culinary scene to do a top 100.

I’m guessing you guys agreed on 30 or 40 fairly easily. How tough was ironing out the rest?

Exactly. The first 35, maybe even 40, were fairly easy to come by. Those last 10 or 12 … we had several lunches … knives were drawn … forks and glasses were slammed down on tables … people got up and stormed away over a few. Then we just compromised. And at the end we all shook hands and remain friends. We still love to needle each other, but I think we have a lot of respect for each other, too.

How much did you guys consider variety—be it type of cuisine or neighborhood or price range—versus just picking the best food, period?

That’s where our personal prejudices really came into play. I’m more the persnickety foodie among the three of us, so I just wanted it to be the best 50 restaurants in town. I don’t care if all of them are located in one hotel (laughs). Max is enamored of all of these little Asian hole-in-the-walls and real particular restaurants that specialize in one dish or two. And Al is much more of an everyman. He was looking at the reading audience more, like, we should have something for the hip kids to go to, and mom and pop taking their kids out for dinner. We should have something for everybody.

Both of them were more savvy than me when it came to broadening the base of the book. I would have been just about the food. And I compromised and saw it their way. ’Cause I think on one level they’re right. If you’re gonna write a book that’s gonna sell a lot of copies and have a lot of people wanna read it, you can’t just have the top French restaurants and the top Italian restaurants in the hotels. That would be kinda boring after a while.

Were there times you guys simply couldn’t agree, and it came down to a straight vote?

We had two rules that are kind of contradictory. One was, two can always outvote the third. But the corollary to that was, each of us had absolute veto power. And somehow it worked. Sometimes, two of us said, “We want this one in,” and the odd man out would go, “Okay.” And sometimes, when the veto was strong enough, we would say, “He really doesn’t like that one. We can’t in good conscience put it in.”

Did you personally veto anything?

Yeah. We have a veto section in the book, which I think is the most interesting part. One of us will say why a restaurant deserves to be in the top 50, and then the person who vetoed it has to write an explanation of why they hated it. I think of the six I vetoed three.

Example?

Martorano’s [Cafe Martorano] in the Rio was the one I put a vehement veto on. I just think it’s a mediocre Italian restaurant. I’ve eaten there twice and didn’t like either one of them. But somehow Max and Al love it. They buy the hype or whatever. But I just put my foot down. I vetoed that and I vetoed Paymon’s [Mediterranean Cafe].

Any other Vegas institutions left out?

Andre Rochat’s restaurants [Alizé, Andre’s]. No one even had to veto them. All three of us said, you know, he’s gonna be apoplectic about it, but time has passed by his food. The kind of cooking you get in these big hotels now is way better than what he’s putting out. So he doesn’t get even a mention in the book.

Was there a place you adamantly championed—and successfully persuaded the others to include?

Mario Batali’s Carnevino. Max and Al thought there were too many steakhouses in the book already—we had Cut in the top 10 and three or four more in the top 50—but I think Carnevino is one of the best steakhouses in America. Batali’s a great chef, and we already had B&B [Ristorante] in, but I went to bat for Carnevino.

What’s one inclusion that might surprise readers?

Los Antojos. It’s a complete hole-in-the-wall, but all of us went there multiple times and the food is just fantastic. Probably the best fresh-made Mexican food in town.

What’s the rough Strip/off-Strip breakdown?

Two-thirds Strip restaurants, maybe even 70 percent Strip. We wanted to give a lot of love to the neighborhoods, but even somebody like Al, who really likes to go out in the neighborhoods and try all these little places, had to admit that the world-class cooking is taking place on the Strip. It’s hard to deny that.

Obviously, chefs and restaurants in Vegas come and go constantly. Do you guys plan to update the list from time to time?

We hope so. The idea is for this to be a franchise. We’ve already got a whole list of things we want to improve and expand for next year. And the pre-sales have been phenomenal. The idea is for this to go on for years and become the go-to guide for Vegas restaurants.

Eating Las Vegas is also the name of your blog. How’d you get the others to agree to title the book that?

Back in May or June we had a meeting about the title. I always thought Eating Las Vegas should be the name, but for the first time in my life I didn’t say a word. And finally, [publisher] Anthony Curtis—no relation—said to me, “You know the name I like?” And I said, “Eating Las Vegas?” And he went, “Yeah.” And it took about 30 seconds for everybody to say that should be it.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

ELV note: Many thanks to Spencer Patterson and the LVWeekly for the interview. Below are some more inside tidbits that might interest you.

Top 10 (in alphabetical order, because if we had to rank #’s 3-10, we’d still be arguing and the book would’ve never gotten published):

ALEX

BAR MASA

Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare

CUT

Joël Robuchon

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon

Picasso

Restaurant Guy Savoy

RM Upstairs

Twist by Pierre Gagnaire

Number of meals (mostly lunches) it took to hash out the final 50:

4

Best lunch of the bunch:

Border Grill

Number of nasty, insulting, petulant e-mails exchanged:

At least one for every restaurant in the book (i.e. well over 50)

Number of times food was actually thrown across the table in disgust:

Twice

Who did the throwing:

Mancini and ELV

Foodstuffs thrown:

Shrimp and a small, tasty baguette

Number of times someone stormed out of a restaurant:

Once

Who did the storming:

ELV

Biggest debate amongst the authors:

Leaving Raku out of the Top 10 (some of us believe it belongs there, but who would we bump?)

Second biggest debate(s) amongst the authors:

See the veto section

Celebrity chef who didn’t even rate a debate:

Emeril Lagasse

Celebrity chef we all wished was in the book (sigh):

Daniel Boulud

Chefs/owners with more than one restaurant in the Final 50:

Julian Serrano, Mario Batali, Wolfgang Puck, Joel Robuchon, Michael Mina, the Maccioni family.

Humblest restaurants in the Final 50:

Settebello, Monta, M&M Soul Food Cafe, Los Antojos, China MaMa

Biggest hope for the next issue:

That we expand the neighborhood and Chinatown sections, and that Jacobson and Mancini put their forks down (and shut their pie holes) long enough to bask in (and absorb) all of ELV’s brilliance.

Best place to buy the book right now (before it hits all the bookstores):

http://www.shoplva.com/products/eating-las-vegas

But we promise to remember all the little people once we’re rich and famous.

Chef Joël Robuchon

Las Vegas—Master chef Joël Robuchon will personally host the launch party and unveiling of the eateries selected and reviewed in the hotly anticipated book Eating Las Vegas: The 50 Essential Restaurants.

The ultra-exclusive event will take place November 17^th at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and is expected to draw the finest chefs and restaurateurs in Las Vegas, making it the most prestigious gathering of culinary fame and talent of 2010. Las Vegas’ ultimate Master of Ceremonies, Robin Leach, will reveal the chosen 50, including the best of the best that make up Eating Las Vegas’ elite “Top Ten.”

Famous for his artistry in post-nouvelle cuisine, Joël Robuchon has earned more Michelin stars (26) than any chef in history and was named “Chef of the Century” by Gault Millau. He currently oversees Joël Robuchon and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, as well as acclaimed restaurants in New York City, London, Hong Kong, Macau, Monaco, Taipei, Tokyo, and Paris .

Eating Las Vegas: The 50 Essential Restaurants ($12.95) identifies the top dining experiences in Las Vegas, as designated by the city’s top three food critics: John Curtas (KNPR and Las Vegas Weekly), Max Jacobson (KNPR and Vegas Seven), and Al Mancini (Citylife). The 50 restaurants in the book are being kept strictly confidential until the launch party.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Heidi Olson
702-252-0655
books@huntingtonpress.com ]]> http://www.eatinglv.com/2010/10/this-just-in-eating-las-vegas-book-launch-to-be-ultra-exclusive-2/feed/ 0 http://www.eatinglv.com/2010/10/eat-this-book/ http://www.eatinglv.com/2010/10/eat-this-book/#comments Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:11:27 +0000 John Curtas http://www.eatinglv.com/?p=6891

PRE-ORDER SPECIAL OFFER:

Now through October 15, Get the Best Guide Ever to Las Vegas Dining for 50% Off and $2 Shipping! Ships early Nov., 2010.

From the 5-Star Robuchons to hole-in-the walls you’ve never heard of, Eating Las Vegas has more than 120 recommendations from the city’s top three food critics, broken down by:

–The Top 10

–The Essential 50

– And by category, including Late Night, Old Vegas, Celebrity Watching, Cheap Eats, Burgers, Pizza, Desserts, Sushi, Beer, Wine Bars, Cocktail Programs, and Chinatown.

In Eating Las Vegas, John Curtas, Max Jacobson, and Al Mancini spotlight the 50 restaurants they could all agree are essential stops for foodies, visitors, and locals seeking an unforgettable meal. In the city that boasts more than 2,000 places for dining out, this groundbreaking guide ushers you through the best of what this dining destination has to offer, with reviews covering the best of the city’s most lavish dining rooms to off-the-Strip ethnic gems. Once you’ve made your way through all 50, you can truly say you’ve “eaten Las Vegas.”

Altogether, we think this is the most comprehensive, honest, and entertaining restaurant guide we’ve ever seen. It’s essential reading for every foodie and makes a great gift for any Vegas fan with an appetite.

Click this link to read a sample review.

Click here to see one of the restaurants from the Vetoes section that didn’t quite make the cut, and why.

Click here to read the Best of Chinatown.

About The Author(s)

	John Curtas John A. Curtas has been Las Vegas’ reigning voice of food and restaurant commentary on KNPR, Nevada Public Radio, for the past 15 years. During that time, he has also been the first restaurant critic for Las Vegas Life magazine and the Las Vegas Weekly (for which he still writes), and is the man behind the “Eating Las Vegas” food blog (eatinglv.com). Nationally, he’s written for Time Out Las Vegas, Fodor’s Las Vegas, Best Places Las Vegas, and for John Mariani’s The Virtual Gourmet. He’s a voting member for the James Beard Foundation restaurant/chef awards and San Pellegino World’s 50 Best Restaurants, as well as a frequent guest on Food Network programs, including two stints as a judge on “Iron Chef America.”
	Max Jacobson Max Jacobson has had a rousing career spanning almost 30 years in food journalism, but he’ll be happy to fly under the radar if he loses some weight. His career took flight in 1984, when he signed on at the Los Angeles Times as a writer on Chinese and Japanese food, and expanded into food and wine writing shortly thereafter. He was fortunate to arrive in Vegas when the food scene really began to blossom and has been a food writer and editor there since 1999.
	Al Mancini Al Mancini discovered his passion for food while living in New York City, where he attended law school by day, tended bar and made pizza at the infamous punk club CBGB by night, and explored the Big Apple’s dynamic dining scene during every spare moment in between. For the past eight years, he’s served as the restaurant critic for Las Vegas CityLife. He’s also written extensively about food and dining for numerous local lifestyle publications, such as 944, Where, What’s On, Desert Companion, and Luxury Las Vegas, and has served as a contributor to the international guidebook Time Out Las Vegas.