POSTRIO, DELMONICO, and SPAGO – A Fish, A Steak, And A Choucroute

Yeah, it was just another day and night at the office for ELV, as he traipsed his way across our unassuming village’s better addresses, seeking the best in food and drink. And this is what he came up with in one weekend:

A Fish:

Postrio’s new design is a winner, and the re-designed menu (and smaller, less expensive, more eclectic wine list) should garner raves as well. Here was our modest loup de mer (“wolf of the sea”), grilled to a fare-the-well (by Chef Mark Sandoval) and filet’d tableside with the grace worthy of a Michelin 3-star.

A Steak:

We’ve known Chef Sean Roe since the early 90’s….when he first showed us around Emeril’s Fish House in the MGM. He’s still hard at the stoves, and now does a wonderful job keeping Delmonico near the top of our steakhouse food chain. This beauty was a bone-in rib-eye, dry aged (although not nearly enough to suit ELV), and as full of beef flavor as a carnivore could want. It was the perfect amuse bouche for ELV before he ventured into the netherworld of the Venetian Convention Center — to spend an evening listening to political speeches (and pushing rubber chicken around his plate) whilst pretending to care who was going to win this pesky election thing (that has been distracting us from our food and wine habit for much too long).

And A Choucroute:

After premium fish and a prime steak, sometimes a little pork is called for. That’s when Eric Klein’s choucroute garni at Spago really fills the bill. Choucroute garni stands for the spiced sauerkraut underneath the sausages, bacon, pork belly, chops and potatoes that “garnish” the fermented vegetable. Leave it to the Alsatians to “decorate” their veggies with two pounds of pork products….but the result is just delicious if you ask us…and surprisingly light and digestible.

RESTAURANT CHARLIE – Desserts

We’re not saying Vannessa Garcia is the best pastry chef in town (there’s a lot of stiff competition), but her deconstructed desserts at Restaurant Charlie blew us away as few have done lately. Some may not care for the scattered, haphazard construction, but they’re just indicative of the youth movement (and rebellion) against the strictures and formality that have hamstrung this genre for too long.

ELV thinks the depth of pastry talent in this town beats any city in America. Ask yourself: When’s the last time you had anything but a drop dead delicious dessert in any top-shelf Vegas restaurant?

Vannessa tells us she is self-taught — or at least on-the-job-taught — but no matter where her training comes from, she has a way with flavors and combinations that are both homey and avant-garde — not an easy trick to pull off.

In other food news: This is the time of year the staff at Eating Las Vegas pulls in its nominations for the restaurant awards it hands out on KNPR and KLAS in about six weeks. If you have any suggestions or nominations, now is the time to let us know.

And we’re not saying Vannessa is a lock for Pastry Chef of the Year, but she’s definitely the early favorite.

RESTAURANT AWARD CATEGORIES for 2008:

Restaurant of the Year

Chef of the Year

Pastry Chef of the Year

Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year

Ethnic Restaurant of the Year

Sommelier of the Year

Excellence in Management and Service

Cocktail Bar of the Year

(plus a few other catagories we make up as we go along….)