ELV’s had a tough week. And by “tough” he means working on his tan, enduring the heat, and dealing with all those pesky bill collectors….reason enough to crack these open* on a humid, lazy Friday, wouldn’t you agree?

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* We’re kidding of course. Drinking red wine of this caliber in Vegas in August makes about as much sense as having a weenie roast on your roof at noon. Truth be told, we lose our craving for vin rouge in late May and don’t recover it until early October. Not everyone feels this way,  as the above panoply of trophy wines demonstrates. They come from a collector who had them shipped to Comme Ça for a private dinner there a few weeks ago. Go figure.

What's in a name?

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The fellow pictured above is named Robert Smith. Boring name that. So boring in fact, ELV thinks his name been working against him when it comes to his (not yet) winning a James Beard Award for having the best wine program in the nation. ELV thinks if his name was Shirley Yamamoto or Rampun Anamanawannamoana he would’ve garnered one by now.

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It all started with a trio of truffles from the Chef’s Diamond Company:

Our kind of summer truffles

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…first sliced to reveal all their grainy goodness:

Hand modeling by The Food Gal

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…then extra thin on the truffle slicer:

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When Ed Selyem and Burt Williams sold their award-winning winery to John and Kathe Dyson in 1998, a shudder and a sigh went through the California wine world. Here were two of the original California garagistes — their original vintages, starting in 1981, were literally made in a two-car garage — selling out…and to a New Yorker nonetheless! Napa may have eventually developed its Harlans and Screaming Eagles into cult wine status, but a decade before they became coveted, Williams Selyem’s single vineyard pinot noirs had every California collector begging to get on its mailing list. The fact that the winery was so modest, and output so small, only added to its prestige.

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The only people who have never driven drunk, are those who don’t drink, or those who don’t drive. – ELV

ELV is taking credit for the above statement, even though the truth of it is known (and uttered at one time or another) by every judge, cop, prosecutor and defense lawyer in the land. Years ago, when we were sitting as an Alternate Municipal Court Judge in the City of Las Vegas courts, we heard many a drunk driving case. A decade before that, as a Public Defender and then a criminal defense lawyer, we represented hundreds of DUI (driving under the influence) or DWI (driving while intoxicated) cases. John A. Curtas has also driven while drunk on dozens of occasions…in at least four states he can think of. Only by the divine hand of Providence, karma, or just plain dumb luck, has he never been “pinched” for an offense.

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Is Twist the best restaurant in town? It certainly is the most interesting on any given night.  Everything about the place seems designed to make your senses pop as you partake of Chef-Proprietaire Pierre Gagnaire and Chef de Cuisine Pascal Sanchez’s extraordinary cuisine. That cuisine both soothing and challenging, familiar and cerebral — no easy feat — and it leaves everyone from seasoned gastronomes to neophyte noshers scratching their heads in wonder and patting their tummies in satisfaction.

The meal above, from the sparkling amuse bouche at the beginning to the light-as-air meringue sticks that ended it, was textbook Gagnaire — mixing oysters with cheese and pea puree in one dish, radishes with raspberries in another, then perfectly cooking a slab of pristine halibut and delicately-spiced lamb chops. We didn’t take the time to dissect every dish — having done that on more than one occasion — but, for once, just sat back and enjoyed the ride. We did, however, remember to take a few tasty snaps for you delectation.

Something it was impossible not to pay close attention to was a dinner a few nights later, featuring the international unveiling of Glenmorangie’s Pride 1981 Scotch whisky, paired with Gagnaire’s cuisine:

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We were compelled to attend and riveted for two reasons: we don’t much like scotch and we really don’t like the idea of pairing it with food.

But darned if Gagnaire and Glenmorangie’s Head of Distilling Dr. Bill Lumsden didn’t make a convert out of us….sort of.

It wasn’t that the scotch wasn’t good. In fact, to this non-scotch-loving buds, it was perhaps the best we’ve ever tasted…which is a little like a sports fan saying that’s the most exciting WNBA game he’s ever seen.

We’re kidding, of course. Sort of. The Glenmorangie Lasanta, aged for twelve years in sherry casks, was our favorite. It smelled like toffee and tasted like a sherry-infused trifle, and seemed like the perfect introductory scotch for an old bourbon-drinkin’ frat boy like yours truly. Unfortunately, despite its almost, dessert wine-like finish, it, like most of the other bottles, obliterated the taste of Gagnaire’s food. We admired his attempt to match this most un-matchable of spirits with scallops in a sherry/espellette/melon-flavored beurre blanc, but the alcohol and intensity of Glenmorangie’s most un-intense, fruity scotch still overpowered the eats.

So, instead of concentrating on whether the food and spirit marriages worked, we found it more enjoyable to enjoy them both on their own terms — and on those terms, everything was splendid, indeed.

Lumsden’s unveiling of Pride 1981 was impressive, both for the national food and spirits press in attendance, and the singular, special glass we were given for the tasting. That covered glass held in the brandy-like aromas and intensified what can only be described as an ambrosial, sweet, deep, heady, apple tart perfume of the booze. It was so smooth the alcohol became superfluous, and in a blind tasting, ELV would’ve pegged it as an XO cognac. In other words, it was so good we could imagine sipping it on a regular basis as our go-to, post-prandial cordial, but at 113 proof, and $3,600 bottle, with only 1,00o bottles made, we doubt we’ll be cracking one open anytime soon.

Would ELV ever consider matching it with food? Not on your life.

Is he still dreaming about Gagnaire’s pan-seared, curry and coconut langoustines with cauliflower tips with roasted pineapple marmalade and sorbet, or his roasted, corn-fed, pistachio-stuffed chicken? Absolutely.

And did he try to steal a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem ‘01 when no one was looking? (to be fair, bottles were all over the place.) You know it.

Damn security guards.

TWIST by PIERRE GAGNAIRE

In the Mandarin Oriental Hotel

3752 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.590.3205

http://www.mandarinoriental.com/lasvegas/dining/twist/

The advantage of champagne consists not only in the exhilarating sparkle and play of its mantling life, where the beads that airily rise ever in pursuit of those that have merrily passed; but in the magnetism it possesses above all other wines — of tempting the fair sex to drink another glass. – St. Ange

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Champagne is the hardest wine to make. Between the late, northern France grape-growing season to the blending and the assemblage to the disgorgement to the dosage to the riddling, etc., it takes more steps to coax naturally-fermented drinkability into a deep-punted bottle of the stuff than all other wines combined.

But let’s face it, once all those steps come together, it is the easiest wine to enjoy…and appreciate. And it’s probably contributed to more women prematurely removing their underwear than all other wines combined.

But such prosaic pursuits were not on our minds last week, and we met Moet winemaker Marc Brevot for a private tasting of his 1992 and 2002 Grand Vintage Champagnes.  The Grand Vintages are so rare — Moet has only declared them in 1964, 1975, 1985, and 1992 — they make even the great vintage champagnes seem humdrum by comparison. One sip of the ‘o2 or ‘92 and you see why.

The 2002 vintage came to Las Vegas without a formal label on it (meaning: it came directly from the house’s cellar), and without putting too fine a point on it, ELV can proclaim it was all that and a bag of chips.

Want a fine point on it? Well, here are my tasting notes:

51% Chard, 26% Pinot Noir, 23% Pinot Meunier; seems a bit sweet (and creamy) on the front palate but gives to flavors of toast, grain, and nutty notes, before ending with a bracingly citrusy finish. That finish, BTW, lasts from here until next Tuesday.

The ‘92 was a different story altogether. A 45% Pinot Noir/40% Chard blend gave it more weight in the mouth; almost twenty years in the bottle gave it a deep, complex, almost cooked fruit quality that gave way to a pleasantly astringent finish. The bubbles dissipated rapidly over the hour or so we were indulging, but that didn’t keep us from going back to the glass again and again, to appreciate its sweet, roasted, almost crème-brûlée-like nose. BTW #2, Brevot prefers white wine glasses, rather than tall, skinny flutes, to best appreciate the aromas and textures of these vintage wines.

The question remains: Can mere mortals afford these wines? The answer is no, but Moet (pronounced MO-ete) and Chandon’s N.V. (non-vintage) Imperial Champagne (the best selling Champagne in the world) is a clean, crisp, fruity, tasty delight that gives more than a hint of what this powerhouse packs into its best blends. Best of all, all this elegance can be yours for less than $50/btl.

ELV suggests buying a few bottles today, and prepare to start removing some woman’s underwear tonight!

A votre santé!

First came the private wine tasting at some trés lûxe suite atop the Hilton (yes Virginia, there still are trés lûxe suites in this old warhorse of a hotel….who knew?):

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…involving some serious juice from a fellow named Dennis De La Montanya (whom you may not of heard of), and rock ‘n roll dude/songwriter/keyboardist Jonathan Cain, from a band named Journey, of whom you just may have.

Turns out, De La Montanya got his good buddy into the wine making biz, and their results are pretty impressive. The pinot noirs are what got ELV’s attention, but Cain’s Finale cab is a keeper too. Expect to start seeing these on lists soon — and expect a mouthful from these estate grown grapes.

From there, it was off to Caesars Palace for the now traditional kick-off Grand Masters Dinners from some of their top chefs. ELV took his usual seat at Restaurant Guy Savoy (alongside some frustrated Borscht Belt comedian named Slapsie Maxie Jacobson) and settled in for the usual French-filled festivities and fulsome fare:

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Besides the lame jokes we endured, it was a hoot and a half to hang with The Daily Blender’s Jennifer Heigl.

Jennifer, we’re looking forward to hangin’ with today and tomorrow at Uncork’d. Slapsie Maxie’s jokes we can do without.

Example:

Did you hear about the bad Jewish restaurant?

The food is terrible…and oy veh…the portions are so small!

Thankfully, we won’t have to suffer through any more comedic and (not to mention gastronomic) indignities over the next two days.

“…poultry is for the cook what canvas is for the painter.” – Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

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In honor of Vegas Uncork’d beginning today, ELV thought a few tasty snaps of the other-worldly guineahen (aka pintade) — served to him at and by Guy Savoy last year — were in order. In keeping with tradition, we will be dining avec Mon. Savoy again this year — tonight as a matter of fact — and are licking our chops in anticipation.

Whether he will serve us another gallina farona (the Italian name – “pharaoh’s hen”) is unknown (and we’d be perfectly happy if he did), but in honor of last year’s meal, and to celebrate the fifth year of Vegas’ most celebratory gourmet food festival, here are a few fun food facts about this obscure-yet-tasty bird:

> Waverly Root (writing in the 1970s) described it as the most flavorful of all barnyard fowl.

> Their tiny heads resemble those of vultures.

> It’s slightly darker white meat, retains a hint of wild gaminess and has often been compared to pheasant.

> Although domesticated, they enjoy roosting in the top most branches of the tallest trees, and are shot down from such elevated perches as sport by farmers in Southwestern France.

> They are the noisiest of all domesticated fowl, probably because the plumage from male to female is almost identical, and they need to keep yakking to distinguish themselves.

> Thomas Jefferson raised them, and was particularly fond of their flesh.

> Because the first ones were imported from North Africa, the Romans considered them a rare and exotic delicacy.

> They got their name from the Portuguese, who started importing them to France from Guinea in West Africa (which it controlled), in the 16th Century.

All this research has given ELV a hankerin’ for a dinner most fowl tonight…but whatever Restaurant Guy Savoy is serving, we’re sure it will be spectacular.

RESTAURANT GUY SAVOY

In Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino

3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.731.7286

www.guysavoy.com

In honor of that there little weddin’ over across the pond last week, ELV found this juicy little quote from the grandfather of the overdressed groom:

Champagne and orange juice is a great drink. The The orange improves the champagne. The champagne definitely improves the orange. - Philip, Duke of Edinburgh