Ryan Hardy at LE CIRQUE

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Having now met Ryan Hardy twice in the same week — here and in New York (where he was one of the nominees for a Best Chef Southwest award) — we at ELV thought you’d like to see some tasty snaps from our meal last week at Le Cirque in the Bellagio (that most New York of all Vegas restaurants), where Hardy cooked a special dinner based upon the superb ingredients he sources at The Little Nell in Aspen (Colorado, not Alabama).

Hardy flew in many provisions for this meal for about fifty lucky souls, including his house-made charcuterie that (we had to admit) was as good or better than anything we’ve had from Salumi or Fra’ Mani. Our staff now considers it the quintessence of cured meat. Just as good were his marinated sardines, dappled with a Rendevous salad of organic root vegetables and herbs, and an odd-looking but phenomenal octopus risotto, dressed with a lemon confit and paper thin shavings of octopus carpaccio.

The capper was a Four Story Hill Farm veal loin alongside a crispy squab breast, sharing space with some fine-grained Anson Mills grits and fresh morels and fava beans. ELV generally hates fava beans (and all chefs inexplicably love them), but even we were forced to agree that they brought a lot to the party on this plate.

Along with a bevy of beautiful wines personally chosen by Little Nell Master Sommelier Jonathan Pullis, the meal was enough to inspire us to venture to that land of the rich white people — to see what else Hardy and crew are capable of cooking up.

MONTAGNA @ The Little Nell

675 Durant Ave.

Aspen, CO 81611

970.920.4600

http://www.thelittlenell.com/TLN/restaurants/montagna-restaurant.aspx

LE CIRQUE

In the Bellagio Hotel and Casino

3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.693.7223

www.lecirque.com