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| - What a wonderful discovery! We went to Bardot's for our anniversary and had an amazing experience. Bardot is located in Aria, but you can easily avoid having to deal with any Strip traffic by coming into City Center from Harmon and parking at the North Valet (we are locals and weekend traffic on the Strip is about as much fun as having your tonsils removed with a grapefruit spoon). Bardot's is on the 2nd level promenade, so no casino noise or flashing lights, just a nice relaxed restaurant area fronted by a very cool lounge. From the series of small tables sitting outside, to the interior decor, it feels very authentic...reminded me very much of Brasserie du Louvre and this time I didn't have to sound like Quasimodo trying to speak French. We were greeted warmly and once seated we were presented with an anniversary greeting card, with a handwritten message welcoming us for our special night, signed by all the wait staff...it was such a nice touch and really kicked the night off perfectly. The wine list is quite extensive, including the by the glass section and in addition to the expected selection of French wines, it was nice to see some old favorites from California. We started off with half a dozen oysters...it was our anniversary after all ;-) My wife ordered the King Crab crepe as her main (she's little and fills up fast) and since my favorite French meal is still Moule Frites, I sort of created my own dish by ordering Mussels Marinieres and added the pommes salardaises...three words....Stu-Pen-Dous!!! The oysters were excellent, very fresh, briny and good...I preferred the West coast to the East coast. My wife's crepe was rich, savory and incredibly flavorful...each element was there, the rich flavor of crab, the nuttiness of the mushroom the amazing creamy sauce all set off in a buckwheat crepe. My mussels were perfect...yeah, I work out...okay, so my muscles are a bit old and tired compared to what they are serving up at Bardots, but you get the idea. The mussels were all perfectly cooked, plump and bursting with flavor and the sauce was a little slice of buttery garlic heaven! There was plenty to soak up my fries before plucking out a mussel to combine for the perfect bite! The mussels come with one of Bardot's French Baguettes, which honestly could be its own food group, and the sauce that was left over after my french fry dipping was quickly devoured with the amazing bread. If plate licking were acceptable, it would have been on!
When it came time for dessert, we opted for the "Frozen Paris Brest"...mainly because I wanted to be able to order a Brest out loud and not get smacked for it! It came out displayed on a plate which read Happy Anniversary in chocolate writing...a very nice touch! The dessert, like everything else we had was amazing, flavorful and absolutely irresistible...hazelnut, chocolate and this amazing salted caramel!
My only suggestion for Bardots would be to give the Sommelier a few assistants, she was very knowledgeable about her craft, but she shouldn't also have to be in charge of pouring every glass of wine...Yes, I'm a lush and it pains me to see an empty wine glass.
All in all a wonderful evening at an amazing restaurant...we will definitely be back!
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