| rev:text
| - Yet another one of Batali's projects. His picture is all over the Venetian in order to promote it. It is where all the other restaurants are, but tucked away in a corner, with a little flag to hail you.
The recent Batali restaurant I ate at was Mozza, which didn't quite suit my taste and so I had some biased expectations. But a look at the menu cast all those skepticisms aside, as it was filled with things that aren't what you see in a conventional place, such as tripe, tongue, and brain. That fascinated me and I remembered reading Tony Bourdain's words that chefs are now able to explore a bit more by putting such things on their menus, and people are starting to accept them more.
You are greeted by Batali's books at the door, but they are not shoved in your face as Bobby Flay's face is when you enter Mesa Grill. And in fact, once you step into the dining room you can easily forget about them. A very cozy place with a wall full of wine bottles. Simple dark near-black wood theme with clean white tables, and a center table for the workers, which also is a clever interior design job. The center table is where all the waiters put the finishing touches of your dishes, all the little garnishes and de-boning of the fish are done in the center of the dining room. Its center piece is a giant but slim vase with tall sunflowers (real!) that just touch the ceiling, which shortens the ceiling to the eyes and hence gives the place a more intimate and cozier feeling (even though it is standard ceiling height). And there are many servers that come in and out of the kitchen and mingle at the center table, giving the whole dining room a very live and bright feeling, without unnecessary flashy colors that I've seen way too may restaurants have.
The hostess offered me and my date a small table, then asked us if we preferred to sit side by side, and proceeded to turn the table sideways for us just so we could sit closer. Is this fine dining service? I've *never* had this offered to me before, and she even rotated the silverware for us.
A little gift from the chef to start the meal, chick pea bruschetta on tiny little toasts. Very simple, yet curiously good. I swear I tasted olives but I have no idea where they were. The appetizer we ordered was three goat cheese truffles, little balls of goat cheese rolled around in spices. We first had the pimenton, or smoked paprika, which gave my mouth a nice little tingle with a bit of tang, a sign of very good paprika. Then the fennel seed powder was more bitter, and to my delight it brought out a whole new part of goat cheese's flavor. Next was poppy seeds, which again was a different experience, and that was when we also explored the roasted bell peppers, which was very fresh and very well prepared, and together with the goat cheese it was a different world.
We decided to try two different raviolis that interested me, one with lamb brains and the other with beef cheek meat. The lamb brain was incredibly smooth, the sauce for the "postage-stamp-sized" ravioli was nothing but butter with a bit of lemon and sage, very rich but you don't notice it until you leave. The beef-cheek ravioli was the opposite personality, big and meaty with very intense beef flavor. The crushed duck liver and truffles made it very savory.
Bombolonis were shared for dessert, essentially donut holes that were served with melted dark chocolate. They give you plenty of chocolate too, that went down in spoonfuls. The waiter came to check on how we were doing and all the food was gone.
All the staff was young but mature and warm. It was a pleasure to talk to them, the entire atmosphere is laid back. I especially appreciate its location as it is away around a corner, unlike Mesa Grill where you are staring right at the slot machines as you eat. Quite easily you can forget that you are in a casino in the chaos that is Vegas, it has a mood of its own that suits me very well. Casual, with no pretension, all it is about is enjoying food.
Mozza might not have suited me so much but seeing this place and seeing the difference and the direction of Batali's passion for various aspects of food makes me respect him highly as a celebrity chef, and look forward to what his next adventure will be.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)