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| - In a word, Twist.
The mere idea of the word is enough to send your token foodie's stomach into a conniption fit of pure desire. The mere whisper of the word is enough to trigger endless blogging and tweeting due to sheer sweaty-handed anticipation. The mere realization of the word is enough a road trip all the way to Lost Wages to see what all the fuss is about.
And so it was done. Off to the south Las Vegas strip we would go in search of langostine (among other things), prepared in the manner of a man who pretty much put langostine on the map.
Being the gastronomic simpleton that I am, I decided I couldn't pass up a grand opening invite to the first ever dinner service at Twist by Pierre Gagnaire (December 5, 2009). But in lieu of a ginormous appetite, what I really should've packed was my brain. Food this complex, this multi-layered, and this (pardon my crude undertone) "weird", simply can't just be engulfed. It requires several hours of thinking, ruminating, pondering or whatever-the-hell-it-takes to justify paying $400 a head for arguably one of the fanciest and most thought-out meal you'd ever dream of having this west of the Mississippi. It's been days since engulfing this meal and I STILL can't wrap my head around it (and my stomach definitely had its work cut out for it too).
Surprisingly, it took nearly 5 hours to complete this marathon of a 6-course tasting menu plus 6 courses of added appetizer supplements (note: every single thing I ate is pictorially posted here). And don't you dare go on thinking that I'm slow and that 12 courses aren't all that much, because under Pierre Gagniere's roof, that really means like 36 presentations. Do the math.
Throughout this marathon dinner complete with cocktails and fine wine, Voss water and a few $8 diet cokes sprinkled in "here and there", I began to realize the perplexity as this: Pierre Gagnaire is, quite truthfully, an enigma of a man. Forget that he's Michelin starred-this, iconoclastic-that. Forget that he practically invented all that we have come to realize is "fusion" cuisine. And just forget that his so-called eponymous "other" location on Rue. St. Balzac near the Champps Elysees is thought of as being the "3rd best restaurant" in the world by Restaurant Magazine (El Bulli in Spain is the 1st).
Pierre Gagnaire creates an inspiring vision for this type of weird food, which is, not surprisingly, just weirdly delicious. He's even a lovable weird guy himself, so appropriately charming and entertaining us like a "crazy uncle" might do during his brief cameo at our table.
And as we were appropriately informed by our server David, the whole idea is to "taste and experience" all the ingredients which God put on this earth, which might occasionally occur in 1 singular dish. This is most evident in the first of 3 presentations of Gagnaire's "Shellfish Royale" - somewhat of an oyster extravaganza with a backdrop of toasted beef gelée and shallots, as well as his last presentation of "King Sea Bream", a curiously concoction of a "bonito-shellfish gelée" with mozzarella ice cream. I loved the fact seared scallops aren't even safe from Gagnaire's innovative antics as "black olive gelee" provides a certain Mediterranean setting, but then squab breast and foie gras come in to steal the show. The end result of these seemingly contradictory flavor combinations and layers is this: each bite resembles something that you have never ever tasted, with few ways to describe them, save for these vague examples -- My first time eating Pierre Gagnaire cuisine allowed me to taste 5 different representations of the langostine, including the unmistakable "head", allowed me to taste (and like) seafood mixed with cheese mixed with meat, and allowed me to eat something that tasted like the splendor that exists in a tidepool.
Overall, do I have any idea what this means? Not on your life. The only thing I can muster up is that a dinner under Pierre Gagnaire's roof is absolutely positively unlike any other eating experience you will ever have. Ever. Go there, and you will see. The originality of it ensures that you cannot and will not be disappointed.
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