| rev:text
| - Despite being in Vegas alone, I kept most of the reservations I'd made with a pal who ended up not coming. Checked in at Restaurant Charlie the day before to see if I could have a choice between Bar Charlie and the restaurant. Things were pretty dead so there was no problem; not even with changing my reservation by an hour 45 min beforehand.
They told me I could eat at the restaurant bar if I didn't want to dine alone at a table. They also said the bartender would be fine company. So I got seated in the super modern, glass steel and light and completely empty bar. I have to say it was a little weird. Nobody told the bartender I was dining at the bar and for a while he thought I was waiting for somone and was focussing on other things. I worried the experience would be boring and surreal like the last scene of 2001 where the old guy is having a nice meal and all you hear is his utensils clinking on the plate.
Anyway once we figured things out, everything improved. The bartender was Jeremy. I first ordered a campari cocktail (campari, sweet vermouth, brandy floater with a twist). I think this gave him some good information because with each of the four courses I ordered, he provided a very interesting and virtually always stellar pairing, and it wasn't always wine. Here's what I had with the pairings listed with each course.
Amuse: A bit of watermelon salad in tiny cubes with either basil or mint (or both?), and a shot glass of watermelon soup with tiny fresh spearmint leaves. Delicate poached lobster claw meat two nice bites with herb sauce (sorry not sure about the sauce...). LOVED every morsel of this.
Appetizer: Fried Spiced Globe Artichoke with Honey, Pine nuts, and Mint. Great, but you have to love cumin.
My pairing: Campari cocktail with brandy floater
Entree: Seared Hamachi with Braised Short Rib, Morels & Chantrelle Mushroom Sauce
J's pairing: 2002 Franz Haas "Manna" Alto Adige, Italy
Side: Saffron Rissoto with Cockles and Razor Clams
J's new pairing when I got stuffed and couldn't eat any more risotto: Junmei Divine Droplets (Sake)
Salad at end: Salad of Asparagus, Rhubarb, Fennel & Nasturtium Leaves - heavenly; a beautiful ending.
J's pairing: Chartreuse with Stirings Soda & Lemon (amazing!)
Dessert: Candies & Confections
1971 Bodegas Toro Albala "Pedro XImenez Gran Reserva" Montilla-Moriles, Spain (this is the most delicious port I ever had, and he put the bottle in front of me and casually asked if I wanted more - I did not care about price at that point).
We started talking about the port so much he brought over the sommalier who knew more about it, and then they handed me a big book from which I sat reading aloud, and nobody minded at all (um, I think).
The hamachi with short rib was amazing. The short rib was almost like a ragu and it was carefully spread atop each chunk of Hamachi. The richness of the short rib balanced perfectly with the buttery quality of the hamachi. My only complaint which I did not voice was that the mushrooms were way beyond salty.
The only thing I couldn't paddle to the finish on was the rissotto, and Jeremy rallied me by switching me from wine to divine droplets sake - fermented from the very center of the rice kernel. The sake sweetended up the super saffrony risotto and really made the flavor of the rice jump out. It actually lightened the dish significantly and helped me put away about 30 percent more.
The chartreuse beverage with the herby salad totally blew me out of the water, because it went incredibly well with the salad (the rhubarb was lightly pickled and in the thinnest of shavings, resembling pickled ginger in a way) and I was dying for a digestif by that point.
The whole thing ended up being fun. Jeremy and the rest of the staff at Restaurant Charlie are maniacs in a good way. I think I was a little lucky in my proximity to a very special and insightful, educated bartender, and the fact that it was a slow night may have helped somewhat, but if you are a food and drink freak try dining at the bar and have a wonderful interactive experience with all the pairings, or just make sure to emphasize your interest in that if you are in the dining room. Really fun and great quality.
Only cons were that things came out kind of fast after my appetizer -- I wasn't finished with my entree and side when the salad also appeared before me. Not that big a deal but the pacing of serving a salad as the last course shouldn't be foreign to a fine dining staff.
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