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| - Woohoo! As good as it gets!
To this establishment, first and foremost: thank you. I had a special occasion that I wished to more than just celebrate -- I wanted to honor it. Through every aspect within their power, their execution was flawless.
It all started with communicating my intentions to one of the managers, whose information I took from prior review responses. I figured if someone cared enough to write back to people, they might be the right sort to handle my requests with care. I couldn't have been more right. Laurent Ertle is the man I owe the uncanny success of the following.
Through him, his suggestions, and his staff, when the night came, everything flowed effortlessly. We pre-arranged the time and table to have, in my opinion, the best seats in the house. The view and progression of the evening was marvelous. A prepayment plan was set in place to avoid that awkward distraction at the end of the evening. I was even granted the appropriate menus and floral piece for the table.
After the warm welcome to our seats, the evening began with a cocktail. Expressing an interest in St. Germain, our server when to ask the bar on specialties. What returned was their version of a French 75. A delightfully fragrant, subtly sweet, and slightly strong drink -- the perfect definition of a cocktail.
Shortly thereafter, we were given a choice of bread to have. While normally I would have picked a different bread to try each time around, I just couldn't get past having more of the wonderful french baguette -- rightfully so, considering the venue. Then we were given a sample of gazpacho. It was creamy and smooth being watery in neither flavor nor texture. Thus it was obvious to me that the selection of vegetables, spices, and method was very deliberate. To follow was an amuse bouche. I had to ask the waiter twice what the trio was, and I still unfortunately forgot what they were exactly. So instead of exact, I'll be broad: one was a fluffy, rich cheese-pastry; second was an oyster topped with caviar on a bed of black pepper and sea-salt; third was a mini quiche looking bite. It succeeded in spurring my appetite for more. For appetizers we ordered a corn soup and roasted foie gras. The soup was the result of for some inexplicable reason that they don't serve french onion soup, which I would have considered a given. Simple and tasty the soup was with a good marrying of ripe corn and hints of bacon. The foie gras was luxuriously rich, and smartly paired with grapes and crisps for palate contrast and cleansing.
Our main courses were the Aged New York Steak and Bone Marrow in a Cabernet Reduction as well as a Beef Wellington with Snap Peas. I will say that my definition of medium-rare must differ from the kitchen's, but it's typically against my principles to argue with a chef's execution unless gross malpractice has occurred. After just one bite, I forgot about any disagreement I might have had. I was reminded that the quality of cut and preparation is at least as important as the method. The marrow and reduction added a level of depth new to me with such a course. The complex flavors still make me salivate at the mere memory of them. The wellington was flawless in every way -- from presentation to indulgence. The pastry shell advertised the culinary art contained. It was flaky and refined. Inside was a wonderfully tender, and expertly cooked, cut of beef. More-so this course, I very easily would recommend it to anyone.
Desert was a pair of souffles, that have to be ordered at the very beginning due to their complexity. We had a gran marnier and pistachio. Both light and delicious, which was the point of getting two. I have to say I preferred the pistachio, but that is far from an easy decision to make -- I had to compare one to the other exhaustively. The petit fours were simple treats of milk chocolate, fudge, white chocolate, or mango. They definitely were unimpressive, but that's what happens when everything else was so far above standard.
I had asked the photographer to return so that our photo would take place with the night lights of the Bellagio Fountains. Not only did she, but she was enough of a perfectionist to wait for the exact right moment of the fountain show to snap the moment. She also had our finished photo to us in what seemed like no time at all.
A special note must be given to the server, Mario. Not to be confused with the waiter (which for the first time for me, was not the same person). He was an absolute pleasure to have around. He was not only prompt and courteous in profession, but also charming and humorous in conversation. It was the type of thing that beside all the foreign luxury we were surrounded in, there still was a sense of reality to ground the experience in memory instead of fantasy.
I was denied the tower ride due to mother nature, but hopefully that will also encourage me to return again to at least shake Laurent Ertle's hand.
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