Carnevino and Raku - Las Vegas, NV

I just returned from my second Las Vegas weekend in five months (which is way too often). Although forgetting to take a camera, I was fortunate to have to very good meals while I was there.

Carnevino

Mario Batali's steakhouse in the Palazzo was our dinner spot for the first night. It is a typical Las Vegas steakhouse. It's crazy expensive with a large, crazy expensive wine list. Fortunately, it cooks a very good steak.

Our table started with a plate of impressive house cured meat and then ordered four house-made pastas to share. Chris thought the pastas were significantly inferior to those at Batali's Babbo in New York and I definitely agreed. They were not impressive. Nevertheless, this is a steakhouse and our steaks were excellent. My cousin and I shared a $150 porterhouse. It was one of the better steaks I've had in the last few years. The only problem was that it was luke warm after being cooked rare and then carved tableside. If I had it to do over again I would order it medium rare but it terms of flavor this steak was phenomenal--salty, juicy, and beefy. Certainly not worth $150 (pretty much no steak is) but it was wonderful.

Carnevino

Palazzo Hotel

3325 Las Vegas Blvd.

Las Vegas, NV

www.carnevino.com

Raku: Japanese Charcoal Grill

Our second night dinner was at Raku, an off strip Japanese restaurant with about 20 seats. For $50 a person, we had roughly 12-14 courses of impeccably prepared food. The only downside to this meal was that I was neither prepared--physically or mentally--for the quantity nor the richness of the meal. Nevertheless, here are some of the highlights. A smoothly textured housemade tofu with tomatoes and seaweed; Crazy good pan-fried soft shell crab served with spinach and sauteed mushrooms; ridiculously flavorful grilled mushrooms; asparagus tempura; smokey grilled tomatoes; the most moist fried chicken imaginable, unbelievably rich and decadent Kobe beef livers; bluefin tuna belly soup; foie gras soup and noodles; salmon, salmon skin and salmon roe rice; Kobe beef filet with wasabi; and braised pork belly. An unbelievable meal for an unbelievable value.

I think the kitchen underestimated our desire to eat weird, unusual ingredients though. I was really hoping for some fish and meat guts and a pork ear. We asked the kitchen to just cook for us and by the time the meal was over there was no conceivable way I could have ordered anything else.

Any gastronomically curious person should make the 10 minute trip off the strip into Chinatown to eat here. The trek will not go unrewarded.

Raku

5030 Spring Mountain Rd.

Las Vegas, NV 89146

www.raku-grill.com

Obama Visits Ray's Hell Burger

Barry visited Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington today for lunch. They put out what is by far the best burger in the D.C. metro area. This probably is the first respectable thing he has done since he became president.

Vino Vino - Austin, TX

I hate wine bars that play off the word "wine" in their names. Vino Vino is a perfect example. It's so cheesy. Joe's Wine Bar would be an infinitely better name. Nevertheless, after reading that the mussels and fries were good, Sweetmonger and I decided to try it. The awful name is in no way an indication of the quality of the food. Our meal was very good.

It's seat yourself and not wanting to take up one of the larger tables we opted for a seat at the bar. The wine list isn't extensive but it's well chosen and our wines were very good. They also have 3 Real Ale beers and 1 Chimay on tap. After my wine I ordered a Real Ale Pale Moon Rye. I haven't mentioned this beer before, but I've been drinking a lot of it lately. It is very well done and has an assertive flavor and beautiful color.

Vino Vino's food was very good. We each ordered two appetizers for our meal. The portions are substantial, and I can't imagine how big their "main" courses are. Sweetmonger went with a lemony chicken soup. It was nice. I had Pork Belly, chard and a carrot gastrique. This dish had a lot of flavor. The Pork Belly was crispy and salty on the outside and fatty, moist and tender on the inside. Just like it should be. I almost loved it; however, it had one problem. I think it stayed in the kitchen a little too long as it was not as warm as it should have been. I am usually a stickler for correct temperature but it tasted so good that I didn't care that much.

For our main courses, we each ordered mussels and fries. The broth was classic: white wine and tarragon. And the fries were served with a delicious aioli. Although these mussels were good the broth by itself was a step below that which we had at The Clay Pit a couple weeks ago. However, when the aioli was mixed in, these mussels were almost every bit as good.

For dessert we ordered a sheep's milk cheese served with red grapes and black pepper. We don't order dessert very often, but I was glad we did this time. It was great.

Vino Vino may become a dining staple for me. I just hope the temperature on the pork belly was a one time screw up, because if they think that is the temperature at which it should be served, then the kitchen has a major problem.

Vino Vino

www.vinovinotx.com

4119 Guadalupe St.

Austin, TX

The Clay Pit - Austin, TX

It always makes you feel good to walk into an Indian restaurant and see a large Indian family eating at a table. Whether it is an accurate predictor of what's to come is another story but it certainly gives you a little confidence that a really good meal is around the corner. Nevertheless, I did not expect anything great from The Clay Pit. I have been disappointed too many times with the food in Austin, and even after walking up to the restaurant surrounded by an amazing two block radius of Indian aroma, I wasn't getting my hopes up.

To say the least, The Clay Pit is one of the better restaurants I have been to in Austin, Texas, and I will be returning again and again. The food is perfectly seasoned, perfectly prepared and ridiculously tasty. Sweetmonger and I started off with and appetizer of Mussels simmered in a garlic, red wine curry. I've eaten a lot of mussels at a lot of different restaurants. These were the best I've ever had. The whole wheat spinach and paneer naan was the perfect bread to soak up the remaining curry sauce too. This may very well be the best single dish I've eaten in since moving to Austin.

Needless to say, our main courses didn't quite live up to the heights of the mussels but they were still very good. I went with the goat curry. The goat meat was falling off the bone tender was a super moist. The curry of ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, tomatoes and onions was robust yet deeply flavored. I wouldn't hesitate to order it again. Even better, the meal went perfectly with my Samuel Smith India Pale Ale. Sweetmonger's main was a great Biryani with a delicious Raita sauce. We tend to be tough to impress, but The Clay Pit did it with room to spare.

The Clay Pit

www.claypit.com

1601 Guadalupe St.

Austin, TX 78701

Top Chef - Season 5

I will never watch another episode of Top Chef.  The idea that they chose Hosea as Top Chef is ridiculous.  His food is boring and unappealing.  But I guess this is what you get when you choose contestants for a cooking competition based on how well they translate to TV and not on how good their food is.

Schwa - Chicago, IL

I ate at Schwa over a year ago, right before the now infamous Charlie Trotter dinner that preceded its closing.  The dinner is chronicled in this interesting profile of Schwa's chef/owner Michael Carlson.

My meal at Schwa was extraordinary. Despite being served a short rib main course that was not my favorite (sweetmonger and I are the only people in America who don't like short ribs), Schwa at the time was the best meal of my life. It remains probably the second best meal I have ever had, second only to my February 2008 meal at Town House.

I still think about many of the dishes I had there.  There was a cauliflower soup that was so rich and decadent.  I had no idea cauliflower could taste like that.  There was a panzanella with tripe which utilized the absolute most flavorful tomatoes imaginable.  As I ate this dish, tears came to my eyes. The raw quail egg ravioli was a bold display of talent that is never far from my mind.  And the pad Thai jellyfish. This dish is just amazing, perfect in every way.

Michael Carlson and his staff serve food that is, I don't want to say unparalleled, but certainly uncommon in its attention to detail and its ability to create crazy yet perfect flavor combinations. It is easily one of the best restaurants in America.  I have not eaten at Alinea, Charlie Trotter's or Curtis Duffy's Avenues but if I was given the chance to eat only one more Chicago meal in my life, I probably would choose Schwa.

Schwa

www.schwarestaurant.com

1466 N. Ashland

Chicago, IL  60662

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon - Las Vegas, NV

Thanks to some unexpected blackjack winnings and spurred on by a horrible meal the night before, I decided to get dinner at L'Atelier in the MGM Grand before I left Las Vegas. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I don't know much about Joel Robuchon or the style of cooking (other than it's French) that goes on in his restaurants. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a really good meal. It certainly wasn't exceptional, but there were just enough superb courses so that I left impressed.

Foie Gras parfait with port wine and Parmesan foam

This was a knockout. It was richer than many of the amuses I've had but the flavors were incredible and each distinct component was distinguishable. Superb.

Lobster Carpaccio with delicate aromatics and shellfish oil

It was good. The frissee salad on top was distracting both texturally and flavor-wise. This dish needs some tweaking.

Poached baby Kusshi oysters with French butter

The oysters were served on top of some coarse salt. I ate the first one and thought it was pretty good but I added a little bit of the coarse salt to the other two and it completely changed the dish. The kitchen should instruct diners to do this. Really Good.

Seared fresh scallop on a bed of truffled macaroni

My waiter talked up how good the homemade macaroni was. He was wrong. Also, the scallop was not of high quality. Okay but shouldn't be served.

Carmelized duck foie gras with chestnut confit and truffle veloute

There was some Iberico ham in there too. Really Good.

Steamed Seabass filet with spicy confit peppers

This dish also had the L'Atelier take on potato chips. The fish was cooked perfectly. A solid course but nothing that I could not get at a less expensive restaurant. Good.

Peppered venison with quince puree

Wow. This is one of the best red meat courses I have ever had. It was a fairly simple dish but was executed to absolute perfection. The meat was out of this world good. Not gamey at all. The sweetness of the quince and the richness of the venison melded nicely. Excellent.

Pineapple infusion Tahitian cheesecake

Pineapple cheesecake topped with a graham cracker and pineapple sorbet. Ridiculously good.

Light coffee cream served with coconut mil and lemon from Corsica

After the first dessert, this was a huge let down. It was just a decent chocolate dessert. Nothing interesting or inspiring.

Rating L'Atelier is difficult. It is certainly not 4 cutting board status. Really not even close although some of the dishes are certainly worthy of it on an individual basis. A meal consisting of larger versions of the foie parfait, the oysters, the venison and the pineapple cheesecake dish would have probably been one of the top 5 meals of my life. However, the inclusion of some of the other dishes certainly detracted from my dining experience. Overall, L'Atelier is not as good as any of the other restaurants I have given 3 1/2 cutting boards to but it is better than all of my 3 cutting board restaurants.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon at the MGM Grand

www.mgmgrand.com/dining/atelier-joel-robuchon-french-restaurant.aspx

Maggot Cheese

It's exactly what it sounds like.  Russian Monger sent me this link today and I was a little freaked out. I consider myself to be a pretty adventurous eater and there are very few things I will not eat. However, I refuse to eat maggots.

This cheese sounds like it's more up Simplemonger's alley anyway.

If there is anyone out there who reads my blog who has had this, please let me know what it's like.

Mint Indian Restaurant- Bluefield, WV

I had an amazing authentic Indian dinner a few nights ago in the unlikely location of Bluefield, West Virginia. This place is right on par with, if not better than, many of the casual Indian restaurants I have frequented in cities and neighborhoods known for their Indian cuisine.

We learned that Chef Robbie has been cooking at Mint for around 6 months. He was trained as a chef in India, and cooked there for 17 years before coming to West Virginia to work for Mr. Patel, a family friend of his who owns the restaurant and the adjoining Economy Inn. Chef Robbie is incredibly talented, and Mr. Patel and his staff are welcoming and gracious hosts.

Everything we were served was fresh and homemade. There were 8 of us, so it was the perfect opportunity to sample a good variety of dishes on the menu. Started with some delicious shrimp and vegetable fritters, chicken chaat, then we were served a beautiful seafood chowder (was not on the menu), followed by a trio of south Indian dosas and uttapam. Our "main dishes" included a mixed grill of tandoori chicken, lamb, and seafood, lamb biryani and vindaloo, 2 types of dal, okra, and cauliflower - all were incredible. The homemade cheese in the saag paneer was also a standout - so much that as stuffed as we were, we could not resist ordering the two types of fried cheese dumplings (again homemade) that were offered for dessert.

It's more than an hour drive for me, but I plan to make the trip often. You just don't find Indian cuisine on this level in this part of the country . . . if at all.

Mint Indian Restaurant
3200 E. Cumberland Rd
Bluefield, WV
304-325-9111
Open Tues-Sun- lunch buffet 11:30-3; dinner 5-10 pm
They do not serve alcohol - next time I will inquire about BYO - not familiar with WV laws on this . . . 

Jasper's - Austin, TX

Sweetmonger and I celebrated my birthday (a few days early) on Saturday at Jasper's in The Domain. Jasper's is a place I have wanted to eat at for a while. A few months ago, I was lazying around on the couch one weeknight and saw an Iron Chef America rerun with Kent Rathbun battling Bobby Flay. Then, the very next night I caught a Bon Appetite TV special naming Jasper's barbecued ribs as the country's second best. Even though Jasper's is a mini-chain in Texas (3 locations and a fourth opening soon), this TV publicity (I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff) made Jasper's a must go and we finally made it up there this past weekend.

The menu is enticing (for the most part) and certainly conforms to the restaurant's tag line: Gourmet Backyard Cuisine. The only turn off is the inclusion of 5 or 6 "fine steaks" which range in price from $32 - $67. Expensive steaks are one of those things that rarely meet expectations and I prefer to just stay away from them. And at a restaurant like this where they appear to be nothing more than an afterthought and are certainly not consistent with the restaurant's theme, I would prefer they just be left off the menu.

That being said, Sweetmonger and I enjoyed out meal.  We started off with prosciutto wrapped shrimp and grits.  It's hard not to like this dish.  Fat, juicy grilled shrimp wrapped in salty prosciutto served over top of creamy grits and blue corn chips. Really good.

Next, we split a grilled asparagus, tomato, red onion and blue cheese salad. The presentation was nothing to write home about but the tomatoes and asparagus had a lot of flavor and the blue cheese was definitely a compliment instead of being the unintended, overpowering centerpiece that it so often is. Well-done.

We also decided to share two main courses.  First we opted, obviously, for the ribs.  Are these the the second best ribs in America or even the best in Austin?  Who the hell knows? But I will let the pictures do the talking.

Before:

After: 

These ribs are excellent.  They have a crispy, outer texture.  The barbecue sauce is spicy and deeply flavored. And the meat is smokey, fall-off the bone tender and super moist. I could eat them again and again. Sweetmonger, who usually doesn't particularly like ribs, was in love with these. Additionally, they came with a pretty tasty "creamy baked potato salad," which can best be described as Jasper's take on cheese fries. 

Unfortunately, our other main course was an unmitigated disaster. It was some type of firm white fish along with grilled shrimp served with fingerling potatoes and some type of hideous green brie cream sauce.  This was just terrible.  The seasoning on the fish was ridiculously sporadic. Some bites had absolutely no flavor while others were unbelievably over-salted.  Further complicating this mess was that the sauce was not only hideously ugly but also tasted like nothing.  It was completely useless.  A third of the fish went uneaten. The only thing it was good for was dipping the shrimp in the side of extra sauce that came with the ribs.   

For dessert we went with a simple chocolate cake.  The cake itself was good but a little dry.  However, dipping the cake into the side container of what can best be described as melting vanilla ice cream turned an otherwise okay dessert into something very enjoyable.  It was much like a hot-fudge brownie.

 

Jasper's is good, and we would definitely go back for the ribs at some point but as good as they were there are plenty of other rib places that we must try first. Ultimately, 4 of the 5 dishes were good enough to warrant a 3 cutting board rating; however, the horrific entree cannot be overlooked.

Jasper's at The Domain

www.kentrathbun.com/jaspers/austin

11506 Century Oaks Terrace

Austin, TX  78758