A Touch of Paris in Las Vegas

The Grape Vine

In 1946, when my Uncle Louis’s wife died, he moved from the Midwest to the nation’s new frontier: Las Vegas, Nevada. A year or two later, our family drove out to visit him. It was a desolate place, mostly desert, with one hotel called the El Rancho. In 1953, we saw my sister Corky and Liberace appear in the opening show for the new Riviera Hotel. This year, when my wife and I returned, out of nostalgia, we decided to visit the new 67-acre City Center, one of the largest commercial developments in the world, anchored by four hotels: the Mandarin Oriental, the Aria and Casino, the Vdara Hotel, and the as-yet-unopened Harmon. For a long time, Las Vegas appealed to big gamblers. For a short time, the appeal shifted to families. The latest approach focuses on eating, drinking and, as always, fabulous entertainment. In the City Center alone, there are 17 restaurants. We stayed at the Vdara, in a beautiful, quiet room with a view of the mountains and a full kitchen, all for $129 per night. With several friends to visit, we only had time to see one show. At a cousin’s recommendation, we selected magician Lance Burton. To this day, I cannot figure out how Burton made people disappear, or how he levitated them. And I can’t imagine how he created a flock of ducks out of a handkerchief, and how he got said ducks to follow his verbal instructions. Spectacular! The Silk Road restaurant in the Vdara is not worth the trip to Las Vegas. My bacon was cold, and there are no fish dishes such as lox or herring available for breakfast. But it was no problem to walk to the Bellagio, where, for $15, I had a buffet that included a huge table laden with various types of fish, Chinese food and pastries. Elsewhere, we had tapas and gazpacho at Julian Serrano (good but not spectacular) and we snacked at the Petrossian caviar house in the Bellagio, where the caviar is too expensive to enjoy. However, the terrine of fois gras and selection of Polish vodkas are superb. And then we splurged. Pierre Gagniare, one of the most prominent Michelin three-star chefs in the world, currently owns eight restaurants worldwide, including locations in Paris, London and Hong Kong. Twist, located inside the exquisite Mandarin, with terrific 23rd-floor views of the Strip, is Gagniare’s first in the States. So we rolled the dice. For once, our bet paid off. The staff was amazingly friendly. Julie Lee, the wine steward, was very helpful in suggesting some excellent wines in our price range. The chef de cuisine, recently from the London restaurant, came over to the table to chat. The service was impeccable. I started with the ‘Lobster Five Ways.’ Surprisingly, I found the lobster sashimi most flavorful. There were a number of spectacular dishes, but the one that stands out centered around small, thick noisettes of veal sitting in a rich morel mushroom sauce and served with a small cup of veal stock on the side. Absolute perfection. With a delicious bottle of Spanish Priorat at $55 and a more full-bodied Cabernet from Honig winery at $95, the bill totaled $150 per person. (A much better deal than the $300 per person”food only”quoted to us at the famous Joel Rubishon restaurant.) With a comfortable, reasonably priced room, a spectacular show, and a dinner as good as one would expect in a three-star restaurant in Paris, a good time was had by all.