Reviewed September 8, 2011
Guy Savoy Caesar’s Palace Las Vegas, NV 877-346-4642 http://www.guysavoy.com/I was in Las Vegas for a conference last week and serendipitously ran into a friend and broker that I’ve done a few deals with in the past. We were at a hosted cocktail party and he asked if I had dinner plans. Nothing solid, so, we decided to go grab a bite after the reception. The night before, I sat at the bar, alone, at one of my favorite steakhouses and restaurants in Vegas, CarneVino. I had just flown in from New York and it was late, probably approaching midnight, but to my delight, the bar was still serving food and after a long wait, and a very appologetic bartender, I got my Mario Batali style steak and egg late night dinner. But, I digress…
Having had steak the night before, we thought we’d try something different. Davie told me that he was feeling “foodie”. (I know, sounds kinda gay, but…) Our conference was in Caesar’s Palace and I don’t know of a lot of restaurants there other than my old haunt at Il Mullino. So, Davie recommends Guy Savoy. French… I did have a great meal at a little French Restaurant in NY, Le Petit Maison, a few days earlier, but that was separated by two versions of Mario Batali the two days between (CarneVino the night before, and Babbo in NYC the night before that… I know… i need to start packing my lunchbox…)
I wasn’t really that familiar with Savoy other than the name. So, we went to a small desk in the lobby of Caesar’s to peruse the menu and get the skinny from the smiling and happy Columbian girl manning the desk. It was, of course, pricey, but, it was a go. The girl asked if it was a special occasion, so, I, of course, told her that it was Davie’s Birthday.
When we arrived, the dining room seemed mostly empty. There was a four-top seated on one side of the restaurant, with a small bald man that looked like the monocled chairman from the Parker Brother’s game of Monopoly. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the dining room. It didn’t really take advantage of any views, and seemed overly sterile and somewhat institutional. Some of it was just plain bad design, like the doors to the washrooms with clear glass and stainless steel pegs sticking out for door handles. This was just plain, odd and somewhat dysfunctional.
Davie and I were seated at a corner two-top and I, of course, told the waitress that it was our honeymoon. It was way too romantic of a spot to have been anything else… 
Our server, Kristin, was very friendly and professional. I like her right away. Not stuffy, but, clearly a career waiter. The Sommolier, I didn’t care for… He seemed strangely hurried, and seemed to rattle off names and qualities by rote rather than understanding. He never took the time to answer questions, and the few times that I did ask he seemed not to hear and scurried of on his way in an odd, quiet, uninteresting and unapologetic way. Eventually, we got him to open up a bit and found out he was from Chicago and rattled off a handful of restaurants that he had spent his career at, but, still was not my favorite amongst the waitstaff…
Adrienne, however, was… Small bald Frenchman with the perfect, barely intelligible French accent and a seemingly endless understanding and appreciation for the fare that he graciously brought to the table. Adrienne brought every course out for us, describing the composition, telling us how the chef recommended eating it, and, telling us about the hidden surprises that were incorporated into many of the dishes. Always lingering just long enough to answer questions before bounding off with a heavily accented “bon appetite”…
The Meal
After very little consideration, we decided to do the extended tasting menu. When in Rome… This was eleven courses, as described on the menu, but, it ended up being a few extras with the extended Amuses Bouche that precipitated the feeding frenzy… Of course, we also asked for the wine pairing, which took us all over the world and was a lot of wine, but, made for a couple of very happy diners…
As we sat down, Kristin brought us a couple of fancy silver picks. Kind of like you’d see impaling a couple of huge olives in a fancy martini. On these picks were impaled a small layer cake of tiny triangles of toasted brioche and slivers of deliciously fatty fois gras. Perfect start. This was a rich, quick introduction to the gustatory bliss that would follow. At about the same time, our personality-impaired sommelier came with a large silver washtub full of ice and bottles of champagne. Actually a very nice selection of about a dozen options from pink to clear, old to new… They weren’t, of course, cheap with an average glass commanding $30 and the more exotics at $45/glass… That’s a lot for fizzy wine, but, again, when in Rome…. We opted for a very nice pair of glasses of pink wine at a mere $45 per glass…
Second came another amuse bouche. This was a slightly pungent cheese, whipped up into an odd two-sided china shot glass. The two demitasse were connected so that one was right side up, the other upside down. Sitting on the “bottom” of the upside down cup were a few dark, dry, shavings of pork. Adrienne came out and and mixed an electrically bright herbal broth into the creamy cheese and told us to brush the ham bits into it. And of course, to not miss the surprise hidden underneath.
The slightly pungeant cheese, neon-green broth, salty ham mixture was delicious. Anxious to see what was coming next, I lift the siamese demitasse and find a small cherry tomato underneath that has been stuffed. Sweet, delicate, delicious. Kind of funny to hide food on a plate, but, I liked it. Now that our bouches are adequately amused, we move on to the tasting menu.
First dish was an Heirloom tomato salad and tartare with a basil-lemon granite’. The white china plate that came out had a second plate inserted that looked like a china collander. It has a bunch of small holes drilled in it. On top of this plate there were small slices of skinned, and deseeded heirloom tomato. Intermixed, there were small pegs of what looked like aspic, but were gelatanized posts of “tomato water” with small herbs integrated into a couple of them. Adrienne came and ladled a light tomato sauce over the tomatoes and bounded off with another “bon appetit”. At this point, I guess I need to give the sommelier a name… I can’t, unfortunately remember it, so, we’ll call him “Harry”. Harry brought us our first wine pairing, an Aphonse Mellot, Las Moussiere, Sancerre, 2009. I asked him if it was finished in stainless steel, and he ignored me, rumbled something about citrus, and scurried off.
The tomatoes were good, the aspic more interesting to look at than eat, and the wine delicious. Once we finished the top layer, the collander-looking plate was removed to reveal a small terrine of tomato tartare. It looked much like a traditional tartare with diced tomatoes, egg, etc. But, was topped with a delicously acidic granite of lemon and basil. Absolutely delicious, and our second “surprise”.
In true French fashion, every course was accompanied by its own bread course. With both salted and unsalted butter to accompany. It was, for the most part, really good bread, but, if you ate all the bread they served, you’d eat nothing else. So, bread crusts and half-eaten, and untouched sliced of fresh baked bread started to pile up… I tried to keep mine tidy on my plate, Davie gave up and started stacking his on the table next to his breadplate.
The next course was really good. It was named, simply, “Marinated Octopus” or “Poulpe Marine”. The plate came out looking like small flower petals in a light sea of green. The green was a thick, rich, custardy puree of squash and delicousness. It had the mouth-feel and richness of eating really good butter, or, a terrine of seived fois gras. You could tell it was a decadent indulgence, but, you wanted to to pick up every last bit of it.
On top of the green custard were small medallions of marinated octopus. Encircling these medallions were little dollaps of purred eggplang and alternated tiny, buttery croutons. In the center of the plated was a deep-fried, soft-boiled quail egg that would run its delicious, rich, yolk all over the octopus once broken. It was rich and delicious, accompanied by a sweet, unpasturized glass of Sake, EikoFuji, Glorious Mt. Fuji, Yamagata, Namazake Junmai Ginjo. To round it off, the bread course presented a slice of dense bread with what seemed like sushi nori seaweed mixed in that gave it the scent of a slightly soggy handroll and probably the most interesting bread-course of the evening.
For the fish course, Adrienne brought us a piece of crispy sea bass with delicate spices. I really liked this, but, Davie was not a fan. It was a small piece of sea bass that was finished, skin and scales on, on a very hot surface that caused the skin and scales to crystalize and become an edible, crispy delight. There was a light broth of fume and a slight hint of vanilla around the fish with three streaks of sweet, aromatic ground spice on the edge of the plate meant to be “swept in” just before eating. The spices kind of reminded my of Chinese five-spice and had an interesting, aromatic character that I thought went very well with the flakey fish and its crispy skin. This was accompanied by a glass of Joseph Drouhin, Meursault, 2008 and a slice of bread impregnated with pieces of lemon peal. Not sweatened, or candied, or preserved… just plain old lemon peal… odd…
The next course, “Colors of Caviar”, I think was a little over-thought… It reminded me of crazy 80′s era cocktails that were made up of different colored pours of liquors that remained separated and striated in the glass. The Colors of Caviar was a shot glass with layers of stuff… The bottom layer was a caviar vinaigrette. This was followed by a few other uninteresting layers of green beans, or something else that I can’t remember and were more for display than gustatory bliss. The top layer was a small glop of Russian Ossetra and a savory custard was spooned on top after serving.
I really liked caviar and was excited by the thought of this dish, but, it didn’t pan out for me. It was “ok”, but seemed to miss the point. The other componants didn’t seem to hold their own against that caviar as would something more exotic like Thomas Keller’s “Oysters and Pearls” with tapioca, poached oyster, and a fund blob of caviar on top… The Caviar extravaganza was accompanied by a nice glass of tart, but sweet-on-the-nose Marc Kreydenweiss, Andlau, Riesling, Alsace, 2007.
This next course had a little pomp to it. Was slightly silly, but, I liked it none-the-less. The Foie Gras “en Papillotte” and Radish Bouillon. Harry brought us a glass of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, Pinot Gris, Asace, 2008. Shortly after, a bussboy came with a tray covered with hot, black rocks. The kind that you would see on a spa add that had hot-rock massage… On top of these rocks was an inflated, plastic, boiling bag. About the size of a small throw pillow. Adrienne came out and punctured the bag and tore a large slit in at as a cloud of steam escaped. Then the buss boy brough the opened, steaming bag, sitting ontop of a tray of hot rocks to us so that we could smell the braized liver and radish inside. Then, he quickly scampered off to plate it.
When he returned, the foie gras was plated in a shallow bowl with a red, radish bouillon ladled ontop and small chunks of radish. It was everything you expect foie gras to be. Fatty, rich, decadence. Nicely cut by the sweetness of the Pinot Gris.
The course that follows was one of my favorites. It didn’t sound as good as it was. It was artichoke soup. More specifically, Artichoke and Black Truffle Soup, Toasted Mushroom Brioche, and Black Truffle Butter. Adrienne emphasized that there was no broth added to this and it was simply artichoke.
The soup came in a small bowl and was a grey-green color. Floating ontop were small, black shavings of truffle and a few shavings of parmigian cheese. Next to the soup was a plate with a small piece of brioche. It somewhat resembled a muffin with stripes of toasted mushroom and a smear of truffle butter melting in. You could smell the distinct, earthy smell of black truffle everywhere. Adrienne told us that the check recommended sopping the truffled brioche in the soup. Of course… The soup was thick, creamy, earthy, mushroomy and delicious with the melting shavings of cheese giving a salty, oily, deliciousness to the whole composition. Everything about this was fantastic. After running out of brioche, I found myself sopping up the last smears of leftover soup from the bottom of my bowl with the myriad scraps of bread that were still on the table. Delicious. This was served with a glass of Bouchard Pere & Fils, Beaune du Chateau, Beaune, 2006.
Again, the pomp… The next course was the Roasted Poussin Summer Flavor. Not sure what “Summer Flavor” is. Kind of remindes me of when I lived in New York and would get take-out chinese food with “wonderful taste brown sauce”. Maybe more culturally descriptive, because, I, personally, think that summer tastes like grilled hot dogs…
The bus boy brought out the Poussin, a small chicken, nicely roasted, on a platter, hog-tied, with a nice crown of what looked like fresh thyme neatly wrapped around the hog-tied extremeties. They again, scurried off to plate this in the back. When it was returned, carved and plated, it was like Thanksgiving at the Downing’s. Herbal, roasted poultry. It was very elegantly carved and served and was accompanied by a Chateau Mont-Redon, Chateuneuf-Du-Pape, 2007. The herbal poultry and the Syrah went very well together and this was a homey, comfortable dish that was nice amongst the parade of hide-and-seek and pomp and circumstance.
The Vegetable… I thought this was ill-concieved. Execution was probably fine, but… For this course, there was a block of daicon radish that was carved into a small 1.5″ cube. The cube had a chamber carved in it that contained some small blueberries. On top of this was a small sheet of what seemed to be a very tart berry fruit leather. It was paper thin and packed a tart, acidic punch. The entire thing was surrounded with a drizzle of what seemed to be a raspberry puree reduction that was tart and dissonant. The daicon, bland and watery, the fruit leather, acidic and loud, the raspberry reduction pedestrian… I wasn’t very pleased with this course and think it should be rethought… It took away from what was otherwise very interesting and ranged from good to very good…
Here comes the cheese- I love cheese. Stinky, pungeant, moldy, wet-gym-sock cheese… So, I was happy to see the well-appointed cheese cart roll up. It was hard for me not to simply say “one of everything”, which I’m sure they would have happily served, but, that would have been way too much. Adrienne, in his thick French accent, walked us through the various characteristics, and then the cheese was cut (no laughing) and plated. This was served with a Chateau Leoville Poyferre, St.-Julien, 2001. Wonderful course and great seque to the desert to follow…
Strawberry Rhubarb. This was a glass with thin slices of rhubarb, strawberry, and a blob of what seemed like strawberry-rhubarb gelato. Tart, sweet, red, refreshing. Not everyone likes rhubarb, but, this reminds me of my great-grandmother who used to make rhubarb sause and rhubarb pies. I enjoyed this with my glass of Charles Hours, Iroulat, Jurancon, 2007.
Next, to my amusement, came the Chocolate Fondant, Crunchy Praline, and Chicory Cream. Davies, of course, came with a lit candle, for his imaginary birthday, but, not singing… I was hoping, to at least, get a Frere Jacques out of Adrienne….
At this point, I’m almost ready to thrown in the towl. We’re working on this three-piece dessert, chocolaty, sweet, crunchy, everything you want in dessert, with a glass of Inniskillin, Cabernet Franc Icewine, Niagara Penensula, 2007 (very delicious and sweet), and trying to make it all fit by forcing it down with a couple of double-espressos.
But! That’s not all! Next come the random samplings of petit fours, random merengues, chocolates, cookies, etc. all wheeled out on a cart. I simply told them to put together a sampling of what they thought were best, becuase, I was pretty much done at this point. We tasted, but, didn’t finish the random samplings when another plate came out with homemade caramels and nougats… Crazy. Definitely didn’t go home hungry.
Of course, this wasn’t cheap… The total bill, dinner for two, came to a little over $1,100 without tip. This was the $298/head for the tasting menu, $45/glass for the champagne, $175/head for the wine flight, and a few bucks for the espresso… Of course, you could get in/out of this place for much less, but, just in case tomorrow never comes, go for the brass ring.
