RM Upstairs
Cliffs:
Atmosphere: A
Service: A+
Food: A+
Price: ~$400 including tip for 2 people
Okay, so I had high expectations coming in. Jimmy put this one as his favorite dining experience ever, and coming fresh off Napa Valley I was curious to see how it stacked up.
I gotta say, the food was excellent, the ambiance was superb, and the service was perfect. You really couldn't ask for a better meal for an intimate atmosphere, and myself and the ladyfriend were quite pleased. For $200 per person we got a meal that was up there with French Laundry in terms of the dishes and the service. For Vegas eating thus far this is at the top for me AINEC.
So color me shocked that the place was so damn empty! I guess an empty dining area makes the top-notch service a lot easier =)
We made the reservation at 10:15 so we could eat right after "The Lion King", and once we walked in we thought the place might be closed. There were some staff members wiping down some tables, but there was no hostess to be found. I saw the kitchen bustling in the back of the restaurant though, so we waited patiently.
Jimmy's friend, the manager, walks up sorta shocked. Evidently the hostess told him we canceled earlier! Whups. Well, we didn't cancel, and we were led to our table.
We chose a booth and got to sit on the same side, which made plating for our servers easiest. Our main server did a superb job on everything the job entailed, which is why I'm annoyed I forgot his name (blame the wine). He was in his late 20's/early 30's and asian. He was very helpful with all the dish descriptions, paced everything perfectly, and had a bunch of random surprises for us in store.
So anyways, onto the dishes. Taking pictures of the place wouldn't do justice as the place is more dimly lit. Just see it for yourself.
Our pre-amusee, champagne on the house. Was great. The lady learned that she enjoys champagne. This set the foundation for a good dining experience =)
We managed to butcher this picture, but it's the bread with spread. It was a ciabatta roll and the spread tasted like hummus. The tin can was decorated in rm seafood fashion.
This was a bite of salmon with a mini crouton and a mini craime freche. I say "was" because we ate it so fast we forgot to take a picture. Doh!
The oyster with granitee. The granitee is basically a lemon kool-aid slushie which added a mild citrus kick. Both myself and the lady do not enjoy brine, so we both had difficulty with this dish. That said, you come to a restaurant like this to try new things, and while we didn't like the oyster it was a worthwhile challenge.
Marinated California Octopus, sweet peppers, black tomato, edamame falafel. Octopus was cooked perfectly and far less rubbery than traditional octopus. Falafel was a sophisticated edemame-flavored hushpuppy. The sauce was tomato based with squid ink, lol! Superb dish.
The worlds only sustainable caviar with various egg mixtures and creme fraiche in a waffle. Caviar was delicious, and the egg whipped mixes were great complements. First I started by combining stuff on my caviar spoon, but at the end I was just carving out the waffle and eating it in fourths =) excellent dish obviously.
Artichoke and black truffle soup with a slow cooked egg (and the crispy things are jerusalem artichoke). The darker spot is where honey cotton candy went in to sweeten it. A video from Jimmy's meal showing the cotton candy is
here. This dish was incredibly unique and absurdly rich. You had to sip this once a minute otherwise you were going to get instantaneous food coma. The avacado, the truffle, the egg all together, it gave a new kind of flavor I hadn't experience before. But I couldn't finish it, it was just that rich. hehe.
Cobia, black olive, pomegranate, cauiliflower. Running out of words. The glass of alsace riesling I got certainly helped.
One of the lady's favorites: a rabbit dish with cous cous and leeks. Some pieces are like a rabbit sausage, and others are rolls that have a confit kind of feel to them. I was shocked (!!!!!) at how much I enjoyed the leeks, as I am not a veggie person. They tasted good! The leek "meat" just sorta popped out of that veggie shell, and it was great. All around solid dish, and we're hitting the home stretch now. Somewhere around this point I got a pinot from Napa.
This was the home run dish for me. Cervena venison loin, mushrooms, cipollini onion (stuffed with bacon and foie gras), pear butter. Jesus H. Christ. Not only that, the server provided a taste of some french pinot to accompany the venison, and we indulged. Clayton's getting wine-drunk tonighttttt. Somewhere around this point my head bonked onto the table in a collapse of indulgence. I'm told that Rick Moonen served this dish on Top Chef: Masters, so more inspiration to rewatch that season with the gf.
Palate cleanser before desserts - a banana ice cream with dipping dots, topped with a banana-brulee of sorts. *drool
We got 2 plates of desserts to share. First plate:
LOL.
Chocolate wafer with molten chocolate inside, accompanied with coffee creme, vanilla dippin dots, and candied nuts. The gf's favorite dessert of all time iirc, but maybe she was influenced by her wine (bwahaha).
Tropical Creme Brulee, passion fruit curd, marinated pineapple, papaya-aloe. I love me some creme brulee so no complaints here.
Our half-eaten candies
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There were also a couple of surprises the servers had for us, but I'm not gonna share those! See them for yourself
Meal was ~$320 + $80 tip, so 4 bills of high society for a top-notch Vegas meal. We also got a small tour of the kitchen and the architecture philosophy (yacht-inspired). They're big on using environmentally-friendly caught fish and offering a restaurant where it's easy to see the food being made. Wish I took a picture of the kitchen, oh well.
My only question is why is this place so empty? Why? WHYYY.
Last edited by Clayton; 03-25-2011 at 05:56 PM.