Fine Dining At Delmonico’s In Las Vegas (part 1)
Since my life is much more interesting than yours, I have access to things that you don’t. I thought that I would share one of these experiences with you so you can at least imagine what life could have been like if you had decided not to have kids or move out of Detroit or wherever you grew up. On the top of my list of things you will never do is to have dinner at Delmonico’s Steakhouse at the Venetian in Las Vegas. This is by far the best dining experience that I have ever had.
The experience begins as the host parades your group in a single file line past all of the little people in the main dining room towards the back of the restaurant. Some of the spectators for today’s parade included a group of four Ed Hardy Douchebags who you could tell felt pretty special in their matching shirts. You could feel their mood swing from disappointment when our party didn’t include their hero Jon Gosselin to anger that they didn’t get to march in the parade. Sorry boys, I know you saved up all year for those shirts but today isn’t your day.
At the back of the restaurant is a private room that seats at most eight people. Today we had five. My wife and I were celebrating our tenth anniversary and Lisa was celebrating her birthday. The back wall of this room is glass panels from floor to ceiling giving you (well not you because you aren’t me) full view of the kitchen. In front of each of us was a set of wine glasses. If you check out the floor plan you can see what I am talking about. We were having the wine pairing so there was a different glass for each of the wines that we were going to have.
Kevin Terrell came out and introduced himself as the Sous Chef and announced that he was going to be taking care of us this evening. We were told later by Chef de Cuisine Sean Roe that Kevin was recently promoted. You could tell that Kevin was excited to have us there and was scheming up some really good dishes to make just for us. Unlike your big night out at Applebees with your screaming kids on the first Sunday of the month, the kitchen table at Delmonico’s doesn’t have a menu. They ask what kind of food you like or dislike and if you have any food allergies and then proceed to make you (well, not you, you eat at Applebees) the most amazing dishes that you couldn’t get anywhere else if you tried. I asked Kevin to keep the portions small because we wanted to enjoy every bite and not be to full for dessert.
The feast started with a couple bowls of their signature homemade truffle potato chips with fresh Parmesan Cheese. I dove into these bad boys like … well like you do when your blooming onion comes at Outback. As we (well, I) shoveled the chips into my mouth Kevin asked us if we had any questions. He was a good sport as we asked him if he could explain which character from Ratatouille each person was.
At this time our Sommelier (I’m sorry but his name escapes me) came out and poured our first glass of wine which was a 2007 Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Kabinett. He described how it was an excellent match for the salad that Kevin was preparing for us because it was light and not too sweet but sweet enough to be paired with the pears. The first course (which we forgot to take a picture of) was an arugula salad with goat cheese brulee and pear slices.
And then came the second course. Before I describe it let me take a minute to explain to you how it was presented. Part of the joy of dining like this is the attention to detail in the service that you get (not you … Applebees … remember). As we were chowing down on the homemade potato chips and recalling our favorite scenes from Ratatouille about half of the restaurant staff snuck into the room and stood behind us. Then, on a cue from Kevin, they simultaneously placed the dishes in front of us from the our left taking special care to make sure that the dishes were all aligned the same way.
In order to help illustrate this, imagine if you will, that tonight is a special occasion for you since little Johnny is away at court ordered “camp” and little Suzy is sleeping over at her “friend’s” house tonight. You decide to splurge for a meal at Claim Jumper instead of Applebees. Imagine that when they wheel out your Chocolate Motherlode Cake, the waitress puts down her cigarette and uses both hands to plop this monster in front of you as she tells you about her affair with the Sysco driver who dropped off fourteen tons of the stuff on Sunday. I think you get the picture.
If you are done running around your kitchen yelling “Who the hell does he think he is!?! I am perfectly happy here in Detroit!! Suzy, if you don’t stop hitting your brother I will up your Vyvanse dose!!”, I can tell you about the second course.
Like clockwork our Sommelier poured our next glass. This was a 2004 Brogan Cellars Summa Vineyard Young Vines Pinot Noir. He explained that this Pinot was a good match for the duck we were about to be served since it wasn’t going to overpower it. I added an extra splash of douchiness by sticking my nose in the wine and saying “It smells like shit … in a good way”. It took our Sommelier a good ten minutes to placate me by explaining that the “earthiness” I was smelling was what made it a good match while trying to keep a straight face at the moron who somehow found his way into this special table.
Presented on a rectangular dish with three separate sections was our duck three ways. Kevin took great pride and detail in explaining the progression from left to right; hot, to room temp, to cold. The first section contained confit of duck leg with potatoes and scallions. In the middle was seared duck breast and on the right was duck foie gras with blackberrys. We oohed and ahhed as he described each preparation. The five of us started from the left and tasted each preparation together so we could discuss it like we knew what we were talking about. Then it became a race to try the next dish and tell the others “you have to try this!!”. The real surprise was how well the foie gras went with the blackberries.
I will describe the rest of the meal in part two.
