The Divine Dish

Palm Springs LA Writer’s Dinner at BOA, West Hollywood

Posted on Oct 11, 2009 under Archives, Palm Springs | No Comment

Last week, approximately 50 writers from a wide variety of publications attended the LA writer’s dinner held at the trendy BOA on Sunset in West Hollywood (we never refuse a free meal, especially at a steakhouse).  The event was sponsored by a group of hotels and resorts, as well as the board of tourism and convention and visitor’s authority.  After mingling and cocktails, all of the writers moved into a private dining room for dinner and presentations.

Mark Graves, director of communications for the Palm Springs Desert Convention and Visitors Authority welcomed all of the writers.

Hilary Angel from the Palm Sprigns Bureau of Tourism also welcomed us.

Dinner started with a jumbo lump crabcake and a caesar salad.

We got to choose from chicken, salmon, Ahi tuna, filet mignon or New York strip steak.  I opted for the filet, as we were at a steakhouse, and it was delicious.  Sides included grilled jumbo asparagus, mac & cheese and roasted garlic whipped potatoes.   Here are some pics:

For dessert we had cookies, ice cream and cheesecake.

Throughout the evening, pr directors from a wide range of Palm Springs resorts and activities made presentations to update all of us on all of the new things going on in the desert.    Here are some of the speakers:

The event had fabulous food and was a great opportunity to network with other writers.   Drawings were held and weekend getaways were given out to many of the resorts – unfortunately ours was the only table that didn’t win a weekend away!   I got more info for my article on pet friendly Palm Springs, as well as all of the great resorts and activities now available in Palm Springs.  Temperatures have dropped and now is the perfect time to head to the desert.

Tasting Menu at Alex Restaurant, Wynn Las Vegas

Posted on Sep 30, 2009 under Archives | 1 Comment

While attending Bon Appetit’s huge food event last spring in Las Vegas, I met Chef Joseph Leibowitz.  After hearing about the divine dish blog, he graciously invited me to come back and dine at Alex the next time I was in town.  I definitely took him up on the offer when I was in town to cover a story on the new M resort.

Opened in 2005, Alex is the namesake restaurant of Alessandro Stratta (interview with Chef Alex is in the previous post) at the Wynn in Las Vegas.  Designed by Roger Thomas and Jane Radoff, the opening 18-seat bar and lounge leads to a hourglass shaped staircase.  After making our way down the grand entrance, we found ourselves seated in the luxurious main dining room with 162 seats.  The decor is beautiful, with crystal chandeliers and mahogany wood accents.  My friend Sheila joined me for a huge (I think the largest I have ever had) tasting menu with wines selected from Alex’s extensive 4,000 bottle cellar.  Here is what we had (this took six hours to eat and although full we still didn’t want to leave the gorgeous dining room!):

I forgot to write down the featured appetizers on this platter – I believe they include a wagyu beef tartar, foie gras and fig, and a lovely tomato and fennel soup.

I also didn’t write down what Sheila received to start, but they all were delicious.  Thankfully, the rest of the menu I did jot down.  I enjoyed Pierre Peters Blanc de Blanc Champagne which was outstanding.

After the appetizers that the chef sent out, we received this lovely Yellowfin Ahi Tuna Nicoise with Osetra Caviar.  I had another glass of champagne with this.

The wonderful chefs provided us with different dishes for each course so we could taste a huge variety of the food.  Sheila got the crispy calamari with watercress, preserved lemon and royal trumpet mushrooms.  this was paired with a nice Crocker Starr Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley.

Next came lobster with pasta and a squash puree, accompanied with a glass of Domaine du Closel Savennieres from the Loire Valley.  This was rich and very tasty.

Sheila also got lobster, butter poached with sweet corn custard, chanterelle mushrooms and coral butter.  We both love lobster so we were very happy.

Sheila’s next dish was a herb risotto with fricassee of frog legs Meuniere, maitake mushrooms and roasted chicken jus.

I received a lovely crispy moi served on a crunchy coconut rice cake with matsutake mushrooms, sea beans and ginger aoili.  Accompanied by a Henri Boillot Meursault Charmes from Burgandy.  Delicious.

Next came my fave, seared foie gras with roasted peaches, pearl onions and fennel anise honey gastrique.  This was to die for.  Fortunately Sheila hates foie gras (poor girl doesn’t know what she is missing) so I didn’t even have to share this with her.  Lucky me.  Paired with a Zaccagnini Moscato Passito from Abruzzo.

Sheila had the dover sole with artichoke puree, fresh black truffles and a crispy potato cake with a lobster red wine sauce.

Sheila’s next course was veal sweebreads with puff pastry, swiss chard, fresh plums and toasted almonds.

I had roasted squab, perfectly cooked, with turnips, corn puree and cape gooseberry sauce.  Paired with a JM Bouley Beaune Les Reversee from Burgandy.  Yum.

Our last main course was a very flavorful Japanese Wagyu strip loin with pommes Dauphine, wild mushrooms and sauce Bordelaise.

After eating this enormous amount of food, we still managed to eat the cheese course and dessert.  Here they are:

Our selection of cheeses included Green Hill pasteurized cow’s milk, aged one month from Georgia; Robiola La Tur, pasteurized cow, goat and sheep’s milk, aged 10 to 14 days from Italy; Valencay, pasteurized goat’s milk cheese, aged 2 to 5 weeks, France; Roncal, raw sheep’s milk, aged 6 months from Spain; Montgomery’s Cheddar, raw cow’s milk, aged 18 months, from England; Formaggio di Fossa, raw sheep’s milk, aged 3 months from Italy; Monte Enebro, pasteurized goat’s milk, aged 45 days from Spain, Eposses, pasteurized cow’s milk, washed – rind, aged 5 to 6 weeks, from France; Shrospshire, pasteurized cow’s milk, blue cheese aged 3 to 4 months, from England; and finally the Rogue River, raw cow’s milk, blue cheese, aged 6 months from Oregon.  The cheeses came with an apricot puree, fig and almond cake, candied walnuts, honeycomb and cranberry-apricot bread and buckwheat cherry crackers.

Our faves (though we love ALL cheese) were the Robiola La Tur and the Roncal.  We arrived at Alex at 6:30 and we were eating the above cheese at 11:45.  Yep, we ate for over five hours.  This cheese plate was superb.

After all that cheese, we had a lovely lemon curd with fresh summer berries and a coconut tapioca with tropical fruit.  Two more dessert plates came after that, featuring a spiced souffle with plum custard and vanilla ice cream and a toasted vanilla custard with maple poached peaches and creme fraiche ice cream.

We really thought we were done by now, but at midnight out came this lovely final dessert platter.

We both agreed that this was the most food we have ever eaten in one sitting and one of the best meals we have ever had.  We tried it all and ate almost all of it.  Every dish was elegantly plated and masterfully created.

If you really want to experience fine dining in beautiful surroundings, I highly recommend a visit to Alex on your next trip to Vegas.

Alex, Wynn Resort, 702/517-5386, 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

Interview with Chef Alex Stratta, Alex, Wynn Las Vegas

Posted on Sep 30, 2009 under Archives, Chefs, Interviews | No Comment

Chef Alex Stratta graduated with honors from the Cailfornia Culinary Institute in San Francisco.  He studied pastry under Jim Dodge at San Francisco’s Stanford Court Hotel and during an internship at the Michelin three star Hotel du Paris in Monaco he was invited by Alaine Ducasse to join the cooking crew at Louis XV.  His relationship with Ducasse provided an opportunity to work with Daniel Boulud at Le Cirque in New York, where Stratta worked for two years.  In 1989, Stratta moved to Phoenix to become Executive Chef of Mary Elaine’s at the Phoenecian Resort, which shortly won a Mobil four star rating under his tenure.  While there, Stratta was featured in Food & Wine magazine as oneof “America’s Ten Best New Chefs.”   In 1998, after receiving the “Best Chef Southwest” James Beard Award, Steve Wynn recruited Stratta to be Executive Chef at Renoir at the Mirage.  Six months after opening, Renoir received Mobil Travel Guide’s highest rating of five stars.  In 2001, Stratta was chosen as Iron Chef Italian on Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” television show.   In 2005, Stratta opened his namesake restaurant Alex at the Wynn resort.  He also owns the more casual Stratta at Wynn.

Chef Stratta was nice enough to sit down with us during our huge tasting menu at Alex and share a glass of wine while I asked him about his career as a chef, opening up his restaurants in Las Vegas, working with mentors Ducasse and Boulud and his philosphy of cooking.  Here is our conversation:

 

Interview with Chef Michael Chiarello

Posted on Sep 14, 2009 under Archives, Chefs, Interviews | No Comment

I recently stopped by Bottega restaurant to interview owner/chef Michael Chiarello and sample the menu.  This was a big treat for me as I have watched him on tv and cooked his recipes for years.

After graduating from the CIA in New York, Michael Chiarello attended Florida International University School of Hospitality Management.   He worked in several restaurants in Florida and in 1985 was named Chef of the Year by Food and Wine magazine.   He returned to his home state of California to open Tra Vigne in Napa Valley.   In the late 90’s he expanded his horizons, releasing wines from the Chiarello Family Vineyards and hosting  television shows first on PBS and later on the Food Network.  His program Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello won three Emmy awards.   In 2000, he founded NapaStyle, a collection of home furnishings, cooking tools, food and wine.   In 2009, he was a finalist on Bravo’s Top Chef Masters and opened Bottega restaurant in Yountville.  We sat down at Bottega to chat about his career, new restaurant, Top Chef Masters and his thoughts about food and cooking.