Tasting Menu at Alex Restaurant, Wynn Las Vegas
Posted on Sep 30, 2009 under Archives | 1 CommentWhile 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.
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:27 am
I come from france and love cassoulet like many people around the world (you can visit my blog speaking about cassoulet history and recipes 🙂 ). I discover that french food is not only famous in france. Happy to see that many peopple enjoy eating like us, Thanks