Pat and I went out to celebrate the end of the semester, a raise I got in April, and the end of a bunch of dental work I had to have done with a dinner at Aureole. It's a restaurant owned by Charlie Palmer in Mandalay Bay.
The decor of the place is impressive. You start by checking in with the hostess and proceed to descend a squarish spiral staircase. Inside the center of the staircase is an impressive wine cellar with wine angels. They are people rigged on a fly system that "fly" to pick up the bottle of wine. It was definitely interesting to watch. They also have a pond with swans outside the restaurant which also provided a nice view.
Pat and I decided to do the tasting menu. This tasting menu had it's own twist. It was a Parallel tasting menu. So every course was a duo. We were wondering if any of the courses would befall the pitfall of one preparation was just hands down so much better but that didn't really happen.
The first course was a duo of Salmon. On one side was a salmon gravlax(a Nordic cured salmon) with blood orange on top of a bed of lentils with a pomegranate vinaigrette. It was good. The lentils were still a tad crunchy but it didn't really bother me so maybe that was intentional. On the other side was a lightly smoked salmon on top of chickpea "fries". Now they weren't really fries but more like a chickpea rectangular log with a texture similar to polenta. I thought it was delicious and really liked that side better. Pat thought the chickpea fries could have been crispier on the outside.
The second course was a duo of corn/fish. On one side we had a corn soup topped with a crab salad. It was so good. The soup was phenomenal. It was smooth and like eating pure corn essence. I could have had a whole bowl of that soup and been very happy. The other side was a snapper on top of a corn succotash. It too was good but the soup was just so much better.
The third course was a duo of lobster. On one side was a lobster ravioli. It was delicious and really brought the taste of the lobster out and highlighted it unlike the other dish in this course. It was a butter poached lobster with a wagu beef strip and a potato gratin. The beef, while truly delicious, just overpowered the lobster. The potato gratin though took a very close second to the corn soup base for the best component of the meal. The menu said it was a truffle potato gratin. I don't know that I tasted or saw the truffle part but it was delicious none-the-less.
The fourth and final course was dessert and it was a duo of grapes. On one side was a roasted grape and goat cheese tart. It had roasted grapes scattered around it along with a pinenut shortbread. It was so good. The other side was a concord grape sorbet. It had that same concord refreshing and sweet and tart flavor that I enjoy from a great grape pie. Separating the two sides of the plate was a thick log of soft caramel, which was the perfect pair to the tartness of the grapes.
Overall our dinner at Aureole was very good. BUT I probably won't ever go back and it wasn't because of the food. There was two people in Vegas for business sitting at the table next to us(the tables are a little close so I overheard them tell the waiter). These two people were seated before we had gotten to the restaurant. And they ordered the same tasting menu we did. As a matter of fact their first course came out as we were placing our order. But then we got every single one of our remaining courses before them. We had the same waiter, who chatted with them and I even overheard him say how he would make sure dinner was a nice paced relaxing meal. But the waiter barely talked to us. And unlike other tasting menus we have done where they leave the menu so you know what each course is they took the menu but then didn't explain the dishes. We obviously paid the same for our meal as they did for those(granted they bought a bottle of wine and we only had cocktails...but still). The other tasting menus Pat and I have done have always left us feeling like we were special. This one did not. There wasn't anything really wrong with the service but to see the contrast between how our two different tables were treated really annoyed me some. So sorry Aureole but your waiter who has been doing this for 17+ years pretty much sealed the deal that I won't go back again.
Interesting contrast in waiting!
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