If you have ever been to Las Vegas, or are even thinking about going there, you know that there are a million places to eat. Pretty much everything you could think of under the sun to eat can be found somewhere on the Vegas Strip. As a veteran of Las Vegas and a self-admitted 'foodie' I have eaten at many places in Las Vegas and could give a run down of dozens of excellent places to eat. However, one restaurant stands out as The best place for fine dining in Las Vegas in pretty much every aspect you could think of.
The name of the place is Le Cirque and it resides in the Bellagio hotel and casino. It is one of only a couple lakeside restaurants and that is just one aspect that adds to the climate of this anticipated place. Make no mistake, this is fine dining. You will not find chicken strips on the menu, so if you are looking to save a buck, this is not the place for you. However, if you appreciate a unique dining experience, Le Cirque is second to none.
It is a fairly, small, intimate restaurant with an elegant air to it and a classy area with a very small bar where you can wait for your table or even enjoy an after supper drink. The eating area is exquisite, but fun with a circus like setting that you have to see to appreciate. It is very colorful and tasteful, yet it reminds you to enjoy yourself.
The staff is top notch from top to bottom. From the chef to the sommelier to the waiters and busboys, everybody here does there job perfectly, as you would expect, but they also exhibit a sense of humor and they do not take themselves too seriously. This is possibly the most charming aspect of Le Cirque, even more so than the food. The staff is the most attentive one that you will ever have wait on you, but they are not pretentious and stuffy like you will find at most lavish restaurants. They make the whole dining caress fun and enjoyable rather than manufacture you feel like you are in over your head and have to place your order in French or something!
The sommelier has forgotten more about wine than I could ever learn in a lifetime, yet he never makes you feel as if you don't know what you are doing and he is always able to perfectly quote any wine and help you to make the excellent choice. The waiters will remember your name from previous visits and are able to advise whatever that you quote to them and make you feel good about it. I cannot say sufficient about the staff at Le Cirque, most of whom have been there for many years. There is not much turn over in employees at this place, a sure sign of a good restaurant!
Now to the food. The food is incredible. It is French cuisine and rather than try to quote each dish, I will just say that everything is immaculately ready and is the best that you will ever eat. Either you try the duck, rabbit, lobster, foie gras, or some aggregate of them all, you will find the flavors to be more complicated than whatever you have ever tasted. Most of it is rich, as French cooking tends to be, but no matter what your tastes are you will not find that dish ready best everywhere else.
The presentation is also remarkable, these are some of the prettiest dishes you have ever seen and each and every dish is ready in a way that you have not seen before. Not important? You may think that until you dine there, but remember, a place like this is not naturally a place to eat, but an experience, and all these puny things add up to make it more enjoyable.
I regularly indulge in the tasting menu which consists of colse to 5 courses that you can also pair with wine selections, which I cannot advise enough. Each dish is accompanied by a wine that is paired perfectly with the food. I love wine, but I have never eaten food with wine that is so well matched to the food as I have at Le Cirque. This is one of the hi-lights of dining here. If you like wine and you like food, pay the extra money for the tasting menu with the wine pairing. I promise you will not regret it.
Speaking of the tasting menu, the portions are excellent as well. I love to eat, but I cannot eat a lot at one time. It is not a question at Le Cirque. I do walk out full and satisfied, but the portions are so well done and the dishes are spaced out time-wise in the way they are brought out that it never seems like you have too much to eat.
Whether or not you have the tasting menu, there are a few favorites that you should know about:
1. Lobster salad. It may not sound like much, but it is one of my favorite dishes in the world
2. Foie Gras. Rich and naturally incredible
3. Risotto. regularly ready with a truffle, preferably black, this is the finest risotto I have ever had and the proper by which all other risottos should be measured. Worth the price of admission by itself!
4. Duck. The chefs tend to vary the way the duck is prepared, but it is anticipated no matter what.
5. Rabbit. I have never been too thrilled about rabbit. This is a specialty at Le Cirque. Also ready in a myriad of dissimilar ways.
One of the things I have not yet mentioned are the desserts. All of them are unbelievable. The souffles want a puny more time but the chocolate and Grand Marnier are incredible. There is a raspberry 'milkshake' that is one of the best items I have ever eaten, and of course, the creme brulee is excellent as well.
Really, reviewing the food is of puny use, because each and every item on the menu is impeccable and perfect. The wine option is astronomical and the ports and after supper drinks are in abundance as well. Of course, you can order any beer or mixed drink as well.
What about the prices? Well, if you worry about the price after reading this article, you probably want to stick with the buffets, but suffice to say, plan to spend some money, it is not cheap. If you order the tasting menu with wine pairing it will run you just under 0. Seem like a lot? It is the best money I have ever spent on food and I have eaten here dozens of times over the years. There are cheaper ways to do it, naturally ordering off the menu and getting an appetizer, entree, and sweetmeat will save you some money, but Either way it is not going to be a small tab.
Also be ready to spend some time here. This is not a place you eat at in 45 minutes as you race to see a show. These dishes take time to get ready and you should enjoy the caress rather than being in a hurry. Plan to spend an hour and a half to several hours depending on what you order.
Overall, in a town of fine restaurants, Le Cirque stands out head and shoulders above for all the aforementioned reasons. Keep in mind, I have eaten at Picasso in the Bellagio which is highly high end and good food. They de facto have real Picasso's hanging on the walls! I have eaten there once. Once. I have eaten at the Bellagio many times, for many years, took my wife there the night we got married, and every year for our anniversary. That de facto says all there is to say.
The Best bistro in Las Vegas By Far!The Grand Cafe, Morristown, New Jersey(Zagat Ratings-Food-Decor-Service-Cost) # 4 Tube. Duration : 9.90 Mins.
Since Heston Blumenthal burst onto our screens in the early 2000's we've been scrutinize to a whole manner of tricks and experiments that we never notion potential with our food. He has been branded a 'molecular gastronomist', a term he hates, believing it makes his work sound "complicated" and "elitist". Blumenthal is in fact a self-taught chef who loves food and is as hungry to learn about it and experiment with it, as he is to eat it.
His entry into the communal eye came accompanied with one of his signature dishes snail porridge and parsnip cereal, sounds revolting, but apparently it's a taste experience.
Another of his signatures, this time a technique, is the use of a vacuum jar to growth expansion of bubbles while food preparation. This is used in such dishes as an aerated chocolate soufflé, which, unlike the snail porridge, looks and sounds divine. The discount in air pressure inside the jar causes bubbles to grow to a larger size. Some other techniques he uses comprise an intricate type of slow cooking to retain flavour and cooking in vacuum bags for much the same reason.
But, he doesn't just sense with the taste of food, he also experiments with texture and sound, to improve sounds, such as the crunch that is created while eating sure foods.
Blumenthal and his Fat Duck restaurant are credited as the inventors of the bacon dessert craze. He was establishment sweet and savoury bacon-and-egg ice cream as early as 2004, and news about the intriguingly odd confection speedily spread through the food world, and started his rise to fame. A tasting menu at the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire is £160 and consists of the following:
• Lime Grove which is a Nitro Poached Green Tea and Lime Mousse
• Red Cabbage Gazpacho with Pommery Grain Mustard Ice Cream
• Jelly Of Quail, Crayfish Cream with Chicken Liver Parfait, Oak Moss and Truffle Toast
• Snail Porridge served Jabugo Ham, Shaved Fennel
• Roast Foie Gras with Rhubarb, Braised Konbu and Crab Biscuit
• Mock Turtle Soup (c.1850) apparently from the Mad Hatter Tea Party in Alice and Wonderland
• "Sound Of The Sea" (as an interim one would assume)
• Salmon Poached In A Liquorice Gel served with Artichoke, Vanilla Mayonnaise and Golden Trout Roe
• Saddle Of Venison and Beetroot Soubise, Risotto of Spelt and Umbles, Black Truffle
• Hot And Iced Tea
• Taffety Tart (c.1660) which consists of Caramelized Apple, Fennel, Rose and Candied Lemon
• The "Bfg" A Big Friend Gateau that comes with Kirsch Ice Cream and the smell of the Black Forest
• Whisk(E)Y Wine Gums
• "Like A Kid In A Sweet Shop" - I've no idea what this is but it's clearly like Heston in his kitchen
Heston's food sounds tasty and would sure to be a once in a lifetime taste experience. But, despite all his experiments and efforts the man himself has recently announced what it is that he craves: "a dirty kebab", a 70's prawn cocktail ("not crayfish") faultless with iceberg lettuce and a packet of Scampi Fries. tasty Heston!
Cooking - A Scientific ExperimentChef's Feet | Cooking With Truffles Video Clips. Duration : 13.05 Mins.Cleaning The Black Truffle
When you have fresh black winter truffles, do not clean them until your are ready to eat them. Other wise they will spoil quicker. Take off any soil from the black truffles just before using them in any recipe. They must be washed with water and a nail brush under running water. The truffle must be fully clean since they will be used unpeeled. Dry well with a paper towel.
The black truffle (Tuber Melanosporum) must all the time be used as a condiment, not as a food. Use only fresh truffles, if possible. To enjoy and appreciate the black truffles, 100 g is enough. With this amount we can make any recipes.
How to use black truffles to flavor food.
Use an airtight holder and put together the food you want to flavor with the black truffle. Close the holder and leave it in the fridge for at least 24 hours. The aroma of the black truffle will jab the food in the sealed container. The black truffle aroma adheres to fatty foods best.
Truffled eggs
Take half a dozen eggs and place them in an airtight holder with a fresh black winter truffle, washed and wrapped in paper towel, but not fully wrap the truffle. Close the holder and put in the fridge for two days. The high porosity of the eggshell will allow the aroma of the truffle to jab the eggs. Then you can use these eggs to make truffled flan, use in stuffing or just eat them fried. You can add a minute sliced garlic to the hot olive oil before frying the eggs. Fry the eggs when the garlic is slightly brown. These truffled eggs will pleasure your palate.
Risotto Parmesan with Black Truffles
Can be severed as a starter or a main course
Serves 2 - 4 people.
Ingredients:
150g black truffles
320g rice
120g grated Parmesan cheese
50g butter
Half a tablespoon heavy cream
Instructions:
Boil the rice until it is al dente and drain well. Add the butter, cream, Parmesan and about half of the grated black winter truffles. Stir until it is well mixed and serve hot, decoration each plate with a kind amount of the remaining winter truffle shavings.
Salad with Black Truffle
Ingredients:
3 Hard Boiled Eggs
2 large handfuls of green beans
1 medium sized lettuce
1 large handful of Rucola
1 Bunch of dill
70g black winter truffle
Creamy Dressing
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons creme fraiche
3 tablespoons duplicate cream
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Instructions:
Wash the lettuce & rucola and shake off the passage water. Let drain in a collander while making ready the dressing. Top and tail the green beans, then boil them in salted water until tender. Take off and wash in cold water, then mix in with the lettuce and rucola.
The dressing is ready by mixing all the above ingredients together in no singular order. Note - The cayenne pepper is added at the end.
Place the mixed rucola, lettuce and green beans on a plate. Slice the boiled eggs and truffles over the bed of lettuce, adding the dill.
Finally, add the creamy dressing over the salad.
Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Black Winter Truffles
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
80g Fontina cheese
80g prosciutto ham (Parma-type)
30g butter
1 small onion
1 glass dry sherry
1 medium sized black winter truffle
Stock
Extra virgin olive oil
Flour
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
Slice the chicken breast lengthways without fully separating. Flatten with a meat mallet and lightly salt, pepper and flour. Place two slices of ham, a slice of Fontina cheese and a thin layer of black winter truffle inside each wallet or chicken breast. Close and sew up with kitchen twine or using wooden toothpicks. Brown the chopped onions in the oil and butter in a large pan. When they start to soften, add the chicken breasts and brown on both sides, wet with the sherry and cook, adding a small amount of broth if necessary. Serve very hot. Accompany with wild rice or boiled potatoes.
Black Truffle Cleaning and RecipesWild Mushroom Risotto Recipe Tube. Duration : 1.28 Mins.
