Eating in Sin City: Fleur

With our conference being in Mandalay Bay, we took the opportunity to try out the revamped (to small plates) Hubert Keller eatery, Fleur. I was hoping for great things - having only ever watched one season of Top Chef, it was the original Masters season and Hubert was a favorite to watch by far.

The location in nicely situated over by restaurant row between the casino and the convention center so lots of foot traffic walking by the "outdoor"  patio seating. The place was basically empty - possibly not a great sign.

We ordered appetizers to share and a round of entrees. The menu is organized by country which is a bit odd. Not the entire list of what we ordered but some call outs included the roasted bone marrow with grilled toast points; duck confit over whipped potatoes and the Fleur burger (quartered) with caramelized onions and fried potato.

There were also flatbreads with bbq pork belly and a few other dishes that sounded pretty great off the menu. The issue was that the taste just didn't live up to the description. There wasn't a standout course and a few, like the flatbreads were truly disappointing. We wonder why they chose to switch from a formal, traditional French restaurant into small plates in the first place considering Keller is a superstar French chef. This format and preparations didn't do anything to encourage us to seek out his other restaurants. There are far better meals to be had around the strip.

Jenn's Rating: 79
Zagat: 25-23-22

Eating in Sin City: Lotus of Siam

Our second dinner in Las Vegas this past April was a return to our favorite...Lotus of Siam. Argueably the best Thai restaurant in the US. We haven't been back since March of 2009 with Susan & Rich and were both excited and nervous to see if it still held that magic.

Calling for reservations three months in advance is the first hurdle...even with the new renovations and expanded space, this is a hard place to get into. They will only hold your spot for 5 minutes so don't be late!

We got there 15 minutes ahead of time and grabbed a drink at the bar while we waited. The bar is part of the renovations and definitely beats out having to wait outside in what's a sketchy strip mall at best that you're sure you've seen on either CSI or an episode of COPS.

We were seated at a little table for four right near the bar. The ambiance here isn't much to speak of - they make use of every available inch to get hungry diners tucked into boring wooden tables. But hey, who cares? It's all about the food! With a couple bottles of wine we dove right in and ordered for the table.

Appetizers:
Stuffed chicken wings (stuffed with ground pork, deep fried and served with sweet & sour dipping sauce). SO good!

Thai Salad (mixed vegetables, onions, boiled egg & peanut dressing). Boring? Yummy! 

Spicy Vegetable Soup (hotness level 5 - - and very funny to watch Mary try and eat this). I DARE you to try to soup with anything hotter than a four. Make sure you have someone video taping the experience - it's hysterical.

Nua Dad Deaw (Thai Style Beef Jerky) deep fried, marinated beef served with spicy dipping sauce. Really, really good ~ nice suggestion from our server.

Fried Chicken Dumplings. Classic.

For entrees we shared the Drunken Sea Bass; Pad Thai & Crispy Duck. These are some of the best dishes to be found in Vegas. Drunken anything at LoS is killer - try the bass, noodles or even soft shell crab.

The food was once again amazing - so full of flavor and so many different types of dishes to choose from. Service was fine - they offered suggestions for dishes to try that was appreciated and we didn't feel like we waited for anything.

This is a Must Go to place if you're in Vegas. Wear comfortable clothes ~ there's no scene to worry about. You don't need to be a fan of Thai food - it transcends any ethnic label and is just plain, awesome food.

Jenn's Rating: 94
Zagat: 28-15-23

Eating in Sin City: Blue Ribbon Sushi

Hey!! It's been a long time since I've posted - new job & nicer weather mean no free time. So I'm playing a little catch up here. In April we went to Las Vegas for a conference and piled on as many good meals as possible.

Our first night there after a hectic scramble to get from airport to hotel (and then to a second hotel) and back to Cosmopolitan for dinner at Blue Ribbon Sushi. This was our first time trying BRS though we'd been to the one in NYC with a large group and were a bit underwhelmed.

Starving and jet lagged, we ordered drinks and dinner. As a group we decided to go with the famous Fried Chicken "Blue Ribbon Style" with wasabi & honey and the Oxtail Fried Rice with daikon, shitake and bone marrow. We also ordered sushi to round out the meal.

The chicken arrived looking crispy and reddish - covered in spices. It was super moist in the middle and had quite a kick to it. The wasabi honey dipping sauce was a fantastic accompaniment. An excellent dish - one of the best takes on fried chicken we've ever had.

Served alongside the chicken was the rice in a giant bowl meant for sharing. This might be the single most incredible rice dish I've encountered. The oxtail & bone marrow give it such a heartiness and the rice still has that crisp, al dente style interior...what a keeper! I would go back to BRS for just these two dishes over and over again.

We ended with sushi as I mentioned before - the menu had a lot of unusual and interesting fishes we don't see here in NYC much. For instance, Japanese Red Snapper, Amberjack, Orange Clam, Fluke Fin and Jellyfish. The sushi was excellent - super fresh and with such diverse choices, got to try and great new things.

While we were all struggling to stay awake -the meal was super enjoyable; one of the best of the trip. Service was attentive and fun and the ambiance was jumping, a touch loud, but very energetic with good people watching. Highly recommend!

Jenn's Rating: 91

Zagat: 24-23-22

Rob's Cafe, Madison NJ

A group of us were looking for a BYO in NJ to go to earlier this month. Rich suggested Rob's Cafe in Madison - a little traditional French bistro. We started with appetizers and then onto entrees. To start off...French Onion Soup, escargot, roasted bone marrow were some of the dishes the six of us ordered..

The main courses included mussels (moules mariniere) with pomme frites, steak & frites, duck-duck-foie,  duck breast and bacon wrapped pork.

And to finish off we did cheese and desserts including tangerine semifreddo, chocolate mousse and baked brie.

Overall it was a casual BYO with pretty good food. Some dishes - like the duck-duck-foie (duck breast, duck leg confit and foie gras) were outstanding. The steak and frites also quite good. Some dishes were a bit off the mark - the onion soup was lacking taste. But a very reasonable check, and comfortable enough ambiance and a nice menu made the evening a lot of fun.

Jenn's Rating: 80
Zagat: not rated

Bar at the Modern, NYC

Patty, Alan and I met up after work for drinks and lite dinner at the bar at The Modern in mid-town. We've eaten there once before and remembered it fondly so going back was something to look forward to. We got seats at the bar and ordered a few different plates to share including slow poached farm egg "in a jar" with Maine lobster, mushrooms and sea urchin foam; foie gras terrine with muscat gelee and toasted brioche; spicy steak tartar with quail egg and beer braised pork belly.

I don't have pictures for this one but the food was again quite nice. The spicy tartar had a nice kick to it without being too much to handle. The farm poached egg was more soupy than I expected it to be but the flavor was nice. The winner that evening was the pork belly. You really can't go wrong with pork belly.

The bar at the Modern is a fun place - lots of people watching - big comfortable bar stools so you can settle in for a few drinks while you sample the menu. Recommend it to anyone looking for an upscale bar scene in midtown.

Jenn's Rating: 86
Zagat: 26-26-25

Marea, NYC

Patty and I were wanting to go back to Marea once one of their pasta dishes showed up on a NYC list as best pasta dishes in the country. It doesn't take much to get us to want to go back so in mid-January we met at the bar early for good seats and good food.

We started off with a bottle of champagne (Brut Blanc de Blancs, La Caravelle) and a platter of crudos including Ono (seared wild pacific wahoo), Tonno (bigeye tuna), mackerel and langoustine. If you haven't been to Marea I so wish you would ~ truly amazing! Their ability to pair these bites of fish with perfect accompanyments to bring out the natural differences in each one. So incredible!

And for our entree - pasta!
We got the BEST PASTA DISH anywhere...the fusilli with red wine braised octopus and bone marrow. And the new dish, spaghetti with crab, santa barbara sea urchin and basil.

Always faced with the hope that memory and hype will be lived up to when that fusilli is put down in front of you - it only takes one bite to know that yes, this is an exceptional, perfect, incredible dish.

The crab dish was also really, really good. Lighter and a touch sweeter, this one speaks to freshness and the wonderful combination of tomato to basil. The sea urchin and crab not getting lost and adding a lovely texture.

There really just isn't a better place to have pasta in NYC. Eating at the bar is fun and comfortable if you don't want the formality of the main dining - just get there early!!

Jenn's Rating: 95
Zagat: 26-26-25
Michelin: Two stars

Sansu Japanese Steakhouse, Fair Haven NJ

First - seriously apologize for taking more than a month since the last post. I started a new job and have been crazy busy. But now is the time to get back on track!

In early January we met up with friends at a sushi steakhouse in Fair Lawn NJ. We started off with shared appetizers including this octopus dish. I thought this was the best dish of the evening - octopus was tender yet kept it's texture and sauce was thick without being too sweet.

Other appetizers were spring rolls, sashimi platter. The spring rolls were nice enough - crispy and warm with a nice duck dipping sauce. Most disappointing of all was the sushi and the rolls. Interesting names and descriptions on the menu just didn't translate to the plate. The platters were beautifully presented and yet the fish had a tougher consistency than one would want or like indicating that perhaps not as fresh as possible. Overall, not a sushi place that we would want to go back to or recommend when there are others nearby that get it right time and time again.

On a brighter note - one of our party is not a raw fish eater at all and got a hibachi with fried rice, proteins and vegetables and side dish of noodles. He liked it a lot and the noodles, which I tried were yummy. So if you're looking for hibachi - give it a go. If you're a die-hard sushi lover, maybe skip this one.