Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, NYC

For our anniversary we met up at the newly opened Aldo Sohm Wine Bar (www.aldosohmwinebar.com) across the courtyard from Le Bernardin where Aldo is also still the sommelier. This is a nice space with bar, sofas and high top tables. Small plates menu accompanies the wine selections. We started with a bottle of champagne and ordered the four cheese sample from Murray's Cheese as well as fennel salami and truffle mousse pate. We added to that the much raved about foie gras lollipops and the truffle pasta with grated yak cheese. Finished off the experience with a half bottle of red wine.

Overall a really nice addition to midtown - a sophisticated happy hour with lots of men in suits unwinding with bottles from the well balanced list. But you have to get there early - by 6 PM all the seats are taken and it's standing room only with little space left over to navigate around patrons all waiting like vultures for a table to open up.

Word of adivce - if you do get there late, immediately see the hostess if you can find her and get your name on the list for a table. It is not first come, first served.

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