Month: May 2005

All the very best restaurants are in Las Vegas. All the chefs you see on TV. And many more you don’t. Las Vegas has become a culinary mecca. On Monday night, we ate at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill. To be honest, I’ve never liked him as a TV chef. He always has seemed to be a little too much of a know-it-all. But after eating at Mesa Grill, I think he knows a lot.

First of all, there is a fine wine list. We had separate glasses since everyone was eating something different. The Talbot chardonnay was especially good. There’s also a long list of margaritas. One was much like the wondrous Earl Gilmore Memorial Margarita that I’ve mentioned in the past except with Cointreau instead of Triple Sec. The four of us ordered a combination of appetizers, sides and main courses. Here’s what we had.

Romaine salad – excellent, a background spicy taste with anchovy overtones and a frico.
Sophie’s chopped salad – good, although something you could make at home.
Tiger shrimp and roasted garlic corn tamale – good, although the shrimp and the tamale seemed like separate units.
Blue Corn Pancake with barbecued duck and habanero chile sauce – exceptional, sweet and pungent.
Smoked chicken and black bean quesadilla with avocado and toasted garlic crème fraiche – very good.
Sweet potato gratin and smoked chiles – Cosmic!
Brussel sprouts – I know you can’t believe it but it’s a toss up between this and the sweet potato gratin for highest honors in my book. Simply prepared, butter and spices and unbelievably good.
Grilled venison chops with crushed blackberry/red wine vinegar sauce and sweet potato gratin. Really good with the sweet potato gratin stealing the show again.

Table consensus for Mesa Grill – A

This isn’t really a restuarant review because everyone know what Chili’s is like. It’s more like reporting on a comedy of errors. I guess what it really boils down to is that Chili’s needs to train its staff before letting them wait on you kamikaze style. John and I planned to have lunch at the airport because we know what the snacks are like on Southwest and we would be flying and changing planes for the next 7 hours. So we ate at the Chili’s in Tampa airport. John ordered a Caribbean chicken salad and I ordered the soup and salad combination. Easy enough, wouldn’t you think? But no. And it was the soup and salad combo that was the problem. It’s listed on the menu as Soup and Salad, a bowl of one of their soups and a choice between a small dinner salad or a caesar salad for $5.99. I ordered vegetable soup and a dinner salad with blue cheese dressing. Problem number 1, waitress does not know how to use the computer entering system. Number 2, she does not know if it is a cup or bowl, so we helpfully give her the menu so she can read the portion sizes. Number 3, John’s salad comes and my soup comes out, but no salad. We ask about the salad. She will check. Number 4, manager comes over to find out if everything is okay. We say, no salad. Number 5, waitress brings small caesar salad instead of dinner salad. We say nothing. I decide just to eat the caesar. Number 6, manager brings large chicken caesar salad. Number 7, someone else brings small caesar salad. Number 8, the first bill is wrong. Number 9, the second bill is wrong. Number 10, we are comped for our lunch. Number 10 was the only non-problem. Do I walk under a restaurant black cloud?

Bayview Restaurant has a lovely setting. It is on the water in the new Esplanade which contains condos, shops, a marina and restaurants. There’s a tiki bar and outdoor as well as indoor dining. We went there for a Mother’s Day dinner. Our reservations were for 7 PM. We were seated at a table next to the window and heard about the specials. We ordered a lovely bottle of 2003 Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay. We also started by sharing an order of fried calamari. We have a quest going on with fried calamari to find a restaurant that prepares it as well as Starz in Oakville, CA did before it went out of business. I have to say that this calamari was almost it! It was perfectly cooked and served with a mango chutney and a chipotle aioli. It was just a tiny bit more breaded than perfect but, oh yes, I would definitely order it again. Definitely an “A” for calamari.

As has happened in the past when you eat in Marco, the special I ordered which was dry-pack day boat scallops with a vanilla sauce and plantains had run out. ( see Kretch’s) So I changed my order to seafood cakes which came with plantains and mixed vegetables and a mango sauce. They were very good. Lots of seafood and crispy on the outside while soft inside. John ordered ahi tuna which he asked for just seared and basically raw inside. Although his tuna was very good, it was a thinish piece, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and was pink in the middle rather than purple. Perhaps east coast ahi tuna is different from west coast? He had rice and veggies with it.

Overall I good restaurant. Big plusses for the setting and the calamari. A very nice touch by giving moms a rose at the end of dinner. Small minuses for not having the special, rolls that were a little stale and overcooking the tuna a bit.

John’s grade – B+
Mary’s grade – B+