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Restaurant rm
Location:
In Mandalay Place. 632-7777.
Hours:
6-10 daily.
Price:
Very expensive: entrées $34-$62.
Credit Cards:
All major.
Reservations:
Recommended. |
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Rick Moonen wants you to eat fish, but not ones caught in drift nets, or species endangered by overly zealous fishermen who thumb their collective noses at environmentalists. If he serves a farmed fish, it is raised according to strict organic specifications.
Like his peers—nationally acclaimed seafood specialists Eric Ripert of New York's Le Bernardin and Michael Cimarusti of L.A.'s Providence—Moonen is enormously creative. Ripert and Cimarusti may get more ink nationally, but in Las Vegas, Moonen is Neptune, Lord of the Sea.
Dishes at restaurant rm (the upstairs portion of his rm seafood at Mandalay Place), conceived by Moonen and cooked by his trusty right hand, Chef de Cuisine John Tesar, are spectacular, as is the interior. Architect Cass Calder Smith intended the stunningly designed restaurant to resemble a luxury yacht, and he succeeded. While dining, admire walls of Brazilian cherry wood so beautifully lacquered you can see your reflection in them, murals that are actually photographs of elongated seascapes and landscapes, and banquettes upholstered with soft beige leather.
Once you are seated, the servers bring out hot sourdough rolls and, instead of butter, a porcelain tureen of taramo, a rose-pink cod roe whipped with olive oil that is a staple of the Greek table.
Begin your experience with "Firsts," or starters, and hope Hawaiian opah, a delicate, pink-fleshed fish, will be available (the menu changes daily). Five perfect slabs come on a rectangular platter flanked by an island seaweed salad and wasabi-tinged tobiko (flying fish roe), with a sake shooter on the side.
The menu is chockablock with other stunning starters. Curry-marinated Maya prawns with lemon grass gnocchi and green curry and coconut soup, enveloped by orange carrot foam, is not to be missed. Wagyu Kobe beef tartar is wonderfully tempting, the soft, well-marbled beef minced with capers, cornichons, mustard, chile oil, pine nuts, aged Parmesan and golden raisins. Moonen's take on snails, if you take out the puff pastry and Roquefort cheese, is reasonably classic, the little creatures drenched in a wine sauce and plenty of garlic. And the ocean meets the earth in a rich toro tuna tartar, laced with black truffle, scallion and lemon zest. A light broth based on Japanese cucumber and verjus adds depth.
Entrées, called "Seconds" here, are just brilliant. You'd better love tarragon should you opt for black sea bass with littleneck clam and fine herb risotto. The herb is the dominant flavor in the rice, which plays beautifully off the crisp skin and rich, fine flavor of the fish.
Herb-crusted Dover sole, though, is not served with the skin on, but rather with a bread-crumb and herb coating, on a bed of addictively good Dungeness crab brandade (actually potatoes mashed with the flaky crabmeat). Turbot is one of the more original entrées, with fava beans, braised leeks, potato gnocchi and mustard-infused caviar offsetting the light flavor of the fish.
Two other fish not to miss are barramundi, an Australian import with a rich, oily texture, and Arctic char, which a server described as a cross between salmon and trout. Barramundi is hard to find in this country, though not on menus Down Under. Moonen pan roasts it and places it on top of an impossibly rich sweet potato and Hudson Valley foie gras hash, but you can also have it grilled with a little lemon butter. The char is served with a fennel puree, blood orange soy reduction, and a blood orange and Dungeness crab salad. For the ultimate indulgence, try Moonen's Ocean Rose Farms abalone, the very essence of the briny deep, enhanced by uni butter.
Man cannot live on fish alone, so for the carnivores in the crowd there are meat dishes such as hazelnut-crusted rack of lamb, an 18-ounce prime sirloin, pepper-crusted venison on creamy polenta, and short ribs with chanterelle mushrooms. The fish lovers will be pleased to know that there are terrific German, Austrian and Alsatian rieslings and other white varietals on a smart, fairly priced wine list.
Talented pastry chef Barbara Dellich's presence is felt even if dessert isn't ordered. After dinner, everyone gets a tray of amazing mignardises, tiny candies, pastries and fruit jellies. Just try to say no.
If you do choose to have dessert, it's hard to go wrong with passion fruit soufflé with tropical fruit salsa and passion fruit sorbet, or the Vietnamese coffee and mochachino ice cream sodas, served with a freshly baked mini cinnamon coffee cake and dulce de leche. Mandalay Place can already boast many jewels in its crown. With restaurant rm, it has another. |
