Le Cirque

I am happy to tell you all about Le Cirque, the unique, French-circus-themed restaurant in the Bellagio. This was by far the most relaxing and wonderful restaurant experience I have ever had. Parking was not stressful. There were tons of spots on a Saturday night, which is usually a nightmare! The other thing I really liked from the beginning was that there were actually signs leading us to the restaurant. Most of you who have been to big casinos know it’s impossible to find things when you first walk in the door. Wandering around, looking for some kind of direction, you eventually have to ask someone to show you the way. We found our own way within two minutes and it was a nice stroll through the beautifully decorated Bellagio.

A huge Chihuly glass sculpture lines the entire ceiling in the lobby and there are marble floors throughout. To the side of the lobby is a section decorated with huge flowers, giant ladybugs, butterflies, and a huge watering can. I felt as if I’d been magically transformed into miniature and was walking through a summer garden. It was very charming and the air was surprisingly fresh. Most of the time, the cigarette smoke is overwhelming when you walk into the casino section.

We found the restaurant easily and walked into the waiting area. We were greeted immediately and led through a small walkway to our table. The most surprising thing about Le Cirque is it’s size. It is only about 1400 square feet, with seventeen or so small tables. “Is this it?”, I asked the waiter as he seated us. I’m used to vast Vegas restaurants with enough tables and chairs to fit a small village. The coziness of this eatery didn’t quite conform to my preconceptions.

Here’s a little background on Le Cirque. It originally opened in 1974 at Manhattan’s Mayfair Hotel. It’s founder, Sirio Maccioni, is part of a famous restaurant family. He has published several cookbooks and has also appeared on Top Chef. The restaurant reopened as Le Cirque 2000 at the Palace Hotel in 1997. The latest New York installation of Le Cirque opened in 2006 in the Bloomberg Tower at One Beacon Court. This current flagship location is 16,000 square feet, much larger than the Bellagio version. There is a DVD available for purchase which documents the Maccioni family’s efforts to transition the restaurant to its current location. The film is called Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven. From 1986 to 1992, Daniel Boulud was executive chef. He was succeeded by Pierre Schaedelin, Christophe Bellanca, and Craig Hopson.

The Las Vegas vision of Le Cirque lives up to its name. Colorful silk drapery lines the entire ceiling, creating the illusion of a circus top. The walls are hand-painted with different scenes from the French circus. The china on the table was decorated with charming monkeys.

There is even a great view of the Bellagio fountains, which went off seven or eight times while we were dining. We were promptly welcomed by our waiter. He offered me their signature cocktail for the night--champagne with raspberry puree, garnished with fresh berry and mint. How could I pass that up? My guest ordered a more “manly” cocktail, which he said was good and strong. There was a chef’s tasting menu consisting of five courses, including dessert. There was also a separate wine pairing for each course (for an extra fee). Five courses seemed a bit much for our appetites, so we chose to order off of the regular menu.

We started our meal with a choice of bread. They had the same wonderful pretzel bread we had at Aureole, but I opted for an onion and bacon roll. It was crisp on the outside with a chewy center. Also served was an amuse-bouche of corn chowder with bacon and shallots, and what I can only describe as a little “puff” on the side. It was light and, when bitten into, hollow in the center. Both were a great indication of what was to come with our main course.

For the appetizer, we both chose the Salade de Homard, their signature lobster salad. Every review I read of Le Cirque suggested ordering this salad. It consisted of greens, cucumber-wrapped lobster meat, a wonderful black truffle oil dressing, and a shaving of black truffle on the top. If you have the fantasy of bathing in truffle oil like I do, this salad will not disappoint! It was brilliantly presented on whimsical circus plates, garnished with a lobster claw. My guest and I both enjoyed the salad immensely.

For the main course, my guest ordered Homard Retour d’Asie, a butter-poached Maine lobster and king crab ravioli with asparagus mousseline and a Thai curry sauce. Not being a big fan of asparagus, I didn’t like the mousseline, but the ravioli were al dente and the filling was tasty. I expected a bigger punch of spice from the Thai curry, but my guest said everything was delicious.

Being a huge foie gras fan (as you know), I could not pass up the temptation of macaroni au foie gras. In doing so, however, I broke one of my food commandments--I ordered the chicken. But the Poulet Roti Contiser ala Truffle Noire is organic roasted chicken with black truffles and foie gras maraconi! Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? The reality was less than the fantasy, as is often the case in life. The chicken, while moist and perfectly cooked, was just roasted chicken. There were little specks of black truffle, but not enough to give it an overall truffle taste. The macaroni was kind of oily, and I couldn’t taste the foie gras at all. It wasn’t bad by any means, just not what I expected. The one good thing about it was the portions. Le Cirque gives you a lot of food for your money, so much that I didn’t finish the main course. I learned my lesson, fair reader, and promise to never order the chicken again--even when tempted with truffles and foie gras.

On to what you really want to hear about: dessert! We started with two very strong, but tasty cappuccinos. This was by far the best course for me because I ordered the chocolate souffle. This souffle far exceeded any I have ever had before! It was light, fluffy, creamy, and very chocolaty. The waiter poured a crème anglais into the center and it was heavenly. Huge as well. I’m very glad we didn’t get the five course dinner--we never would have made it. I’m ashamed to say I couldn’t finish this astonishing dessert, leaving half of it on the plate to dream of later. 

My guest’s dessert was a feast for the eyes. He ordered the Petite Boule de Chocolate, a chocolate sphere with praline mousse, white chocolate ice cream, and warm chocolate sauce. The dish came out as a perfectly round chocolate sphere in the middle of the plate. Before I could even get the camera out, the waiter poured the warm chocolate sauce over the sphere, melting away the shell to reveal the ice cream and mousse inside. The picture is of the after effects, but you get the point. My guest managed to finish, but we were both very full.

After dinner, we decided to take the tram from the Bellagio to the new City Center Resort’s Crystal Mall. It was a nice walk that helped us digest our meal. Though the mall is not yet finished, the high-end stores which have opened so far obviously cater to the very rich or tourists looking to spend $4,000 on a purse. I had a good time browsing through Tiffany, wishing I could somehow win the lottery.

Overall, the best thing about my evening at Le Cirque was the service. The waiters were very prompt and our water glasses were never empty. Our main waiter was extremely friendly. He answered all of my questions without the air of contempt and snobbery I felt at previous restaurants. In this intimate and cozy environment, I was relaxed and well-provided for. I never felt like just another diner among many. At the end of the night, I was given a little jewelry box with two chocolates in it as a parting gift. I thought that was a very nice touch. Now I have a keepsake of my visit. A few days later, when I checked my e-mail, there was a note from the restaurant’s manager. He thanked us for dining with them and hoped we will come back someday. With Le Cirque’s attention to detail and many ways to make you feel at home, I think we definitely will!

Aureole Las Vegas

I know it’s been longer than a month, but it’s been a hectic month. I could give you the laundry list of excuses, work, baby, etc., but I will just say this… I am not perfect, but I will try to do better. I know what you are thinking, "Wow, it must be really hard to go to a fancy dinner once a month,” but surprisingly, when life happens, it is hard to find time to go. Not that that has discouraged me, I am back and ready to give you the scoop on Charlie Palmer’s second go round of Aureole in Las Vegas.


First, I will give you a little background on Charlie Palmer. Mr. Palmer was one of my favorite judges on Top Chef Las Vegas (season 6) because when he came on, it was the first time I ever saw a judge really put contestants in their place. Michael, who was so cocky last season, (for good reason, he won) was totally silenced and moody when Charlie Palmer showed up as a judge. I don’t know if it was because he was intimidated from the supposed favoritism showed to his brother, but I have never seen such arrogant people immediately silenced by intimidation. This was what first made me want to learn more about this man. I remember Googling him the night I watched the episode.

Charlie Palmer’s style is called “progressive American” which he describes as a combination of “rambunctious flavors and unexpected combinations with a deep and lasting infusion of classical French cuisine.” Palmer was influenced by his childhood experiences working in his family's vegetable garden, and since then has been an advocate of farm over factory food. In 1988, he made a landmark commitment to creating dishes featuring regional American ingredients at his restaurant Aureole open in Manhattan, New York.

Over the years, Palmer has opened thirteen restaurants across the country. He has also started opening wine shops and boutique hotels. Just from experiencing his restaurant, you can tell, Charlie Palmer is very into wine. He also hosts a charity event every year called "Pigs and Pinot," where chefs pair the two ingredients in diffrent ways.  Other accolades include: two James Beard Awards, and one Michelin Star awarded for both of his Aureole locations in New York and Las Vegas for 2007-2010.

I started out the night in a bad mood. Parking was awful. It took us twenty minutes to get from the entrance of the hotel to the parking garage. I guess they had a lot of events going on at Mandaly Bay. We ended up giving up, and parking across the way at the Luxor Hotel instead. It’s not a bad idea if you have an event to go to at Mandalay Bay. It was a short jaunt over to Mandalay, and saved us the time of searching for a spot for twenty more minutes in their enormous parking garage. Once we were inside, my mood improved slightly, except for having to dodge tourists, theatre goers, and wedding parties, to get to the entrance of the restaurant. You can see from the picture just how busy it was in front of the restaurant. The entrance of the restaurant was instantly calming. There is a hostess at the opening who directs you either to an elevator or to a set of stairs in which you descend down into the belly of the restaurant. The stair option, which we opted for, takes you on a journey around a giant glass tower filled with wine. You wind down the giant wine tower in which women dressed in black spandex outfits, (think Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible except with more cleavage) are hooked to wires and ascend and descend the tower getting various bottles of wine. The staircase wraps around the tower about three times, so you get to inspect the enormous wine collection from every angle, and the wine angels as well (wink wink).

The hosts greeted us immediately upon descending, and we had only a short wait before they lead us to our table. We were seated in the middle of a bench style seating arrangement. There were couples on either side of us. I was a little disappointed in not having a view of the wine tower,( I was on the bench facing away from the tower), but the ambiance was relaxing with light wood and opaque glass everywhere. We were greeted by our waiter and given our choice of water. We opted for Lake Mead’s finest, as we were more concerned with the wine. This is where you can tell,( if the giant wine tower didn’t tip you off before), that Charlie Palmer is really into wine. The waiter brings out an electronic tablet, and launches into a ten minute speech about how to use the thing to find the wine you want. You can search by region, type, price, bottle, glass, foot size of the women who stomped the grapes, etc. We spent the first twenty minutes just playing with the thing. The bottles ranged from $35 to $6,000, which was the most expensive one we could find, but I am sure that we missed some categories. This tablet was like the wine connoisseur’s Xbox 360.

We opted for a 1997 Wittmann Westhofner Steingrube Riesling Trocken, from Germany. It was a dry Riesling and went very well with our tasting menu. I have to admit, that the best part was picking it out. We had fun just playing with the tablet, putting several thousand dollar bottles on the list then taking them off again. Once we finally ordered our bottle, the waitress came around with several different bread rolls. I opted for the soft pretzel roll with kosher salt, and my guest picked the wheat baguette. The pretzel roll was the favorite, and he asked the waitress when she came around again for a pretzel roll as well. They were soft, salty, and crunchy at the same time, it was and very good.

For dinner, we decided to go with Charlie Palmer’s signature parallel tasting menu. This is where the chef takes an ingredient and prepares them two ways and serves them side by side. The benefit to this option is you get to try more things than you would just ordering off the regular menu. The downside is if you choose this option, everyone at your table must do it as well. Not a great selection for a large group as it is $85 per person, but for just two it was perfect. There is also a wine pairing you can choose which adds $55 more per person, and they give you a different wine with each of your four courses.

The first course the secret ingredient was Dungeness crab. They prepared it two ways; the first was a Dungeness Crab and Ahi Tuna Mille Feuillet with a coconut/lime froth. The crab and tuna were so fresh and the coconut froth was amazing, it brought out the sweetness of the crab and enhanced the Ahi perfectly. The second was a seared Dungeness crab cake with papaya salsa and Yuzu aioli. I remember commenting on how fresh it tasted the crab cake was light and not too oily. The salsa and Yuzu made a strange but tasty combination with the cake. Both my dining partner and I both agreed that the Mille Feuillet was by far our favorites.  I really liked that they served them side by side so you could try a little of one, then the other and compare the flavors. It was a very pleasurable menu.

 
The second course the special ingredient was salmon. The dish at the top was a house made salmon Angelotti with wilted pea tendrils and olive tomato emulsion. It was fresh pasta rolled with smoked salmon and a nice light tomato sauce. It was pasta was light and very fresh. The salmon flavor was present but not overpowering. The dish at the bottom was an olive oil poached wild king salmon with citrus braised fennel and sambal buerre blanc. The salmon was very nicely poached and the olive oil flavor came through agreeably. The Fennel was delicious paired with the salmon and the sauce was great, almost a curry undertone to the buerre blanc. I kept going back and forth between which one I liked best, I loved the salmon and braised fennel from the second dish, but the pasta in the first was extremely good. I think the salmon flavor came through more on the second dish.

Between the second and third course our waiter came up and asked us if we wanted coffee with our desserts? I looked at him puzzled, and asked if it was a four course menu? Yes, he replied. Well we only have had two courses…he went back to his computer puzzled, then came back to us apologized and said our third course was coming up. This is where the service starts to get really bad. Not that it was amazing from the beginning, our wine came way after our first course, and our water glasses were not getting filled, but after the second course the service deteriorated. Knowing that this restaurant has one Michelin star, and that service is part of getting the star awarded, I was a little put off at the way we were treated. I had to ask for more water several times, and after our meal was finished, we were not even asked if we wanted anything else, or given the check for probably half hour after you would expect to. I know sometimes you have to ask for the check, but they were not even around to ask for it. Regardless the food was good, but I just wanted to point that out, especially when there is two waiters per table. Maybe the waiters were having an off night.

When the third course came the secret ingredients were mushrooms and potatoes. The dish on the left was Seared diver sea scallop with Yukon gold potato gnocchi, morel mushrooms, and fava beans. (insert slurping sound). The gnocchi was amazing, salty and crunch and soft all at the same time. It paired wonderfully with the scallop which was well seared and had great flavor. I love the shape as well as the flavor of morel mushrooms so I was very happy to see them on the menu. The dish on the right was Japanese pepper- Wagyu Beef strip loin with grilled abalone mushrooms and sweet potato fries. The abalone mushrooms were the star of this dish, they actually look like abalone (hence the name). The beef was well cooked and tender but was not well seasoned. The sweet potato fries were good, not spectacular. I would defiantly say that the scallop dish was my favorite. Other things that I really liked, which most of the time are overlooked, are the plates. Each plate was separated for the pairing, but fit the shape of the food and showed off the aesthetics of the meal perfectly. The inside of the restaurant  followed the plates. It had a lot of details that really made you feel relaxed and at ease. They modern dining room had an elegant but not overly stuffy feel. The interior overall had a well thought out and tranquil quality.

Fourth course, dessert. Because we ordered the parallel menu, I did not have a choice of dessert, because you know, if I had my choice, it would have been something chocolate! I suffered through this non-chocolate pairing nonetheless. The parallel ingredients were blueberry and lemon. We started with a blueberry meyer lemon financier, this was paired with a lemon mascarpone semifreddo with a blueberry lemon verbena sorbet. Maybe it was because it was not chocolate, but this was my least favorite course of the night. The financier (which is like a flat  blueberry muffin) was a little dry and I could not taste the lemon flavor at all. The mascarpone semifreddo was my favorite on the plate, but hard to eat because it was so frozen that you could not get a fork or spoon into it, and when you did, it broke apart and went careening across the table. (We both did it, so it was not just my clumsiness). Lastly, the sorbet was way too sour, it made us both do the sour face thing. The pastry chefs also gave us a complimentary dish of deserts, which we shared and agreed that there was nothing spectacular, dry chocolate cookie, and  wafer crispy things. By this time I was getting annoyed with the lack of service, so the dinner seemed to go downhill.
 

Overall, I thought the dinner was very good, but again not what I expected from a Michelin stared restaurant. The first two courses were marvelous. The second two, while good, were not spectacular. The services would be the thing that could be improved. Especially when spending this much money on your meal, you expect to be taken care of very well. The strength of this restaurant would have to be the ambiance and decor. They went above and beyond the normal restaurant and have just the right amount of kitschy-ness (wine tablet, and wine tower) that a Vegas restaurant needs to compete with the other thousands of restaurants, but did not go so far as to be tacky (i.e. giant frog with a cowboy hat).  Still have not decided where to go next month. This will have to be a suprise, until next time...
~ Wanna-Be-Foodie...AKA Lady Foie Gras

Daniel Boulud Brasserie

When I got the idea for this blog, I immediately went out and bought the Michelin guide for Las Vegas. There it sat on my coffee table for about a month with all the sticky yellow Post-It notes sticking out of it, until Brian decided to look through it to pick a place to take me for our anniversary. I usually get very excited about doing a project, and then the motivation seems to wane. I am so happy Brian took some initiative to motivate me. Brian chose Daniel Boulud Brasserie in the Wynn Resort.


Here is just a little background on Daniel Boulud. He was born March 25, 1955 in Saint-Pierre de Chandieu, France. Baulud is a famous French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Palm Beach, Miami, Vancouver and Beijing. He is best known for his eponymous restaurant, Daniel, in New York City.



While raised on a farm outside of Lyon and trained by renowned French chefs, Boulud made his reputation in New York, first as a chef and most recently a restaurateur. His restaurants include Daniel, Café Boulud, DB Bistro Moderne, Bar Boulud, and DBGB Kitchen & Bar in New York City. He has also created Café Boulud in Palm Beach and the Michelin-star award-winning Daniel Boulud Brasserie in Las Vegas (Which is where we will be dining).


Boulud received the James Beard Award for Best Chef of New York City in 1992 while Executive Chef at Le Cirque. The James Beard Foundation would again recognize Chef Daniel Boulud with “Outstanding Chef of the Year” in 1994 and “Outstanding Restaurateur” in 2006 for restaurant Daniel. In April 2007 he received the Culinary Humanitarian Award at the United Nations from the Adopt-a-Mine Field Foundation. The President of France made Boulud a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in March 2006 in recognition for his contribution to the advancement of French culture. Daniel, his flagship New York City namesake, was awarded three Michelin stars in the 2010 Michelin, the book's highest rating

Daniel Boulud Brasserie, accodring to the Michelin guide, has a comfort level of three and recieved one Michelin star for food.


Those of you that live in Vegas will understand this part. We are “self-parkers.” Everywhere in Vegas is free to park, but I personally hate going to valet because it always takes longer than just parking and walking yourself. Plus I never carry cash anymore, which you would need to tip. From the parking garage, Daniel Boulud is on the other side of the casino, by a huge waterfall with trees and forest. You would swear you were in the North West, if you could not smell the slight waft of chlorine when the wind changes. Brian had made a reservation, and when we arrived the hostess asked us if we wanted to sit inside or outside. We chose outside, it was a cool night for Las Vegas, about 55 degrees, but they had patio heaters out there, plus we were excited to see the waterfall and the light show that happens every half hour or so.



The place was pretty full so we were seated in a corner, which was kind of blocked by an enormous tree. I still am not sure if the tree was real or not. I know this sounds like a weird statement, but once you live in Las Vegas long enough you start questioning the reality of most things.




The waterfall and surrounding tress would change colors every few minutes from orange, to yellow, blue, purple, and pink.









The other interesting thing about sitting outside was that every so often they would put on this kind of light show, but they would project images of people, and different strange objects, on the waterfall and surrounding "lake." It was very “artsy" kind of theme with music in all kinds of different languages. Being as analytical as I am, I kept trying to figure out the symbolism or meaning, but I could not decipher any. We had a hard time seeing because of the position where we were sitting, and the real/fake tree blocking our view. About half way through our dinner, the lights dimmed, and we were ready to see another trippy version of what we joked must be Steve Wynn’s dreams, when a giant frog on top of the waterfall came out in a cowboy hat and started singing Garth Brook's song "Friends in Low Places." Now I know you are thinking... that we must have drank too much champagne, or the chef added the special mushrooms to our food, but I have pictures to prove it.







Turns out that Mr. Brooks has a new show at the Wynn and that is how they were promoting it. Overall, it was very nice sitting outside. I just wish that they had not put the tree in front of the waterfall, but I bet in summer when it is really hot, the tree provides some nice shade. I think if we would have sat inside the service would have been better also. Our server was very nice, but because of the location of our table, he was not around very much.




Anyways, lets move on to the food.... We started out the night with a glass of champagne. After all, we were celebrating right? Brian ordered, and it was very good. We are not poor people, but we both work for the school district, so we are definitely not "ballers" either. We like to have nice things, but we don't make it rain too often,so we just had the glasses instead of a bottle and it was $24 a glass. Imagine how much the bottles were…



We started out the night with appetizers. I had the seared foie gras in a light broth with root vegetables. This dish was amazing! The foie gras was sitting on a circle of grilled bread, with turnips, carrots, potatoes and sweat potatoes. The broth was like heaven. If I was not at such a fancy restaurant, I would have picked up the bowl and licked it clean afterwards.



Brian had the chilled lobster salad with hearts of palm and heirloom tomatoes. It was very good as well. They seasoned the lobster with cracked pepper and some other spices I could not identify, but it was heavenly. A very beautiful presentation as well.


For our main course, I chose seared scallops with cauliflower done three ways. The first ways was steamed, second pureed, and the third pickled. The cauliflower puree was the best of the three, it was smeared across the plate and was light and complimented the scallops very well. The pickled was very good, its bitterness set off the sweetness of the scallops and the third was just steamed so, you know what steamed cauliflower tastes like.




Brian chose Chilean sea bass poached in olive oil and served with eggplant purée with a shitake mushroom and pepper confit. This was also a great dish, the sea bass by itself was light and full of flavor. I expected it to taste oily because it was poached in olive oil, but it was actually very light. The mushrooms and eggplant complimented the dish very nicely. But of the two, I think the scallops were the better dish.






We finished the night with two chocolate desserts,( get used to this readers because I don't feel desert is worth it, if it's not chocolate). We were told that Daniel Boulud flies his own pastry chef in from France to make the deserts and we were in for a treat. The waiter recommended the chocolate moose with peanuts and brittle and homemade peanut ice cream.

Needless to say, when you cracked into that chocolate shell and ate the moose inside you felt like you were doing something illegal. The other desert we ordered was a chocolate torte with oranges, grapefruit and a chocolate/coffee sorbet. Both were amazing. The waiter was also were sweet enough to write "Happy Anniversary" on the plate.


We finished with cappuccino and a plate of complimentary little deserts from the chef. The cappuccino was very good, dry, and strong coffee flavor and the perfect combination of frothed milk and coffee.

The deserts were a coconut candy bite, apricot jelly, what tasted like a mini blueberry muffin and a crispy wafer like bite, filled with chocolate. The coconut one was my favorite.



Overall, the two best dishes of the night were the foie gras and the chocolate mousse. The champagne was excellent as well, but when I think back, those are the two dishes I am drooling over, as I sit here writing this now. The service was good, but not “Michelin star good,” like I expected. Brian would not let me look at the bill, but I am guessing about $250, or $300 including tip. I would definitely recommend the restaurant to anyone who likes French food, it a more relaxed brasserie setting. A great way to celebrate our anniversary!

Next Month: Either Bradley Ogden, a contemporary, restaurant in Caesar's Palace or Aureole Charlie Palmer's contemporary restaurant in Mandalay Bay. Both have one Michelin Star.
Tell me your vote.


~The Wanna Be Foodie

Isn't Michelin the tire guy?

Isn’t Michelin the tire guy?

Yes, it is.

I had always thought that Michelin was just the people who made tires, and it wasn’t until I heard it repeatedly referenced on shows like Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, and Top Chef, did I finally look it up, to see who this Michelin person was and why he gave out stars. Turns out Michelin the French company who makes tires in the United States also had a big business of confidential reviews of restaurants and hotels. According to the 2009 Michelin Guide, their aim is “ongoing commitment to proving travel and mobility, we do everything possible to make vacations and eating out a pleasure.” Makes sense, a tire company would want you to take road trips right?


The thing that makes Michelin better, in my opinion, than the ZAGAT, or reading a restaurant review from a critic is the anonymity of the review. A restaurant chef can see Gael Green (how could you not recognize her with those crazy hats) or James Oseland and give them the best seat in the house and make sure their food is perfect. ZAGAT guide is based on people writing in their reviews, so one persons standard can be different from another. Michelin takes great steps to make sure that their reviewers are anonymous and remain anonymous. This ensures that a regular Joe Schmoe will get the same service as those fancy restaurant reviewers. The other thing that makes Michelin very reputable is that they are independent. They choose restaurants to review not based on the Benjamin slipped to them in a letter, but made for the benefit of “the reader alone.” “Decisions are discussed by the inspectors and the editor with the most important decided at the global level.” Inclusion in the guide is also free of charge; no one pays to have their review written. As quoted from their website,

“Michelin has been in the business of evaluating and recommending restaurants and hotels for over a century. We employ full-time professional inspectors who anonymously visit restaurants and hotels, and evaluate them on a range of criteria. Our evaluation process has been honed over time to identify consistently high-quality establishments to suit a range of budgets and across a range of styles and cuisines. If our inspectors are impressed by a restaurant or hotel, they visit the establishment again. And again. It is this sort of obsessive research that makes the MICHELIN Guide such a reliable source of recommendations. No matter what the occasion, we think you'll find that the MICHELIN Guide will help you make the perfect choice.”

Other benefits include the fact that the selection ranges from low to high price range so it’s not just the super fancy restaurants and hotels that end up in the guide. They update every year, (usually, see* below), so you don’t go to a place to find out that the chef changed and the food is now horrible, and they are consistent. Michelin uses the same criteria in Paris that they do in New York. They also classify a restaurant for comfort, (which includes service and décor), and for food quality, (which are where the stars come in to play). The classifications for “comfort” range from, one-little spoon and fork which represents quite comfortable, two little spoons and forks represents comfortable, three-very comfortable, four-top class comfortable, five-luxury in the traditional style. The stars which are the things all chefs want, range from one star which means “very good cuisine in its category” two-excellent cuisine, worth a detour, and three which is the top honor of “exceptional cuisine worth a special journey.”



*For my project I will be working out of the 2009 Las Vegas restaurant and hotels edition. Because of the recession, Michelin decided to only come out with an edition for Las Vegas every two years, but New York and San Francisco still have yearly editions. There are actually more than twelve Michelin rated restaurants in Las Vegas, but for this project, I decided to pick twelve making it a one year project. There are actually thirteen- one-Michelin star restaurants, three-two star restaurants and only one-three star restaurants in Las Vegas, the amazing Joel Robuchon. (Who is actually on the list twice, one for Joel Robuchon with three stars, and one for L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon which received one star, both located in the MGM Grand.) The first one was actually picked for me by my wonderful boyfriend. For our anniversary, we went to Daniel Boulud Brasserie at the Wynn resort. The review will be coming soon….

Thank you for reading,

The Wanna-Be Foodie