Food is an important part of a balanced diet (part 4)

Picasso

Picasso at Bellagio is my first experience at a restaurant with two Michelin stars, so I had built up a lot of anticipation beforehand.

I was early for my 8PM reservation so I was asked to have a seat in their lounge, which gave me a view into the dining room and a chance to make a few observations:

First, I was immediately struck by how formal the place was. The wait staff, which was perhaps completely male, was dressed in full suit and tie, and while a lot of other newer fine dining restaurants (especially in Vegas) go for a hip and modern style this was more on the side of classic style, subdued warm lighting and jazz at fairly low volume in the background.

Second, I was overwhelmed by the amount of original Picasso art on the walls. I had at least 10 full-size paintings within view - I don't know if I've even been to a museum that has had as many Picasso paintings in one room.

Third, I noticed that the dining room floor was fairly sparse. Even though it's not easy to see in the picture below, there was quite a lot of separation between tables allowing for the numerous wait staff to move freely and giving each table more privacy than you get in most restaurants.

Dining room, more well-lit than when I was there (image from Bellagio website)

I had walked by earlier in the day and looked at the posted menus outside, and was torn between the 4-course prix fixe and the 5-course tasting menu. For the prix fixe I would have a number of options for each course which would give me more freedom to compose my own menu, but the tasting menu looked very good as it was so I was leaning toward that.

At my table, I was also presented with a seasonal Alba white truffle tasting menu. (Quick truffles primer: the best black truffles are usually from France and are considered to be best around the beginning of the year while the premier white truffles are from Alba in northern Italy and at their peak during late fall.) But, this menu was nearly three times the price of the regular (already pricey) tasting menu, so I quickly put that to the side.

Amuse Bouche to go with the champagne

While deciding I ordered a glass of champagne (Egly-Ouriet) and spent some time looking through the wine list, which literally was as thick as a book. I decided to stick with the tasting menu and the accompanying wine pairing. The sommelier, Robert Smith (not the lead singer from The Cure!), is somewhat famous in wine/dining circles because he is a certified Master Sommelier.

This means he has passed a series of very difficult tests; both theoretical (knowledge of wine, regions and wine making) and practical (tasting and identifying wines, and wine service). There are only a hundred-and-some Master Somms in the world, and only one in Arizona (Greg Tresner at the Phoenician resort), so getting to meet one is a bit of a thrill for a wine geek like me.

Lobster salad and a glass of dry Riesling from Alsace

Robert was working the floor that night, so when I had some questions about the wine pairings (the menu didn't specify what they were) he came over and chatted for a while. They had both a regular wine pairing (about half the price of the tasting menu) and a premium wine pairing (about the same price as the tasting menu.) I went with the premium option.

Scallop on a bed of Potato Mousseline and a glass of white Hermitage

The premium wine pairing was definitely the right choice; each wine was very good and perfectly paired with its dish. Here is the menu:

• Maine Lobster Salad - 2004 Zind Humbrecht Herrenweg de Turckheim Riesling
• Pan Seared U10 Scallop, Potato Mousseline, Jus de Veau - 2004 Betts & Scholl Hermitage Blanc
• Sautéed Foie Gras, Port Figs, Brioche, Crushed Almonds - 1999 Ch. Tirecul Cuvée Madame
• Swordfish - 2004 Henri Bolliot Meursault
• Chocolate Lava Cake - 1961 Albala Pedro Ximenez Sherry

Foie Gras and a sweet wine from Southwest France

The lobster salad was quite good - I'm not big on salads, but it's hard to say no to lobster - and the accompanying Zind Humbrecht Riesling was a perfect match. It started out with a lot of fruit sweetness which was in tune with the natural sweetness of the lobster, but ended on a dry clean finish. I've had a lot of Zind Humbrecht wines and they are a personal favorite of mine. They also make some dessert wines that are to die for: so-called VTs (Vendange Tardive, meaning Late Harvest) or, even better, SGNs (Sélection Grains Nobles, meaning Selection of Noble Berries, grapes affected by Botrytis rot - "the noble rot")

Swordfish and a glass of white Burgundy

The pan seared U10 scallop was my favorite dish and perhaps the best scallop I've ever had. In my experience scallops are usually either sublime or terrible, but even at the top there are differences and this was absolutely superb. This alone made the visit worth it. (What is U10, you ask? It's a grading of the size of the scallop and stands for Under 10, meaning there are less than 10 scallops in a pound. This is the largest size.)

The scallop came with a wine that I've enjoyed several times before - Betts & Scholl's Hermitage Blanc. Richard Betts is another Master Somm, at the famous Little Nell in Aspen, and Dennis Scholl is a wealthy art collector with a strong interest in wine. For the last several years, they have made wines in the California, Australia and France. This wine is from the tiny, fabled Hermitage region in the northern Rhone in France, and is made by grapes from local legend J.L. Chave, whose family has made wine in the area for the last 600 years.

Chocolate Lava dessert, ice cream and a glass of sherry

The next dish was the sautéed foie gras. I'm a big fan of foie, and while this was very good it was not quite up there with some of the best I've had. My top three are at Bourbon Steak (Michael Mina's Arizona restaurant at the Fairmont Princess), Sea Saw (Chef Nobuo Fukuda) and by my friend Chef Rich Hinojosa who now works as the executive chef at the Maui Westin.

The foie was classically paired with a Sauternes-style wine (sweet, botrytis) from Southwest France and that worked well. I've had the Cuvée Madame before from a different vintage(1995) which is supposed to be superior, but I thought the 1999 was on par with it.

Pouring the 1961 PX sherry

The main course was a swordfish and it it was quite a disappointment. I don't know if I've had swordfish before, but it wasn't what I expected. The sauce was wonderful but the actual fish was very dense and thick - almost like a piece of meat. Fortunately the white Burgundy was light and airy which helped a bit, but overall this was the weakest course of the evening.

Then, for dessert I chose the chocolate lava cake: a round chocolate cake filled with rich chocolate sauce that poured out as soon as I cut into it. It was delicious, but very heavy which the ice cream offset nicely. The wine pairings only covered the first four courses so for dessert I was on my own, and I opted for an old sherry which was really good. As you can perhaps see in the picture above, the label on the bottle is actually a piece of the original barrel where it was aged.

All-in-all, a pretty incredible experience. It was quite expensive, but about two thirds of my bill came from the wines so you can certainly get away cheaper if you like. But, at a place like this, splurging is part of the experience. Will I come back? Well, I think I only have so many dinners of this caliber in me and I'd probably rather try a new place than return to a place I've already tried, but if I somehow end up here again I'm not going to be sorry.