Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

MID-STRIP 135
3 Mid-Strip
Note: The Rio has a branch of Rosemary’s (p. 158), one of our favorite restaurants
in town. The Rio branch has a somewhat different menu than the original,
but both are highly recommended.
VERY EXPENSIVE
Alizé FRENCH Just a perfect restaurant, thanks to a combination of
the most divine dining room and view in Vegas (situated at the top of the Palms
Hotel, with three sides of full length windows that allow a panoramic view of
the night lights of Vegas; obviously, window-side tables are best, but even seats
in the center of the room have a good view), and one of the best chefs in a town
where many great chefs have restaurants but are rarely in their kitchens (Emeril
and Wolfgang, we love them, but they can’t be in 25 different places at once).
Overseen by Andre, he of the eponymous (and excellent) restaurants in Downtown
and the Monte Carlo, the executive chef is Jacques Van Staden, who
trained with one of the world’s greatest chefs, Jean-Louis Pallidin. The menu
changes seasonally, but anything you order will be heavenly.
On our last visit, we had perhaps 14 different courses, and not a single one
disappointed. In the appetizer department, the marinated jumbo lump crabmeat
and avocado salad with heirloom tomato consommé and basil oil was a riot of
freshness, while the gnocchi with sautéed wild mushrooms, black truffle, and
mushroom emulsion was the kind of dish clearly created by someone thoughtful
and clever. A phyllo-wrapped baked pear and Roquefort cheese with a vinegar
and port reduction was less salad (as it was billed) and more hot appetizer.
The foie gras comes in a pink-grapefruit–and-citrus-honey reduction, a tangy
combination. Fish can be a little dry here, so we suggest either the stunning New
York steak with summer truffle jus and potato herb pancakes, or the meltingly
tender lamb chops with some shredded lamb shank wrapped in a crispy fried
crepe. Desserts are similarly outstanding, and often of great frivolity, such as sorbet
in a case of browned marshmallow, floating in raspberry soup. Yeah, we’re
going over the top on this one, but we bet you won’t think we’re wrong.
In the Palms Hotel, 4321 W. Flamingo Rd. & 702/951-7000. Fax 702/951-7002. www.alizelv.com. Reservations
strongly recommended. Entrees $28–$37. AE, MC, V. Sun–Thurs 5–10pm; Fri–Sat 5–10:30pm.
Aqua SEAFOOD Fish fans should certainly head quickly over to Aqua,
a branch of a highly respected San Francisco restaurant. And even fish-phobes
might reconsider their position when they try Aqua’s slightly Asian-influenced
pleasures. Stylistically, the restaurant’s Japanese tearoom/Frank Lloyd
Wright–craftsman decor is more Melrose Avenue power restaurant than Vegas
fish house, and the clientele seem to be local businessmen in search of a healthconscious,
client-impressing dinner. Service is quite sensitive and solicitous. Our
waiter recalled that the folks at the table next to us had been in some months
prior; he also remembered which dessert they liked best, making sure they got a
portion of it along with their actual dessert order.
You can start your meal with a nonseafood choice such as Hudson Valley foie
gras, which comes with a warm apple Charlotte, a cinnamon-baked apple compote
that tastes a bit like something you might eat at breakfast—though foie gras
is hardly a breakfast meat. The mixed-seasonal-greens salad looks like a flower,
and is a light, amiable mix of flavors. For a main course, go straight to the
vaguely Japanese miso-glazed Chilean sea bass in a rich, but not heavy, shellfish
consommé. More timid fish eaters might try the robust Hawaiian swordfish au