Las Vegas Weekly

September 2, 2009 · 10:52 AM

2009 Restaurant Week: A double date with Alain Ducasse and Rick Moonen

By Don Chareunsy

Mix inside The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.

Photo: Mandalay Bay

By Don Chareunsy, Vegas DeLuxe editor

OK, so it wasn’t so much a double date with Alain Ducasse and Rick Moonen, two respected star chefs, as it was something possibly even more unbelievable: I dined at not one but two restaurants for dinner for Las Vegas’ 3rd Annual Restaurant Week last night.

It wasn’t planned, I swear. After finishing up at Alain Ducasse’s Mix in Mandalay Bay, neither my dining companion Jude nor I were full, so he suggested going to another restaurant! “You’re insane!” I thought, but then again, Restaurant Week is only once a year, and it’s a worthy cause. So I powered up my MacBook Pro, perused a few menus, and we agreed upon Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood. I made a reservation and gave us an hour to let the food settle and walk around Mandalay Bay. We were rather productive: He had his brown dress shoes shined, and I edited a Kats Report on Mayor Oscar Goodman writing a letter to the editor of Time. Good times. Or should I say Goodman Time? Thank you, I’ll be here all week!

For Restaurant Week newbies, a label of which I am not, part of the fun is to choose restaurants you’ve always wanted to try but were afraid for your pocketbook. The hope is that restaurants will include some of their best appetizers, entrees and desserts during Restaurant Week to entice diners to make return visits and recommendations to family, friends and colleagues. Las Vegas’ world-class culinary scene is a fairly new palette for me, as I’ve lived here less than two years, so it was difficult narrowing down the list.

Mix at Mandalay Bay

Mix was at the top of my list for a number of reasons: I had heard that Mix has spectacular views of Las Vegas. It does. I liked the idea of a shared or small plate concept vs. the traditional three courses, which was unique to Restaurant Week. Plus, the $50.09 price included two glasses of wine. Sold!

Review: Mix is a somewhat mixed bag. There are seven plates: shrimp cocktail, tuna tartare with avocado, crab over couscous, beef skewers, braised short rib-stuffed pepper, lamb and tiramisu. The standouts are the shrimp cocktail and tiramisu (light, decadent and marvelous), and the presentation is beautiful and immaculate. Unfortunately, the tuna tartare with avocado was a major miss. The two strong flavors didn’t mix well; in fact, the terrine was a little sour and off-putting. And you don’t really get two glasses of wine -- a Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir. It’s a half glass of each or a full glass of one. The Sauvignon Blanc was fabulous, the Pinot Noir forgettable.

Bonuses: The service is friendly, attentive and excellent. You feel like a high roller without the smarminess and insincerity. After everything was cleared away, a surprise was served to us: petite Madeleines fresh from the oven with Nutella! And for the first time in Las Vegas, I was absolutely floored by the stunning design, decor and views of a Strip restaurant. Wow. I want to move there.

RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay

RM Seafood was second on my list because I love seafood, and one of the dessert options was a raspberry macaroon. Macaroons = awesome. Plus, I appreciated the fact that there were two Restaurant Week dinner options, one for $30.09 and another for $50.09.

Review: My dining companion ordered the $30.09 prix-fixe menu of an iceberg BLT salad, RM Cioppino and blueberry cobbler (there are no choices with this menu), while I ordered the $50.09 menu and chose a classic shrimp Louie salad instead of Rick’s creamy white clam chowder (which I learned post-dessert was voted by Las Vegas Weekly readers this year as our city’s best clam chowder), seared diver scallops instead of tea smoked arctic char and the giant chocolate raspberry macaroon rather than the lemon custard.

The first-course salads and desserts were nothing to write home about, but this is a seafood restaurant, after all. The dill in the shrimp Louie was overpowering; my companion disagreed. We both liked the light buttermilk ranch dressing on the BLT. The vanilla yogurt sorbet with the blueberry cobbler tasted like sour cream (not a good thing) and was incredibly tart, as was the raspberry sorbet with the macaroon, and the macaroon contained an entire raspberry patch, Jude noted. I love raspberries, but this was raspberry overkill.

All was (nearly) forgiven after digging into the entrees. The seafood was amazingly fresh, from the plump diver scallops to the largest mussels we had ever seen in the Cioppino, which also included clams, prawns and seasonal fish served with calamarata pasta. I’ve never had Cioppino with pasta, but the calamarata was surprisingly light and cooked perfectly and complemented the savory seafood.

The service was severely lacking, which is especially surprising during Restaurant Week. Our server wasn’t knowledgeable about the wines. The menus weren’t removed from the table until after the salad course and strong hints of us placing our plates and utensils on top of the menus. I mistakenly thought the raspberry macaroon would be a coconut macaroon, which I love with all my heart, but the macaroon was like eating a moist chocolate brownie, so no complaints here, despite my ignorance.

Bonuses: I appreciate the fact that the ambience is casual, so casual that I could have my MacBook Pro on the table to work (briefly). And that the refills of Diet Pepsi are free. You hear that, Lavo and Texas de Brazil? Charging for refills. Seriously? It’s soda, not Syrah! Plus, I need to return for that clam chowder.

Neither restaurant was perfect, but would I return? Absolutely, for Mix’s shrimp cocktail, tiramisu, service, breathtaking design and views and RM Seafood’s top-notch seafood, casual dining and that elusive chowdah.

Yes, Restaurant Week is gluttony, but it’s gluttony for a good cause. Proceeds from dining at the more than 50 participating Las Vegas restaurants benefit our Three Square food bank. Go to ThreeSquare.org for the list of restaurants and Restaurant Week menus, which include $20.09 options for lunch and $30.09 and $50.09 choices for dinner. Restaurant Week continues through Sunday.

Tomorrow night, I dine at Andre’s in the Monte Carlo, the No. 3 choice on my list and the restaurant agreed upon by my party of six. Tonight, I hit the gym. Or make more Restaurant Week reservations. Hey, it’s for a good cause!

Footnote: I was in Boston last month for a journalism convention, which happened to coincide with Beantown’s Restaurant Week. I also have taken part in Restaurant Weeks in Miami and my most recent hometown, San Diego. For my money and substantial tummy, Las Vegas’ Restaurant Week is unbeatable, world class and heads -- and cocktails -- above the rest!

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