Bouchon in the Desert

The Las Vegas Fantasy that is Actually Real

While it may seem to be an oversimplification, there is no doubt that as every day passes, Las Vegas relentlessly........... ..............and successfully pursues its goal of building an extremely advanced version of Fantasyland for grownups (?) ….a la Disney in the Desert .

Early on came the flying carpets of Aladdin, Sands, Sahara, Luxor, Flamingo, and Mirage.

When visitors became weary of unfulfilled and dusty dreams of being with Scheherazade, the legendary courtesan,

lusty facsimiles of Italy, Gina and Sophia took over. Thus,

Caesar's Palace, Monte Carlo, Bellagio and The Venetian became the recent dream destinations of choice. These dreams were embellished further

by the illusions of magicians and impersonators. Soon the term "ubiquitous" became the descriptive word for the ultimate fantasies of Cirques du Soleil.

When it seemed that there was "no mo faux:" to create, fantasy, fine dining became the current target. It began with those television chefs who were known to the public. Emeril, the bam-kick-it-up-a-notch faker, opened Las Vegas restaurants as though they were Burger Kings and with about the same attention. to detail. Puck, Splichal, Mina and others have put their names on multiple suspect replicas of serious restaurants.... all with inordinately high tariffs But none of these TV personalities can be seen near a stove in Las Vegas except on The Food Channel TV screens in the bar or hotel room. It's ironic that their hoped for customer base would seem to be drawn from the unsophisticated buffet gobblers at The Rio and The Mirage. I have yet to meet any one who has ever actually prepared a dish from an Emeril recipe or cookbook. All you really have to do to emulate his haute version of any dish is just smirk and dump more garlic or pepper into the mashed potatoes.

Then came the onslaught of French multi-star chefs. Ducasse, Robouchon, and now Savoy. They quickly entered that upscale race sensing all those big bucks up for grabs via the $300-500 dinners for two being gobbled up by Flush Texas Hold'em winners. But the French are equally invisible. The only true celebrity chef that is always in the kitchen or visiting guests in the dining room is Juan Serrano (formerly of The Bay Area's Masa's). He is at Picasso in the Bellagio….. and it shows. Picasso is consistently rated tops in Las Vegas dining by those who actually know the difference between an exquisitely roasted free range chicken and a mound of Buffalo chicken wings from the buffet. He now has a competitor.,

Because, sitting on the sidelines observing the scene was Thomas Keller, whose French Laundry in Napa is the Mecca for all of America’s foodies. Keller understood how difficult it would be to go for the big bucks and try to duplicate the labor intensive French Laundry (or any world class haute cuisine restaurant) in Las Vegas without undivided attention and dedication. The famed and maniacal Charlie Trotter had already failed in his attempt to actually be serious. Plus Keller may have already had his hands full setting up the high concept Per Se on Columbus Circle in New York.

You see, Keller's standards are clearly very high and he does not do well with fakery. Those standards have been recognized by the Michelin Guide of France. He is the only chef in the United States to be awarded their 3 star top rating. 3 stars is the most those French give anyone.

www.westlakevillageinn.com

However, Keller had an advantage. He already had in his arsenal, a wonderful high performance but simpler and much less expensive concept in Yountville called Bouchon Further there was nothing like it in Las Vegas. The new Bouchon was to be truly sophisticated food in spectacular surroundings at fair bistro prices unique to the Las Vegas dining scene. Amazing.

The formula was established at Bouchon Napa . It maintained the high quality ingredient standards of the Laundry with creative but less complicated fare plus pleasant but casual service. Part of the personnel from The Laundry routinely transferred to Bouchon in Yountville maintaining Keller’s high standards in the kitchen.

Thus, it was not too difficult to seamlessly bring the entire Bouchon dining concept to The Venezia Tower of The Venetian under the direction of Executive Chef Jeff Cerciello. Cerciello had years of training in Europe and also directed the Bouchon-Yountville bistro. Sous chef Mark Hopper, in charge of day to day kitchen operations, has also had years of French Laundry experience going as far back as 1996.

Keller was both prepared and knew what he was doing. Thus his consistent presence was not crucial. He was not offering fantasies. He was delivering disciplined reality.

It worked.

In the 2005 Epicurean Awards by Las Vegas Life, Bouchon was named..... in its first year as Best New Restaurant, Best French Restaurant ..... and Best Restaurant .....period.

The Adam Tihany designed interior is a stunner. The high-ceiling well-divided room and sensible spacing makes for easy conversation. There is a handcrafted pewter bar, velvet banquettes, antique light fixtures along with a boldly patterned mosaic floor plus wall murals by Paulin Paris. The term bouchon refers to a specific style of Rhone Valley French bistro that offers authentic casual fare in remarkable settings. Thus, at Bouchon you legitimately feel you have been transported to a great experience in Lyon (without arrogant French waiters). Relaxed reality rather than flamboyance is the feeling. When the weather is right, you can also dine in an adjacent outdoor courtyard. But it is not the same.

As noted above, the authentic French bistro cuisine that is served, achieves that fine example of ultimate ingredients and great technique. The emphasis is on such basics as the iconic roasted chicken, trout amandine, steak frites, home made pates, quiche, brandade, pot de creme, boudin noir and wonderful domestic and imported cheese.

Creative seasonal and best product of the day blackboard menu dishes are spectacular. The night we dined, my wife had a wonderful lamb shank over flavored mashed potatoes that was perfectly prepared. I had superb quality scallops cooked to the edge of perfect transparency with a very delicate sauce frugally applied.

While not inexpensive, you should consider starters from probably the finest raw and cooked seafood bar in the West. We split a dozen each each pristine oysters and mussels that were superb. Crab, lobster and clams are all exquisitely fresh. Dessert pastries such as profiteroles and other goodies are prepared nightly.

Service is friendly and flawless from entry to departure and there is a broad fairly priced wine list that is naturally heavy on California Napa wines but of course has other choices.

So it is that when compared to the high roller prices in most of the other “HOT SPOTS”, Bouchon is a clear great upscale dining choice It is moderately priced (for Las Vegas) but, serious food in a great room. It will leave you with funds to blow on the now also HOT "Jacks or Better" poker slots. Great breakfasts as well.

Bouchon at the Venezia Tower:

	702-414-6200
	Most Credit Cards
	Breakfast Daily
	Midday Oyster Bar Daily
	Dinner Daily
	Lunch Sat-Sun
	12 seat and 40 seat private dining rooms

Frankly Noted

Le Cafe appears to have completed the remodeling of its dining rooms and outside patio. It is one of the most pleasant inside-outside dining areas in the county. Service is also very cheerful and friendly. We intend to do a full review in the very near future. Meanwhile if you try it out , give us your report. We depend upon our readers for a lot of insight and suggestions.

Mastro's rehab appears to be on hold. Maybe Claimjumper's, Dakota and Chapter 8 made Mastro's management feel that with now at least 8 red meat joints in the Conejo, all but one at about 1/2 the Mastro tab, enough is enough.

John Gress the veteran restaurateur at Tryst continues trying to work his magic in overcoming the heritage of the previously run down Le Rendezvoux. He has bargain wine tastings on Wednesday, live music and a newly instituted "NO CORKAGE POLICY". He and his executive chef continue to work on bringing the menu up to date while not losing the geriatric well done prime rib and duck l'orange group from the old days. It is not an easy job. Try it and give us your feelings.

Still, the explosion of new eateries in the promised land of The Conejo area seems never ending. We have received many e-mails concerning the demise of Milano’s on Canwood in Agoura. Fear not.

Very competent Carlos Orozco of Adobe Cantina fame has taken over with a bistro menu heavy on creative seafood menu. They are open but somewhat of a work in progress as they upgrade the facility. I'd wait a bit.

That shopping center will then have two worthwhile dining spots. We reviewed Café 14 a few months ago and have since received positive feed back from many readers. Check out our review in our Second Chances feature.

But Brent's seems be off target to add a serious deli to Ventura County. at that oft changed location near the Hyatt. Those that revel in filling up on a 2-3" thick artery killing corned beef or pastrami sandwiches on fresh rye bread with a giant pickle on the side will have to wait. I'm waiting for the Classic "Chicken in the Pot" with a Matzoh Ball and a Kreplach like my grandmother used to make. But they may not get open until late June as the city of T.O has created typical roadblocks.

We must admit that we still are not quite ready to review the supposed steak house, Chapter 8 in Agoura. Inconsistent reports have come back to us and we really don’t like to review suspect restaurants just to write a negative review. Further we had concluded that it was more of a party club than a dining spot.

As stated we will continue to avoid reviewing the all pseudo dining locations at "The Lakes" But we do get continued reports on long waits, mediocre food and infantile service. One of the latest reports on the Claim Jumper is hard to believe. It appears that this supposed steak type restaurant could not get one steak at the table right, even after two tries. The size of the take home doggy bags, however continue to be large. One wonders if mediocre poorly cooked food is better the next day. Well, you do get to avoid the amateur serving crew.

The competitive local reviewer for the Ventura County Star recently did do a review on Chapter 8 so we thought perhaps we would get some professional insight. However neither she nor her guest ordered steak????. They had a Kobe burger and $35 prox fish entrée. I guess I should have anticipated that since she also recently reviewed a sushi bar but did not order sushi. About the only thing that was apparent was that Chapter 8 was very, very expensive

On the other hand, we have had some recent better things reported on their sister restaurant P6 in Westlake. We had also stayed away from them because it did not appear that they were serious about food either. We seemed to be correct as they had significant personnel turnover and a policy change when neighbors prevailed about late night outdoor carousing by the tight black leather pants contingent. That group may have now moved to Chapter 8.

A new chef from Joaquiin Splichal's downtown steakhouse, NIck and Stef's has taken over with a new menu and we expect to do a review very soon....... after he has truly settled in. Let's hope the service is also on a higher scale. Maybe now that the Olympics are over, owner Wayne Gretsky can do a little stickwork on the place.