Restaurant Rants & Raves. And more exploration into ethnic food variety.

I have to tell you that you must read this all the way through because there are gems throughout. This week’s entry is (in my not so humble opinion) something special.

Let’s start with the rants.

I had already decided to do a New Year rant regarding my usual beefs about restaurants when my wine club had an interesting experience at Envy, the Steakhouse. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Envy did something that was off of my usual radar, and they did it with panache and pure stupidity.

The great thing about Vegas is that there are many restaurants here that offer world-class food and service. The bad thing is that these restaurants do way too well because of the fact that over 30,000,000 people come through here annually, and they don’t have to worry about taking care of locals. This week’s wine dinner was a perfect example of company policy taking precedence over customer service.

Envy advertised their half-price on wine dinner, and my group took advantage of it on Wednesday evening. Perfect. Day after New Year's. The food was great, the service exemplary, and wine list and wines were extraordinary. So what happened that made the entire group decide not to patronize Envy ever again?

It came down the check.

Half price is supposed to be half price, right? Not if Envy is doing fuzzy figuring. With only seven people in the party, *technically* the restaurant was not supposed to add on 20% gratuity. I believe that eight diners is the standard number. But they did. And they added it on the entire balance, and took off the price of the wine after the fee had been assessed. In addition, they somehow neglected to deduct the $50.00 gift certificate. So the group ended up spending 31% gratuity on the meal instead of 20% because of "company policy." The result? Seven angry people who spent $100+ each who will never frequent the restaurant again. With the numbers of people coming through Las Vegas, I'm pretty certain that Envy doesn't care that a group of locals got annoyed. Because this isn't the first time I've heard about Envy's money-grubbing policies, I've decided to forego visiting them at any time.

And now for something much more pleasant! I wanted to talk about one of my now favorite restaurants.

STEAK is located on the far end of Henderson on 76 W. Horizon Ridge near the Horizon Ridge exit of the 95S. Or it may be 515 at that point. At any rate, I had decided that I needed to have dinner there so that I could put a link (or not) on the Blog so that people could find another place to eat.

David Dror is the owner, and he has a wonderful establishment there.

Every Saturday afternoon there's a wine tasting. Extraordinary wines, great tasting. This week's tasting was Four Vines. And nearly all of their portfolio was there. 2006 Naked Chardonnay, Maverick, the Sophisticate, Heretic, Anarchy, Dusi, and a new one for me, the Peasant, which is a Rhône blend of Syrah, Mourvedre, Grenache, Counnoise, and Tannat. What's Tannat? Apparently it has characteristics similar to Cabernet. It all adds up to delicious.

Michael decided to join me for dinner, and were we ever in for a treat! Wow!

The bread appetizer came with Olive Purée, Red Pepper Purée, and Olive Oil/Balsamic dip. It was beautifully presented. The appetizer was beef tartare with an unusual seasoning that hinted of lime.

I had a "Baseball" steak along with grilled asparagus and sautéed mushrooms. Michael had the 18oz NY Strip with steamed veggies (still crunchy!) and the mushrooms.

Dessert was a Chocolate Mousse cake that was almost ethereal. How good was all of this food? There was nothing left over. We were good kids who cleaned our plates! We chose the Peasant as the wine, and it was a perfect match not only with the beef, but there was enough left over to show that it also paired quite well with the chocolate!

The restaurant itself was a surprise. There's a view that will rival Panevino, which is world-famous for its fabulous view. Since it's in Henderson, its view is not as close up and personal, but it's still breathtaking. I will be posting some pictures in the VegasPics section of the website. Take a look, and be sure to stop by one Saturday to enjoy the wines and stay for a great dinner and beautiful view!

Oh. And one more very important thing. David has the same philosophy as Marché Bacchus: Regular retail price for wine and only $10.00 corkage. That alone will have me visiting again and again as my budget allows. No restaurant wine price ripoffs here!

And now for more rants!

Things that restaurants do that irritate me to no end:

• When I pay my bill, don't ask me if I want or need any change back. Hell yeah I want my change back! If I give you a $50.00 bill for a $12.00 check, you can be SURE that I want my change back. Don't even ask. Just bring it.
• With that being said, I want ALL of my change back! Whoever came up with the annoying (and larcenous) practice of giving me only my bills and keeping the coin? Pisses me off and that is reflected in the tip I leave. Or not.
• Don't give me a bunch of singles! Sheesh! Give me my change in large bills. As far as I'm concerned, if you left me a ton of one dollar bills, then you aren't expecting much. Instead of the $5.00 I was going to leave, I guess I'll just leave three.
• While I appreciate wine service, somebody has to learn how to pour wine into a glass correctly. I prefer a tasting or short pour -- about two to four ounces -- because I'm a swirl fiend. Can't do it with the wine halfway (or more) up the glass.
  

And, yes, I do have rants about us customers.

• Leave a tip. If you had good service, then leave a good tip! This is assuming that you aren't being gouged as the Envy incident above indicates.
• Ask the sommelier for help, and for goodness sake, don't drink Chardonnay with your steak or lamb! Retch.
  
• Learn how to use chopsticks!! Nothing says *I'm ignorant* more than using a fork in an Asian restaurant. Chopsticks are easy, and the first awkward attempts are appreciated more than insisting on using a fork no matter what.
  

I have more somewhere in the transoms of my mind, but I didn't want to use all the space in rant time.

And now for my fun adventures in exploring cuisines of other cultures. If you've been following my food adventures, you know that I have little shyness about trying new cuisines. Well, I've discovered Vietnamese food. More accurately, I've discovered Pho, a Vietnamese staple that is broth-based. It is a wonderful soup, and the broth is so fragrant that you can't help but to drool. I found a little restaurant along Spring Mountain just east of Jones called Pho Sai Gon 8, which is Vietnamese. Is it good? I've been there a couple of times and it's been packed with Vietnamese! I think you can't find a better compliment than that of any ethnic restaurant!

Pho consists of fragrant broth and rice noodles. You can then add just about anything you want and it is a filling, long-lasting meal. Because in another life I was related to Andrew Zimmern, host of Bizarre Foods, I went all out and had the Pho Chín Nąm Gâu Gân Sách, which along with the broth and noodles, also contains lean meat, flank, brisket, soft tendon and tripe. It also comes with fresh basil, finely chopped green onlons, bean sprouts, hot peppers, hot sauce (house-made, I believe), and fresh limes. Because I did takeout, I was in for quite a surprise, because all of the ingredients are separate from the broth. Once home, I found a big bowl, put in all of the ingredients (except for the spicy items), and then poured the broth over. Incredibly good, filling, and so satisfying as to last for hours. Delicious. I am now addicted to this wonderful soup and will be there regularly! Fresh ingredients, tasty food, all for about $7.00. Can't get better than that.

Have a great week! We'll be talking about classes, Wine Down Wednesday, and Paso next time!

Swirl Envy Lite, Restaurant Prices, Wine Bigotry, Calendaring!

Woo Hoo (and an attagirl to me) on the Combatting Swirl Envy – Lite! class! The October 9 class is going to be a lot of fun as we learn how to Pop Pour Store wines and get a basic grounding in corkology. We will also tentatively address the Spit or Dump problem. Don’t forget to sign up!

One of my favorite email wine publications is 30-Second Wine Advisor which sends out pithy articles and musings on everything wine. A couple of recent articles caught my eye and I thought I’d share them with you.

The first article was about the prices of wine in restaurants. As you all know, this is a particular pet peeve of mine. When I went into a particular restaurant some months ago (that I named once and won’t give them publicity any more) that had an $11.00 bottle of Nobilo (a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc) on their wine list for $46.00, I went ballistic. We’re not talking about a carefully stored wine that may have earned a higher price because the restaurant ensured its providence, but we’re talking about a wine that is under screwcap and can be stored in a cooler somewhere. A good wine (delicious, as a matter of fact), but certainly not worth *that* kind of markup! There was not that kind of perceived added value.

Restaurants routinely mark up the prices of wine three to four times the wholesale price that they pay, therefore making quite a tidy little sum on each bottle. While I am the last person to deny anyone a decent profit and love the free-market system in which we live, I feel that this is unjust and does not help the restaurants.

At any rate, 30-Second Wine Advisor printed the following, which is an excerpt from the email:

Restaurants justify this practice on the basis of cost: Wine inventory, storage, glassware and service all add legitimate costs, and it's fair to recover that…

Still, a $25 price tag on a $5 bottle seems to be pushing it ... yet it's not uncommon. It's no wonder that wine lovers enthusiastically embrace BYO where the law allows; and that many more elect to pass on wine in favor of beer or a non-alcoholic beverage when dining out.

Accordingly, I'm watching with considerable interest as a local restaurant rolls out a cheeky challenge to wine-list practice. Louisville's Bristol Bar & Grille, celebrating its 30th anniversary, announced that effective immediately it will offer its entire wine list at twice each wine's wholesale price, effectively matching full-retail wine shop prices.

As a practical matter, this means that the Bristol's bottle price for Heidsieck Champagne will drop from $57 a bottle to about $33. Trevor Jones "Virgin" Australian Chardonnay, $31 on the old list, now sells for $19. The sought-after Cakebread Chardonnay, which sells around $70 at many Louisville eateries, now goes on the Bristol's list at $38.

I think this will be fabulous for the restaurant *and* the consumer, and I’ll tell you why.

First, I admire the guts it took to tackle the problem head-on. Second, if a person knows that he or she is going to pay something close to retail, that person is likely to buy an entire bottle, or, if in a group, won’t hesitate to try multiple bottles if the event calls for it. Let’s see. Customers buying more stuff. More wines may mean more food. That means a larger check total, customers that feel satisfied and not ripped off, and everybody is happy. Customers are less likely to bring in a bottle and pay corkage because they know that the prices on the restaurant’s wine list are fair.

I would rather pay $25.00 corkage for my bottle of Williams Selyem than pay $200.00 for a bottle I paid $60.00 for. Do the math. That’s a “Duh!” moment. I have opted to only buy one bottle of wine at a restaurant and have gone home to open up something else to share with my guests later. Drinking the wine in the restaurant in a celebratory fashion is much better, more fun, and far more festive! I will do my best to continue to track this story to see what the impact is on that local area’s restaurant wine prices.

The next article by 30-Second Wine Advisor was on, in my personal words, wine racism. In other words, how people love a particular color of wine and may not necessarily appreciate the finer points of other colors of wine. I know people, for instance, who love white wines but hate wines of color. Very sad. Very limiting.

Now, lest you think that I have a pure, unbiased view of wine colors, I have to correct that assumption. I prefer red wines. Deep and rich, they offer full-bodied complexity. Not unlike myself. Their dark fruits and earthy character enthrall me and reds will always be my favorite.

However, I the last few years have seen me approaching white wines with cautious enthusiasm. I spent years (literally) looking for a repeat of my first major Chardonnay experience. The insipid, overly sweet, lemonade-tasting things could not approach my memory of a wine that exploded with tropical fruit, vanilla, melon, and spice, and which fit my tongue like a glove. I finally found it again the higher end (of course, dammit) California Chardonnays. However, once that was accomplished, I was wooed by New Zealand Sauvignon Blancs which, of course, sent me around the corner to Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé. The discovery of Viognier was quite an experience. For the first time, I understood the nuances of fragrance on wine as I inhaled flowers.

The upshot is this: Don’t be a wine bigot. Try different wines. Read up on stuff about wine and wine pairings. Understand that some wines will go better with some foods (Chenin Blanc and Steak = Bad. Chenin Blanc and fresh Oysters = Yum).

Calendaring! Do you have a Wine or Vegas event that you want local folks to know about? I’ll be more than happy to put on my calendar which appears on the website and on the My Space page.

Speaking of My Space, I’ve learned to love it! I have lots of “friends” which include Hug Cellars and Vihuela Winery of Paso Robles! I’m currently waiting for Clautiere to add me on their list. Don’t forget to send pics to my gmail account at vegasrenie@gmail.com so that I can post them in My Space. If you’re member, look me up at www.MySpace.com/vegaswineaux .

Until next time!

More Vegas!!! And People Who Won’t Drink Red Wines in Summer are Sissies. So There.

I’d like to introduce you to two friends of mine who also have a Vegas Blog! Meet Scott and Elaine; their blog address is at the right of this column. It is http://vinolasvegas.blogspot.com.

They travel quite a bit (and I’m incredibly jealous because they do) and their blog is filled with great pics and narratives of their travels. Their latest escapade was to visit the wine regions of the Finger Lakes in New York State. Enjoy!

If you recall, a couple of weeks ago I went to a dinner at Café Bleu, the restaurant that is associated with Le Cordon Bleu cooking school here in Vegas. The winery was Hahn Estates, and the winemaker, Adam LaZarre (a real character in anybody’s book!) had some bottles of wine that are associated with Hahn, including Cycles Gladiator Pinot Grigio. It was quite tasty, especially for an American PG, and quite a bargain for a retail price that’s under $10.00.

A recent trip to Cost Plus World Market had me wandering the wine aisles, and I discovered Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir. What a happy surprise! I picked up a bottle for $11.95. Once again, quite a bargain. Well, when I got it home and allowed it to chill a bit, I was in for a very pleasant surprise. Without going into a long description, I can sum it up in few sentences. It smelled like Pinot Noir. It was a little on the thin side, but tasted like Pinot and was a little on the earthy side which was a surprise for a California Pinot. It’s no Williams Selyem or Kosta Browne, but for less than $12.00, it could easily be a daily drinker Pinot.

Cost Plus also has a new line of stemware that is made by Spieglau, and at $6.95 per glass, is quite a good QPR for something that rings when you tap it. (For newbies out there, QPR means Quality/Price/Ratio; in other words, the quality is better than the price may indicate).

By the way, I also purchased a half bottle of 2005 J. Lohr Arroy Vista Chardonnay. Unfortunately, the wine was cooked (smelled and tasted like Madeira), and I was too upset to think to take it back.

Another wine I drank this week was a Rosé from Valley Cheese and Wine. It is a 2006 Domaine Sainte-Eugénie Corbières. It looks and smells like watermelon! The other fragrances come through, including strawberries, cherries, and a touch of minerality. It is a combination of Cinsault and Syrah. At $15.99, it is another good QPR. There’s a funny story about how I came into possession of this wine, but I won’t share it yet. Let’s just say that the other person is still smarting from being yelled at.

It’s summer, and I’m lovin’ my grill! I’m throwing something on the grill at least once or twice a week, and along with a big fresh salad, that makes a wonderful meal in this late July Monsoon sweltering heat. And yes, I’m drinking reds. Big ones.

Viogniers and Rosés are my staples when it’s really hot and I’m too busy to deal with the additional alcohol that a big red packs. But when I’m in full relaxation mode, it’s definitely time for the red. I make a dish that I call “Pasta Fresca” that consists of a good hearty pasta (Valley Cheese and Wine has a beautiful selection), cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions, garlic, parsley, EVOO, fresh lemon juice, and gray salt. While it’s hearty enough to be a meal on its own, it is delicious with freshly grilled lamb chops. This is beautifully paired with a Syrah, and makes for a filling and satisfying meal. The secret is to put the Syrah in the fridge for about half an hour which tames it somewhat, but doesn’t detract from the character of the wine. I have several Syrahs and other than those Shirazes that I have from South Africa - which really are meant for hearty winter fare in my opinion - are great with summer barbeque. Give it a try!

And for the locals, I just received an email from some friends announcing the opening of a Farmers Market in North Las Vegas. Titled The North Las Vegas Harvest Market, following is an excerpt from the promotional piece:

The North Las Vegas Harvest Market will run year-round, rain or shine in two exciting locations. Thursday's market time is 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., will take place on the City of North Las Vegas City Hall campus located right on busy Civic Center Drive (the site of the highly successful award winning annual event "Taste & Tunes". Friday's market time is 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., will take place at the beautiful Nature Discovery Park located in the Aliante Master Planned Community. Both locations have thousands of built in customers who have consistently requested a Farmer's Market.

The North Las Vegas Harvest Market is sponsored by the City of North Las Vegas. The priority of this highly anticipated market is to promote community growth and development while allowing its citizens to enjoy upscale quality time together in a fun filled family atmosphere with the health conscience in mind. We invite you to enjoy!

I intend to visit it at the first possible opportunity, particularly since I live in the NW part of Vegas and it's kinda close by. Hope to see you there!

There are all kinds of exciting things happening next week, so please stay tuned for updates. See ya then!

A Little This 'n A Little That

Thanks to those of you who have responded so positively to the articles posted on this blog, both in writing and in person. I received a few questions this week, but before I answer any of them, there’s wine stuff to cover!

First, I need to correct an oversight. Somehow I completely neglected to mention Jimmy’s Café’s wine club, Grape Beginnings. The fee is $49.00 annually, and each member receives at 10% discount on the prices of wines by the glass or by the bottle, free corkage on Wednesdays, once a month wine dinner discount, and invitations to winemaker’s dinners. I think there are a couple of other perks, but these are the ones that I’ve used. I especially like the free corkage Wednesdays because it has allowed me to bring a couple of my treasures out to share with friends, and that paid for the membership after just a couple of visits. If you don’t understand anything else about me, know that I’m all about the budget!

Roy’s! Roy’s wine club met last Tuesday at the Roy’s restaurant on E. Flamingo. I was not able to go because of a prior commitment, but several of my friends attended. One of them reported that two of the wines had been damaged by heat. I haven’t covered Roy’s (yet), but plan to in the future. I thought that this observation was an important one to mention now, however, because the heat in enclosed cars can be a killer. Never, ever, ever leave wine in a car during late spring, summer, or early fall here in Vegas. You’ll have boiled juice. A couple of friends of mine always keep a portable cooler in the trunk of their cars so that if they run across a deal in wine (or food or whatever), they have a place to store it until they get home. Just by opening up the cooler and purchasing some ice, whatever is put into the cooler won’t be overheated and will keep until it can be properly stored at home. At about $20 +/-, it’s well worth the investment. That’s on my purchase list. As soon as I can fit it into my budget.

By the way, Roy’s made good on the cooked wines, and undamaged wines were poured in their place.

Website News! The tentative launch date for Vegaswineaux.com will be the weekend of July 21/22. We are working diligently to make sure that when the website is launched, it is attractive, usable, and informative. I will let you know how the progress is going and hope to be able to give you an exact date in about two weeks.

Red Wines for Summer! Next week is July 4, and what are you drinking? With my mother and aunt (who are, incredibly, not wine drinkers) over to the house, my choices will be limited to something along the lighter and fruitier side of the spectrum. I had wonderful luck with a great brisket at the Tex and Fritz’s Wine Club thing a couple of weeks ago, and the wines were all Zins from California. So I plan to smoke another brisket for the girls and serve Riesling and Zinfandel. I understand that Rieslings – preferably along the demi sec lines – are a great accompaniment to barbeque. We already know that Zins are. I have served Riesling to them before and they loved it. I will be forced to try both types with the different foods I’ll be cooking. Damn.

I don’t enjoy Cabs and Merlot as much as I usually do during the summer, but Zinfandels, Syrahs, and Petit Sirahs, although bruiser wines, still are great with summer fare. They go well with the heavier foods of summer – barbequed ribs, roasts, briskets, lamb, etc. – without losing their character competing with rubs, spices, and sauces. Incredibly, a big fruity Petit Sirah (a là Rosenblum Heritage Clones or Four Vines Heretic) is also a fantastic pairing with chocolate. Who knew that a big red like Petit Sirah and dark chocolate could be considered health foods!

Of course the backbone of oenophilia for the summer is light white wines. I have lots of basil and an alien life form tomato plant growing in my garden this year, which, along with Mozzarella from Trader Joe’s and fruity extra-virgin olive oil and black salt from Pasolivo, make wonderful Caprese. Pairing that with a Pinot Grigio (Issa Khoury introduced me to Kris PG), add up to near perfection. The bright green leaves of the basil, the snowy Mozzarella, the tiny, perfectly red grape tomatoes all drizzled with golden green EVOO with a grinding of black salt make a beautiful presentation. The Kris is not an overdone bomb such as Santa Margherita, and is what a good quality (and budget friendly at about $12) Pinot Grigio is supposed to be. Crisp and fruity without being sweetish, it is the quintessential Pinot Grigio. Tastes like summer! Having that meal out on the patio on a warm evening is summer personified. Are you jealous?

I have Answers!

I received one question that asked, “how do you find the restaurants?”

I have a secret formula that I use in order to decide which restaurants to patronize. It is called “word of mouth.” Nothing is better than a first-hand recommendation from someone whose palate you respect. Once you remove yourself from the “only the Strip has restaurants” mentality, you will find that Vegas is rich in small, wine-friendly establishments that aren’t out to gouge you because you happen to be vacationing here. Most of the locals restaurants that I’ve visited have had reasonable prices, great services, and restaurant-decent wine prices. As an aside, you should know that with very few exceptions, you will always pay too much for wine in a restaurant. However, it’s often a good opportunity to try a wine that you may have only heard about or to try a new wine and don’t want to experiment with it without having a meal for accompaniment.

The next question asked me about myself.

While I do have some general information about myself in the “About me” link on the right side of this page, I will go into more detail when the website launches. Stay tuned!

There were several other questions, but I answered them in this week’s posting!

My Rant for the Week! As you know from my review of a local restaurant a couple of weeks ago, high restaurant wine prices rankle me. Unfortunately, those high prices feed into people’s perception of wine as a snob drink and not as an integral part of the meal. Beer, for instance, is considered part of a meal in the U.S. I think that explains the discrepancy in relative prices between beer in wine. As an example, a restaurant customer can purchase a 16oz glass of imported beer on tap for about $5.00. On the other hand, a wine of relative quality and retail price may cost twice that or more for about 1/3 the amount of beverage. Once restaurateurs and customers buy into the idea of wine as food, then I think we will see more sensible pricing on menus.

News Flash! In the May 16, 2007, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the following has been reported:

The large research team did a pooled analysis of 12 prospective studies that included 530,469 women and 229,575 men with maximum follow-up times of 7–20 years. Compared with nondrinking, alcohol consumption (…equivalent to slightly more than one alcoholic drink per day) was associated with a decreased risk of renal cell cancer. …Associations between alcohol intake and renal cell cancer were not statistically different across alcoholic beverage type (beer versus wine versus liquor). …Conclusion: Moderate alcohol consumption was associated with a lower risk of renal cell cancer among both women and men in this pooled analysis. (JNCI, Abstract, May 16, 2007)

Next week, we’ll talk about White Zin and how even that has a place in a Wineaux’s cellar!

Lunch at Marché Bacchus

As an addendum to last week’s review of Sweet Water, I discovered a little tidbit. Food & Wine July 2007 issue just happens to have an article about wine prices in restaurants. Interestingly, the author, Lettie Teague, indicated that high prices in Vegas restaurants are normal. I inferred from the article that she covered only the “Strip” establishments. Many of them, however, do have BYOB policies, even if their corkage is outrageous (does it really cost you $50.00 to open my bottle of wine and bring a suitable glass?!? Gimme a break!) Repeat after me: “Unscrupulous.” "Greedy." "Unconscionable." Very good.

And now, to a real food and wine experience that should be experienced by anyone who is living in or visiting Vegas. The Tex and Fritz’s wine club thing that meets nearly every Saturday at noon-thirty at Marché Bacchus had its usual gathering. We generally arrive early to enjoy the free tastings out on the front patio, even on days where there are wine events/tastings at other members’ homes. We’re a pretty dedicated group of wine folks! This also gives us time to shop for wine, which they will hold for us when we’re finished with lunch.

This last Saturday, June 9, there were nine (count ‘em) of us there. I don’t go regularly enough, but felt that this would be a good day to enjoy the warm Vegas sunshine and have lunch and wine with friends by the lake. Marché Bacchus is located in Desert Shores, a gorgeous community in NW Las Vegas, well off the beaten path. The back of the restaurant/retail wine shop *is* the lake and makes for wonderful ambiance.

Their wine list is the wine store, and the prices are what you’d expect in any low cost retail establishment. You can order your food and then browse among hundreds of bottles of wines for something suitable for your meal, or you can ask Rob, the ubiquitous sommelier, to choose something suitable. He’s good. Really good.

Because we as a group are always in learning mode, we have our wine poured into decanters so that we can blind taste our way through it to figure out what it is. This can be a humbling experience. This weekend was no exception.

The usual number in the group is less than six, so one bottle of wine is usually enough. However, we decided that two bottles would be perfect for such a large number of people.

Because we are regulars, Rob and Agathe (one of the owners) conspired against us. We were served two wines, both red, both decanted.

The first wine had us nearly reduced to fisticuffs as we argued whether it was old world or new world. It was new world, in my opinion, because of the fruit on the nose. It was old world in others’ opinions because it had a lot of earth along with the fruit. (Don’t even ask. I was wrong. But I digress.) The nose indicated cherries, plum, leather, and a touch of vanilla, and the earthy quality began to assert itself more as the wine opened. However, the one quality that totally scrambled the nose at first was the amount of alcohol. It smelled hot! Once the alcohol blew off, a bit of blackberry, earth, and flowers started appearing. Then we tasted, and the confusion continued. It was fruity, but this is where the earthiness really came through along with lots of spice. It was almost Zin-like in character. I finally threw up my hands and declared that I had no clue. The “old world” “new world” argument is the only thing that continued. The verdict? It was 2003 Pigmentum Malbec, from Cahors, France.

We were stunned. Several of us (me included) did not know that Malbec was still being grown in any amount in France. Apparently, it is. What’s more, this bottle of tasty wine retails at Marché for only $11.95. Quite a bargain. By the way, in spite of the heat on the nose, the declared alcohol level was 12.5%. Tex called the winemaker a liar.

The next wine was poured once the ruckus subsided, and we were transported into olfactory heaven. Tex asked the group, “what do you get on the nose?” My reply was, “I don’t know. But I want to bathe in it.”

The nose was incredible. Dark fruit, berries, flowers (I told Agathe that it smelled like Red Viognier and she rolled her eyes, lol), romance, perfume, spice, along with oak characteristics. It had an incredibly rich, velvety mouthfeel, and the taste validated the nose. The one thing we all agreed on (finally) was that it was new world. Stunning wine and completely luscious.

We didn’t realize that we’d been given a very special treat. 2004 Duckhorn Merlot, Three Palms Vineyard. Completely worthy of worship. The retail price made us gasp, but because we hadn’t been expecting anything so dear, Agathe and Greg gave us a break. I love them!

By the way, we all bombed out on figuring out the varietal on this one, too! But as our waiter said, many of us are so used to drinking blends that we don’t recognize single varietals easily any more. Because this is the most high-end merlot I’ve ever had, this was an epiphany. We decided that in order to sharpen our palates, we need to drink more wine! Good wine.

We were there for about two hours. Marché’s prices on food and wine are extraordinary, and we had a glorious time. This is how a restaurant experience is supposed to be. There were nine of us, the conversation was constant and flowing (even when we were arguing), the food was wonderful, and the wines were spectacular. Can’t get much better than that.

Prices? I have had lunch there which consisted of a bowl of soup and a sandwich, a glass of wine (French Rosé which they pour by the glass. Can you imagine?!?), and the total came to about $22.00 which included tax and tip. All of this while dining on the patio, contemplating the beautiful landscape. A bargain in almost anyone’s book.

If you’re from Vegas and haven’t been there, shame on you. If you’re going to be visiting Vegas, you must make this a destination spot. It’s out of the way (wayyy out of the way if you’re on the Strip or all points east), but well worth the drive. If you’re there on a Saturday, join us!

http://www.marchebacchus.com

Next week, back to Paso Robles!

Sweet Water Experience not so Sweet

Whenever I go into a restaurant, I’m always in “what’s on the wine list” mode. If a wine list is not available, then I enjoy the food without it or will ask if I can bring my own.

I have to admit that I was intrigued when Sweet Water was decided upon as the destination restaurant last Friday night. We had received several informal opinions of the establishment, ranging from “fantastic” to “save your money.” Because I trust the palates of all of those who had eaten there, I figured that our own first-hand experience was the only way to go.

Sweet Water is brand new and the décor is very attractive. The seafood market just inside of the entryway showcases beautiful fish and seafood. I can’t give you a comparison on the prices, but I can tell you that it looked incredibly fresh.

The four of us were seated immediately and were given a complimentary sample of pistachio-encrusted tuna pâté with black sesame seed crackers. Delish.

Unfortunately, that was the last really positive thing that happened.

My huge pet peeve is what I call restaurant wine extortion. While I realize that it’s customary for restaurants to mark up wines to luxury-store levels, I was really irritated when I perused Sweet Water’s wine list. I’m pretty pragmatic. They want to make a buck from everything that they sell. I understand that. However, with my background as a bartender, bar manager, wine customer, and subscriber to “trade” publications, I know when the usual markup has gone to stratospheric levels. That is certainly the case here.

The first irritation came before we ever went into the restaurant. Sweet Water is not a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) restaurant. Therefore, if you want wine with your meal, you’re at the mercy of the wine list. I bring my own wines to restaurants on a fairly regular basis and it’s always a wine that’s not on the establishment’s own wine list. That would be tacky. Not only that, but there are several restaurants that have sensible corkage fees, or their prices are so reasonable that you don’t mind buying from their wine list. Sweet Water’s prices on their wines had me gasping with disbelief. I will give you a couple of for instances: Chateau St. Michelle Riesling, which normally ranges from about $7.99 to $10.00 was priced at $30.00. Benton Lane Pinot Noir Willamette Oregon was $46.00. I buy it from TJ’s for $18.00 and have seen it for less elsewhere. The worst one I saw on the list was the Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc New Zealand for which Sweet Water charges $12.00 per glass or $46.00 for the bottle. You can purchase it at Costco for about $11.00, maybe a dollar or two more at the other usual suspects. I was nearly apoplectic that anyone would have the cajones to charge that much for a nice, but very low retail cost, NZ Sauvignon Blanc. I took lots of notes on several of the other wines, but you get the drift. Unless you have the extra depth to the pockets, don’t plan to have wine in any form at Sweet Water.

So when it came time to peruse the food menu, I will admit to being very irritated.

The first thing we noticed is that while sitting and waiting (lots of “just waiting” was yet to come), we never got any bread or any other appetizer. When we inquired of our waitress, she indicated that because of the size of the meals, the owners decided not to serve bread so that people wouldn’t get too full. However, there was a garlic cheese bread available for $4.95 per ½ loaf.

We ordered one appetizer of crab cakes, inquiring as to whether we should order two. We were told that the cakes were pretty large, so one order would probably be fine for the four of us. Well, when the crab cakes came out, we eventually found them hiding under the dipping bowls on the plate. Each of us had a mouthful of crab cake. To be fair, the crab cakes were absolutely delicious, but there was no “large” involved whatsoever.

We ordered two chopped salads to share among the four of us, along with the garlic bread. We also ordered our entrees at the same time; there were two orders of fire-roasted yellow fin tuna, one of Hawaiian ono, and my own order of pan-seared mahi.

This is where being with people you really like and can converse with really comes in handy. Because if you’re waiting and waiting, you have to have something to do. We waited and waited. Etc.

My companions had ordered iced tea, and I had initially requested just water because I had been planning to purchase something from the wine list to enjoy with dinner. The water is not filtered, just good ol’ Las Vegas tap water. Yuck. So I also ordered an iced tea. Which was interesting, because although our very diligent beverage guy made sure that our glasses were filled, there was no actual “ice” involved until he asked us if we needed ice for our iced tea. While I understand that they may be concerned that the tea may be watered down by the ice, warm iced tea is problematic by itself. But I digress.

Our entrees arrived and one of my companions stopped them before they placed the food on the table in front of us and asked, “Where is our salad?” He received a momentarily blank look from the “boss looking” guy who said that we’d be getting our salads with our entrees. That’s what we wanted, right? My friend said, “No! We expect to get our salads before dinner.” This is when boss guy asked him (crossly, with attitude, negatively – fill in the blank), “So what do you expect me to do?” Can we say zero to pissed in a heartbeat? I absolutely could not imagine such a response from any of the establishments that we frequent! Of course we refused the entrees because they didn’t even have the salads available anyway! They took the food back, and we eventually received our salads. We had given explicit instructions that the salads (quite large, by the way) were going to be shared. After asking and waiting, we finally got second plates so that we could share. And, once again, the food was delicious. And the garlic cheese bread was incredible.

When our salad plates were cleared away we had to wait (surprise!) for our entrees to be served. Our rewarmed dishes came out. The yellow fin and ono apparently survived the ordeal with little damage. I had the opportunity to eat the first tough mahi I had ever tasted in my life. I took it because I didn’t dare say that it wasn’t acceptable. I may still be there waiting for a replacement if I had. We shared a rice dish that was quite tasty, and we eventually received our broccoli rabe just before the rest of our meal was finished. By the way, no serving utensils came with the side dishes.

Of course by this time my friends were outraged by the service, the dismissive attitude of the boss guy, and the overall problems that we’d had. To her credit, the manager gave us some complimentary desserts – key lime éclairs, cheesecake, and something with a cookie. All delicious.

This may sound contradictory, but the servers and the manager on duty were wonderful. They were concerned about our long wait, the mixup in our orders (there were more, but then this review would turn into a book), the heated exchange between my companion and the boss guy, and our overall unhappiness with our experience.

The synopsis is as follows:

• The food overall was quite tasty. I’m sure my fish was delicious the first time it came out, but after being taken back for the eternity we had to wait for salads and plates, it suffered in its return. I didn’t expect to get a fresh serving of fish.
• Don’t plan on wine with a meal unless you are abysmally ignorant about wine prices at retail or don't mind being gored.
• Allow lots of time. Our dinner experience took nearly 2-1/2 hours, and that was without wine. Other plans for the evening were shot.
• Apparently, you have to specify if you want salads before your entrée. Be sure to do so.
• The servers are terrific. Too bad the kitchen process let them down.

I have no plans of ever returning to Sweet Water. The negatives (high wine prices, no BYOB, slow service, extra charges on things that are usually a part of a normal restaurant meal (bread), upper management attitude) definitely outweigh the positives (tasty food, wonderful servers, ambiance). When upper management realizes that the success of Las Vegas rises and sets on the philosophy of superior customer service, maybe they can make sure that such fiascos are few and far between.

Sweet Water is located at 9460 S. Eastern Ave., Henderson, in a new strip mall. Their website is still under construction. I hate that.

Next week, back to wines. Thanks for letting me rant.