Thanksgiving and Veteran’s Day

Today, December 21^st, is my Thanksgiving and Veteran’s Day.

Many of my friends have urged me to write about my cancer experience, and I certainly have enough material to make it book-length.  I will take this occasion to pen my first public comments by way of a short and to-the-point blog post.  Maybe someday that book will come, too.

On October 30, 2007 I discovered blood in my urine.  After an emergency room visit, a CT scan, and an ambulance ride to a downtown Seattle hospital, on Friday, November 2^nd I underwent a procedure called a TURB (Trans-Urethral Resection of the Bladder) to remove a tumor.

On November 5^th, 2007 I was diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer.

When the urologist had first looked at the results of the CT scan, he told me to expect the worst.  While he was very clear that he could not give an actual diagnosis until he removed and analyzed the tumor, he said that from the size and location of the growth, in his experience it was most likely T3 disease, which is cancer that has spread beyond the bladder. The 3-year survival rate for T3 bladder cancer is 5%.

Following the TURB, the official diagnosis was not as bad as he expected.  He and a second-opinion doctor both recommended bio-therapies and a second TURB to look for any other tumors.  The experience gained in four years of volunteer work with the Lance Armstrong Foundation kicked in, and I sought a third opinion as well as reading everything I could find on and off line about bladder cancer.  I soon learned that there are two opposed schools of thought: the “bladder sparing” proponents, also known as the Sloane-Kettering or east coast school, and the “radical surgery” proponents, known as the USC or west coast school. Realizing that all three opinions were solidly from the bladder sparing side, I asked my urologist to recommend a doctor from the opposing school for a fourth opinion.  This turned out to be Dr. Sia Daneshmand at OHSU (Oregon Health and Science University) in Portland, OR, considered among the finest bladder cancer surgeons in the world and a veteran of the USC Norris bladder cancer program.  I met with him on Monday, November 12, 2007, and after a day of tests and consultations he recommended immediate surgery to remove the bladder.

I will never forget his words. “This thing only exists for one reason,” he said. “It exists only to kill you. You must play offense.  If you play defense it will always win, and you will die.”

On December 21^st, 2007 I underwent a Radical Cystoprostatectomy with Lymph Node Dissection and Orthotopic Ileal Neo-bladder Diversion, performed at OHSU by a surgical team led by Dr. Daneshmand.  The surgery took almost eight hours, and involved creating a new bladder (neo-bladder) from a one-meter section of living small intestine (Ilium) and installing it where my original bladder had been removed.  The recovery was hard.  From a urological standpoint, I was like an infant when I came home from the hospital six days later.

My recovery was slow at first but gained speed quickly after the first three weeks.  I was walking a mile a day after week four, and I took my first wobbly one-mile bike ride around the neighborhood in week eight.  Today I am fit and healthy.  Of course if I had a choice I would never had gotten sick, but we don’t get to make that choice, and cancer for me has been a great blessing in my life.  I can honestly say that the last five years have been the happiest of my life, by far.  Over that time I have watched my youngest two children graduate from college, and three weeks ago I held my first granddaughter.  Tomorrow I will turn 60 years old.  I never thought I would see any of these things on November 5^th, 2007.  I feel I am a better friend, a better father, and a better husband because of what I have experienced and what I have learned.

I have been cancer-free for five years today.

Dr. Sia Daneshmand and the author

That explains why today is my Thanksgiving pretty easily, but what about Veteran’s Day?

Through my work with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, dealing with cancer in my immediate family, and of course my own cancer experience, I have talked to a great many people who have dealt with this disease.  Here are three of the most significant things I’ve found:

There is still stigma attached to cancer.  Yes, we’ve come a long way in our country, thanks to the Pink Ribbons, the Foundation, and many other well-meaning organizations.  In rural Africa, those afflicted with cancer are routinely driven out of their village and left to suffer and die alone.  But major stigma still exists even in first-world post-industrial countries like Italy, where it is taboo to talk about cancer, and cancer in a family is considered a deep dishonor.  It exists here too, if in a lesser form.  Exactly 100% of the people I’ve spoken to who are living with and through cancer and its aftermath have told of friends who have simply vanished permanently from their life, apparently unable to deal with the reality of cancer so close at hand.  Regrettably, I have experienced this myself.

Hold the battle metaphors, please.  The vocabulary of those writing about cancer is dripping with comparisons to war.  Nobody dies from cancer; they “lost their courageous battle,” etc.  Almost everyone I have spoken with in the cancer community hates this.  As one of my favorite cancer wits put it: “When someone dies in a car accident, you never hear about how they lost their brave battle with a Subaru.”

Survivor, or surviving?  Many of the folks I have spoken with are deeply uncomfortable with the whole “survivor” terminology.  To many, it demeans those who die from cancer, and let’s face it, more people die from cancer than are cured.  It seems like you are self-identifying as somehow superior, when all of us know how fortunate we are to be among the minority group whose treatment has worked, if only for now.  We’re surviving, I suppose, but does that make us survivors?  One of my favorite writers, Mary Elizabeth Williams (Salon.com) was diagnosed with malignant melanoma a few years back, and we have had some interesting discussions on these issues, including the survivor thing.  If we’re not survivors, then what do we call ourselves?   We’ve not yet come up with the perfect name, and I don’t think there really is one, but she likes to call us “veterans.”  I must say I like all of the connotations of that word in relation to cancer, even though it does suggest the old war analogies.  I’ve run this one by many cancer – ahem – veterans, and most seem more comfortable with this one than others.

So, please join me in wishing a very happy Thanksgiving and Veteran’s Day to, well….me.

Now where’s that corkscrew…

Lance Takes a Pass

As a cycling fan and cancer veteran, I was saddened – and yes, incensed – by the news that broke last night, that Lance Armstrong would not submit to arbitration in the doping case that the USADA has brought against him.  It is indeed a sad day for him, his fans, and the sport of cycling, as so many sports writers and pundits have written over the last 24 hours.  But the majority of them have gotten it mostly wrong, exhibiting very little understanding if not outright ignorance of the USADA “arbitration” process that has caused Lance to take this unexpected turn.

The very first post on this blog was titled “Stirring the Lance Pot.”  It was an attempt to present an alternative, reasoned explanation to just how Lance could have achieved similar or superior performance to that of his top competitors, many of whom are proven dopers.  I never said, nor do I now, that I know Lance to be innocent of doping; none of us will ever know that for sure because we weren’t there.  As someone who has worked as a volunteer for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, participated in the Ride for the Roses in Austin, TX, and raised several hundred thousand dollars personally for the Foundation, I have had the opportunity meet and speak with Lance many times, on and off the bike, and I have the utmost respect for him.

Let’s look at the primary themes of today’s articles. The main thread that runs through most of the superficial analyses is that Lance is refusing to proceed because he knows that damning evidence will become public.  The flip side of this is the consistent claim, even by the head of WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency,) that Lance’s refusal to submit to the arbitration process is tantamount to an admission of guilt.  The facts are just a bit different, and it is necessary to bring in a brief bit of history.

The USDA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) was formally founded in 2000 as a taxpayer funded non-profit charged with implementing and enforcing the World Anti-Doping Code.  It’s original charter was to protect the rights of American Olympic athletes who had tested positive for PED’s (Performance Enhancing Drugs,) ensuring that the standards of testing and analysis were fair to the athletes.  Under the USADA’s original mandate, no case could have possibly been brought against Lance because although he has been tested over 500 times in and out of competition he has never once had a positive test result.  However, in 2004 the WADA introduced the World Anti-Doping Code as a guide for all the national Agencies that followed the WADA guidelines.  Included in this Code was the little-understood and seldom-used “non-analytical positive,” a poorly defined and decidedly gray-area ruling that enabled the national WADA-affiliated organizations like the USADA to impose sanctions where there was no positive test result, declaring a doping positive based on non-analytical evidence, primarily eyewitness testimony or documents indicating doping violations.

This is the basis for the USADA case against Armstrong.  They bring their case in secret, with no evidentiary rules.  The accused may submit to an “arbitration” process that is wholly controlled by the USADA.  The arbitration board, which USADA repeatedly misleadingly calls a “neutral” board, is made up of a majority appointed directly by Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA.  The “evidence” is not shared with the accused prior to the proceeding, and may include signed statements rather than live testimony.  Contrary to most articles out today, there is no guarantee that any of the evidence would have been made public; in fact, there is substantial evidence that the USADA has made deals with riders, guaranteeing them immunity even after their admission of doping, in return for their sworn statements supporting the USADA’s case.  There is no right of cross-examination.  The accused bears the burden of proving the charges false; he is literally guilty until proven innocent under this process.

The USADA is the prosecutor, judge, and jury, and they have the right change the rules as they see fit, even retroactively.  A perfect example of this is their decision to change the rule on the statute of limitations.  Their own bylaws include an eight-year statute of limitations, which would limit any sanction to Armstrong’s last two Tour de France victories.  But they have retroactively changed the rules, allowing them to go back seventeen years.  If you read Lance’s entire statement, it is easy to see how he is justified in calling this proceeding a “witch hunt” and the arbitration board a “kangaroo court.”  Many articles have said Lance would never give up a fight and that proves his guilt.  I say that Lance would never give up a fair fight.  Outside magazine, which has been very critical and suspicious of Lance in the past, published a long article on the un-American nature of the whole USADA process that is well worth reading, and today published a follow-up indicating that may be a bit more complicated than the USADA seems to think.

The second theme running through all of the articles on line today is the “stripping” of Lance’s titles, including all seven of his Tour de France wins, several other major race wins, and his 22 T. de F. stage wins.  Not so fast.  The UCI (Union Cycliste International) is responsible for actually taking away a race win, and the Associated Press and the New York Times are both reporting today that the UCI has already asked USADA for their evidence, indicating that they may not just automatically take action, even though they are pledged to abide by WADA decisions on doping.  Further complicating the issue is the UCI’s own eight-year statute of limitations, and there is clear relevant precedent here.  When Bjarne Riis admitted to doping to win the 1996 Tour, it was outside the statute of limitations, and he is still listed as the winner by the UCI.

There are numerous other points that speak to the inconsistency and hypocritical nature of USADA’s actions.  First, although they claim repeatedly, including in their official statement today, that Armstrong was part of a vast conspiracy (The United States Postal Service Conspiracy,) they have not charged a single rider other than Armstrong.  Why not, if they have a huge preponderance of evidence?  As stated, they seek to strip Armstrong of all his titles and T. de F. stage wins.  What about all of his teammates titles and stage wins?  What of the USPS team time trail stage wins?  This single fact is the most compelling evidence that Travis Tygart is using the unfettered power of a taxpayer-funded agency to perpetuate a personal vendetta against Armstrong that has been going on for years.

Lastly, let’s take a look at the final absurdity of this case.  If Armstrong is in fact stripped of his Tour wins, the runner-up in each year will be awarded the win and the coveted Yellow Jersey.  Who would those riders be?  Of the seven runners-up from 1999-2006, only Andreas Kloden in 2004 was never sanctioned for doping, and even he was under investigation before the 2006 Tour.  Jan Ulrich finished second three times, in 2000, 2001, and 2003, served a ban for doping in the Operacion Puerto affair, and eventually retired in disgrace and paid a huge fine.  The other second place finishers, Alex Zulle (1999), Joseba Beloki (2002) and Ivan Basso (2005) were all sanctioned after either admitting to doping or failing doping controls (positive tests.)

So here’s a great idea: Let’s strip seven Tour wins (most of which are past the statute of limitations anyway) from a guy who retired years ago and never once tested positive in over 500 blood and urine tests over 17 years.  Then we’ll hand those seven titles over to five other riders, four of whom were officially sanctioned for either admitted or analytically proven doping during their cycling careers.

When I give this whole tragic, illogical, and blatantly unfair process the sniff test, it fails miserably.  Due process?  Innocent until proven guilty?  An agency set up to protect athletes from unfair persecution over PED’s?  This is America; we’re supposed to be a lot better than this.

Update 08/28/2012:

The Los Angeles Times published a great article on the unfairness of the USADA's "arbitration" process on August 26th, written by columnist Michael Hiltzek.  Well worth a read!

Introducing....Recipes!

Salmon with Pink Sauce

All of my friends and family know that I love to cook.  Many readers of this blog have suggested that I post more often, and quite few others have asked me for some of my favorite recipes.  So I’ve decided to combine the two, starting off my recipe blogging with a family favorite that is also one of the simplest and tastiest dishes I make.  It's a variant of a recipe I saw done on some long ago cooking show.  The original recipe came from the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station in NYC.  It is perfect for the Springer Chinook salmon that is available everywhere in the great Pacific Northwest right about now. (Note: don’t run the other way after reading the ingredients list if you despise anchovies.  If you had the dish without knowing in advance you’d never guess they were there.)

Ingredients: Serves four

1 teaspoon good olive oil

2 teaspoons butter

1 medium shallot, finely diced

4 anchovy filets, roughly chopped

¼ cup dry white wine

1 pint heavy cream

½ tsp white pepper

2 teaspoons tomato paste, divided

2 pounds thick Chinook or King salmon filets, deboned, skinned, and cut into four 6-7 ounce squares, at room temperature

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp softened butter

After skinning and deboning (pulling the little pin bones from the filets) the salmon, individually wrap the squares in paper towels to absorb any surface moisture, which ensures a good sear.

Heat the butter and olive oil over low heat in a medium sauté pan.  Add the shallot and cook very slowly until translucent but not browned.  Add the chopped anchovies and cook slowly, stirring with a wooden spatula until they basically dissolve, about a minute.

Turn up heat and add white wine.  Scrape up all the shallots and anchovy paste into the wine and boil until reduced by half.  Add ¾ of the cream and the white pepper and bring to a simmer boil.  Add one teaspoon of the tomato paste and stir it until it is completely dissolved in the cream sauce.  Add a little more if you want it a little pinker.

Simmer for eight to ten minutes on low heat, adding a little more cream or water if it thickens too quickly.

While the sauce simmers, dredge the salmon squares in the cornstarch, rubbing off any excess.  Let the cornstarch absorb into the flesh, further drying the surface.

Quickly sear the salmon squares in a large, non-stick skillet, just until crisply browned on both sides, about 2-3 minutes per side depending on their thickness.  This will yield medium rare salmon, which is absolutely the best way to prepare it.  Cook it longer if you must. Remove the salmon to a warm plate.

Pour the sauce through a strainer into a Bain Marie or small saucepan over very low heat, and add a bit of cream if the sauce feels thick.  Whisk in the softened butter.

Arrange the salmon on warm plates and pour the pink sauce over it.  Garnish with a little chopped parsley and serve with rice or mashed potatoes and a steamed green vegetable such as asparagus, broccoli, or zucchini.

A final comment: The key to the simplicity and ease of preparation of this delicious dish is the anchovy.  It obviates the need for seafood stock or clam juice, providing the perfect subtle fish flavor and just the right amount of salt.  The beautiful pink color enhances the beauty of seared fresh salmon.  I couldn’t find a photo of this dish, but I promise the next time I cook it I’ll snap one and update this post.

Feedback always welcome!

June 4, 2012 Update:

Well, last night I finally got around to making the pink sauce again, the occasion being the first Copper River salmon of the season.  This is Coho, and the really great stuff, the Copper River king, should be along in the next couple of weeks.  Rather than just take a picture of the final plated dish, I snapped some of the preparation steps as well.  I took some liberties with the original recipe above.  First, we chose not to have rice or potatoes and just enjoy the fish and asparagus.  The asparagus was grilled on the balcony with black pepper, sea salt flakes, and good olive oil instead of steamed.  Lastly, I put the sauce under the fish instead of pouring it over, just because Copper River salmon is so gorgeous!

A good friend who read the original post also took me to task for not including wine recommendations, so here goes.  Salmon With Pink Sauce can be paired with either red or white wine.  In the case of white, I recommend a full bodied chardonnay that can hold up to the strong flavors of both the salmon and the sauce.  If you got your bonus check recently, go straight for a white Burgundy like the 2005 Vincent Girardin Puligny Montrachet "Les Combettes."  Or, since we're talking Pacific Northwest seafood, stay local, save $80 or so, and pick the 2009 Domaine Drouhin "Arthur" Chardonnay.

If your taste runs to the reds, stay away from overly robust, alcoholic varietals like Cabernet or Syrah-based wines.  Pinot Noir is perfect.  Once again, if you feel like a splurge head for Burgundy.  Perhaps the 2005 Nicholas Potel Volnay 1er Cru "Santenots."  Following the same logic as the whites above, you can save a few bucks (OK, very few) and stay local, maybe with the 2007 Domaine Drouhin "Laurene" Pinot Noir from right here in Oregon.

And what did we drink last night?  Ahem...the  2005 Potel Volnay Santenots, I'm happy to report.

Cheers, all!

Las Vegas Restaurants - Part II - Updated Jan. 2013

January, 2013 Update:  Here's Part II of the updated Las Vegas restaurant reviews.

Enjoy, and comments are always welcome!

Yesterday's post covered Japanese restaurants and concluded with some casual dining picks.  Today's second and final installment is a bit more ambitious, covering fine dining, Italian, steakhouses, and a couple of others that don't fit these categories.  I'll start with my recommended fine dining establishments.

By the early 2000’s the fine dining restaurant scene in Las Vegas was well into in the process of becoming dominated by celebrity chefs.  Steve Wynn started this trend a few years earlier in 1998 with the opening of the Bellagio, which featured Spanish chef Julian Serrano’s elegant restaurant, Picasso.  The Bellagio certainly was not the first property in Vegas to have celebrity chef restaurants; indeed, there was Emeril’s Fish House, a staple at the MGM Grand, and a whole host of Wolfgang Puck joints.  The difference at the Bellaggio was that Wynn insisted the chef move to Las Vegas and actually cook at the restaurant.  All of the others were replicas staffed by mostly local talent and featuring the celebrity chef’s signature dishes and name only.

So when the Maloof brothers, the owners of the Sacramento Kings NBA team, were ready to open their new Vegas property, the Palms Resort, in 2001, they were faced with the choice of having another “me too” high-end restaurant named after some famous out-of-town chef, or of doing something different.  They decided to check the local food scene and see if there existed an iconic Vegas chef, a local that would be in the same league as the famous imports.  It was a big decision, as they had designed the main tower of their new hotel/casino with a huge space on the top floor, one floor above the soon-to-be-famous Ghostbar, dedicated to their fine dining restaurant. The room had and has one of the finest views of the Las Vegas strip and downtown.

Andre Rochat

They found their man, Andre Rochat, at his eponymous traditional French restaurant located in a converted residence near the downtown.  A true Vegas original as well as an award-winning chef, Rochat had been wowing Vegas diners since 1980.  He was persuaded to open a second restaurant at the Palms by the promise of complete autonomy over design, staff, and cuisine, as well as the sheer magnificence of the location.  He smartly chose to make this a complimentary restaurant to Andre’s, rather than a carbon copy or a complete departure.  It would still have some of the traditional French fare for which he was well-known and the daily fois gras preparation that had become his signature, but this cuisine would be lighter, a bit more nouvelle, and more varied and experimental with its ingredients and flavor combinations.

The view from Alize

The result stunned the Vegas dining community.  Alize opened for business on November 15^th, 2001, and began earning accolades and awards almost immediately.  For our money, Alize at the top of the Palms is hands-down the best fine dining restaurant in town.  Prices are quite reasonable for Vegas, the room is gorgeous, and the view is spectacular.  But the food is the star.  I have eaten here tens of times and can honestly say I have never had a dish that was not a “wow.”  Andre’s treatment of duck and veal dishes in his new style are revelations, and his old standards like Dover sole and his signature fois gras preparations have never been better.  He closed the original Andre’s downtown on New Years Eve 2008, and the staff was moved en mass to the newly remodeled Andre’s in the Monte Carlo, which continues the tradition of purist classic French dishes.  It’s a fantastic restaurant in its own right, and is highly recommended.  Andre himself cooks regularly at both Andre’s and Alize.

2013 Update:  We were fortunate enough to dine at Alize four times in 2012, and every bite of every course of every meal was still a "wow." All the meals were outstanding, but the capper had to be the invitation-only dinner celebrating what would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday.  For this special occasion, Andre himself created a seven-course tasting menu consisting of Julia Child's self-identified favorite dishes.  I was fortunate enough to attend with two great friends, one old and one new, and the entire evening was one of those once-in-a-lifetime dining experiences.

There are many, many fine dining restaurants that are worth mentioning.  Mega-hotels like the Wynn/Encore and the Venetian/Palazzo have dozens between them.  Here are just a few of our favorites, in a sentence or two.

Bouchon is located far from the restaurant row of the Venetian, actually up the back elevators just off the lobby and past the VIP check-in.  It’s famous chef Thomas Keller’s take on a classic French Bistro, complete with oyster bar, multiple pate choices, charcuterie’s, and cheeses.  An expansive French wine selection and a warm, friendly atmosphere complete the picture.  Drink the Sancerre.

The wine tower at Aureole

I’m including Aureole at the Mandalay Bay because just about everyone I’ve ever dined with there has loved it.  It’s been on every best-of list since it opened in 1999.  Famous for its 42-foot glassed-in wine tower (as shown above) with “wine angels” going up and down in harnesses retrieving bottles, it is a Vegas-flash version of it’s far more conservative and warm original location in NYC.  For me, Aureole's Vegas incarnation has always been just a touch short of great, which is to say that although I have never had a bad dish there, the “wow’s” have been few and far between.  Maybe it’s just that I get pissed off every time I’m forced to navigate the “wine list,” which is a ridiculously obsolete old clunker of a tablet computer with software so obtuse and unusable that Steve Jobs is chuckling in his grave.

Picasso!

Picasso at the Bellagio, mentioned above, is another restaurant I was on the fence about including here.  For years I considered it to be on a par with Alize as the best of the best.  I had many terrific meals here, and the service and atmosphere were always absolutely top shelf.  After all, how bad can it be eating dinner in a cozy dining room under a bezillion dollars worth of original Picasso’s and surrounded by celebrities?  The real star was the food, which, though expensive, was well worth the price.  The service was impeccable as well, friendly without being pushy, and never overly formal or stuffy.  The problem was the menu.  It never changed.  I mean never.  Good as they were, year in and year out, the same dishes were there.  Picasso jumped the shark for me when they started adding some vaguely Asian-inspired specials, which I found substandard and overpriced.  I’m including Picasso because I had so many memorable meals here and also because the last time I walked by they were displaying a completely new menu!  It’s on my list for this year, and I will diligently report my findings.

2013 Update:  As promised, I revisited Picasso for a solo dinner just after CES in January.  I am very happy to report that the shark has finally been un-jumped.  Their new menu is a perfect mix of a handful of their old standby's like butter-poached oysters and warm quail salad plus delicious new additions such as the sautéed black bass and New Zealand Tai snapper.  Service was perfect, as usual, and you can't write about this place without mentioning yet again the incredible presentation of original Picasso paintings.  I had forgotten how visually stunning the are and how much they add to the whole experience.  We already have a reservation for the Saturday night after this year's show!

Eiffel Tower restaurant overlooking the Bellagio fountains

Perhaps an unlikely addition to the recommended list is the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at Paris.  Because of it’s location on the mezzanine level of the ultra-tacky Eiffel Tower attraction, it is seldom taken seriously as a restaurant.  In fact, it serves some of the best French cuisine this side of Andre Rochat.  Make sure to ask for a table next to the floor-to-ceiling windows that face the Bellagio fountains directly across the street.  It’s a fantastic view to go with your fantastic meal, and along with the white table cloths, silver and crystal place settings, and formal service it makes Eiffel Tower a perfect place for a romantic meal.  You do have those at CES, right?   The cold fois gras torchon and the warm Maine lobster salad are nice starters, and every entree we've tried has been excellent.  The bar here is a winner as well, and we often stop here after a dinner elsewhere for desert, a drink, and a couple of revs of the famous fountains.  The bartenders are friendly and the drinks are generous.  Please note: you will pay dearly for all this!

2013 Update:  Laura and I ate here again in November, 2012, just before Thanksgiving, and it was every bit as good as described last year. I tried the crispy Loup du Mer entree and was blown away. We were awarded one of the prized tables for against the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the Bellagio's fountains.  Try this place and you will not be disappointed.

Bradley Ogden at Caesar’s Palace (mentioned in Part I for it’s lounge menu) was rumored to be closing at the end of November but appears to still be alive and well if you can believe that "Internet" thing.  A smallish, pricey menu for sure, but this place delivers when it comes to tasty, imaginative dishes served in a great looking venue.  Many dishes are cooked “sous vide” and are remarkably juicy and flavorful.

2013 Update: As mentioned in the Part I update, Bradley Ogden closed in August, 2012.

I’m not sure Emeril’s Fish House qualifies as fine dining, but it sure is fun to eat here.  New Orleans staples cooked simply and effectively, with the focus on fresh seafood dishes, are the rule of the day.  Just past Shibuya at the MGM Grand.  The Louisiana Style Shrimp Etouffee is almost worth the ridiculous $32 price tag.

Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill just across from Bradley Ogden at Caesar’s is the place in Vegas for a Southwestern-inspired meal.  The Rough Cut Tuna “Nachos” are worth the trip by themselves, and the Chili Crusted Rabbit is also highly recommended.

2013 Update:  We dined at the Mesa Grill once in 2012, and it was as fine a meal as I have ever had there.  Roasted corn soup and blue corn lobster taco's were the highlights this year.

2013 Update:  There are tons of new restaurants, as always, in Las Vegas, and a huge cluster of them are in the City Center complex and the adjacent Cosmopolitan.  Right now the locations at the Cosmopolitan get our nod.  We have walked "Restaurant Row" on the second floor of the Aria at City Center several times (we can walk to City Center from our place now, thanks to the new Harman Road lighted pedestrian walkway.)  We have been put off by the uninspired menu choices and the absurdly high prices, even for Vegas.  There are many new dining spots in the Cosmopolitan, and the menus at places like Comme Ca, Scarpetta, and D.O.C.G. look very interesting and quite reasonably priced for a top-end Vegas property.  We have not dined at any of these, but with the benefit of a son and daughter-in-law who live there year-round and are adventurous diners, we feel comfortable recommending the Cosmopolitan. There is one recommended new restaurant in Crystals, the shopping mall at City Center.  It's called Mastro's Ocean Club, and it's visually unique, to say the least, comprising a gigantic "treehouse" that looms over the main rotunda.  It boasts a huge menu of seafood and steaks, at typical Vegas (high) prices.

Italian dining has also gotten pretty good in Vegas.  We like Rao’s in Caesar’s Palace.  Members of the same family that runs the famous Rao’s in New York run it like a small family restaurant.  But even though the atmosphere is casual, Rao’s is a big, noisy place that is always packed.  It’s pricey, and pretty basic Italian food, but it’s consistently great.   The meatballs are outstanding, and I’ve often made a late-night meal out of just an order of meatballs (two, baseball-sized, with marinara) and a salad.  Pastas are all house made, and portions are enormous.  Check and see if they have the cold seafood salad as an appetizer special, but only if you’re really hungry; it’s a big oval plate heaped with calamari, shrimp, scallops, and lobster meat tossed with veggies and vinaigrette.  They also have a very respectable Italian wine selection, with several relatively inexpensive wines, a rarity for a casino hotel restaurant in Vegas.

2013 Update:  I had the pleasure of eating at Rao's quite a few times in 2012, and it did not disappoint.  One of the highlights was when my son Keith and I were seated in the "front room" which is a table-by-table exact replica of the tiny original Rao's restaurant in NewYork.

A local hole-in-the-wall Italian place also bears mentioning, Nora’s Cuisine at 6020 West Flamingo Road.  It’s several long blocks off the strip, but here you will find home-style Italian food at ridiculously cheap prices.  You will also find a line outside, a packed bar, and not a single out-of-towner.  Salad’s come small and large, with a small feeding 2-3 diners easily and large double that.   There is a nice variety of home-style Italian dishes, the service is warm and personal, and it’s been very much a neighborhood, checkered-table-cloth joint since 1991.  In a word, it’s about as un-Vegas as it gets.  We love this place.

Steak is a primary food group at CES, as at all trade shows, so a few random notes on the topic seem in order.  Our favorite steak house in Las Vegas is probably Emeril Lagasse’s Delmonico in the Venetian.  Don’t mess with the vaguely Cajun specials; go straight for the steaks, and don’t forget one of the last truly made-from-scratch tableside Caesar salads remaining anywhere.

2013 Update:  Revisited Delmonico's for the first time in a couple of years the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and had a typically fabulous steak dinner, with impeccable, friendly service, including being recognized by the sommelier after such a long absence.

We visited an old standby the last time we were in town and were very pleasantly surprised.  The Palm is located in the Forum Shops just off the main casino floor at Caesar’s.  Nothing unusual about the menu, but on our last few visits the food has been outstanding, the service and atmosphere warm and friendly, and even the wine list didn’t seem too crazy expensive.  But maybe we've just been dining in Vegas too long.

Prime at the Bellagio

Two others come to mind for the sheer quality of the steaks, although both are really more fine dining spots than real steakhouses like Delmonico and the Palm.  The first is Prime Steakhouse (above), located right across from Picasso down the escalator at Bellagio.  It’s a supremely elegant room with stuffy service, really high prices (everything a la carte), and simply superb beef.  The second is the unusually monikered N9NE Steakhouse at the Palms.  Incredibly popular with local and national celebrities and athletes, it is more of a see-and-be-seen scene than a traditional steakhouse, but once again the beef is to die for.  Rob a bank before you go here without an expense account, or if you do have one be prepared to discreetly inflate the number of diners.

I’ve gone on long enough here, but let me close with some places we avoid.  I won’t go into details on each one, but these non-recommendations are all based on our own multiple dining experiences.  Most are mediocre food-wise, stupidly expensive even for Vegas, or in most cases both: Fiammo Trattoria, Nove Italiano, Maggiano’s, Il Mulino, Michael Mina, Olives, Sushi Roku, Mizuya, Smith & Wollensky, Fleur, and Mix.

2013 Update:  I'm happy to say we really don't have any new duds to report from our many 2012 dining experiences. I am removing Fleur from the "avoid" list above, out of simple fairness.  We haven't been back, but our Vegas sources tell us that it is really a completely different restaurant, having undergone a complete remodel and a drastic menu change from hyper-pricy fine dining to tapas-style small plates.

That's it for this year.  Feel free to comment or contact me for more highly opinionated, occasionally accurate information.

Happy dining!

Las Vegas Restaurants - Part I - Updated Jan. 2013

January, 2013 Update: My two posts last year on Vegas restaurants received some of the highest page views in the history of Frank-Incensed. Since not a great deal has changed on the restaurant scene, rather than write whole new reviews, I have updated these review based on our experiences over the past year, during which we spent almost five weeks total in Las Vegas.

Enjoy!

As some of you know, Laura and I have been living part time in Las Vegas for the last couple of years, going down four or five times a year for long weekends and occasional long weeks.  With CES right around the corner, I thought I’d pass along a few tidbits of restaurant information from a “local’s” perspective.  We have had quite a lot of opportunity to try different restaurants, some multiple times, and gotten lots of advice from real locals, including our son and daughter-in-law Keith and Katie, who live in Henderson full time.  A quick disclaimer: this is in no way anything like a comprehensive review of Vegas dining, as there are literally hundreds of restaurants in Vegas that we have never set foot in.  Additionally, the opinions expressed here are heavily biased toward our existing food preferences.  Rather than an objective critics-eye view, this is more of a personal diary of Vegas dining.  That having been said, I hope you will find this useful, and maybe even a little entertaining.

First, we love Japanese food.  We eat in one or more of Portland’s many fantastic and authentic Japanese places at least once a week, so we were very pleasantly surprised to find truly excellent Japanese fare in Las Vegas.  One certainly needn’t worry about the old “fish in the desert?” question these days, when everything from real Mediterranean Branzino to live Maryland crabs are available for restaurant dining and often even retail purchase thanks to the miracle of daily air deliveries.

There are two world-class Japanese restaurants on the Strip.  First on my list (by just a hair) would be Okada at the Wynn.  The sushi is fantastic and the traditional Japanese cooked dishes are also superb.  This is the only place in town with a traditional Robata bar, where fresh seafood, poultry, meat, and vegetable selections are cooked to order on a small charcoal hibachi.  Robatayaki is one of the most popular dining styles in Tokyo, with hundreds of places serving it up.  Unfortunately, it has not proven very popular in Vegas, and the Robata bar at Okada was only open a couple of nights a week at the time of our last visit.  This place is hugely popular, so reservations are a must, even at the sushi bar!  There is an amazing sake list here too, which can further damage your wallet (more on this below.) This is the best Japanese food I have had outside of Japan.

2013 Update: Okada has been renamed Mizumi after a dispute between Steve Wynn and the man who's name was previously on the restaurant.  The chef, staff, and food is said to be the same.  The decor is definitely not.  The place has been changed from its former subtle ( and quintessentially Japanese) bamboo and hemp decor to a garish red and gold color scheme that reminds one of nothing more that a chain Chinese restaurant. We ate there, and while the food was certainly good (and certainly just as expensive,) it didn't take our breath away like it had for us in the past.  Perhaps it was the subliminal influence of the horrible new decor, but something had slipped.

The second top-notch Japanese place is Shibuya at the MGM Grand.  It also features fantastic sushi and very fine specialty Japanese dishes as well.  You’d be well advised to have reservations here, too, especially on weekends.  The sushi here is also fantastic: really fresh and expertly cut by one of what seems like fifty Japanese sushi chefs working behind a huge sushi bar.  Shibuya specializes in creative sashimi-style appetizers that are perfect for sharing, with each having four or more pieces.  The marinated Hamachi and the Kobe beef are highly recommended, but everything here is top-notch.  The cooked dishes are terrific too, with Laura’s hands-down favorite being pineapple salmon and miso-marinated black cod; two generous chunks of fish that are simultaneously full-flavored and melt-in-your-mouth.  On a side note, Shibuya is one of the very few places I have visited that offers real fresh-grated Wasabi root.  The clump of spicy green paste you get in 99% of all Japanese restaurants is a reconstituted mix of dried wasabi root powder and water.  By contrast, Shibuya’s fresh Wasabi comes on a miniature cutting board with a sharkskin grater and a generous hunk of a real Wasabi root.  The resulting grated Wasabi is only vaguely similar to the usual paste, having good spiciness and a more pleasing texture that comes from the fibrous root and its natural moisture.  It costs an additional $15 per order (politely decline when they say your table may need two orders) and you have to ask for it.  Ask for it.

2013 Update: With the slight decline of the former Okada and no less than four outstanding dinners in 2012, Shibuya tops our ranking of Japanese restaurants with ease.  Consistently great sushi and sashimi,  innovative cooked and raw Japanese dishes, and outstanding service and Sake selection.

One note on both of these places, which applies to most quality strip dining spots:  they are really expensive.  Expect to pay 50-75% more than at a regular top-shelf big-city Japanese restaurant.  Think New York City prices.  Perfect for your CES expense account meals!

There is an excellent “hole-in-the-wall” Japanese place that is very popular with locals as it is open really late.  It’s called Naked Fish, and it’s way out on the west side at 3945 South Durango Drive.  Sushi prices here are approximately half the cost of Okada and Shibuya, and I would rate the quality at around 90-95% of the two top shelf Japanese places.  You miss out on the super-fancy décor of Okada and Shibuya, and they typically do not have as large a menu, but this is a locals’ favorite and has become one of ours as well.  Especially as, ahem, there is no expense account involved when we dine in Vegas.

A real sleeper of a Japanese restaurant is Hyakumi at Caesar’s Palace.  If you’ve been going to Vegas a while you’ll know this place by sight – the sushi bar is right across from Cleopatra’s Barge night club.  This place has been here forever, and you’ve walked by it a million times.  There is actually whole restaurant behind the sushi bar area that serves various styles, including Teppanyaki, but we’ve never eaten there, preferring to sit at the sushi bar.  The sushi here is seriously good and perfectly prepared in traditional style, the sushi chefs are friendly, and the Japanese beer is ice cold.  Taking the secret back service roads that my son taught me to navigate I can make it from our place to the Caesar’s parking lot in four minutes, and that and the quality of the sushi have made it my lunch favorite, especially when I’m in town solo.

2013 Update:  The hottest new Sushi joint in Vegas is called Kabuto. It is a minimalist sushi bar with a few tables that is patterned after the hole-in-the-wall sushi bars in Tokyo's subway stations, like the one featured in the cult documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.  We have not been there yet, but it's on our list for this year. Reservations at least a week out are necessary, even for a seat at the sushi bar!

Apart from Japanese, there are many great choices for fine or casual dining, so I’ll finish today’s post with casual dining, and leave fine dining and specialty cuisines for Part II. 

The Burger Bar in the shops between the Mandalay Bay and the Luxor is a favorite casual dining spot.  You get to choose what kind of beef you want for the burger as well as many other choices of toppings and condiments.  They have Kobe beef burgers, fois gras burgers, excellent organic grass-fed American beef burgers, and many more choices. They also have a terrific draft beer selection.  There is frequently a wait for a table at the Burger Bar, so why not make like a local and eat at the bar?  For carnivores only.

A place you would likely never hear referred to as a casual dining destination is the lounge area at Bradley Ogden in Caesar’s Palace.  Bradley’s is a high-end fine dining place that will be discussed later, but they have a prix fixe lounge menu that offers three courses for $29.  Choice of salads, either fish and chips or a burger with fries, and a desert of butterscotch custard.  The burger has won best-in-Vegas awards, and deservedly so.  The hand cut fries are perfectly cooked and presented in a paper cone, and the fish and chips is pretty awesome too.  Only in Vegas is a thirty-dollar salad, burger, and fries a great bargain, but this little menu is really good.

2013 Update: Regrettably, Bradley Ogden closed in August, 2012.

There are tons of acceptable casual dining places (without even mentioning the In ‘N Out Burger on Tropicana and Dean Martin, a Mecca for those unfortunate enough not to live in one of the five states that have them) but I’ll go ahead and mention one more casino hotel place that I really like.  It’s the Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill, an open casual restaurant located right across from the ticket windows for Cirque’s Ka in the MGM Grand.  It features the Puck standard California-style wood oven pizzas as well as a great prime burger and fresh and tasty salad choices.  To my thinking, it’s a better choice for lunch than dinner, but I’ve been happy with both.

2013 Update:  As mentioned in Part II last year, a great new casual spot is Todd English P.U.B. located between the Aria casino and Crystals mall in the new City Center mega-development.  Great oyster bar, lots of unique sandwich and soup choices, and a billion beers on tap make this one of our favorites for a late lunch.

Coming up next:  Part II covers fine dining, Italian, steak, and couple of other personal favorites, plus a list of places we avoid.