Julian Serrano (Las Vegas, NV)

Julian Serrano, the eponymous tapas restaurant residing in the Aria Resort & Casino, provided the best of the meals I had in my brief four day stint in Las Vegas, NV, arriving on Friday evening and leaving on Monday evening.  This was where my friend Joe, his classmate Renee, and I went on Sunday evening.  They had just run a Tough Mudder race that day, and were in the mood for a good meal to celebrate.  After a little discussion over where to go, Renee suggested this, and I am extremely thankful she did. 

Our waiter recommended that we get two or three tapas each, but since we decided we wanted paella, we ended up ordering three tapas and a dessert.  The first we received was the Black Pig Pintxo, a traditional Spanish bar snack, consisting of a slice of crispy baguette topped with caramelized onions and cured, seared Iberian pork shoulder.  They offer the pork cooked medium rare to well, and, of course, we ordered medium rare, which was perfect, tender, with a perfect Maillard reaction from the searing, and a huge pork and pepper flavor.  We all loved it, and since it only came with two pieces, we were all left wanting more.

Second to arrive was the cheese plate, consisting of four slices of toasted baguette, four cheeses, and a truly delectable fig spread.  The cheeses were: a caña de cabra, which is a very soft, easily spreadable goat's milk cheese; a year old sheep's milk Manchego; a cow's milk Cabrales bleu; and a soft sheep's milk La Serena.  All were fantastic, with Renee preferring the Manchego, Joe loving them all, and my favorites being the Manchego when combined with the fig spread, or the caña de cabra, which was a little too delicate to combine with the spread.  The bleu was remarkable, and La Serena was perfectly mild.

Third to come were the Tuna Cones, consisting of a crispy wonton wrapper cone, with avocado in the bottom, topped by cucumber, and ahi tuna tartare, lightly dressed with ponzu.  The tuna flavor was strong, extremely fresh and high quality fish, and the avocado, which was extremely soft and smooth, added a nice flavor and texture contrast.  The cones were presented in a nice, very likely custom, holder with three slots for the cones.  This was my favorite tapa of the night, for its simplicity and classic flavors, presented in a clever, new manner.

Following the tapas came the mixed paella, a signature dish of Julian Seranno's, consisting of half a lobster tail, mussels, chicken, Spanish style chorizo, vegetables and of course the classic saffron rice.  Served in a paellera, this was the highlight of the night for all of us, with perfectly cooked lobster, and mussels that were cooked well, but a little dry.  The chorizo was great, a classic flavor that anyone who has had chorizo before would recognize instantly, but with a bit more depth of flavor than normal.  The rice was incredible, so smooth and creamy, with crispy bits around the edges that are the trademark of a proper paella. 

Last to eat were churros, served with Mexican chocolate.  Thin, crisp, and just slightly sweet, while the chocolate was creamy and strong, though lacking the spice that I was expecting both from the description and from the chile de árbol that was in it.  The combination worked well, but I think it would have been better with that added hint of spice. 

Along with our meal we had a bottle of Martin Códax Albariňo Rias Baixas 2010, a crisp, dry white wine that went perfectly with the tuna, cheese and paella, though it was not the perfect combination with the pork.  The wine had some nice floral notes, and was among the best white wines I have ever had.  I will be looking at my local wine shop for this, I can assure you of that.                                                                                                                      

Overall, this was a fantastic experience.  The waiter was great, attentive, knowledgeable, and unlike many waiters at finer restaurants, did not appear to be displeased be be dealing with a group of younger people who would not be spending several hundred dollars.  Speaking of cost, with a 25% tip, the meal cost us just under $200, exceptionally reasonable when you consider that over $100 of that was from the wine and paella.  While I can't guarantee that I would return during any future trips to Las Vegas, that is simply because there are just so many places that I want to try in the city.

**As a side note, the restaurant does appear to be very vegetarian friendly, if that's your thing 

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The Corner Room (Portland, ME)

The Corner Room©

As you probably can tell, I have a bit of a Maine connection; in fact, my (former) step-family is from Portland, and I grew up spending about a quarter of each year splitting time between the mainland and Peaks Island.  In the last couple years, whenever I go up my sister and I go out and grab a bite to eat, and The Corner Room, one of the three "Room" restaurants (the others being the original, The Front Room, followed by The Grille Room), has become a favorite.  In fact, this restaurant caused my sister to give up being a vegan!  Both times we've gone we didn't have reservations and went at fairly close to peak hours and tables weren't immediately available, so we ended up sitting at the small "bar" that encircles the cheese and charcuterie prep station.  This was an unbelievable blessing the first time, which I will get to later.

The menu at The Corner Room changed a little between the first and second time I went, but the basic concept of the restaurant is an Italian inspired (though with a very American twinge) menu with "rustic" flavors.  Rustic appears to be the buzzword of the decade (century?) so far, but The Corner Room does it well; the flavors are strong, ingredients are fresh, and while there's clearly some impressive technique going into the preparation, it's never obviously about the technique rather than the food.  As I've said before, I'm all for fancy food, but the food is the key there, so technique should never come in ahead of taste.  In addition to the pizza, pasta and sandwiches, which you would expect at an Italian inspired restaurant, there are the "secondi," or main dishes, which at the moment I'm writing this include Osso Bucco alla Milanese, Risotto Frutti di Mare, and two Italian chicken dishes.  That's pretty representative of how the menu has been when I've been there.

The first time we went, we started with a platter of a variety of charcuterie, including a duck pâté, a terrine, prosciutto, and a couple others, served with two different mustards and a fruit preserve along with sliced baguette.  Did I mention that when we went in my sister had been living a vegan lifestyle?  Not anymore!  I followed this up with braised pork on a bed of pumpkin polenta and roasted brussels sprouts, and I was truly blown away.  I had never in all my life eaten a brussels sprout and not wanted to huck something at the chef, but they were delicious!  The polenta's texture may not have pleased everyone, I'll admit, though I think the flavor would have; I loved it all, but I like my polenta just the slightest bit "gritty" (I can't think up a better word), which this was.  The pork was falling apart, my knife barely being needed, and while it had a tremendous flavor on its own, it really shined when eaten in combination with the polenta, where the textures and flavors mixed.  My sister also loved her dinner, which was an Italian sandwich (mortadella, prosciutto, salami, smoked mozzarella and a few vegetables), and from the bite I tried, I can heartily endorse it; it was better than any Italian sandwich I've ever had before, and in the upper realms of all the sandwiches, of any variety, I've ever had.  We both paired our meals with beers, and they do have a decent list, including local favorites Geary's and Shipyard, as well as a pretty good looking wine list, though I am nowhere near qualified to truly comment on that part of it.

As good as the appetizer and main courses were, the truly memorable part of that meal was the cheese course we had as a substitute for dessert.  It was at this time that we truly benefited from being at the cheese and charcuterie prep station.  As it turned out, that night the station was being manned by the chef himself, which we didn't realize until later (okay, I never realized it; my sister gets all the credit here), and we'd been chatting with him off and on throughout the meal, so when we were deciding on which of the cheeses we wanted for our platter, we asked him for suggestions, and not only did he gives us the best suggestion ever, La Tur, he also gave us an extra cheese for free, which was incredibly generous.  The other three cheeses were good, but I can't for the life of me remember what they are anymore, two years later.  The La Tur though...my god.  Creamy, sweet, savory, embodying the best of each goat's, cow's and sheep's milk (it's a combination of the three), this cheese is decadence defined.  The last line of the description of it on the Murray's Cheese website, "We recommend you get back-up: La Tur is always the first to go at a party" is entirely accurate.  After buying a couple pounds of it for my sister for Christmas in 2010 (seriously, it's that good that I had it shipped to Maine from New York City), we all burned through that stuff in no time.  It is not only my favorite cheese, but there's really no competition; eating it for the first time is akin to the joy of a first kiss (thankfully without the awkwardness!) with someone you really like.  You really had no idea what to expect, but you're anticipating that it will be good...and then it's more than good; it's transcendent.  And isn't that what you want from all food (and first kisses)?

As a side note, The Corner Room now offers Sunday brunch; I haven't been yet, but I had brunch at The Front Room last year and it was pretty spectacular, so I have no reason to think it would be anything less than wonderful at The Corner Room as well.

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