Our first stop was the Petrossian Caviar Cafe in the lobby of the Bellagio. Petrossian is the famous Parisian caviar house founded by two Armenian brothers at the turn of the last century. While I am a true caviar fan, I seldom purchase Petrossian these days because with the very limited supply of true Caspian wild caviar, most caviars offered are derivatives of the farmed varieties either from Norther California, Uruguay, or Israel. I do enjoy the domestic or farmed varieties as well, but refuse to pay ridiculous prices for it. After a deftly made Mojito for me, and a Bellini for the missus, we were brought some nuts and popcorn. Not the normal bar snacks mind you, but truffle infused popcorn, and walnuts and almonds tossed in a curry-cumin paste. Delicious.
After the snacks, the main event arrived. We ordered the 50g serving of "ALVERTA PRESIDENT" caviar, accompanied with the traditional caviar accoutrements and some delicious fresh buckwheat blinis. I must say, that it was quite delicious. Nice big light colored pearls with a light briny finish. It really tasted quite like wild Beluga, so imagine my surprise when I searched online, and found that it was essentially Petrossian's proprietary name for a farmed Northern California caviar. I never knew sustainability could taste so good.
After the caviar service was finished, our "Sampler" arrived. It consisted of small portions of smoked sturgeon with caviar, king crab leg, panko crusted ahi tuna, terrine of foie gras with truffles, smoked salmon and scallop. They were all delicious! Of particular interest to me was the melt in your mouth foie gras, which had the perfect balance of blissful fat and sweet sauternes taste. I have made both torchon of foie gras and foie gras terrines myself, but they never come out this good.
After Petrossian, we went to the spa and got well needed massage treatments. Emerging fully pampered and relaxed, we made our way to dinner at Sushi-Roku in the Forum Shops.
While not exactly the most authentic or high end sushi joint, I have found the food there quite good, with fresh ingredients and creative dishes. We were fortunate to be treated to live hirame (Halibut) sashimi as our first course. It was served on a plate sliced paper thin, drizzled with Ponzu sauce and grated radish. Wow. The taste and texture of the fish in my mouth brought me flashbacks to my usual hangouts in Tokyo thousands of miles away.
Next course was the Tofu sampler, four different varieties of sauce matched with fresh tofu. The sauces were more "fusion" than Japanese, consisting of a lemon oil/caviar, uni/miso, ginger, and a olive/tomato tapenade preparation.
After that, we ordered the tempura Lobster, which was coated in a sweet miso paste. I always order this dish and its usually delicious, but I found the day's was a bit too salty. Perhaps the chef was having a bad day?
The meal was finished with a sashimi plate consisting of very fresh Tako (Octopus) and Taraba (King Crab).
With our bellies full, we made our way back to our hotel suite. Not wanting to miss the full Vegas experience, we headed over to the slots for a bit of play. After a few minutes, this happened!
With some extra spending money in the pocket, we returned to our suite and were treated to an unobstructed view the beautiful water show in front of the Bellagio from the living room window.
What an evening!
