last lunch at venetian/palazzo.

For someone who eats out as much as I do (way too much), I have surprising few regular dining companions. And now I have lost one. My friend and former colleague Lauren has run off to New York, and it's a big loss for lunching. She finished up her Vegas era working for the Venetian and Palazzo resorts, which meant that we did some serious work on the many restaurants in these two big, beautiful Strip properties.


We made some mistakes, just a few. We went to First Food & Bar and Grand Lux Cafe a few times too many, getting stuck in mediocrity. We didn't go to Bouchon enough, but that's not our fault; only recently has the place been open for a proper lunch. We had decent lunches at restaurants that should be visited at dinner, like Valentino and Pinot Brasserie. Wolfgang Puck's Postrio is okay, but straight across from it, Mario Batali's Enoteca Otto is better, with some of the best pizza and pasta around. And, to my surprise, the lasagna at Zeffirino is outstanding, as is pretty much everything at the quiet Zine Noodles & Dim Sum.

The last lunch was last week, and we closed our run at Emeril Lagasse's Table 10. This place is hidden in the second story shops in Palazzo, above the casino, between a closed space that used to be Woo pan-Asian and the genre-bending SushiSamba. If this sounds confusing, that's because it is. Many of the restaurants at Palazzo have struggled due to strange placement (see Restaurant Charlie, as in Trotter).


Table 10, despite the big name chef on the marquee, also has been somewhat forgotten, but that may be changing. The menu, described as a New Orleans eatery with market fresh ingredients, has taken a prominent turn toward the market. There's a nice little frisee salad with a poached farm egg, smoked bacon, parmesan reggiano and red wine vinaigrette with a mini brioche on the side (above pic). There are "snacks" on the lunch menu including candied North Country farm bacon, fried Great Lakes smelt with lemon mayo, and veal cheeks with wild mushrooms and fava beans. Sure, there is some heavy stuff, like these amazing Kurobuta baby back rotisserie ribs (pic) and a killer ribeye sandwich with grilled portobello and horseradish, but there's also seared tuna with a farro salad and some simple po-boy sandwiches. At dinner, there's Colorado beef and lamb, suckling pig porchetta from Iowa and Hawaiian snapper. Don't do like we did and eat way too much meat. Save room for dessert, since Emeril's spots always do sweets right: banana cream pie, coconut cheesecake, or a chocolate flourless cake with a Kona coffee milkshake.


You can't really eat your way through all the restaurants in these huge, bajillion-dollar hotel casinos. There are just too many great choices, and once you find some food you love and go back for more, that's one more missed opportunity, one more tally for the still-have-to-try-it list. It's a tough job, take it from me. I probably won't be dining frequently in the Venetian or Palazzo now that Lauren's gone, but I will return to Table 10. It's worth it.

lunching at enoteca san marco.

Update: The restaurant has changed it's name to Enoteca Otto.

Enoteca San Marco is the most approachable of superchef Mario Batali's three Vegas offerings. The newest, Carnevino, is a pricey Italian steakhouse in Palazzo, and the nicest, B&B, is the Vegas version of Batali's acclaimed NY spot Babbo, serving complex yet authentic cuisine from Venetian's casino-level restaurant row. ESM, just upstairs in the faux piazza of Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes, offers that new Vegas classic of indoor alfresco dining. From this "patio," it's hard to ignore the European street performers, which could be good or bad for your dining experience. You could always seek refuge in the small but classy dining room.

The setting is perfect for the menu, which is designed to allow you to dabble in different wines (100 bottles under a hundred bucks), house-cured meats, imported Italian cheeses and interesting antipasti. You could spend forever on the cheeses, which are priced well for sampling at three for $14, five for $17, or seven for $21. Most of this artisanal formaggi won't be found elsewhere, so have fun tasting six-month old asiago or a two-year old parmagiano reggiano.

Perhaps due to the winter temperatures and hearty appetites they can create, we took the heavy road of pizza and pasta. Enoteca San Marco boasts an expansive selection of both, and a special pizza, pasta and salad option for every day of the week. On this Friday, the pasta of the day was linguine with veal bolognese, tasty enough, and the pizza of the day was a carbonara pie. After much debate, we chose pizza with chunks of pancetta, caramelized onions, tomato and Coach Farm goat cheese (pictured). The crust was thin and chewy, the tomato sauce was surprisingly sweet, but the ultra-creamy cheese took charge masterfully. Next time I'll go for the pizza Vongole, with mozzarella, clams and chili. For my filling entree, I devoured a plate of cavatappi pasta, perfectly al dente hollowed corkscrews, smothered in a rich lamb ragu with just enough mint to make things interesting (also pictured).

It's hard to order at Enoteca San Marco because everything appears so simple and appetizing. The menu is perfectly planned. It is the best place to munch bread, cheese and salami with loads of wine, and the Italian basics of salad, pizza and pasta are individually and artfully composed. And there's meat, too ... dinner options include grilled pork chop, braised pork shoulder with apple reduction, crispy duck, veal and ricotta meatballs, and the Tuscan fish stew Cacciuco. So the lesson is ... careful about which celebrity chefs you hate on, because some of them are really killing it.

INTERVIEW: Mario Batali

Besides being one of the most recognized chefs in the world, Mario Batali has a stake B&B and Enoteca San Marco at the Venetian and CarneVino at the Palazzo.

Your newest Vegas restaurant is Carnevino at the recently opened Palazzo resort. Why did you decide to open your first steakhouse, and how did you settle on this approach?
Mario Batali: I love the simplicity of the steakhouse experience but always felt short of options eating at one. We combined perfect American beef with the magnificence of the Italian table and came up with Carnevino.


Your other Vegas eateries are B&B and the more casual Enoteca San Marco, both in the Venetian resort. How do those menus and dining experiences play off each other?
Each has its own feel, menu, chef and style. The most casual is Enoteca, which is open all day for anything from an elaborate four-course meal to a simple pizza and a gelato. B&B is the full magilla for dinner only and is a bit more formal and ambitious, along the lines of our flagship Babbo in New York City.


You chose to expand your empire into Las Vegas after the celebrity chef wave had been in full swing for several years. Was that intentional, or what influenced the timing of Mario Batali in Vegas?
It took us a long time to find the right place and deal ... Rob Goldstein and Lou Silvestri had a lot to do with it. We do not like the idea of a licensing agreement so we actually own the restaurants with the Venetian and really enjoy the collaboration.


Do you spend much time in Las Vegas? Do you get to try other restaurants?
I am there every six weeks and almost never leave the Venetian and Palazzo, except to play golf.


How would you describe the culinary reputation of Las Vegas versus a more established dining city like New York?
Vegas is in the top three gastrodestinations in the country due to the incredible variety of options and the serious nature of the competition.


You've been popping up lately on a lot of episodes of "Iron Chef America." If you could battle one chef, who would it be?
Tetsuya (Wakuda, Japanese-born chef based in Australia).


What is your newest project, or what is keeping you busy right now?
Right now I am chilling for the bulk of the summer with my wife and kids. In the last 16 months we have opened five restaurants, I shot my new TV show for PBS in Spain with Gwyneth Paltrow and I wrote two books. I am gonna work on my short game for a month or two.