Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/149416
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX KARVOUNIS (WALZOG, LENGER) C The décor here is equally dazzling. Roger Thomas, Wynn Design and Development's ome early fall, the prime executive vice president of design, has crafted tables on the Strip face this space with orange lacquer and white acrylic Wynn Las Vegas's Lake of surfaces juxtaposed with a number of neoclasDreams, and as the sun sical sculptures and 19th-century falling angels. slowly sets and a series of Abundant Carrara marble and leather add surrealistic tableaux under touches of elegance. Enormous French doors a forested mountain unfold opposite page: Barramundi with a lobster dome. this page, clockwise act as barriers between the indoor and outdoor before your very eyes, spectators are catapulted from above left: Bahamian lobster dining spaces, but when the sun goes down and far from the neon lights just beyond it. risotto; the lobster cart of which chef cool breezes waft across the lake, the doors are As the sky grows gradually dark, a giant Rene Lenger is especially proud; chefs Rene Lenger and David Walzog, who are thrown open so everyone gets a good view. frog magically appears atop the water feature collaborating on the menu for Lakeside. Chef Lenger is especially proud of his lobster on the far side of the lake, and huge, otherselection, which he often personally displays to worldly orbs—one red, the other blue—dance his guests. A huge glass case is wheeled to your on the lake surface to a haunting, almost mystical orchestral suite, heard on a powerful sound system. If one is lucky table. Inside it are a dozen or so living lobsters baring their claws. "Just enough to secure a table on the terrace, the experience is transformative look at this beauty," says Lenger of a five-and-a-half-pound rock lobster from South Australia. "You won't find these in too many American restauand impossible to forget. Two dining options allow a full-on view of the Lake of Dreams: One is rants," he says, "and their meat is rich and sweet." Also in the case are the more familiar live Maine lobsters, ranging in SW Steakhouse, the muscular, high-energy restaurant where chef David Walzog dazzles guests with his original take on American comfort foods, size from two and a half to five pounds, and the Scottish Blue, also with including beef at its most luxurious, and all the trimmings one expects at sweetish meat, smaller shells, and a weight of approximately two and a a fine-dining establishment. But the other is our subject here, Lakeside, half to three pounds before cooking. The lobsters are roasted in a wood oven. "We experimented with a just across the hall and adjacent to the colorful bar Parasol Down. Lakeside's menu emphasizes fish, shellfish, and lobster, crustaceans variety of preparations and found we had the most success with the from all corners of the globe, including South Australia, Scotland, and oven roasting," says Lenger. They are prepared either simply, or rubbed the rocky coastal shoals of Maine. Chef Walzog is in charge of this real with mild red chili, which forms a crust on the surface of the meat. estate as well, but he's getting expert assistance from Rene Lenger, the Then, a choice of drawn, yuzu, basil, or spicy harissa (a Moroccan-style talented Viennese chef who is working with Walzog to redesign the condiment) butter is offered. The kitchen also performs similar miracles with Alaskan king crab legs. menu to focus more on fresh seafood. WYNN 094-098_W_D_FoodForThought_Fall13.indd 95 95 8/9/13 1:29 PM