Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/63192
FOOD FOR THOUGHT cake with charred tomatoes and above: Curried Dungeness crab avocado mousse. below: Quinoa genre in high-end dining—the vegan dish. These are available from a special Chef's Menu. If you have ever hesitated about ordering a vegan dish, it may be time to rethink the stereo- type. In the hands of a master chef such as LoRusso, this cooking can soar, and provide surprises in the extreme. Take, for instance, his quinoa salad with grilled asparagus, pista- salad with grilled asparagus, pistachios, and cilantro. triangles of pita bread and fresh sliced cucumber, jicama, and tarot chips. The Gardein chick'n potpie, meanwhile, is just plain astonishing. "We wanted to use Gardein for its chios, and cilantro. It is refreshing and satisfying, a palate cleanser that enhances any dinner. His roasted red pepper hummus is served with rich flavor and similarity to chicken," notes LoRusso, and indeed it is hard to distinguish the textured soy protein from chicken in this con- text. The rich pie comes topped with a crust made with soy butter, and includes a rich cashew cream base to hold it, alongside baby carrots, broccoli, spinach, and marble potatoes. It's a meal unto itself. Think of the main menu as a spin-off of a conventional steakhouse, but with more variety and creativity. It begins with a basket of pretzel, olive, and sourdough breads, all freshly baked. The butter is topped with a sprinkling of thyme and parsley, which imparts a sophisticated tang. LoRusso is proud of his starters, and rightly so. From the Raw section of the menu there is a crudo tasting of four fish, each with a different condiment or sauce: tuna-avocado with soy, scallop with spicy tomato, salmon-ginger with lime, ginger, and hamachi with a yuzu sauce. "I'm sort of showing off with this dish," says LoRusso. "I saw Michel Richard do something similar with vegetables, and I wanted to do the same thing with raw fish, a trend these days." The salad might be gem lettuce, topped intelligently with Fuji apples, Medjool dates, and a hint of Parmesan; a classic Caesar; or warm goat cheese crowning deftly sliced baby beets. Hot appetizers are divided into two categories, Surf and Turf. Try a curried Dungeness crab cake, made from delicious crabmeat, with charred tomatoes and avocado mousse, or perhaps dayboat scallop, served with spring vegetable minestrone with fava beans and morels, from Surf. Meanwhile, the Turf section offers totally different options. The chef's Tasting of Soup allows a guest to choose two from a list of three: roast garlic and peanut soup with crab; white bean and mustard greens; bouillabaisse with shrimp tortellini. We all should have such choices. 120 WYNN PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF GREEN (FOOD)