Gordon Ramsay - Steak

Our first dinner in Vegas was at Gordon Ramsay's STEAK. Located in the Paris Hotel, there is a kitschy entrance from the hostess's stand, a tunnel that is supposed to be representative of the Chunnel, taking you from Paris to London. Thankfully, it's only a few feet long, but I felt sympathy for the hostess who had to explain that to us with a straight face. The other thing our hostess explained to us was on the ceiling. Apparently, this is an artist's rendering of Gordon Ramsay's hand movements when he cooks. Who knew? But instead of just having this vision hanging over your head, the have incorporated this wild movement into other parts of their decor as well.

They've reused the same symbol on their menu. I asked the hostess who the artist was, and she drew a blank. Does anyone know??  Once seated, we were presented with an iPad which showcased all their cocktails. Tap a cocktail and you'll presented with the ingredients of each. This definitely adds a cool, hi-tech feel to the evening.

 

With an iPad in hand, we decided to order two cocktails, a South Side on the left with a Sidecar on the right. The South Side is just gin, lemon juice, sugar and some mint. I thought it was fun that they served it to us with the strainer, instead of straining it for us. The Sidecar was a nice potent beverage probably because of the cognac. There is an orange liqueur, something like GM and a touch of lemon juice. Both of the drinks were amazing, just potent enough but flavourful so that you don't feel like you're boozing it up. 

There is a Limited Tasting Menu available for $145/person. However, I am not a fan of desserts and it just seemed like a waste to pay for a 5-course dinner, knowing full well that I wouldn't enoy one of the courses. And then there was the Beet Salad, again not a huge fan. 

Making the decision a bit harder was the temptation of an autographed picture of Gordon Ramsay himself. But in the end, we opted for a picture of the autograph and decided to order a la carte. 

Once we decided forego the Tasting Menu, our waiter brought over the Wheel of Fortune of Meat. This was insane, complete with mirrors to show you the meat from every possible angle. The meats are real, from tenderloin, ribeye, porterhouse and t-bone and so much more! How to choose? Well, we did, stay tuned for our choice! For the complimentary bread, we actually got a selection of four different types. On the right, we had a Lemon Thyme Foccacia bread. Next to them were two bread rolls. One is a Truffle, Mushroom and Pancetta Roll, and on top of it, there is a slightly sweet roll that seemed to have a hint of Chocolate to it. And then the baguette we had was infused with flavours from walnuts. And to the far left, there is a creamy butter, called English Devonshire, with a neatly placed line of Volcanic Sea Salt. But don't fill up on bread, the best is yet to come! Instead of ordering a few appetizers, we decided to go for the Shellfish Platter. Because the Smoked Mussels didn't really fit onto the platter, they brought this out first, along wit the sauces, such as the champagne mignonette, a citrus soy glaze as well as your traditional cocktail sauce.   Then our waiter brought over this...a gigantic octopus. Apparently, our shellfish platter would be placed on this octopus. I can't wait!! So this is the Shellfish Platter. It's about $75 for two people and there are tiger prawns, shelled king crab, fresh Kusshi and Malpaque oysters, and lobster as well. I've had shellfish platters before with the dry ice for effect, but I've never had one where the gigantic blocks of ice IS the plate. This was amazing and more impressive than I expected. There was a lot of food and they make it very easy to eat, shelling everything for you.   So, what did we pick for our entree? At the suggestion of our waiter, we chose the Porterhouse for Two. At 32oz, bone in and for $105, we knew we were going headlong into a food coma. On a porterhouse steak, you get both the striploin as well as a tenderloin. Sort of the best of two worlds, plus a bone to chew on as well!   Man cannot survive on meat alone (well, I tend to disagree), but we opted to get a few sides to complement our meal. This is the Sauteed Mushrooms and I have to say, it was interesting. I liked the mushrooms but was a bit weirded out by the bonito flakes on top. I think the bonito threw me off.   Because we didn't have anything "carby", we decided to go for a Baked Potato, but not just a potato with some butter, hell no! This was loaded with a smoked gouda bechamel (super creamy), some slices of lardon and a sprinkling of chives. This was my plate with both cuts of meat. The mushrooms are hidden and the potato is off to the side. 
I was a full and very satisfied girl! 

Take Note:

• Even if you have a reservation, the staff will act quite confused by it all.
• Go through all the cocktails on the iPad, it's a wide selection.
• Unless you love everything on the tasting menu, it's wiser to go a la carte.

All my Vegas eats are listed on this page. They include:

Spago - Spring 2013

Gordon Ramsay STEAK - Spring 2013

Wicked Spoon Buffet - coming soon

Nobu - coming soon, 

Bouchon - Spring 2013

I Love Burgers - coming soon 

Carnevino - coming soon