went to Vegas this past w/e for the MMA event on Sat night and we stayed for SB Sunday. came home Monday exhausted & broke! 6 of us sat for dinner Friday night @ Rosewood Grill and 11 of us converged on Craftsteak in MGM after The UFC fight card late Sat night.
Rosewood Grill is a Las Vegas perennial with solid steaks and huge lobsters. remembered the place as having a really good list with very sane prices, especially for Vegas! 1/2 our party had lobsters ranging from 3.5-5# and we had a variety of table apps 1st with the 1995 Chateau Soucherie, “Clos de Perrieres” Savennieres…
this was lovely and like $75 if memory serves. full of waxy notes and lots of easily discernible stone & flint, i liked the mouthfeel and finish. i am still waiting on an aged Savennieres to disappoint.
with the warm butter and lobster i opted for the 2002 Brewer-Clifton Sweeney Canyon Chard…
this was really rich and definitely viscous/unctuous. interesting orange note in my nose and mouth. $95 on this list and this held up to the lobster successfully. i do think i’d prefer Diatom to this bottling for most pairings. i should note the lobster tail was a bit tough while the claws, arms and body were scrumptious Friday night. Rosewood Grill used to be up by Mirage but now is just off the strip in an alley across from Monte Carlo. a guys place and still good IMO.
Saturday we descended on Craftsteak, as did seemingly half the folks attending the fights @ MGM Grand Garden Arena. the restaurant was likely overwhelmed and honestly i was kind of beat myself after the fight card which lasted from 1600 to 2130 hours. we sat as 11 with only 3 real wine people there. for starters we had the 2005 Barnett Family Savoy Vineyard PN…
sorry but no photos from Craftsteak. this is really dark PN like every wine from Savoy i have encountered; but dark without Syrah being a culprit. Anderson Valley all the way, wine was brooding and tasty though i know it needs way more time sideways. $125 on Craftsteak list and this was bottom feeding! list gets crazy fast and you could sell a kidney to pay for a deep night here. i can tell you this bottle got the very pedestrian Pinot stems and no decant.
we did decant the 2002 DeLille Chaleur Estate with our rib-eyes…
and this was a lovely bottle that shows what Washington can do with ease and grace. a meritage bottle of distinction this was $175 but did get us stems one level up despite the relative bargain price! black fruits and tannins galore bottles like this really make me think about Napa pricing in an unkind fashion. delicious factor very + for sure!
i will mention i ordered my rib-eye rare, cool-center OK and was served a medium rare steak as there was a mistake made. i had no problem with this until the serving staff - not our real waiter - suggested i just cut into this cooked meat anyway to see if it was acceptable! IMO not 1st class steakhouse behavior! needless to say i sent the meat back and did get a better steak the 2nd time around. another member of our party, drunk and losing badly, had a real or perceived problem with his meal and i can tell you both steaks were removed from the final bill as were side dishes served with the steaks! Mellisa the hostess did this without prompting (so freakin’ hot she slayed every male in the joint) so while customer service was 1st rate i still think Prime in Bellagio sets the LV standard for steak.