Aureole

1. Played well
2. Won money

For some reason I can't seem to do both at the same time, mostly on account of not being able to do the first thing. In spite of this handicap, I managed to stumble into a few big hands, thus netting a profit and an excuse to take Poirier somewhere nice.

Aureole at Mandalay Bay

(I, for one, approve of Aureole's commitment to standards. Exclusivity is paramount to members of the elite like myself, someone who chose Aureole over Aqua solely because my tie-less wardrobe met the dress code of the former but not the latter, and only after borrowing a pair of partly-disintegrated loafers from Perry Friedman.)

So, it was to my pleasant surprise that when Poirier asked about the possibility of a meatless tasting menu, the veil of fascism disappeared and friendly offers of substitutions were forthcoming.

Bread and Butter

+1

Salmon Tartare with Citrus Cream

+7

A silver teaspoon with a mogul of salmon on one side, a dollop of cream of the other, and a little chervil leaf planted atop.

Sesame Crusted Tuna Cake with Trio of Beans and wasabi, ponzu, and carrot ginger purees

+7

Presented on a large glass tile, accompanied by a nice tarragon-specked green salad. I concurred with Poirier when she said she'd be happy to have each of the three sauces on her plate for the rest of the night.

Crisp Red Snapper with Black Olive Tapanade, spring onions, potatoes, parsley essence

+9

I hesitate to say that I'd have liked a little more innovation since this plate was basically perfect: crackly skin, moist and sweet flesh, and buttery, melty potato cubes.

Sauteed Quail over Crisp Onion Rings with grilled vegetable ragout and a game jus

+3

The ragout dulled the dish, as vegetable ragouts are wont to do. Aside from that, the meat and jus were very good.

Roasted Trout on Chive Risotto with sauteed pea shoots

+2

(Poirier's substitution for the quail.) The trout was excellent, but the otherwise delicious pea shoots had been befouled with excessive oversalting, and the risotto lacked any flavor of note.

Surf and Turf: Pan Seared Tiger Prawns with Charcoaled Filet with sauteed spinach, sauteed mushrooms, and potato-onion cake

+4

A very good, albeit standard, execution of steak-n-shrimp. The accompaniments could be described similarly. Poirier liked the potato-onion cake quite well.

Sauteed Atlantic Salmon over Crab Bread Pudding poached shallots, oven dried tomatoes and chive pan sauce

+3

(Poirier's substitution for the surf and turf.) Good, but not noteworthy, salmon filet. Excellent sauce, great tomatoes. The stone-dense pudding strange, tasteless, misplaced.

Savory Black Pepper and Citrus Cheesecake

+6

Would have been a +9 or +10 had the crust not been undercooked, or if there'd been no crust at all.

Passionfruit Granita with Shaved Mango

+8

Because we know how unappealing mangoes are with five-o-clock shadows, haw haw.

Strawberries and Raspberries with Creme Fraiche

+3

Our waiter granted Poirier's request for a dual berry mixture, at no extra charge. Poirier opined that the creme fraiche was too much creme and not enough fraiche.

Chocolate Malt Creme Brulee with chocolate ice cream, chocolate pecan shortbread, chocolate peanut butter toffee

+10

The shortbread and toffee could have, and possibly should have, improved the petitfours plate by leaps and bounds. The creme brulee was ultrarich yet light as a cloud, and infused with intense Ovaltine goodness. And, once Poirier's creme fraiche had been inhaled, the chocolatey custard also served very nicely as a fondue for the berries.

Petitfours

-4

Four dull cookies.

Service

+3

(Poirier sez: Most of the staff were graceful and professional. However, while the head waiter was indeed accommodating, I was unnerved by his habit of addressing only me, and pretty much ignoring tk altogether. I am as much an attention whore as the next attention whore, but it still was disconcerting to be treated as though I were dining alone.

Various waitstaff also seemed, at times, nonplussed by things such as our sharing single glasses of wine, our persistence at wanting to eat everything on the plate before it was taken away, and our wanting to look at the wine list for more than 30 seconds.

On the whole, the service seemed very well intentioned, but not wholly polished. It was definitely not in the same league as restaurants with similar prices.)

Questions for the gallery:

1. Does anyone have a tipping algorithm they're particularly fond of? (This is probably asked on ba.food every other week, apologies for rehashing.) I generally tip 30%+ in cheap or ethnic restaurants and scale that down to 15% for fancy dinners if there was a lot of drinking...I don't see how it is any harder to pour a $100 bottle of wine than to pour a $20 bottle, and don't see how pouring a $20 bottle is equal to serving and cleaning up a $20 meal. In retrospect, though, tipping $35 (as I did) at Aureole and Gary Danko was inadequate, given that we stayed for over three hours.

Tipping by % seems a flawed system, even with adjustments. Or at least, my adjustments. I'm looking for new ideas.

2. The Aureole bill came with an entry for "Gratuity" and another for "Captain's Gratuity." What's this about? What's appropriate?

Miscellaneous Ratings

The sushi is almost all rice.

Aloha Cafe at the California
Spam Musubi		+3
Hawaiian Braised Pork Ribs		+2
Bellagio Buffet		(+2, 0, +1, +1, +3, +3, +5, +4, 0, +5, +5, -3, 0, +1)
Tacos Mexico		+6
Sam Woo BBQ		+4
Sushi on Tropicana		+4
Metro Pizza		+3
Baskin-Robbins Root Beer Float		-2
Tinoco's Bistro		+2
Lamar's Donuts		+6
Einstein Brothers Bagels		+3

(Lamar's and Einstein's are ubiquitous in the Kansas City area (er, excuse me, the -Lawrence- area), where Poirier spent her grad school days. In Vegas, coincidentally or not, they are two doors down from each other in the same strip mall. This brought back fond memories for Poirier, for whom Lamar's sour cream and devil's food donuts are the stone cold nuts.)

Manda Sushi House

-8

(All you can eat. Limited menu from which you cannot stray. Inconsistent quality. Burnt eel. Vermin falling from the ceiling. Vermin in the rice.)

Urinal in the Spacequest Casino at the Las Vegas Hilton

+10

Referring to functionality, not flavor, which I did not test.

Blue Man Group

+2

Referring to production, not flavor, which I did not test. The visuals and sound were much fun, though I agree with my brother that BMG's music isn't as rhythmically interesting as Stomp. The humor and audience participation left a lot to be desired. I never thought I would long for Mystere's Mutant Diapered Clown Retard.

Spades Tournament

-7

A whopping six teams showed up for the tournament. At least Derek and I didn't get shut out this year, we actually managed to win a match, and we completely tilted every team we played against. Aaron Bos signed up for the casual tourney that never occurred. He requested a refund and got a take-it-or-leave-it offer of a free entry into any other Classic-Tourney-sponsored tournament of his choice. He left it.

Bad beats

+3

It's true, the bad beats I took this year were not that bad. They're pretty much limited to the following:

5-10 Pot Limit Omaha. AA56 heads-up vs. maniac on a flop of A47, rainbow. Split pot.

75-150 Omaha 8B. Having the whole pot on a flop of Q76 with A277, and none of it by the river.

75-150 Omaha 8B. Having the whole pot on a rainbow flop of JT6 with KKJJ, and none of it by the river. At least I was able to lay down the 2nd nut flush (correctly as it turned out) after two low diamonds hit the board.

75-150 Omaha 8B. Seat 10 wiping down his chest and underarms with a towel. Guess which seat I was in. I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

4-8 Hold Em. My brother's first real live poker game. I had been telling him all day that he should be aggressive, even if he's not sure he has the best hand, especially if there are players still to act behind him and the pot has become large. Then this hand comes up. I have KK on the button. A maniac and I jam preflop for five bets, with a total of five people seeing the flop. Flop is AJ4 with two diamonds. Checks to me, I check. The big blind suddenly seems more interested in the hand. Turn is a 3. Big blind makes a move to bet, then checks. Gets checked to me, I bet, big blind calls, maniac raises. One player calls two cold, the other player folds. I'm not at all concerned about the maniac, but am concerned about the other two players so I decide to get to the showdown as cheaply as possible and just call. River is an 8, gets checked around. Big blind takes the pot with pocket eights. I'M AN IDIOT. Don't you just fucking hate people who can't follow their own advice?

Rental car. Perpetuating my campaign of idiocy, I left the headlights on for a couple of days, not to be discovered until I was airport-bound. Security comes to the rescue. Two guards go to the front of the car, hook up a charger, and get me on my way. Right after that I go around to the hotel entrance and drive up to a group of valet guys who look the car up and down (I guess they don't see too many jetsetters like me in a Hyundai Sonata). One of them approaches me tentatively, I tell him I'm just picking up from the bell desk. He nods and scampers off. After the bellman loads the trunk, I see that the tank is empty. So I make my way down the strip in search of a station, which I thankfully find before sputtering out. I pull in, fill up, and look for a phone. The nearest ones are behind the car, but they're both being used. I see a pair at the other end of the station, so I stroll over, make my calls, then walk back towards the car, at which point I notice for the first time that the front bumper of my car had been adorned with a sticker: