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Great Moments Room Restaurant at the Las Vegas Club By: The Lady of The Night Out Why should you eat at the Great Moments Room? It doesn’t happen often, but there are times when you stumble upon an extraordinary dining experience when you least expect it. Being naturally selfish, I really don’t want to share this delicious serendipity with you. But that’s my job. I have to admit I had a great dining moment at the Great Moments Restaurant at the Las Vegas Club Hotel and Casino. While downtown is hardly a mecca of haute cuisine, it’s certainly not a culinary wasteland, either. Andre’s and Hugo’s Cellar serve remarkable repasts and give Les Artistes (Renoir and Picasso) and Les Herbes (Wild Sage Café and Rosemary’s) a run for their money. But I would never have imagined the Las Vegas Club, which is so seedy it’s about to sprout, to be the home of moments of culinary greatness. The Great Moments Room is the only place to catch escalone, the finest, most flavorful denizen of the deep. One bite of that ethereal fish is worth the hassle of driving downtown. And where else on the planet can you get chocolate bread? Who should eat at the Great Moments Room?
Who shouldn’t eat at the Great Moments Room?
Ok, so what’s the food like? Even if it’s not on the menu, ask for the escalone. This fish swims onto your plate when a scallop mates with an abalone. But two plus two equals 10. This fish is gossamer light; the flesh is pearly sweet. A lightly seasoned breading anchors it to the plate. Escalone literally melts the instant it hits your taste buds. A light rain of lemon juice and a snowfall of parsley add nice flavor spikes. The escalone wins my Big O Award. The kitchen serves the escargot the old-fashioned way: grilled in a stainless steel plate with the meaty orbs sizzling in garlicky butter. Most kitchens assume you’ll use the bread basket for sopping up this rich snail-infused liquid. The Great Moments Rooms makes one slight change which radically alters the moment. Its snails come with four diminutive squares of garlic bread bubbling with a layer of cheddar cheese. What a great pairing! The waiter prepares your salad at the table. It’s so classy watching professionals work. Crunchy Chinese noodles and checkerboard-sized squares of chicken play hide and seek in the greenery. Thumbs up to the poppy seed honey mustard vinaigrette. The sweet, sour and seedy ingredients played a flavorful tug-of-war. All the ingredients of the meaty mixed grill were arranged on a skewer and then branded by the grill. The waiter removes the goodies from the pike and arranges the puzzle pieces on your plate. My favorite in the carnivore consortium were the lamb chops. They were two ribs grilled as one. The lamb’s wonderful gamey flavor was enriched by its tiny rivulets of fat. The filet was served on a bed of spinach heavy with fresh garlic, which added an undertow of garlic to the elegant simplicity of the meat. A wonderful coating of char locked in the juices of this deeply delicious filet. The spinach was prepared perfectly – the billiard greens were just slightly limp. Smoked bacon encircled the shrimp. And the pork tenderloin – the other white meat – tasted like chicken! Dessert in the Desert: My favorite is the almond Florentine cookie. The cookie has the look and feel of a waffle cone except it’s made from almond cookie dough. The crunchy nutty crust tastes more like candy than a cookie. The cone is stuffed with a creamy filling that would feel comfortable in an éclair. It’s topped with whipped cream and chocolate. A wonderful summer option is the apple fan. It’s a light and spongy cake that captures the fresh tartness of green apples. Items to avoid: Our lobster tail was a bit too dry. The crab cakes were surprisingly tasty considering they had more bread filling than we like. Without being crabby, a great crab cake has a lot more fish than filler. Summing Up: The Great Moments Room was christened correctly: it dishes up some truly great dining moments at truly reasonable prices. Why pay $35 for a steak when you can pay $27 and get lamb chops, pork and shrimp, too? The Great Moments Room is the only place you can make a date with an escalone – the best reason I know to drive downtown. Where is it? The Great Moments Room is located at the Las Vegas Club, which is at the western end of the Freemont Street Experience. The street address is 18 E. Freemont Street. You enter the parking lot from Main Street. 702.385.1664. Website: http://www.vegasclubcasino.net  By: The Culinary Curmudgeon I had great hopes for the Great Moments Room. The sign at the front door says, “No pipe or cigar smoking.” Finally, a restaurant that is as rabid anti-smoking as moi. But the possibility of me having a fine meal went up in smoke …cigarette smoke, that is. At prime time the dining room is so smoky you think you’re in the midst of a brush fire. It’s impossible to enjoy a prime steak when your eyes are stinging. I don’t need the Surgeon General’s warning to know tobacco is not a good condiment. Beth Ellyn, our Eater Extaordinaire, claims she had a great meal at the Great Moments Room. She must have showed up at 5 p.m. when the dining room was empty. What I should have done is taken my terrific food home. McCarran’s got it right. Enclose all smokers in a glassed-in terrarium section and let the rest of us enjoy some good food! Or, just add cigarettes to the prohibited substance list. I’ve been trying to find a silver lining in our new state tax hikes. Hopefully the new cigarette taxes will eat deep into their household budgets and force most smokers to eat at home. That would be a boon to everyone dedicated to fine dining. The greatest asset of the Great Moments Room is the Maitre D, Richard Klein. He grew up in Europe and understands what service is all about. It’s impossible to be unhappy at the Great Moments Room because this man is a mind-reader. I wonder if he can predict interest rates. Thankfully, the restaurant hasn’t succumbed to today’s frou-frou dining trends. You know, the urge to merge unusual ingredients that never should say hello. Or stacking your food a mile high; I never know where to stick the fork to keep the tower from tumbling. This restaurant serves its steaks and seafood the old way – seared to perfection with just a hint of artery-clogging sauce. Let’s hear it for the good old days! Oh, one more thing. In July and August, could you turn the AC up a smidge? I felt the steamed lobster when I was done with my repast. Aired 25 July 2003
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