In case you haven't noticed, The Mirage has redone its restaurants of late, with a stunningly redesigned Kokomo's and the additions of the Light Group's swank new steak house, Stack, the Adam Tihany-designed buffet, Cravings, and an outpost of the New York institution, Carnegie Deli.
But the jewel in the crown has to be Fin, an authentic Chinese restaurant done by the Toronto design firm Yabu Pushelberg, they of the MGM Grand's Shibuya and Fiamma. With its crystal hanging balls, hand-painted murals on rice-paper screens and special light effects, I'm going out on a limb to call this Vegas' most beautiful Chinese restaurant, and that's no small compliment, considering places such as Pearl and Shanghai Lilly.
Fin's menu is the brainchild of Chef Chi Choy. The best dishes are authentic, the rub being that many of them are exclusive to a Chinese menu. Like all major Strip Chinese restaurants, there is menu in characters, chockablock with concoctions using live seafood and vegetables such as pea shoots and water spinach.
But most of us rely on the English menu, which rarely achieves a level of funk beyond creations such as braised spicy oxtail in a clay pot, or a pungent salted fish and chicken-fried rice, which many of my friends, having been subjected to this dish by yours truly, refer to as off-putting.
One of the great benefits of eating lunch here is a lower price point. At lunch, it is possible to enjoy this magnificent room and the formal service, plus a hot towel to dab your face with, and not break the bank.
True, $11 sounds high for fried rice, but here it isn't. Fin's Indian Fried Rice, for instance, is an enormous dish that will serve three. It's shot through with chicken and shrimp, redolent of exotic spice.
A PLACE TO STOP BY |
Carol Kohn-Mannis, a therapist, yogi and meditation teacher, would like to raise your consciousness and improve your health at Brewed Awakenings, her east-side coffee bar, which features live keyboard music during lunch and doubles as an art gallery. The house specialty is Attitude Adjuster, a delicious iced mocha concoction, and the café makes a mean fruit smoothie, too. There is a vegetarian version of an Egg McMuffin at breakfast, and for lunch, try a delicious organic soup, a gourmet sandwich or a vegan pastry like spelt-flour carrot cake. Max Jacobson |
Then there is a lunch dish like Hainanese chicken with rice. This happens to be my favorite dish on the lunch menu, but it's not for everybody. Basically, it is hacked chicken, skin still on, a heady minced garlic sauce and a bowl of oily rice steeped in fatty chicken broth. Maybe I like it because this dish comes closer to my Yiddishe grandmother's cooking than any other in the Chinese repertoire. Perhaps you didn't have a Yiddishe grandmother.
The remainder of lunch is hit and miss. There is an indifferent dim sum platter and a Sino-American take on pad Thai. Pork-rib soup is delicious, but Fin's GM, Tony Lee, says some Western palates do not get it.
You'll feast at night here. Pan-fried goose liver with black-pepper sauce is good enough to compete with one done in a French kitchen, while crisp shrimp on fried toast is the best example of this Chinese-American dish I've tasted anywhere.
Call at least one day in advance for Double-Boiled Buddha Jump Wall, a specialty soup that costs a mint, has everything from fish stomach to dried abalone in it, and is for brave souls only. Live fish cooked to order include red cod, best steamed with ginger and green onion; giant clams from Puget Sound; Maine lobster; and king crab from Alaska, whales only for this last one, because of the high price, please.
The rest of the menu has many of the usual suspects, and lots of surprises. Peking duck, an excellent rendering, is a competitive $48, but well worth it, carved at the table and crisp as a newly opened bag of chips. Wok-fried lamb chop is terrific, too, the meat gamy and rich, seared lightly with garlic and black pepper.
It's possible to eat here during the evening and spend modestly, as well, if you confine yourself to noodle and rice dishes and the excellent vegetarian fare. Beef pan-fried chow fun is the best noodle dish, while stir-fried string beans in X.O. sauce, a sauce made from dried scallops, will change the way you experience green beans forever.