There's an eerie tranquility to driving dead west on Flamingo, as you approach the mountains and the 215 Freeway. The panic and bedlam of the city you've left behind feels far away, and so does the rampant development down below.
But the feeling is ephemeral, and one sign of the times is the swank Sedona, the first of a series of new restaurants planned by entrepreneurs Tom Breitling, one of the new owners of the Golden Nugget; Adam Corrigan, a general partner of Roadrunner Bistros; and tennis star Andre Agassi. (Two more restaurants designed by this group will open soon in Green Valley.)
Sedona, it should be understood, refers not to the cuisine of the Southwest, but to the décor, faded desert colors one expects to romp in among the red rocks of that New Age Mecca of vortices and mysticism. (You won't, in fact, find any Southwestern cooking here, though you will get lots up the hill at Roadrunner Bistro, on a menu developed by the famous cowboy chef Grady Spears.)
By all accounts, Sedona is one of the most lavishly appointed restaurants in the city, along with Summerlin's Tre Fratelli, as fancy and ambitious an undertaking as any off-Strip restaurant in town.
A great deal of money has been invested here and it shows. Sedona is a vast, 10,000-square-foot space, with a 2,600-square-foot patio crowned by, of all things, a real cylindrical fire pit. Inside is a hot, spacious bar smack in the middle of the room, and a series of dining areas, one separated by a false screen, another lit up with translucent shapes that reflect warm backlighting.
The floor is wood parquet, and the entire space is decorated with black-and-white, blown-up photos of women who bear a striking resemblance to Naomi Watts. The overall design is so avant-garde, a visit to the rest room is an artsy experience.
Gentlemen enter through a lacquered wooden door, and have the option to watch videos on small screens mounted over the, er, pissoirs. Hand-washing is done at brushed-metal, basin-style sinks. I have it on good authority that the ladies room is an equally broadening experience.
Chef Michael Ingino is a young New Yorker who worked under well-known local restaurateur Gustav Mauler at Spedini, Oxo and Bull Shrimp, so no wonder a few of the dishes from those establishments surface here.
One is chopped vegetable salad, a timbale-shaped, dense, delicious mass of diced veggies, avocado and bacon, topped with a pile of potato sticks. This salad isn't on anyone's diet, and it is almost impossible to resist. "Gustav may beg to differ," says Ingino, "but I came up with this dish at Oxo."
Once seated, you'll be handed the menu and wine list, both of which are printed on transparent plastic stock, bound with metal holders. They are a little hard to read in the evening, but no one can say they do not look attractive.
Small plates, the menu's top section, is attractive too, and there are many that shouldn't be missed. Crispy calamari comes with a pair of dipping sauces, a rich garlic aioli and an intense tomato caper sauce. Sedona satays are three skewers of barbecued meats, chicken, beef and shrimp, flanked by a cabbage and cucumber salad.
Cheese fondue is a nice mass of creamy Gruyere and what I'd swear was the German, cherry-flavored liqueur, Kirschwasser. Crab cakes, two fall-apart-tender orbs of lumpy crab meat, are enhanced by fire-roasted corn relish and a rosy pink remoulade. I'd save room for the filling shrimp bisque, too, just to eat the puffy scallion and shrimp fritters dropped in for fun.
Main courses are complicated, and sometimes downright fussy. Ingino is proud of his seafood stew, which has everything but the kitchen sink, shellfish, beans, a roasted tomato sauce, and much more. I like his stuffed quail, two whole birds astride a ragout of white beans, pine nuts and raisins, fairly bursting with a buttery brioche stuffing.
There is a verbal dessert menu that pushes the inevitable flourless chocolate cake (Doesn't anybody make a nice chocolate layer cake anymore?), crème brulee, and the Ingino family Philadelphia cream-cheese cake, served with berries and whipped cream.
A nice wine-by-the-glass list features good-value choices such as the King Estate Pinot Gris from Oregon ($7.50), a shiraz from Australia's Alice White ($4.25), and many others. In short, yuppie button-pushers all.
The restaurant is less dramatic during lunch, minus the hot evening buzz and a crowd that looks hungry for action, but the menu, dominated by salads, pasta and sandwiches, has solid appeal.
And it's still quiet outside, even at noon, for now.