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Betting on Michelin Stars: Tapas Muy Deliciosas en Julian Serrano

by: atdleft

Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 17:02:01 PM PST


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(Also at Nevada Progressive)

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Tucked in a corner of the grand casino at Aria, the heart of MGM Mirage's brand new CityCenter project, is Julian Serrano. Yes, it's Spanish. Yes, it's tapas. And yes, the food here is fantastic!

atdleft :: Betting on Michelin Stars: Tapas Muy Deliciosas en Julian Serrano
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Start off with something like the stuffed piquillo peppers. The goat cheese inside is creamy and tangy. The pepper outside is cooked just right. And oh my, the savory tomato sauce pulls it all together and makes it extra delicious!

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And if that isn't amazing enough, order the mushroom and manchego risotto. Maybe you've had good risotto dishes before, but this takes risotto to another level with tasty mild mushrooms and tangy manchego cheese. Of course, it also doesn't hurt that the risotto is cooked to al dente perfection... Perfect to absorb that lovely sauce.

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Go ahead, order a sangria. It's quite refreshing... And fruity, too!

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And while we're talking sweet stuff, it's time to talk about flan. Honestly, the flan itself doesn't really have a strong flavor profile... But thankfully, the strawberry compote on top and light caramel sauce on bottom enliven this plate! And when all three combine, that's when the magic happens on this plate.

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And just days after Cafe Ba Ba Reeba closed further up The Strip, it was truly heartwarming to go to Aria today and find all these fabulous tapas dishes at Julian Serrano. Maybe it didn't work out at first, but it ultimately looks like good Spanish cuisine is back on The Strip and will be here to stay.

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And by the way, don't hesitate to come and enjoy this place! MGM Mirage did something truly revolutionary on The Strip in taking CityCenter in such a green direction, and the rest of Las Vegas really is following. All of the CityCenter hotels (Aria, Vdara, and Mandarin Oriental) have achieved LEED Gold Certification in sustainable design, as well as the adjacent Crystals shopping mall.

So if that isn't enough to bring you here, I don't know what is. ;-)

And by the way, you always find more of my food reviews at my Urbanspoon page.

Poll
Where should I eat out next time?
Mas tapas, por favor!
Mas comida mexicana, por favor!
Vive la France!
Italiano, ciao bello!
Maybe be more American?
PIE!

Results

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Tips for the hungry gambler? (4.00 / 1)
OK, so I don't really gamble much. I swear, that day I only dropped $20 in the penny slot... And I came out with $25! :-D

I really go to The Strip to eat. Isn't that what everyone should do?

Act on Principles and make equality happen.


That's what I used to do in AC... (4.00 / 2)
OK, so I don't really gamble much. I swear, that day I only dropped $20 in the penny slot... And I came out with $25! :-D

I used to head down to AC with my father once in a while, and with some friends a few times.  I think maybe like ten times total.  I'm not a fan of gambling myself, and Atlantic City has one of the best beaches in the US.  That was its original draw as a resort town over 100 years ago, after all.

I would have been happy just wandering the town (some really beautiful old apartment buildings, houses, shops... sadly most of the historic early-20th century hotels have been torn down, though) and hanging out on the boardwalk and the beach (saltwater taffy!), but my friends went for the gambling.  So I went along.  I'd play the damned quarter slots slowly, heh.  On good days, I'd come in with $40 and leave with $50.  On bad days, I'd come in with $40 and leave with $30.  Whatever...

Anyways, I remember the first time I went to AC with one of my friends.  It was his first time there, and within like two minutes of getting into the Tropicana he hit like a 50 - 1 slot.  Won I think $50 off of $1.  He felt it was his night, so he headed right over to the blackjack tables.  Think he was knocked out of there in less time than it took for the first slot machine to spit out his quarters.  Taught him a valuable lesson there, at least he didn't lose anything he came in with up until that point.

We got our free drinks, though!

Coming soon to a Philadelphia near you!


Was this pre- or post-Borgata? (4.00 / 1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

If I can make it to Philly or NYC soon, it might be fun to take a day and head over to AC to see how The East Coast likes to play. I'm wondering if Borgata's really all that.

http://www.theborgata.com/Main...

The restaurant lineup looks like the typical "celebrity chef lineup". Hopefully their Wolfgang Puck Grille is better than MGM's here in Vegas.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.


[ Parent ]
Hmmm... (4.00 / 1)
The opening date at the wiki link says 2003, so my trips would have been concentrated right around then, between I'd say 2000 (when I turned 21) and 2005 or so, after which I didn't really travel outside of North Jersey much and I was concentrated on moving out West.  So I guess some before, some after.

Pretty sure I've never been in that one, we stayed on the southern end of the Atlantic City Boardwalk for casinos.  Tropicana and Trump Plaza mainly, I think.

Atlantic City wasn't much for food back then, but they've got a growing foodie scene there in the city itself outside of the casinos, or so I hear.  There's a longtime landmark sub shop in Atlantic City which some say make the best sandwiches in the country, White House Subs.

Coming soon to a Philadelphia near you!


[ Parent ]
Sounds like Old Vegas... (4.00 / 1)
http://www.eatinglv.com/2009/1...

http://www.eatinglv.com/2009/1...

http://www.eatinglv.com/2009/0...

Back then, the good restaurants were mostly out of the casinos. But when Wolfgang Puck opened Spago at Caesars' Forum Shops in 1992, that all changed. And today, Downtown is often criticized as a "culinary wasteland" a la what The Strip was considered 20 years ago. Oh my, how times have changed!

Act on Principles and make equality happen.


[ Parent ]
Things you never notice, Part II... (4.00 / 2)
I just mentioned to Eddie C that while watching The Godfather, I never noticed until the other day the Rheingold beer truck in the background while James Caan was beating down Talia Shire's husband on the street.

Another instance of this just happened last night - watching Die Hard, I noticed the obnoxious Los Angeles teevee reporter is on the phone with his wife in the satellite van and says something like "Trust me, honey.  I can get us reservations.  Wolfgang is a friend of mine, I've interviewed him."

That slipped by me in all those years and all those viewings until yesterday!

Coming soon to a Philadelphia near you!


[ Parent ]
Yes, Wolfgang is kinda big... (4.00 / 1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...

He has a Michelin 2 Star restaurant (Spago) in LA, along with dozens more restaurants in LA, Vegas, and all across the country. Some are great... And some are not.

When in Vegas, do Spago and Postrio. I still have to try Lupo.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.


[ Parent ]
Frank Perdue (4.00 / 2)
I think it was in a Lethal Weapon movie, perhaps the first one, that a prop TV set plays a Perdue Farms chicken commercial, with Frank Perdue as the pitchman. Difficult to forget that beak - his appearance is in fact the only thing I remember from the film.

[ Parent ]
I can't see these photos (4.00 / 2)
because they are too small.

Is this snark? (4.00 / 2)
Or are the photos malfunctioning? Usually when I upload my Palm Pre pics to Photobucket, they turn out too big.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.

[ Parent ]
you really need (4.00 / 2)
to learn how to resize your photos.

they are often waaaaaay too big & "break the blog"
pictures should not be over 500 in width... 450 is better.

you can put in the photo code width="450"
if you use photobucket you can put that just before the final >

if you are using the < img scr coding again it would go just before the final >

this way you can leave your photos in photobucket their original size & adjust them to fit whatever application you are using at the time.

for more help on adding pictures to your posts & how to make them do what YOU want see:
http://www.firefly-dreaming.co...

for help in getting text to do what you want it to see:
http://www.firefly-dreaming.co...

come firefly-dreaming with me....


[ Parent ]
Sorry about that... (4.00 / 2)
I now mostly use Photobucket slideshows to show pics, but for some reason Soapblox doesn't allow Photobucket slideshows so I was in a scramble these last couple of times to pick out pictures. I'll have to remember to manually resize them, as I tried before with the Photobucket features and it proceeded to actually shrink my photos.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.

[ Parent ]
it's okay (4.00 / 2)
it's just a matter of remembering another step in the process.
and the photo things are not at all intuitive.
it took me quite awhile (years!) to figure it all out. that's why i made 'help files' so that others could skip so much of the learning process i had to go through!
i hope you find them helpful.
cheers!

come firefly-dreaming with me....

[ Parent ]
Thanks, Ria. (4.00 / 2)
I really thought the new slideshow feature at Photobucket would be a godsend... And it has been for my blog (on a Blogger platform). But for some reason, the Photobucket slideshow isn't Soapblox compatible so it will help to figure out how to properly adjust photo embeds. As long as I just have to redo the width, I think I can figure it out. :-)

Act on Principles and make equality happen.

[ Parent ]
no problem (4.00 / 2)
the height will automatically reset proportionally to whatever width you set.

i haven't tried the slideshow things at all yet.
i think i saw one done somewhere on a soapblox site.
i'll try to remember where i saw it & go ask the poster how it was accomplished.
if i figure it out i'll let you know, okay?

come firefly-dreaming with me....


[ Parent ]
Jill's done them here... (4.00 / 2)
And I think Curtis Abbey did one too, once.

Coming soon to a Philadelphia near you!

[ Parent ]
Oh, and should mention... (4.00 / 2)
I don't know how to do them myself.

For photo editing, I use Irfanview myself, which is a program Eddie C. recommended to me a couple years ago.

Coming soon to a Philadelphia near you!


[ Parent ]
slideshows (4.00 / 2)
Jill's slideshows are Photobucket.

[ Parent ]
And they work here? (4.00 / 2)
Really? I'll have to ask Jill next time I see her in an open thread. So far every time I try to embed one of my Photobucket slideshows here, I get error messages.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.

[ Parent ]
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