EAT: Aureole, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV

Most people go to Las Vegas for a dinner and a show. Why not have both at the same time?! At Aureole in Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, you get both. In the center of the grand dining room is a four story wine tower, complete with "flying wine angels," as they are called, who retrieve bottles of wine ordered by guests each night.Which bottle will you select?

Aureole is one of the 18 restaurants in the renowned Chef Charlie Palmer's Restaurant Group, which has locations in New York City, Washington DC, Nevada, and California. Aureole does not have a gluten free menu, but we were impressed with the knowledge of our server about food allergies. He even brought us gluten free chebe bread made in house! Chebe bread is an Italian cheese bread and was delicious with butter.

To start our meal, we ordered the gluten free Seared Hudson Foie Gras with savoy cabbage samosa, ginger carrot puree, and mount hood wild huckleberry. Smooth, creamy, delicious, and seared nicely. Foie Gras is very popular in Las Vegas and it is definitely an acquired taste. I found the Foie Gras in Las Vegas to be smoother and less strong than others I have tried around the country. Aureole's was by far the best Foie Gras we had in Las Vegas, except for the Foie Gras at Sage, which incorporated its foie gras into a brulee and a candy bar.

For the entree, I ordered the Niman Ranch Pork Chop with Collard Greens, Bacon Bits, and Spicy Pig's Ear Salad. It also came with a Bartlett Pear Tart, but that was not gluten free, so as a substitution, pears were sliced on top.The dish was very tasty and had a nice fusion of flavors.

My dinner companion also ordered gluten free and decided upon the 18 oz Bone In Rib Eye with Garlic Firecracker and Classic Bearnaise. It was cooked to a nice medium rare and was very flavorful.

Aureole should definitely be on your list on places to eat in Las Vegas. It was in my Top 2 for my trip.Our server was very knowledgeable about food allergies, and the food was fabulous. I really enjoyed watching the "wine angel" repel up and down the tower retrieving wine. In fact, she was only retrieving bottles about half way up most of the night, and we joked to our server that the really expensive ones must be at the top. His response was no, but he did send her a request to go to the top of the tower just for us to see. Definitely a great dinner and show!

Aureole
Mandalay Bay Resort
3950 South Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89119
702.632.7401
http://www.charliepalmer.com/aureole-las-vegas/