Sage is arguably one of the best restaurants on the strip, and so far my favorite. This was our second visit, we tried the chef’s tasting menu. If you’re in Vegas, eat here! You won’t be disappointed. I will write more detail on this post at a later time, for now, my day job calls.

explanation of menus

I love English afternoon tea, while some call it a “girl thing” these pictures from the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas may change your mind. Hubs certainly wasn’t complaining as he stuffed his face with tea sandwiches and divine little petite fours lovingly constructed by obsessive culinary geniuses- praise them, bless them, because we”ll be back… We’ve had high tea at Bellagio’s Petrossian (twice) and while it was excellent, the Mandarin raised the bar so high no other place can hold a candle to it.

For the record, if you don’t like scones it’s probably because you’ve never eaten a good one. I make (or rather, cooks illustrated makes) the best scones -although I have to redeem myself for burning my last batch intended for an office party for one of my co-workers- so I’m usually not impressed with most scones. Yet I will admit without any hesitation that the Mandarin kicked my ass in scone-making (royally).

Warning: unusual condiments!!!! The accompaniments for the scones were creme fraiche, rosepetal preserve jam and meyer lemon preserves. If you only love sweet things on your scones, these preserves are not a good match. They were barely sweet but very bright, tart and acidic to stand up to and cut the richness of the scones. I LOVED it, but they may not be for everyone.

Hubs hates egg salad, in fact you can’t get him near a boiled egg because he loathes the smell even from a half mile away- but he loved these egg salad sandwiches. Did I mention the maker was a genius? Also on the plate are curried chicken salad sandwiches, black forest ham sandwiches with horseradish mayonnaise, and cucumber sandwiches with smoked salmon.

I sacrificed my curried chicken salad sandwich to the all-mighty hubs since I was getting full, while he liked it he did mention the curry was a bit strong. The cucumber salmon sandwiches were wonderful, but believe it or not my favorite was the ham sandwich although the horseradish kick to the mayonaise was mild for my preferences (note: my horseradish tolerance is quite respectable by Slavic standards, guess what that means!).

A common complaint I have when it comes to pastry, and especially chocolate, is that it is usually made so sweet you can’t taste any flavors (this is usually done to mask the fact that the pastry has none). Whoever the pastry chef is at the Mandarin, they need to triple their salary. These petite fours were so well flavored that the chef was able to show a lot of restraint with the amount of sugar, something I really appreciate and rarely find. As good as the sandwiches and scones were, the pastry was the real star of the tea service. Hubs and I agreed, the best was the pecan tart with raspberry, a close runner up were the coconut lemon squares, next in line was the chocolate covered cheesecake lollypops, then the passion fruit meringues (note: if you’re a passion-fruit freak- I’m looking at YOU, Mom-  you must try these, the flavor was very intense) and finally the chocolate ganache tart.

They have a really wonderful variety of rare and fine teas to choose from, there’s something for everyone. I tried the pur eh tea, a kind of earthy assam and hubs enjoyed the Mandarin’s special hotel blend which I liked even better.

I won’t say much about the view from the Mandarin Tea Lounge, because I think the picture speaks for itself.

This was our second visit for American Fish. While we were wowed by our first, our second experience showed signs that the restaurant may be slipping a bit.

Again, forgive my poor photos, as I mentioned in other posts my camera is ancient and struggles in low light (the lighting of choice for most restaurants!). I really need to buy a new camera and it shows!

I will give American Fish credit for their fine quality of seafood cooked perfectly, even though you’re in the middle of the desert you’d think you were on the New England coast. Short of prying the shellfish from the ocean yourself, you won’t find better. While the appetizer came with 3 condiments, they were unnecessary since the shellfish was fresh.

While the fries at American Fish rival McDonalds (yes, it is possible!), our side orders were the first signal that the quality may be slipping. The fries were just as amazing as we remember, served with tartar sauce instead of ketchup (Woo!!!) which we really loved. However, the truffled mac and cheese lacked of any flavor of truffles although it had a few token chunks of mushrooms in it (and they were obviously not truffles). This was disappointing, for the price point I would expect a side dish that exceeds what I can make for myself at home, so we left most of it untouched. I’ve made better mac and cheese than this, and I’m a far cry from a professional chef.

I ordered the same dish I had on my first visit: the Tasmanian Ocean Trout! This was just as divine as I remember it. It was cooked perfectly, and the skin was crisp like a fine crackling (which I really enjoy eating and I wish more seafood restaurants would leave the skin on!). If you’re worried that it may be overpoweringly salty, don’t be, its just perfect.

Behold, the crowing disappointment! Hubs also ordered the same dish as our first visit because it was one of the more memorable meals he’s had. Unfortunately, the second time was not nearly as good as the first. There was an overpowering charred taste to the seafood, as if the grill it was cooked on hadn’t been cleaned in months. You know, like that taste you get on your barbeque at home if you don’t clean your greasy grill before heating it up and slapping on a few burgers – and then your burgers are infused with that nasty tasted of dirty soot. What made this even more disappointing was that the quality of the seafood was immaculate, and it was cooked perfectly- and it was all ruined by a grill that was somehow off. Again, for the price point of American Fish, this shouldn’t be happening. The waitress and manager apologized profusely and removed it from our bill, but stressed that the grill was clean and that it was perhaps the type of wood being burned that day that may have been to blame. We’re not sure if the wood type was to blame or if the kitchen slacking off with keeping the grill spotless, nevertheless seafood shouldn’t have the aftertaste of a burnt tire and we’re a little suspicious that this would go unnoticed if the chefs are tasting the food from time to time.

On the bright side most of the dishes were still very good or great, and the service here is wonderful. Sadly we won’t be returning due to the wealth of other restaurants at this price point that have remained more consistent, but if you LOVE seafood this is a good place to try.