Restaurant News
Sunset & Vines...
The name says it all for this informal yet elegant little restaurant. Sunset & Vines provides great vistas of the lake, especially at sunset, and features an extensive wine list and food that pairs well with wine. Located right next to the water in the Miralago Village of Lake Las Vegas, the restaurant offers a halcyon spot to escape the hustle and bustle of the Strip.
Sunset & Vines has plenty of ambience, both indoors and out. The patio sits directly across from the lake, affording patrons a great view. The dramatic interior showcases soaring ceilings and walls decorated with colorful frescos that depict classical rural scenes associated with a visit to the wine country. A lovely separate dining room for larger parties displays many of the wines offered for sale, and gives the sense of dining in a very well-appointed wine cellar.
Wine lovers should appreciate the varied and reasonably priced wine list that gives the customer many options for ordering wine. This list includes more than 60 choices of wines by the taste or the glass. A taste constitutes a two once pour, and a glass a six once pour. This allows the patron to sample a small portion of a number of wines before making that decision on which bottle to choose for the meal. The list offers a wide selection of wines from virtually every major wine region. It also features some quite hard to find bottles. Examples of those difficult to find wines include: vineyard specific Kistler chardonnays, Goldeneye and Martinelli pinot noirs, the Grange shiraz, Turley and Ridge zinfandels, Seavey, Barnett, Axios and Paul Hobbs cabernets, and Bordeaux blends from Colgin, Dominus Estate and Verite’. The list really goes on and on. Should the customer opt for
bringing in a bottle from his or her private collection, Sunset & Vines has a very reasonable corkage fee of $20.00 per bottle.
bringing in a bottle from his or her private collection, Sunset & Vines has a very reasonable corkage fee of $20.00 per bottle. The menu offers a wide selection of appetizers. Wisely from a wine lover’s perspective, these appetizers include a nice selection of cheeses to complement the many available wines. The Cheese plate on the appetizer menu allows the customer to select three different cheeses for $22.00. The menu also features nine entrees, which include filet mignon, ribeye teak, lamb, pork chops, halibut, salmon, chicken, shrimp scampi and seafood linguine. All entrees come with appropriate side dishes. On the night I dined there, I tried both the herb roasted chicken and dry aged ribeye, and found both delicious. The entrees range in price from $17.00 to $39.00.
Sunset & Vines hosts a wine free wine tasting every Tuesday night from 6-8 p.m. The tasting usually features wine from a specific winery or region. The restaurant also has a full bar, in case the patrons taste favors something other than wine. For reservations call (702)382-7900 or check out their website at www.sunsetvines.com.
Sea Blue...
Situated in the Studio Walk of the MGM Grand Hotel, Sea Blue provides a blend of hip swank and innovative architecture to create a lovely ambience for enjoying a meal. The main dining room has subdued lighting emanating from huge lantern-like lamps suspended from the soaring ceilings. Subtle waterfalls line the walls surrounding the dining area, providing a slightly soothing background noise as the falling water disappears somewhere below. All this creates a sort of a harmonious and mysterious beauty about the place. Then comes the hip part: the restaurant has an active bar, complete with television, and plays pop music at reasonable sound levels so as keep bar goers smiling but not so loud as to interfere with a romantic dinner.
The restaurant has a large and varied wine list. The list includes a wide diversity of wine from all
regions. The wine is expensive, but not overly so, considering the current prices on the Las Vegas Strip. They have some exquisite wines, including a 2001 Screaming Eagle cabernet, and a 1990 Chateau Latour. Needless to say, those selections are very expensive. The wine list goes on for 25 pages, and includes many sparkling wines, rieslings, chardonnays, cabernets and pinot noirs. The wines range from some very notable offerings, such a Opus One and Tantara, to more affordable favorites, such as Honig, Heitz, and Acacia. Sea Blue also offers a good selection of wines by the glass, and by the half-bottle. On the night I dined there, I ordered a half-bottle of French Sancerre, which pairs nicely with many of the available seafood dishes. It cost $40.00. Sea Blue will allow wine aficionados to carry-in bottles, but charges a corkage fee of $35.00 for this convenience. Unfortunately, this seems like the going rate for first class restaurants on the Strip these days.
regions. The wine is expensive, but not overly so, considering the current prices on the Las Vegas Strip. They have some exquisite wines, including a 2001 Screaming Eagle cabernet, and a 1990 Chateau Latour. Needless to say, those selections are very expensive. The wine list goes on for 25 pages, and includes many sparkling wines, rieslings, chardonnays, cabernets and pinot noirs. The wines range from some very notable offerings, such a Opus One and Tantara, to more affordable favorites, such as Honig, Heitz, and Acacia. Sea Blue also offers a good selection of wines by the glass, and by the half-bottle. On the night I dined there, I ordered a half-bottle of French Sancerre, which pairs nicely with many of the available seafood dishes. It cost $40.00. Sea Blue will allow wine aficionados to carry-in bottles, but charges a corkage fee of $35.00 for this convenience. Unfortunately, this seems like the going rate for first class restaurants on the Strip these days. The menu gives the diner a good many options, especially when it comes to creating a personal theme salad. You can actually mark with a pencil from more than 30 ingrediants to include in the salad, and the server then prepares it for you. The unique salad costs only $14.00 and for a light eater could easily serve as the complete meal.
Sea Blue’s entrees include the usual options of steak and chicken, but the real specialty of the house is seafood. They feature a wide variety of these dishes from the sea, including tuna, scallops, lobster, Chilean sea bass, prawns, and snapper. The house specializes in a tagines style cooking for some of its seafood dishes, which utilizes a clay pot and intensifies flavors. Most entrees range in price between $35.00-$50.00. You may order a half-lobster for $49.00, but a full lobster depends upon market price. On the night I dined there, a full lobster cost $150.00. All entrees come with a nice assortment of side dishes. I ordered the scallops, and enjoyed every bite. They came broiled with a subtle sauce that enhanced the flavor. Baby broccoli, lentil rice and mushrooms came with the entrée. All side dishes complemented the scallops and were artfully prepared.
Although somewhat upscale, the restaurant attracts all ages and emphasizes a casual dining atmosphere. I dined there on a Friday evening, and found the restaurant pleasantly full, but not crowded. I did not have reservations and got immediate seating at about 7:30 pm. Overall, I would rate the service as excellent. My server, Jennifer, provided efficient and friendly help that added to the enjoyment of the dining experience. I would definitely consider eating there again in the near future. For reservations, call (702)891-3486 or visit their website at www.mgmgrand.com.
The vaulted bar and dining room at Sunset & Vines...
The exotic dining room at Sea Blue...