Restaurant News

   

    I would best describe the Sedona restaurant as the proverbial diamond in the rough. Set in its own ultra-modern building at 9580 West Flamingo (right next to where Flamingo Boulevard crosses Interstate 215), Sedona provides diners with an opportunity to dine in the style of an upscale Las Vegas Strip establishment without the often inflated prices of those venues. 


    The exterior appears as a striking high mix of steel, wood and glass.  The restaurant continues the high-tech effect with an interior featuring a large, high ceiling dining area fitted with trendy furniture, all bathed in a soft red light.  It all results in conveying a comfortably warming ambience for diners. A large centrally located U-shaped bar with granite counters can accommodate about two-dozen people.  The dining area is set back far enough from the bar so that diners can carry on intimate conversation without distraction.  


    The restaurant’s patio offers an alternative dining environment.  Stylishly set around a small fountain and surrounded by soaring bamboo plants, the tables provide an outdoor retreat for alfresco meals under the stars.  Heater lamps allow for comfort when the weather turns cool. 


   Sedona’s menu offers a wide selection of dining possibilities.   Entrees include sandwiches, four different pastas, chicken dishes, four seafood meals, a pork chop, beef short ribs, a strip sirloin steak, and a filet mignon.  The beef dishes are all certified Angus beef and tender as butter.  I order my beef medium rare, and in three diners all meals have come out perfectly.  The entrees range from $11.00 for the sandwiches to $38.00 for the filet mignon.  All come with a small portion of interesting side dishes paired with the entrée for a completely satisfying dining experience.   Translation:  you really don’t need to order anything a la carte to have a complete meal.


    However, if you feel like something extra, executive chef John Zamarchi stays prepared.  He has come up with an eclectic assortment of appetizers, soups, salads and grilled flatbread should the diner choose to supplement the main course.  For example, the menu includes BBQ Shrimp, ahi tuna chips, orange satays, pork potstickers, ahi tuna salad, and some creative flatbread dishes.  The grilled flatbread (actually a thin crust pizza) and a salad provide enough for a full meal for most appetites.  All appetizers, soups, salads and flatbreads cost between $8.00-$18.00.


    For the wine lover, Sedona has a nice wine list available to complement the food menu.  They arrange the wine list in a unique manner, with both whites and red wines categorized from light to full bodied.  The wine list includes twenty different white wines, with bottles ranging in price from $30.00-$120.00.  The listed red wines number 28 and cost between $30.00-$140.00 per bottle.  The wine list also has three selections of champagne.  Sedona makes a large number of these wines available by the glass.


  Some of the more notable wines on the list include Rombauer and Cakebread Chardonnays, Duckhorn Merlot, Paradigm and Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon.  The menu concentrates heavily on American wines, but also has a few wines from Australia, Italy and France.  As a nice concessions to wine lovers, the restaurant allows carry-in bottles with a corkage fee of $25.00 per bottle.  The restaurant would probably waive the fee if the diners also purchased one of the house wines, but I suggest inquiring about that policy before making a reservation.




   Do not make the mistake of judging this little restaurant on first appearance.  Situated in a strip mall at 953 East Sahara, the Lotus of Siam’s location and modest exterior belie the excellent quality of its food and wine.


    I normally do not review Asian restaurants from a wine perspective, for the simple reason that very few have a policy of making wine an integral part of the dining experience.  Herein lies the wonderful dichotomy of the Lotus of Siam.  


    Although located only three-quarters of a mile from the Strip, finding the Lotus of Siam does present a challenge. Even relying on map-quest does not reveal exactly how to find this place.  Despite its address, it does not face Sahara.  When driving east on Sahara, turn right on Commercial Street, and then make another immediate right, so that you find yourself driving behind the line of stores that front Sahara.  Look closely and you will see the Lotus of Siam on your right.  On your left you will see a huge parking lot that serves all the establishments in the strip mall made up of shops, bars and restaurants.


    Upon entering, the visitor will find a clean but tiny restaurant, with the only interior décor worth remembering being the photographs on the wall commemorating all the famous personalities who have dined here.  And the list of those persons goes on and on.  The restaurant has attained national notoriety for its great Thai cuisine and, surprisingly, for its sophisticated wine list.   Jonathan Gold of Gourmet Magazine proclaimed Lotus of Siam as the best Thai restaurant in North America.  Renown wine critic Robert Parker, who has dined in many of the world’s finest restaurants, loves Lotus of Siam, and has stated that he looks forward to eating here whenever visiting Las Vegas.


    Owner/chef Saipin Chutima learned how to cook at the age of five, working under the tutelage of her grandmother in the north of Thailand.  She has honed those culinary skills ever since.  Saipin eventually immigrated to the Untied States and opened a Thai restaurant that became quite successful in southern California.  In 2000, opportunity knocked, and she and her husband opened the doors of the Lotus of Siam here in Las Vegas.


    The restaurant specializes in cuisine from northern Thailand, but the menu includes food from all over the country.  In all, the menu recently listed 132 items.  This includes entrees, salads and soups, but not the daily specials or deserts.  Most of the dishes range in price from $9.00-13.00.  For normal appetites, four dishes would make a good size meal for a couple. 


    In a menu loaded with exotic treats, some of the more intriguing include shrimp with oyster flavored sauce, charbroiled salmon topped with spicy chili sauce, sliced charbroiled beef mixed with green onion, chili, lime juice and rice powder, deep fried catfish topped with vegetables, lime juice, and cashew nuts, and cashew nuts and onion sautéed with in roasted chili paste.  These represent just a small sampling of a plethora of dining options.  In addition to the exotic, Lotus of Siam has all the traditional noodle and rice dishes one might expect from the usual Thai restaurant, such as pad Thai, different styles of curry, or fried rice.


    The customer may order many of the dishes to suit individual taste, choosing the type of meat (between chicken, beef, pork or shrimp) and degree of spiciness used in cooking.  Keep the “mild spicy” option in mind, as I have heard that with an order of “maximum spicy” the diner should come equipped with a fire extinguisher to survive.  On a recent meal there, I shared with friends orders of the pad Thai noodles, drunken seafood noodles, soft shell crab salad, yellow curry, and garlic Shrimp.  We ordered the dishes with mild spice and they all turned out delicious.  The curry, however, resembled more of a soup than a solid dish.   Still, the sauce proved fantastic when blended with the white rice that came with the meal.  


    The wine list resembles one that a diner would expect to find in an elegant Las Vegas Strip restaurant.  The list goes on for 34 pages. Appropriately, the restaurant tends to focus more on wines that complement Thai food.  For example, the list includes pages of German Rieslings, with prices beginning at $30.00 per bottle.  Most of the Rieslings range between $45.00-70.00.   Best of all, Lotus of Siam has many of the Rieslings available by the glass, with most priced between $8-10.00.


    For those wine lovers who really want to splurge on that special bottle, Lotus of Siam has some truly remarkable options.  The list encompasses stellar selections of most varietals.  For example, from the domestic reds, the diner may choose from Joseph Phelps Insignia, Colgin, Abreu, Quilceda Creek, or Cliffe Lede Cabernet blends, Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noirs, or Turley Zinfandels.   The list also includes some excellent wines from all over the world, such as a 1997 Casanova di Neri Brunello, the 2000 Chateaux Margaux, Pavie and Mouton Rothschild, and some prime bottles from Australia, Chile and Spain.  As for pricing these hard to find bottles, consider this:  Lotus of Siam lists the 2000 Mouton Rothschild for $1,050.00.  You may purchase that same bottle of wine at the Carnevino Steakhouse in the Palazzo wing of the Venetian Hotel for $2,700.00. I understand it changes periodically, and that’s not a surprise given the affordable prices and exquisite selections.  I cannot believe the restaurant carries a heavy inventory of some of these world class wines.


    For wine lovers, the Lotus of Siam represents a true culinary adventure.  How many restaurants offer great Thai food at reasonable prices together with a full wine list designed to complement the food?  Lotus of Siam may take the prize as the only restaurant that can truthfully fill that bill.    Check it out when you feel like pairing some fine Thai cuisine with that special glass of wine. 


    Lotus of Siam serves both lunch and dinner, and recommends reservations for dinner, especially on the weekends.  This gem is hard to find, but no longer a secret to locals or connoisseurs of Asian cuisine.   Contact them at (702)735-3033 or visit the website at www.saipinchutima.com .


       


















                                  

The Lotus of Siam...

Sedona...

The Sedona restaurant, at 9580 West Flamingo, as viewed from Interstate 215...

The outdoor patio at Sedona...

  Sedona offers some truly astounding specials on a regular basis.  Most notable is the Saturday night special on their steak entrees.  For the first 75 people who request  the Saturday night special and reserve a dinner on a Saturday evening between 7:00-9:00, the steak includes a small lobster tail, both at half price of the regular entrée.  I have taken advantage of this offer on several occasions, and believe it ranks as the best quality/price bargain in the Las Vegas area.  One of the better lobster tails I have ever tasted.  Another special features Tuesday wine nights, when patrons may order any of the listed wines at one-half their normal price.  This represents a tremendous bargain, in that the wine list is not overly priced to begin with.


    Sedona also ladies’ night on Saturdays, with all ladies’ drinks on the house between 9:00-10:00 p.m., and certain wines by glass served gratis to the girls between 7:00-8:00  p.m.


    The Sedona restaurant offers diners stylish ambience, excellent food, a respectable wine list, and friendly, attentive service, all at reasonable prices.   Sedona is certainly worth seeking out if one wants fine quality dining away from the Strip.  Contact the restaurant at (702)320-4700 for reservations or more information.


The Lotus of Siam:  Don’t judge a book by its cover...

Bank, the manager of Lotus of Siam...