Botero

A couple of weeks ago, I made my virgin trip to Sin City... Las Vegas! Similar to my situation with Little Tokyo, I'd never ever been to Las Vegas despite living in Southern California for almost 8 years now-apparently, I never really lived outside of my bubble until now! I blame swimming!!

Anyway, so the maiden voyage to Vegas was made for work, but thankfully, I had a little time to play whilst there. NOTE: Play in the sense of walking the entire strip for exercise and dining out at fancy restaurants but no play in the "normal" Vegas sense of the word, I had to work till 3 am every night I was there!

On my first night in Vegas, my boss and I had plans to dine with our PR reps at Botero. Set in an ultra sleek looking circular lounge at the Encore, Botero's interior sported extravagant white leather chairs with black trimmings, 6 white leather-padded pillars in the middle of the restaurant surrounding a giant voluptuous lady statue, and walls donned with paintings by the artist Fernando Botero.

While we waited for our dining compatriots who were running very behind our 9pm dinner time, my boss and I were starving so we ordered some apps to keep us happy. An order of Hamachi tartare with crispy rice cake and sweet chili vinaigrette as well as a wild mushroom tart with gruyere cheese and arugula did the trick. The hamachi was very fresh and sweetly spicy but the rice cake was a little too deep fried for my liking. Additionally, I've had much better crispy rice cakes from BarFood in LA or even Katsuya.

However, I will give Botero's Hamachi tartare a little shout out for an innovative presentation. Served on little metal spork-like contraptions, this tartare was easy to pick up and pop into ones mouth without the tartare falling off the rice cake, or sauce dripping everywhere. Genius!

The puff pastry on the wild mushroom tart was flaky and tasted like it came from a frozen package of pre-made dough. However, the wild mushrooms did add just the right touch of umami meatiness that my growling stomach wanted. Moreover, I've always been a huge fan of the combination of nutty Gruyere cheese mixed with the bitter spiciness of the arugula, so this dish wins with me despite the lackluster puff pastry.

Upon the arrival of our other 4 dining companions, we dove straight into ordering our main meals. If you haven't noticed by now, I like to split entries with whoever I am dining with- it allows me to try more food + I'm very indecisive so having 2 choices helps- and this meal was no exception. The first dish my boss and I split was an order of the Kobe short rib with potato puree and rosemary. The smell of the rosemary was intoxicatingly delicious but the short rib fell short. Dry and overcooked, the meat lacked any sort of flavor or natural jus. Blah would be how I would describe it.

The second split dish was the European Loup De Mer (Mediterranean Sea Bass) served with niçoise vegetables. The sea bass was nicely seasoned although a little over cooked. The star of this dish was definitely the niçoise vegetables which were sweet and flavorful.

For dessert, our table split and order of Botero ice cream cupcakes that came in "childhood favorite flavors". I tried the lemon flavored ice cream cupcake and was left a little under impressed. The cupcake was too buttery and soggy- it crumbled in mouth but not in a good way. On top of that, I was left wanting more from the disk of lemon ice cream that sat atop the cupcake. It lacked any kind of citrus punch and did not go well with the slightly unpleasant cake below.

Details:
Botero @ Encore Las Vegas
3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
702-770-5315