Andre's, Las Vegas

Trying new restaurants is a hobby of mine, if you couldn’t tell. While doing research for this Vegas trip, I came across Andre’s in the Monte Carlo. It’s Michelin rated, the menu looked great and the location was perfect. After a few long days in Vegas, staying in the hotel on our last night was a great option. 

When you cross the casino floor to get to Andre’s, you wonder if the noise from the party pit will be bothersome, that is, until the hostess opens the doors to the dining room. This was a really impressive room, it's dark and sexy in browns and blues with touches of purples and grays. High banquettes line one wall with tables around the room. We were seated in a banquette and conversations around us were so muted that if we didn’t see the staff attending to other tables, we would have thought we were alone.  The room left us with quite the first impression. The music was great too, I think I knew every song, but I've been told I'm somewhat of a music savant.

 

Ross, our waiter told us that Chef Andre also owns Alize at the top of the Palms. He used to own a free standing restaurant, also called Andre's, downtown for almost 30 years, but that recently closed. The extensive, mostly French wine list and cocktail menu are presented on an ipad. I went with a Willy Nilly, how can a drink with that name be bad? It was delicious. Gramercy Guy had the Bloody O Cosmo, mine was better.  After determining that we’d both go fish, the sommelier helped us pick out a nice bottle of white.

Dinner started with an amuse bouche of frois gras in the shape of a club. For me, it was the perfect creaminess and gaminess that I like. Best part was it did get me excited for the meal to come, my bouche was amused.

Melange of Greens (mine)

Onion Soup (Gramercy Guy's)

Pear Sorbet (Palette Cleanser, with a layer of ice just like an old school pudding pop)

Scallops & Prawns with Saffron Gnocchi (mine)

Pepper Crusted Yellow Fin in a Curry Sauce with Potato Fondant

 

House-made Chocolates, compliments of the pastry chef

The service was exceptional and the food was superb, our only problem was we had a late lunch and then our new friends from Seattle and Puxatony, PA brought us In-N-Out Burger which is my fast food kryptonite so we couldn’t eat most of our dinner. Ross even asked politely if everything was ok with our meal and we told him about the late lunch. I’m not sure he believed us.

Enough people know about Andre’s, so it can't be classified as a hidden gem, but I will tell you that I think it’s a MUST.