Steve
11-05-2005, 03:02 PM
RESTAURANT REVIEW: Como's
Freedom to Eat Fries: The duck fat used at Como's keeps french fries crisper and more flavorful.
By Heidi Knapp Rinella
This might be a little surprising, but the first thing I wanted to try at Como's was the french fries.
As you may have guessed, I'm not generally much of a french fry person. That fries are little fat bombs without enough nutritional value to redeem themselves is the least of it; the fact is that most are limp, greasy and flavorless -- poor imitations of the original model.
But I'd heard that Como's chef/proprietor Joseph Keller uses duck fat when he fries his fries, an old-country touch if ever there were one. I was hopeful -- and, as it turned out, I was not disappointed.
What does duck fat do for fries? Adds just a tiny nuance of flavor, for one; a lot of duck would not, as our favorite female felon is fond of saying, be a good thing. And -- and I don't really understand this, since the smoke point of duck fat is actually lower than that of canola or peanut oil -- somehow it makes them much crisper, and less likely to retain much more than a hint of grease. Which was precisely the case here.
Any health-related misgivings I might have felt at the prospect of consuming duck fat were mitigated by the virtuous knowledge that I also had partaken of Keller's Coquilles St. Jacques ($15). This usually is a fat-heavy dish, but Keller enriches his sauce with pureed potatoes instead of a flood of heavy cream, which adds a touch of texture while reducing the fat and provides a pleasing platform for the thinnish discs of scallops and sauteed mushrooms. Very tricky.
Not that my dinner would've really warmed the cockles of my doctor's heart. With those fries I had an 8-ounce filet mignon ($39) -- innocent enough (though twice the size nutritionists would like us to consume), but I declined the choice of blue cheese, herb or peppercorn butter and went instead for Bearnaise ($3), which was as silken and laced with as much tarragon as I'd expected. Perfect combination, the fries and the steak and the sauce, although whoever was manning the grill must be one of those chefs who can't seem to bring themselves to serving meat nice and bloody rare; this was definitely at least medium-rare.
Keller's got a talent for fried potatoes, it seems; the sweet-potato fries that accompanied the double-rack pork chop ($28) were likewise crisp, flavorful and grease-free. The chop itself was moist and meaty, its "root-beer barbecue glaze" subtle. Thankfully subtle.
A classic and nicely prepared French onion soup with a thick coating of Gruyere ($7) and a warm Valrhona dark-chocolate ('nuff said) molten cake with a little vanilla milkshake and chocolate straw ($8) completed things nicely.
Oh, and our wine. My only real quibble (besides the nonrare steak) is that Como's wine list, though reasonably varied, didn't have a good selection of the unfamiliar wines that represent a bit of adventure (not to mention lower prices) for customers. Our 2003 Turkey Flat Vineyards meritage ($49) was about as good as it got -- and pretty good, actually. And the wine service was perfect.
We sat inside Como's comfortably sleek-chic interior, things still being pretty sultry on the evening of our visit. But with autumn finally falling, and the Lake Las Vegas jazz concerts continuing until Oct. 29, I'll be spreading the word that a Saturday night al-fresco dinner at Como's is the way to go.
what: Como's
where: 10 Via Brianza in MonteLago Village, Lake Las Vegas, Henderson
phone: 567-9950
overall: A-
food: A-
atmosphere: A-
service: A-
pluses: Amazing french fries, Bernaise and much more.
minuses: A slightly overcooked steak.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Sep-16-Fri-2005/weekly/3345956.html
Freedom to Eat Fries: The duck fat used at Como's keeps french fries crisper and more flavorful.
By Heidi Knapp Rinella
This might be a little surprising, but the first thing I wanted to try at Como's was the french fries.
As you may have guessed, I'm not generally much of a french fry person. That fries are little fat bombs without enough nutritional value to redeem themselves is the least of it; the fact is that most are limp, greasy and flavorless -- poor imitations of the original model.
But I'd heard that Como's chef/proprietor Joseph Keller uses duck fat when he fries his fries, an old-country touch if ever there were one. I was hopeful -- and, as it turned out, I was not disappointed.
What does duck fat do for fries? Adds just a tiny nuance of flavor, for one; a lot of duck would not, as our favorite female felon is fond of saying, be a good thing. And -- and I don't really understand this, since the smoke point of duck fat is actually lower than that of canola or peanut oil -- somehow it makes them much crisper, and less likely to retain much more than a hint of grease. Which was precisely the case here.
Any health-related misgivings I might have felt at the prospect of consuming duck fat were mitigated by the virtuous knowledge that I also had partaken of Keller's Coquilles St. Jacques ($15). This usually is a fat-heavy dish, but Keller enriches his sauce with pureed potatoes instead of a flood of heavy cream, which adds a touch of texture while reducing the fat and provides a pleasing platform for the thinnish discs of scallops and sauteed mushrooms. Very tricky.
Not that my dinner would've really warmed the cockles of my doctor's heart. With those fries I had an 8-ounce filet mignon ($39) -- innocent enough (though twice the size nutritionists would like us to consume), but I declined the choice of blue cheese, herb or peppercorn butter and went instead for Bearnaise ($3), which was as silken and laced with as much tarragon as I'd expected. Perfect combination, the fries and the steak and the sauce, although whoever was manning the grill must be one of those chefs who can't seem to bring themselves to serving meat nice and bloody rare; this was definitely at least medium-rare.
Keller's got a talent for fried potatoes, it seems; the sweet-potato fries that accompanied the double-rack pork chop ($28) were likewise crisp, flavorful and grease-free. The chop itself was moist and meaty, its "root-beer barbecue glaze" subtle. Thankfully subtle.
A classic and nicely prepared French onion soup with a thick coating of Gruyere ($7) and a warm Valrhona dark-chocolate ('nuff said) molten cake with a little vanilla milkshake and chocolate straw ($8) completed things nicely.
Oh, and our wine. My only real quibble (besides the nonrare steak) is that Como's wine list, though reasonably varied, didn't have a good selection of the unfamiliar wines that represent a bit of adventure (not to mention lower prices) for customers. Our 2003 Turkey Flat Vineyards meritage ($49) was about as good as it got -- and pretty good, actually. And the wine service was perfect.
We sat inside Como's comfortably sleek-chic interior, things still being pretty sultry on the evening of our visit. But with autumn finally falling, and the Lake Las Vegas jazz concerts continuing until Oct. 29, I'll be spreading the word that a Saturday night al-fresco dinner at Como's is the way to go.
what: Como's
where: 10 Via Brianza in MonteLago Village, Lake Las Vegas, Henderson
phone: 567-9950
overall: A-
food: A-
atmosphere: A-
service: A-
pluses: Amazing french fries, Bernaise and much more.
minuses: A slightly overcooked steak.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Sep-16-Fri-2005/weekly/3345956.html