Best Vegas night out in a long time! Moved away to London six months ago and came back for a night in Vegas after two weeks travelling around California. It was about time someone created an adult experience in town that doesn’t involve 22 year olds paying thousands for bottle service to feel cool at a club. Rose Rabbit Lie (http://roserabbitlie.com ) is the restaurant and Nocturne is the show, and the overall experience can include one or the other or both, with the bars around it.
We arrived at 7:30pm for pre theatre drinks, and hung out at the bar where the performers mingled and worked while we sipped fun cocktails. The show is from the same creators as Absinthe. Nocturne is not as funny as Absinthe but a good cabaret show, with very creative acts that we haven’t seen before (quite an accomplishment since we were in Vegas for 10 years). It is unfair to judge the show as it is not even open to the public and they are still tweaking it.
The show is around 90 minutes and afterwards we went to Rose Rabbit Lie. I was honestly hesitant to try a new restaurant as usually service and food are not great during trials. How wrong could we be? They were on top of things and way better than most restaurants that have been open for ages.
The restaurant is gorgeous (as is the bar) and every detail is creative and unique. They immediately won me over with the Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch panel at the back of the restaurant. Everything, from fork rests, to the different plates, to gorgeous wine book (see picture) to the script font on the menu, blew me away.
Restaurant detail
Fork rests, all different
Wine list
The wall between the bar and the resaturant comes up and down during the evening
What we ate:
Gougers with truffle mornay: very good but too much mornay so overly creamy (if that I possible)
Oysters Rockefeller and Gougers with truffle mornay
Brussels sprouts with crispy chicken skin and manchego: cooked with honey so a bit too sweet, and could use more chicken skin. Still good but the waiter came to ask if we didn’t like as chef was worried we left five brussels in the plate (sign of a good chef)
Brussels sprouts
Oysters Rockefeller: awesome but just one bite! Good excuse to come back
Mussels: Hands down the best ever, with amazing grilled sourdough, old bay and chorizo. We asked for more bread and kept soaking the juices till we wiped it clean
Rabbit fricassee with carrots and mushrooms: super tender, balanced and delicious
Rabbit fricassee
Braised pork with anson mills polenta air and truffles: not enough truffle, , we still ate it all but other dishes were better
Short rib stroganoff: very cool presentation with herbs between pasta sheets. Very tender short ribs, yum
Short rib stroganoff
Butterscotch pudding with chocolate hazelnut stone and whipped cream: grew on us when we discovered that you must eat the pudding with the stone. Very molecular and reminded us of a dish at Alinea with burned toast puree among a forest of cauliflowers (just visually)
Butterscotch pudding dessert
And, because I have a serious case of food envy….(table next to us had ordered it), cookie sampler: served in a white china bear container with of course a gold crown: we were so full, but couldn’t stop eating it, the carrot cake sandwiches, cake balls, and truffles, yum. And the rest made for a perfect breakfast the next day (maybe people could get cute to-go containers like at Cyrus in Sonoma?)
Cookie jar
Throughout the meal, performers come by the restaurant and presented cool acts, plus the bar where we were is connected and there is activity there as well. And if you go to the midnight canto, which is just 30 minutes, it turns into a lounge. Really great concept! Sorry for the long post, just couldn’t help sharing. And couldn’t help taking pictures of all the cool details. As you’ve seen in my posts, my reviews are not usually like this, was just that good!
Rose Rabbit Lie, Cosmopolitan Las Vegas (http://www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com/index/experience/RoseRabbitLie.aspx)
