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Monday, August 24, 2009 - 4:06 PM
Michael Mina’s Stripsteak in the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas has amazing steakhouse food. At Stripsteak, they start by bringing you the most incredible French fries on the planet. I honestly would have been content with just eating the fries. They were quite remarkable. Michael Mina is known for serving trios and this was no exception. Smoky Paprika, truffled, and saffron and garlic were the variety of fries being served on our visit. These fries are fried in duck fat, but were not the least bit greasy. I imagine the duck fat led to the superior flavor of these fries. Our favorite was the truffled version. Next, we had the filet tartare. This is essentially raw American Kobe beef. It is finely chopped and served mixed with mustard, black pepper and onion and served with grilled pocket breads. The quality of the filet was superb and I easily could have gone for a second helping. If I didn’t find my inner foodie, I at least found my inner caveman. There were four of us, so we had ordered a second appetizer of the Shabu Shabu. This was American Kobe in thin slices that you dip ever so slightly into a hot mushroom consommé. This was a fun dish for the group, but if I had my choice I would pick the filet tartare. For the main course I ordered the American Kobe Rib eye. This was hands down the best steak I have ever eaten. The Kobe had all of the rich flavor that you would expect from Rib eye, yet the meat was as tender and delicate as the filet. Michael Mina definitely puts a lot of care into his steaks. They dry age their beef onsite so they can control every part of the process. Then they use a unique technique known as butter poaching. The steak is placed into clarified butter with herbs and the temperature is slowly raised until the temperature of the meat is rare. This brings the steak to the proper temperature to put onto the grill. Steak should never be taken from the fridge and placed directly onto heat. The butter and herbs in this process also aid to flavor the meat. Clarified butter is butter with most of the fat content separated from the butter. Since meat is impermeable, the butter stays mostly on the outside of the meat, and therefore does not increase the fat content of the steak. Michael then cranks his wood burning grill up to a whopping 1000 degrees Fahrenheit, where the butter burns off and the juices remain in the steak. How’s that for steak science 101? As if the steak wasn’t enough, I also had a side of the grilled foie gras. I was going to order the roasted marrow bones, however the waiter convinced me that the foie gras was the way to go and he was not mistaken. It was so rich and buttery and would have made an exquisite meal on its own. Kobe Rib eye and foie gras was a marriage made in heaven. Lucky for me, it was my wife’s birthday and my steak and foie gras would not be the only marriage made in heaven this fine evening.
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