This past week, I was somehow tricked into going to the Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Of all the places we could go in the city with allegedly the highest density of five-star restaurants in the world, the last thing I was excited about was paying $10 for a hamburger.
First Trip: Monday
While my companions anted up for toppings, sides, and other upsell wares, I decided I would go Spartan and ordered the $9 Black Angus Beef burger (the "Pride of America's Heartland" according to the menu) along with a diet coke. No fries coated with spices in odd shapes, no pesto sauce toppings.
It was freaking awesome.
Black Angus Beef burger: +7
Option for "Rare": +5
Actually cooked Rare: +9
Diet Coke: +4 *
* As any soda-drinker knows, there are substantial variations to fountain-derived soda.
Second Trip: Thursday
On the first trip, we noticed there was something on the menu called the "Rossini", which was their "Kobe beef" burger with fois gras, shaved truffles, Madeira sauce, on an onion bun ($60). After Day 1's epiphany, it was time to take this Burger Bar out for a spin, but since truffles and desert-wine seemed a little much, we opted for the Kobe beef burger and added the pan-seared fois gras for an extra $12 (total $28). To complete the "diner" experience, I added a chocolate milkshake (lactose intolerance be damned, this is a $28 burger!@) and onion rings (fried + milkshake = good). Medium-rare was selected as per the world-weary waitress' recommendation.
Now, despite the previous day's success, I was still somewhat apprehensive about whether it was going to be worth $28. After the initial taste, I was somewhat convinced I would have paid $28 just for that single bite. Prior to this, my best single course food experience was a caviar & salmon amuse bouche at Gary Danko. This burger made that seem like a Chicken McNugget.
The burger came cut in half and was done on the rare side of medium-rare, and had a thin seared outer crust (no gradient, just crust and medium-rare meat). The fois gras was a decent-sized slab (maybe 1/8 inch thick) and covered the entire surface of the burger, which covered 95% of the bun. Perfect ratio, IMO. I think I might have actually started drooling when it was served.
I don't know exactly how to describe how it tasted (I think I blacked out briefly after each bite) other than that it was a little reminiscent of eating toro sashimi in that it was so soft you could just smash it down on your tongue and savor. The first thing you taste is the beef, but right after that, the fois gras kicks in hard and it's like a big complex ball of fatty goodness. It was Love in food form.
The chocolate shake was made with real non-low-fat ice-cream and came in the big stainless steel cup (yielding about 2 full soda-glasses full of shake). The onion rings were just onion rings (minus-points for the onion sliding out of the outside shell, which I hate), but they did go well with the shake.
Kobe beef burger + pan-seared fois gras: +10
Chocolate Milk Shake: +7
Onion Rings: -2
A word on this "American Kobe Beef", the term "Kobe beef" is a standard used in Japan to describe certain well marbled grades of beef (preparation begun while still in cow form). This stuff served in the restaurant is "Kobe-style" beef (therefore much much cheaper) and comes from a domestic producer (Snake River Farms). Allegedly, US beef producers claim that the difference between "Kobe-style" beef and true Japanese Kobe beef is minimal/cosmetic. I haven't done any type of taste-test side-by-side, but I have had, on multiple occasions, Kobe/Wagyu beef in Japan, and I have a hard time believing this assertion. In addition, if you tried to buy Kobe beef in Japan and told the vendor you were going to grind it up and put it on a bun with ketchup, they would probably either kill you, kill themselves, or both.
