Late-Night Flair at Fleur de Lys

********THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED.********

Upon landing Friday night in Las Vegas, I made a 10 p.m. reservation at Fleur de Lys via my OpenTable iPhone app. Gotta love technology.

While Chef Hubert Keller is rarely at the helm of this outpost, we were excited to try the restaurant, especially with our $50 restaurant.com gift certificate that we'd bought for only $2. Who could turn down $48 off a meal? Not us.

I was obsessed with this wall decoration.


All real fresh roses. Kind of thrilling.

Bread.

Warm and fresh and constantly replenished.

Because it was so late, we opted for the four-course Elegance Menu ($89), as opposed to the full-fledged signature tasting menu ($145). There were two options for each course. Naturally, we got one of each.

Amuse bouche.

This little fried cod bite left us wanting more.

FIRST COURSE

Truffled onion soup, braised duck crepe, red wine onion puree, black truffle.

Exquisite. So many rich flavors melded together.

Ahi tuna tartare, shaved fennel slaw, ginger ponzu, fennel seed tuile.

Gorgeous and luscious. A cool complement to the warm onion soup.

SECOND COURSE

Braised veal and Yukon Gold potato ravioli, sunchokes, English peas.

Whoa. Super melt-in-your-mouth yummy. My favorite course of the night.

Citrus-glazed halibut filet, clams, mussels, chorizo, young broccoli florets.

Nicely done but not our favorite.

THIRD COURSE

Stout-braised beef short ribs, melted leeks, potato puree, house-made mustard.

The meat was great, but the smooth and creamy Georgia O'Keefe potatoes really won us over. Tee hee hee.

Prime filet mignon, baby spinach, wild mushrooms, salsify, red wine reduction.

Fantastic cut of meat.

FOURTH COURSE

Valrhona chocolate banana cake, peanut butter cream shake, Bailey's ice cream, caramel sauce.

I thought the Bailey's ice cream would be the winner. Nope. I almost licked the peanut butter cream shake glass clean.

Spiced carrot and cream cheese ice cream sandwich, pineapple carrot ice cream.

Moist and lovely and not too sweet -- just the way I like my dessert.

French pressed coffee.

Mr. Monkey downed this, so he could stay awake the rest of the night. Vegas! Yeah!

Mignardise.

Looked cute. Tasted cute. Yup. It tasted cute.

We enjoyed our meal very much, and service was wonderful. I must admit, however, that I'm not sure it would've been worth it without our $50 discount. For a similar price, you could get a truly mind-blowing experience at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon or a more beautiful meal at Aureole.

I'd definitely return with another $50 gift certificate, though.