Polished Bardot evokes classic French brasserie with creative twists

If you've been paying attention during the past few years, you've no doubt noticed a trend toward a more casual approach in restaurants on basically every tier of the industry while, also on every tier, food quality has increased greatly.

At the top, the world of fine dining has shrunk considerably, with even celebrity chefs opening casual spots, sometimes with mixed results. When I went to Michael Mina's Pub 1842 at the MGM Grand a few years ago, I reported disappointment that the quality didn't correspond with the top-tier efforts of this very talented chef. But at Mina's newer Bardot Brasserie at Aria, that's not the case at all.

Bardot evokes, as intended, the classic French brasserie, except more in line with others of its American ilk — Thomas Keller's Bouchon and Daniel Boulud's DB Brasserie come to mind — that generally are more polished than the original battle-scarred old warhorses in France on which they're based, sort of like a Disneyfied version of Europe. Bardot has lots of dark wood, lots of glass, brass and, OK, class; tables are marble-topped and serving stations either antiques or excellent reproductions, with charm aplenty.

The menu, too, reflects the originals while borrowing from other times and places. We started with a classic, prime steak tartare ($18 or $26), choosing the larger portion since there were three of us. The menu pointed out that it was ground to order (always reassuring when you're eating raw beef) and it had wonderful texture, coarse and free of any trace of gristle, thoroughly seasoned and topped with an egg yolk, which we mixed in. It was served with gaufrettes, ultra-crispy, waffle-cut potatoes, which were barely up to handling the weight of the beef but a gratifyingly crunchy contrast in textures.

Mussels Marinieres ($27) was another brasserie classic, and an extremely well-executed one. The mussels were served in a simple bath of garlic butter with tarragon and vermouth (with a crunchy mini-baguette for sopping it all up), and they were the best we can remember having, tender and sweet and carrying just a hint of their sea origin.

Parisian gnocchi ($24) are made with pate choux — yes, the same hot-water dough that becomes cream puffs and eclairs — and the straight cylinders therefore have a lighter texture than their potato-based counterparts. These were classic iterations; lightly herbed, they had been gently browned on one side for a contrast to their pillowy interiors, and served with crunchy celery root, velvety sauteed black-trumpet mushrooms, soft and earthy goat cheese and a silken garlic cream for a very successful dish.

Lamb rack "frites" ($48) reflected both old and new, the classic lamb rack served with frites that earned their quote marks by virtue of being made of chick peas instead of potatoes. The lamb was excellent, the roasted eggplant puree divine, but the gentle crispness and vegetal flavor of the frites pulled it all together.

As for dessert: How could anything be more classic (not to mention nearly impossible to find in Las Vegas) than Paris Brest? Created just after the turn of the last century and named for an epic bicycle race, this more diminutive frozen version ($12) had the characteristic ring shape (emulating a bicycle tire) but was filled with hazelnut ice cream instead of pastry cream and was accented with salted caramel for a thoroughly modern and quite complementary touch.

Service throughout was smooth and polished, as we've come to expect from a Mina restaurant.

I have, as you might imagine, been closely watching this move to the casual. I find that there's much to like about it, especially as it's represented by Bardot Brasserie.

— Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Email Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.