I Remembered it Being so Good...

Front Sign

My family and I used to ski Mammoth or Utah every year. Even as a child, I had a sophisticated palate and loved good food. We have been to Nevados Restaurant many times and it's always been delicious. It's fancy and pricey for Mammoth, which is not judged at the same standards as LA. It's bustling, so be prepared for a noisy room.

Even a physical therapist in my dad's office building recommended it to us. Sometimes restaurants don't stay GREAT forever.

I ordered the Duck Confit Salad with fried leeks, blood oranges, pumpkin seed oil (very hip and trendy right now) and pumpkin seed brittle. It sounded amazing. When I started eating the rich duck meat, my knife brushed up against a duck leg bone. No one wants to pick off the meat from the bone in a salad!

The other tragedy of the salad was that blood oranges was listed under the ingredients, and they tried to pawn off canned tangerine instead of the gorgeous blood oranges. Honestly, I hate the taste of those canned oranges and think they degrade the sophistication of the salad. I was disappointed to say the least.

Then I opted for the Maryland Crab cakes, which were fine and nothing special. The basil aioli drizzled around the cakes was an unexpected touch that worked. The biggest problem with them was that outer layer was burned during frying and it took away the sweet flavor from the crab. Also, it lacked seasoning.

My dad ordered the Special - Swordfish wrapped in crab with a teriyaki glaze. I will not eat Swordfish because they are bottom-feeders and have a higher tendency to accumulate worms, but I took a bite and it was very good. He loved it and that is all that matters. The yellow squash and green beans were very tasty as well.

Finally, we ordered dessert, the highlight of my evening. We had a caramelized banana sundae. It came out on a plate, not in a bowl; first mistake. It's not classy to serve an ice cream sundae on a plate. The bananas were caramelized only on side, an then cold and hard on the bottom side. I would expect an $8 dessert to at least have intricate plating, sadly that wasn't the case.

My biggest problem with Nevados is that their plating lacks finesse. We also ordered Cioppino, fish and shellfish in a tomato broth, and it came out a big mess with linguini on a plate. I thought it was more like a Bouillabaisse, a french fish stew.

My Dad took me there because he wanted me to have a really nice meal on our trip, and I was so disappointed and guilt-ridden that he took me to special and expensive restaurant I didn't like, that I ended up critiquing every part of the meal. I didn't even realize I came off like a brat, I was just critiquing like my favorite host's from Top Chef. Needless to say, I ruined the evening with my complaining and felt horrible...

However, that doesn't get the restaurant off the hook. I do believe that half the dining experience is the visual component. That is my one piece of advice for the chefs at Nedavos: take an art class and plate with a delicate hand!