Fondant dessert from Tammy Alana, the pastry Chef at Las Vegas' top French restaurants - Alize´and Andre's.

As if she weren’t busy enough creating nightly pastries and one-of-a-kind wedding cakes for both of Las Vegas’ highest-end French restaurants, Pastry Chef Tammy Alana is working on a cookbook for the two restaurants as well.

The Alize´and Andre’s French restaurant cookbook idea started as a brain child of celebrated Alize´Chef Mark Purdy. The two chefs jumped into the project, realizing in short order that,

a.) Every recipe had to be adjusted to serve a GROUP of people instead of the individual servings they create for their nightly guests, and

b.) Most at-home kitchen cooks don’t have in their pantries what Alize´and Andre’s have in theirs.

Determined to stay true to the refined palate that Chef Andre Rochat introduced to Las Vegas nearly 30 years ago, the two chefs took on the rather intimidating task of adjusting their most popular restaurant recipes without stripping flavor or fanfare.

Straight from their tested kitchens, here’s Pastry Chef Tammy Alana‘s simple yet extremely popular Fondant recipe:

Cake Base:

200g       Butter
10 oz       Chocolate
8 ea         Eggs
330g       Granulated Sugar
40g         AP Flour
1/4 tsp    Salt

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate, salt and the butter. In a separate bowl, whip the whole eggs with the sugar until pale in color. On low heat, slowly pour the melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Finish by scraping the sides of the bowl so ingredients are completely incorporated. Fold in the flour. Divide batter into desired molds and bake at 350F for approximately 15-20 minutes.
Serve with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and sauce of your choice.

Try it and give us your feedback. We’ll be featuring many of our readers’ comments in our completed cookbook!

To see more pastry wonders from Tammy Alana, go to AlizeLV.com or AndreLV.com

Create one of the most sophisticated, memorable and talked-about weddings imaginable when you choose Alize´ at the Top of the Palms. On the 56th floor of the Palms Casino tower, the famed Alize´ restaurant caters to wedding parties and receptions of all sizes, day or night. Just click the slideshow below for larger views of this one-of-a-kind venue.

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While many brides choose Alize´for a spectacular evening reception overlooking the  city of Las Vegas, more wedding parties are coming to Alize´for sunny afternoon weddings perched high above the city. Imagine sunlight streaming through 16-foot tall windows, harpists playing your selection of songs, rose-strewn aisles, and the most sophisticated seating for your guests as you and your groom exchange vows.

After the vows and first kiss, mingle with your guests as they enjoy a champagne reception, seafood displays on ice, delectable hot and cold hors d’oueveres, hand carved rack of lamb or beef tenderloin and more. Even your wedding cake is a unique creation, specifically hand-crafted to your specifications by Alize´s renowned pastry chef, Tammy Alana.

Alize´ Las Vegas is ready to help you create a perfect memory to your special day. Call (702) 851-700 and ask for our Wedding Specialist Jana Lane Southard, or click here to complete our Weddings Request Form

Each season, Purdy introduces two new tasting menus – the Chef’s Tasting and the Vegetarian Tasting – to even greater fanfare.

At Alize´, patrons can try a 5-course or 7-course tasting menu with wine pairings or Sommelier wine selections for additional pricing. In the Alize´Chef’s Tasting corner, try caviar and smoked salmon, paoched tiger shrimp, diver scallops en papillotte, foie gras selections duck breast, prime aged beef rib eye and more.

The Alize´ Vegetarian Menu offers roasted beet salad, piquillo pepper with herbed cream cheese, inventive risottos and truffle beurre monte, pepper crusted tofu, Stilton cheese with poached figs and much more.

It’s a taste treat extravaganza! Join the fans of Alize´’s new tasting menus by calling (702) 951-7000 or clicking: Reservations

Each month, Andre’s Cigar Lounge on the 2nd floor of Andre’s Restaurant at the Monte Carlo Casino, features a specific Whiskey Wednesday treat. For May 2nd’s indomitable horse racing day, we’re featuring  Woodford Reserve Whiskeys and libations, which just happens to be the official sponsor of this year’s Kentucky Derby.

For an unlimited tasting for two hours, the price is just $25 per person in advance, $35 at the door. Wear your derby’s finest and you might just win a prize, too. It’s best to RSVP in advance by calling (702) 798-7151.

Seats for this extraordinary dinner are quite limited. Sales open to the public on May 1^st at jamesBeard.org or by calling (212) 627-2308. It’s a great opportunity to enjoy a phenomenal dinner that also fully supports the ongoing work and education of the James Beard Foundation

Alize´ Chef de Cuisine Mark Purdy and Pastry Chef Tammy Alana have shaped a menu that reflects a range of ingredients, techniques and flavor profiles to create a brilliant progression of taste. The dinner begins with an assortment of hors d’ouevres and canapés, personally inspired by the chefs’ history of cooking together at Alize´, as well as other culinary experiences that have shaped their unique resumes.

Then, the meal begins with a light, crisp king crab salad with marinated summer melons, lychee fruit and yuzu vinaigrette. From there, each course becomes progressively richer, culminating in Chef Purdy’s true passion – his famous signature Rack of Lamb.

The Rack of Lamb has always been a favored staple since Andre Rochat opened his first Andre’s French Restaurant in Las Vegas. Purdy added his own flair after joining Andre’s new restaurant, Alize´ at the Top of the Palms, with house-made spicy merguez sausage, apricot couscous, harissa lamb jus and basil oil. Even better – this Alize house special will be paired with none other than the highly limited production Chateau L’JHospitalet Reserve 2010 to round out the rich explosion of flavor.

Set your calendar alarms for May 1st to ensure your seat at this sure-to-be-memorable event.

About the James Beard Foundation

After James Beard passed away in 1985, the James Beard Foundation was introduced to continue to celebrate America’s culinary heritage. The Foundation provides educational initiatives, culinary scholarships and prestigious food industry awards. Visit JamesBeard.org for more information on the Foundation’s constantly revolving and evolving calendar of events.

While there are plenty of Easter chocolate stores in Las Vegas, you’re not going to find more finely crafted, handmade chocolates than those created by famed resident Pastry Chef Tammy Alana for her high-end restaurants, Alize (top of the Palms Casino) and Andre’s (at the Monte Carlo).

And now, her creations are yours to take home.

Simply stop by Andre’s on the Las Vegas Strip side of the Monte Carlo to pick up carefully wrapped truffles and/or decadent chocolate cigars to create your special someone a most memorable Easter basket this year. As truffles go, Pastry Chef Alana has created nine different truffle varieties:   Orange Milk Chocolate, Raspberry, Pistachio, Caramel, Toasted Hazelnut, Lemon- Coconut, Brandied Cherry, Mocha and a Minted White Chocolate. (Any order can also be shipped by calling (702) 798-7151.

Or, indulge in hand-rolled Andre’s Special Chocolate Cigars – even the Andre’s logo is made of white chocolate, and the piped-in filling … well, you have to taste it for yourself to believe it.

The Easter Bunny has applied for exclusive options to these unique additions for Easter, but the final contract hasn’t been inked just yet. Hustle in before these truffles and chocolate cigars achieve celebrity status.

My Las Vegas Gastro-Thon

GARETH DAVIS sets out to prove the culinary credentials of Las Vegas…

So. My eleventh visit to Vegas and it still manages to floor me; the sheer scale of the place. This city’s size has multiplied beyond my math in the 15 years that I’ve been coming here. The hotels of course are cities in themselves. Woe betide you find you’ve left something in your room. It can be a good 20-minute schlep from The Strip to your bedroom door. And then there are the joys of a Friday check-in. Vegas, one of the US’ top weekend getaways, heaves with end-of-week incomings. There are queues at check-in, HUGE waits on the hotel phone as you try and book a restaurant. I finally gave up and wandered down to the lobby in frustration. But there’s that buzz. Beyond the thrum of the fruit machines, the energy is tangible, so as long as you exercise patience and allow yourself to be carried along, you’re in for a great ride. Oh, and by the way, I don’t gamble. So what the hell brings you to Vegas you may ask? Food. This city is one of the world’s great gastronomic destinations.

The Vegas casinos may still be the largest single revenue earners but shopping and dining combined has overtaken them. Vegas’ hotels showcase some of North America’s hottest culinary talents and offer an eating experience that’s up there with London, Paris and New York.

In the hotel I was staying, I found there were no quiet areas to escape to. I ended up in the Sport and Book Bar to enjoy my drink and scribble in my notebook. And then I discovered Andre’s.

This is the property’s high-end restaurant, unashamedly French, and what a wonderful oasis it is. Since 1997 Andre’s has been lauded. The dining room is as trad as you can get; all cornicing, mirrors, Belle Epoque flourishes, and large upholstered booths. Linen and glass shine and sparkle in a gently lit space.

During my visit the wine list was a work in progress, gradually being overhauled to shift away from the overly-French emphasis to take in new territories. There’s a large selection of Wines of the Month, in my case they were all Riojas, some dating back to 1942.

Andre Rochat’s menu is steeped in France; there’s foie gras, onion soup and escargots but the net of ingredients is cast wide taking in Colorado lamb, Maine lobster, and imported Dover Sole. There are also flashes of the US with a trad shrimp cocktail and bison carpaccio. Starters are from $13, mains from $37. The 5 course tasting menu is $95, add $60 for wine pairings or for $95 enjoy the sommelier’s special attention. I kicked off with a glass of bubbly, Nicolas Feuillatte, at $22.

One thing I’ve noticed in Vegas’ restaurants is an unsettling obsession with whipped butter. The result is an insubstantial, creamy concoction that’s as undemanding as cotton candy. At Andre’s I was at last served a straightforward well-salted butter; a promising beginning. So was the amuse bouche; an unctuous chilled sweet corn soup, deep and creamy.

I was so impressed at the outset that I launched into the 7 course tasting menu at $125 with wine pairings an additional $85. To begin, Almas Ara Caviar offered a salty kick over cold ice. The creamy caviar had a long finish kept rigorous by subtly spiced blinis. In fact, this was the lightest blinis I’ve ever tasted, and all delivered with a blast of rose bubbly. Beef Tongue, smoky and velvet, provided a wallop of Americana, perfectly matched by a Mersault. Seared Foie Gras was as expected, but Berkshire Pork Belly, accompanied by a Chateau Quinault 1998 St Emilion, exuded salt and sweet onion, all sliding along the oily river of a red.

Calotte De Boeuf is a dish that brings meat back to the table in a big way. It has all the qualities of a Sunday roast, gorgeously moist meat, but upstaged by the star wine of the evening, a glass of Jarin Vineyards Blend 2002 from Napa combining damson jam and burnt fruits.

Of the two desserts I couldn’t tell you a thing, they were so outclassed by the pre-dessert sliver of thinly cut fruit, arranged in a mosaic with two tiny globules of Key Lime panacotta, the acidity trounced and tamed by lavender. Let’s call it the Dessert with No Name and it’s the best I’ve had in 2 years.

So in an almost negligible corner of a mainstream resort, I found more culinary magic. There it is. Unassuming and impressive, in the place where boys in baseball caps and goatees, and girls, all lipstick and little else, exit the hotel for a night on The Strip. Andre’s at the Monte Carlo is a true haven, an incongruity in what some ignorantly call the barbarian West. Welcome to the paradox that is Las Vegas.

A portion of each meal sold during Restaurant Week will be donated to Three Square to help in its fight to end hunger in Southern Nevada.

 Restaurant Week –  A Custom-Made Andre’s Menu

At Andre’s, the 3-course meal begins with French onion soup au gratin or roma tomato salad with watercress, goat cheese and toast.  Intermezzo offers a choice of sautéed chicken breast with mushrooms, jasmine rice, Chablis cream sauce; apple stuffed pork tenderloin with potato purée, Brussels sprouts with calvados sauce; grilled Scottish salmon with rissoles potato, asparagus anglaise and two mustard sauce or ribeye cap with gratin dauphinois, vegetable medley and shallot sauce.

The Andre’s meal concludes with chocolate nougatine with smoked cream.

Restaurant Week – A Custom-Made Alizé Menu

Alizé begins its dining experience with chilled potato and leek Vichyssoise with chives and orange zest or roasted beet salad with butter lettuce, candied walnuts, lemon crème fraîche dressing.  The next course will be pan roasted chicken breast with maitake mushrooms, haricots verts, truffled potato purée and tarragon chicken jus; aged ribeye and jumbo tiger shrimp with braised asparagus, potato mousseline and red wine sauce or a variety of fresh fish throughout the week including sea bass, salmon, sea scallops or jumbo shrimp.

Dessert will be black and white chocolate terrine with orange passion fruit caramel.

Make reservations now!

Because of the popularity of Andre’s and Alize during Restaurant Week, we’d advise you make reservations to secure your spot!

The price per person for either dinner in either location is $50.12.

For more information or to make reservations at Andre’s, please call (702) 798-7151.  For information or to make reservations at Alizé, call     (702) 951-7000.

More info on Restaurant Week and Three Square …

Las Vegas Restaurant Week began in 2007 as a way to give locals and tourists the opportunity to help out by dining out each fall. This year marks the first annual Spring Las Vegas Restaurant Week, featuring an additional week of fine dining at prix fixe prices at some of the city’s finest eateries. Proceeds from Restaurant Week benefit Three Square, Southern Nevada’s only food bank.

Three Square currently provides more than more than 24 million pounds of food and grocery product – the equivalent of nearly 18 million meals – per year to more than 650 Program Partners including non-profit and faith-based organizations, schools and feeding sites throughout Southern Nevada.

Additionally, to reduce the stress of tax season, all guests who either check-in to Andre’s on Tuesday, April 17 via Facebook or Tweet “#MeetTheTaxCollector @AndresLasVegas inside @MonteCarloVegas” will receive one complimentary cocktail per check-in/Tweet inside the lounge.*

For reservations or more information, visit online at www.andrelv.com or call the restaurant directly at (702) 798-7151. Find us on Facebook (Facebook.com/AndresLasVegas) or follow us on Twitter (@andreslasvegas)

*One cocktail per guest. Guests must show phone to server for verification of the Tweet and/or check-in.

While Andre’s Whiskey Wednesday is always a sold-out event in Las Vegas, the great whiskey tasting and education is going to be even better this time around with a special guest – hand crafted chocolates!

Jean-Marie, the proprietor of the much loved Las Vegas chocolate shoppe, Jean-Marie Auboine Chocolatier, will be pairing his phenomenal chocolates and truffles with the various whiskeys we’ll be selecting and featuring for February’s event. (And what a great way to hone in on the best possible Valentine’s surprise by taste testing the finest chocolates in Las Vegas!)

Tickets for Andre’s Cigar Lounge Whiskey Wednesday this Feb. 1st are $25 per person in advance, $35 at the door. It’s best to RSVP in advance by calling (702) 798-7151.