Pinot Brasserie Reviews Times Two; Best Burger?

John Curtas took a novel approach to reviewing Pinot Brasserie at the Venetian. He teamed up with Mitchell Wilburn, who has occasionally been filling in for Curtas on Eating Las Vegas, to give two reviews of the place.

Curtas says he wrote the place off nine years ago after a gristly steak au poivre and greasy frites made him think chef Joachim Splichal was going through the motions. Now he says the restaurant "tows a nice line between being accessible and haute in its approach."

Wilburn left with pretty much the same impression. "The menu has a ton of old-school French staples, from escargot to lobster bisque, precicely what you'd expect from a Brasserie but missing the specter of pomp and pernicious hoity-toity-isms so often looming in even the most traditionally casual French concepts."

Erik Chudy at Vegas Burger Blog may have discovered the perfect burger. He went to View Wine Bar & Kitchen at Tivoli Village. "Because no one is ever there I typically assume that this means there's nothing worthy of perusing or devouring here, but after my most recent visit I couldn't be more wrong." What he found was a one of the best burgers and fries he's had in a while. He gave the 8-ounce triple Angus burger a 95 out of 100. [VBB]

Brock Radke at Las Vegas Weekly returns to Alizé at the Palms. "Revisiting this restaurant was a great idea: It's the best meal I've had so far this year." [LVW]

Here's a new one. Now Heidi Knapp Rinella at the Las Vegas Review-Journal is handing out random grades. The latest? An N for nostalgic that she gave to Amlee Gourmet. She says the pluses and minuses for the place are the same: "It's like putting on old shoes for those still fond of old-school Chinese American." [LVRJ]

Al Mancini at CityLife discovered that Remiix isn't meant for his generation. "[T]his is exactly the kind of place I would have loved when I was a student still discovering new and interesting food in New York City." The restaurant, located close to UNLV, caters to more of a late-night crowd. "One guest referred to the restaurant as an "entry-level" restaurant for aspiring foodies." [CL]