View Bar Tivioli Village

A Cloudy afternoon at the View (Winebar not the talk show!)

February 21, 2013 Posted by Robin Renken CA, Grapes and Varietal's, Las Vegas Wine Bar, Napa, CA, Petit Sirah, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Reisling, Willamette Valley, OR, Wine and Food Pairings, Wine Makers, Wine Tasting, Zinfandel No Comments

I spent an afternoon with Joey at the View Wine Bar (420 South Rampart Las Vegas at Tivoli Village) awhile ago and shared with you in my Adventures in Sauvignon Blanc blog. Well today I took Michael along for lunch at The View. The weather was about the same, cloudy and a little windy, but the view was better because the fountain was full and working (as opposed to dry and filled with men in yellow vests cleaning it!). The location is a little hard to find, which is why we are talking about it here and giving you directions. You will find it above Brio at Tivoli Village. To get there, walk past the entrance to Brio and around the corner and look for LV Market! Enter there and cross through the downstairs bistro and take the stairs to the 2nd floor. Head to the front of the building and relax in the industrial decadence of the “View”.

View from View Bar

You can see the fountain out the front windows and the mix of industrial architecture with exposed ceilings and ducts and tufted couches and seats with natural woods and wine bottle light fixtures in plumbing pipes is enchanting in my opinion. My advice is to go on a weekday mid day and sit at the bar. Joey will be working and she is full of great advice on food and wine. If you like a little more action, well then hit it in the evenings when Joey tells me the place is hoppin’!

Michael and I strolled up and had a seat at the bar to enjoy the view. The menu is full of great small plate items so you can order a bunch and enjoy. We ordered the risotto cakes (which I enjoyed last time) the tuna tartare tacos, the Tivoli wrapped dates and the Gnocchi Gratin. Michael started with the S.A. Prum, Essence Riesling from Germany and I started with the Cloudline Pinot Noir. The S.A. Prum is from Mosel, and the Cloudline is a Willamette Valley Pinot. We both enjoyed the wines and felt both were good food wines. We tasted with the Tivoli wrapped dates which are dates stuffed with goat cheese and almonds wrapped in prosciutto and then set in a balsamic reduction. We moved on to tasting with the Tuna tartare tacos, which were mini hard shell tacos with raw tuna, avocado, fresh lettuce and a little creme fraiche. Then the gnocchi gratin, which went surprisingly well with the Pinot! The acid cut through beautifully with the cheese and paired nicely with the risotto cakes which are breaded fried squares of risotto topped with grated parmesan and lemon zest. The lemon zest added a wonderful fragrance! Michael moved on to an Italian Pinot Grigio called VOGA which again paired great with the food. We talked about European wines and how they are meant to pair with food which makes them different from many new world wines that are blended to drink alone. As we moved on to dessert, we settled on the Dark Chocolate Nutella Cake and paired it with the Condundrum Red (which obviously is a whole lot of Zinfandel and a bit of Petite Sirah) and Joey’s favorite (that she let me taste when we walked in) Earthquake Petite Sirah from Lodi. The Earthquake was beautiful on it’s own while the Conundrum was a little hot. When paired with the Chocolate Nutella cake, both were stunning!