Mosaic - Harrah's Joliet

The 4th of July found Mrs. JiLS and me expressing our patriotism in that peculiarly American idiom of unrestrained hedonism, a riverboat casino -- the scene of the crime being Harrah's Casino in Joliet. I've written before about a good experience we had at their steakhouse; well, in that other all-American tradition of change for change's sake, the steakhouse was recently 86'ed and replaced by a new Asian/American/Mexican/Pottsylvanian fusion experiment known as Mosaic. Briefly, it's a more-than decent effort with some flaws that are inherent in its need to cater to a specific base of patrons, discussed in more detail below. Coated in a thin glaze of Harrah's corporate Crisco, the place still manages to keep its hands clean by maintaining an acceptable level of independence in the kitchen, where definite cooking talent is on display (literally).

Mosaic's physical layout is attractive -- open spaces, open kitchen, lots of gold and rust colors and swirling, organic design touches from the fractal school of design. A nice touch is a faux-Chihuly glass "dessert tree" that confronts you on entering, although I thought the whole concept smacked of Ruby Tuesday a bit too much (and our host insisted on describing all the displayed desserts before seating us, which was a bit more too much). Huge windows provide a surprisingly attractive view of the Des Plaines River and Bicentennial Park on the opposite bank. As our waitress said, they managed to find the one decent view of the whole river, although it's not exactly the Seine -- it helps if you have a fancy for barges and automated bridges -- but honestly, who doesn't?

Service was friendly, efficient and perhaps to some tastes too intimate. For example, and no doubt dictated by Corporate, our waitress not only identified herself by name (remember when that alone was new and offensive?) but then went on to ask OUR names -- and it was a first-name relationship from there-out. I believe the last time a waitperson asked my name was at my 6th birthday party at Farrell's (and "Jimmy" had a splendid time on that occasion). Anyway, although no-doubt mandated, the familiarity was sincere and only jarring through the first course, after which it began to seem normal. As with much else in the casino experience, one needs to adjust expectations from the normal world.

And what of the food? Expertly prepared and plated, very attractive use of colors, fresh and top-quality ingredients (which are all expectations at a casino restaurant, for those who aren't familiar with the breed -- the sit-down restaurants are far-removed from the "shovel-it-in" least-common-denominator quality of the stereotypical Las Vegas buffet). Although Mosaic serves only dinner, the menu includes a large section of sandwiches and lighter options, although it includes a sop to the steakhouse crowd (four heavy meat options are available) and also has a substantial number of fish and fowl options. Here is a rundown of what we ate:

For an appetizer, we split an egg roll stuffed with minced chicken, fried avocado and pine nuts, with a hint of cilantro, and a sweet and sour dipping sauce. Here we see the Asian/Mexican fusion concept in action, and it was neither precisely bad nor terrifically tasty, either. The preparation was certainly well-executed -- the egg roll wrapper was perfectly crisp and grease-less, the avocado perfectly ripe. But the whole thing was, in a word, bland. And, as hinted above, this was the first clue we had to the (almost) fatal flaw at Mosaic -- i.e., the food has been "dumbed down" on the spicing to appeal to the primarily over-65, blue-collar, non-Asian, non-Latin group that is the corps clientele of Harrah's Joliet. (Let the class and age-ism flaming begin! Yes, young Asians come here! No, not every elderly white man eats milk toast!) But it is true that the demographic, one with many merits and outstanding moral qualities, is nevertheless -- on average and with many exceptions, I am sure -- the least adventurous dining crowd in existence. Hollyhock Hill would do well to think about opening a casino to complement its restaurant, if you get my drift. So, and our waitress confirmed this, when they opened up in June, Mosaic's kitchen put maybe three times as much cilantro in the chicken mixture. That stopped after maybe five minutes. The sweetness of the dipping sauce is also undoubtedly an appeal to the palate of the more typical Harrah's visitor. BUT -- and this is an important "BUT" -- our waitress made it clear that the kitchen will adapt the recipes to each diner's preference; all you have to do is ask them to notch up the seasoning, and they will do so gladly. Next time, we'll take that approach.

My main course consisted of a lovely fried trout fillet served with a spinach/corn/shrimp pesto sauce (it needed salt and garlic -- next time I will know to ask!). Interestingly, the waitress suggested ordering the pesto sauce on the side, "because they drown it" otherwise. I liked her honesty, and moreover, she was right -- the pesto came in a miniature soup bowl, probably three times the volume needed to sauce a trout. But it was very good, just a bit bland, and as noted above, they will remedy that if you ask them to. Excellent mashed potatoes rounded out this dish.

Mrs. JiLS enjoyed a honey-barbecue coated meatloaf. Once again, an emphasis of sweet and not much in the way of onion, garlic or pepper. The huge serving provided an excellent lunch today.

There is a very short but acceptable list of wines by the glass. I asked about bottles (although we had no intention of ordering based on our divergent entrees). The waitress told us that well, yes, they do have a wine list, but "the bottles are all like $32 or more." Considering they just replaced a rather stereotypical steakhouse with a relatively stereotypical wine list, I'd say $32 is a pretty reasonable price-point. But $32 buys quite a few pulls on the nickel slots, and most patrons of Mosaic are drinking diet Coke, so I understand where she was coming from (that's not an insult, by the way -- I think our waitress was very attuned to her typical customer but also would have been perfectly accommodating to oddballs like us who wanted to order a bottle from the list).

The attempted hard-sell on the desserts at the outset was lost on us, as by this time we were full to exploding and anxious to get back to blowing our paychecks in the casino.

One other reason to visit Harrah's is the new, sleek and sexy lounge they have installed, Sheer. It's a technicolor wonder, with shifting rainbow LED lighting, a big semi-circular bar surrounding a tower of lights and video screens, and comfortable lounge seating for about 60. (The bar is like a Will-County sized version of the go-go bar at Harrah's New Orleans, with video screens rather than live dancers.) Now, if they can just get R. Kelly and Twista to bring their crews out to Joliet, they'll really be groovin' here ... as it is, the place sits basically untouched and the lovely and engaging bar staff let me know in no uncertain terms they'd rather be "working the floor" (where they would stand to earn some actual tips). Pearls before swine? No, it just needs a chance to catch on. Plus, right across the hall is the Diamond Club for the (sorta) high rollers, which is equally swank and also offers free food and half-price drinks to its members. Maybe Sheer should put out some Beer nuts and put ESPN on the plasmas rather than the quasi-erotic modern dance videos. And put video poker machines in the bar. Or not. But maybe an LTH crew (in bowling shirts) should head out some night and take over the place, swilling Cristal and demanding plates of hot peppers and foie gras?

Great description, in my opinion! I ate there last night. There were six of us and I tasted a few dishes. We mostly got small plates. The Angus "sliders" were good and everyone liked the sandwiches and skewers made with tenderloin. They *almost* cooked everything as rare as we asked for it, including the seared ahi (salad, not main course) which was good quality-- unusual in that level of a place, pricewise. Someone found a soup with chicken and shrimp (?) confusing but otherwise it seemed like you described, a bit dumbed down but fine. Just the kind of thing you need after playing blackjack all afternoon; lots of the dishes seem to qualify as "comfort food." This is a very good development as far as Harrah's Joliet, for me. You can eat as much or as little as you want and linger or just get back to the tables. Van Buren's was too time-consuming for me and that snack place on the gambling floor served the only truly terrible pho I've ever had. (How do you manage to make soup where the noodles remain uncooked?)

Thanks Jim & Bibi. I have never made it to the top tier places in Las Vegas, and I assume some of them are truly great. But below that I have searched for the wonderful, delectable, and cheap casino joint, and found that beyond steak and eggs and slightly fancier but purely mainstream American food, it seems to be a myth.

For the reasons you so clearly explained.

Me, I wish I got to casinos from time to time, but they rarely make it to the top of the list of dickson entertainments. Something to do with the Bride not liking to gamble, and a shared dislike of cigarette smoke.

Never would have said that was the Des Plaines River either, so I learned a lot, even if I will not help Mosaic and Sheer make a go of it.

dicksond wrote:I have never made it to the top tier places in Las Vegas, and I assume some of them are truly great.

Yep, some of them are, but most of them are not and quite a few are a real rip-off (e.g., my experience with Nobhill at the MGM Grand about a year ago).

dicksond wrote:Me, I wish I got to casinos from time to time, but they rarely make it to the top of the list of dickson entertainments. Something to do with the Bride not liking to gamble, and a shared dislike of cigarette smoke.

Well, let us know, and maybe you, bibi and we can arrange a night for a couple of hours of Joliet casino experience. Regarding the smoke, they do a pretty amazing job with the air recirculation, such that it's one hell of a lot less annoying than any typical smoking bar in Chicago. And I can show you how to make a $20 bill last all night, plus pay for your drinks, at the video poker.