Chinois rings in Chinese New Year with special menu

     Chinois will offer a Chinese New Year dinner Thursday and Feb. 11 to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.
      In the Forum Shops at Caesars, 3500 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Chinois serves Chinese cuisine with French and American influences.
      The menu will begin with shrimp somosa with red curry-mint vinaigrette and cucumber raitta; dragon noodle salad with yuzy-sesame vinaigrette; sweet and spicy whole red snapper with "dry fried" green beans; rice paper-wrapped lobster ravioli with Chinese black bean sauce and stir-fried mild sweet chilies; and Szechuan beef with wasabi potatoes and caramelized shallot sauce. Dessert also will be served, as well as Chinois' large fortune cookie. Wine pairings for the five-course meal have been developed by master sommelier Greg Harrington.
      Reservations for the dinner, which costs $38 per person, excluding gratuity, cocktails and wine pairing, can be made by calling 737-9700.
      Owned by famed chef Wolfgang Puck and wife Barbara Lazaroff, Chinois recently was voted best Asian restaurant by the Southern Nevada Hotel Concierge Association.
     
      Asia restaurant at Harrah's Las Vegas, 3475 Las Vegas Blvd. South, is serving special selections in honor of Chinese New Year today through Feb. 15.
      Items include appetizers such as stir-fried minted shrimp and scallops ($12); tempura soft shell crab ($14); and crispy won ton soup ($7).
      Among the seafood choices are creamy walnut shrimp ($27); wok-baked Maine lobster ($58); stir-fried sea bass ($26); Kowloon-style Dungeness crab ($38); ginger-marinated wok-seared tuna ($24); and steamed live fish (market price).
      Also available: Kirin chicken with choy sum ($22); chun kong honey spare-ribs in clay pot ($15); fried rice wrapped in lotus leaf with dried scallop and roast duck ($14); and wok-fried string beans with Mongolian sauce ($10).
      Desserts include steamed papaya almond in syrup ($6) and lycee sorbet with crystal ginger ($5).
      Asia is open Friday through Tuesday from 5:30 to 11 p.m. Call 369-5084 for reservations.