Eat and Drink Vegas
Las Vegas Restaurants
words by > Nancy Davidson
High Steaks in Sin City
*Here are your best bets for dining in Las Vegas when you’re up and when you’re down.
Las Vegas is a city of extremes, an oasis in the desert, a place of highs and lows. If you’re the gambling type, your fortune can rise and fall with a single toss of the dice. Luckily, right near the casinos you’ll find places to eat for every mood—whether you’re celebrating a big win or commiserating over a loss.
If the one-eyed Jack is on your side, head straight to Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare (www.wynnlasvegas.com) for an experience that will transport you to the coast of Italy. Reserve ahead for one of the nine private waterside cabanas, and dine on freshly caught seafood flown in from the Mediterranean, such as langoustines sautéed with garlic, white wine and tomatoes; baked Sicilian blue bass with lemon, capers and green olives; spaghetti all’aragosta with wild Mediterranean spiny lobster; or whole roasted fish—orata, branzino, purple snapper—sold by the gram.
If you’re craving the Mediterranean but have double-downed one too many times, recover your equilibrium at the rustic Corsa Cucina (www.wynnlasvegas.com), with its open kitchen and weathered distressed wood décor. Everyone’s a winner with wood-oven baked pizza, angel hair pasta salad with sweet raw shrimp, or comforting roast chicken. But you can also go for broke: If you can’t help yourself, splurge on seared big eye tuna and foie gras, or tenderloin of beef with lobster gnocchi, barolo wine reduction and lobster butter.
High rollers who like beef satisfy their hankering at chef Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak (www.mgmgrand.com). Colicchio is known for his simple approach and focus on fresh ingredients. Diners make their own meal by choosing a meat (roasted porterhouse, grilled corn-fed rib eye, braised duck), vegetable (roast asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, braised sugar snaps), mushrooms (shiitakes, chanterelles, French Horn) and potatoes (fries, fingerlings, Yukon gold puree); or selecting a chef’s multi-course tasting menu, such as the one with Kobe beef. Or, shoot the moon with surf and turf: Kobe steak and braised lobster.
If you gather your leftover change from the slots, you’ll be able to afford consolation at Colicchio’s sandwich shop, ’wichcraft (www.mgmgrand.com). Here you’ll find the same focus on fresh ingredients as in his other restaurants, but in sandwiches like warm house-roasted pork loin with red cabbage, jalapeños and mustard on ciabatta; or Sicilian tuna with fennel, black olives and lemon confit served on a crusty baguette; or classics like the Reuben.
If you’ve scored at the roulette tables, you can spend your winnings on chef Hubert Keller’s splendid French cuisine at Fleur de Lys (www.mandalaybay.com/dining/restaurants.aspx), the Las Vegas outpost of his famed San Francisco restaurant. Diners choose three, four or five courses, including appetizers such as Burgundy escargot with garlic and Parmesan gnocchi, or the delightful smoked salmon ravioli with guacamole and curry paprika chips, and entrees like a duo of veal tenderloin and braised veal cheeks over seared corn with orange anise star sauce, or an over-the-top Kobe beef burger crowned with sautéed foie gras, black Périgord truffles and truffle sauce.
Crapped out at the craps table? You can still enjoy Keller’s burgers at the Burger Bar (www.mandalaybay.com/dining/restaurants.aspx). Keep it simple with a Black Jack Burger— Black Angus beef and Monterey Jack cheese—or build your own. You can even have lamb, turkey or veggie as a base, but be careful, toppings can add up if you pick ones like lobster, foie gras or black truffles over the more mundane provolone cheese or caramelized onions, or strikingly original choices such as anchovies or pineapple.
You can satisfy an urge for Asian food at Red 8 at the Wynn (www.wynnlasvegas.com). The extensive menu ranges all over the map, with influences from Cantonese, Indonesian, Thai and Malaysian cuisine, from small bites like dumplings and pork buns, to wok-fried noodles, Mongolian beef, seafood hot pot, roast suckling pig and spicy ma po tofu.
But if you’re really looking for a deal—and you’re willing to leave the strip—visit Lotus of Siam (www.saipinchutima.com), a Thai Restaurant reputed to be one of the best in the US. You’ll find familiar favorites here—pad thai, sweet and sour fish—but also harder to find northeast Thailand-style specialties like hoh mok kai (curry paste, chicken, egg and cabbage) or kang renu nakorn (red curry with local vegetables and chicken or catfish).
And if you need motivation when you roll the dice, visualize a seat on an opulent purple banquet at Joël Robuchon at The Mansion (www.mgmgrand.com), the legendary French chef’s first haute cuisine dining establishment in the United States. His tasting menus are offered in either six or sixteen courses and may include such ethereal dishes as osetra caviar with cauliflower cream; langoustine ravioli and creamy lettuce soup with sweet onion custard; and pan-fried sea bass with lemongrass foam and baby leeks. Or you can order à la carte, but then you have to make tough choices, such as whether to start with foie gras and smoked eel millefeuille (like a savory Napoleon pastry), or crispy soft-boiled egg with smoked salmon and osetra caviar. Should you order the sautéed veal chop with vegetable taglierini, or succulent Japanese-style Waygu beef?
At L’Atelier, Robuchon’s more casual spot next door, you can sit at the black lacquer bar and watch the chefs at work, but the food is no less spectacular (nor so inexpensive, either), and the choices are as difficult as any you’ll make in the casino. Cold seafood dishes like langoustine carpaccio with roasted poppy seed dressing vie for attention with Maine lobster salad with sherry vinegar dressing. Hanger steak, rib-eye steak or roasted rack of lamb with fresh thyme? Quail stuffed with foie gras, or warm chicken broth with foie gras ravioli? Even if you’re down, either one of these places will lift your spirits. High or low, when you dine at one of Joël Robuchon’s restaurants—you’ve hit the jackpot.