For some reason it's Jean Georges that always sounds the most appealing to me when I'm having the same conundrum.


No idea, but since it's such an old school dessert I'd start with any of the purportedly old school joints (only thing that comes to mind is Circus Circus Steakhouse).

Ate here with my fiance last weekend. Mini overview below (wish I had pictures):

lobster-pineapple skewer - By far the weakest dish. Lobster was overwhelmed by the 'molecular' pineapple which we thought was just blended pineapple reconstituted with a gelatin agent.

spanish charcuterie platter with chorizo, salchichon, sobrasada,
lomo embuchado - All were great except for the lomo. I'm not actually sure I've had lomo embuchado before, but we both found it tough and lacking on flavor. We also saved it for last, and it likely should have been eaten first (the server pointed in the other direction, but starting with the strong flavor of the chorizo was likely a mistake... oh well, minor thing).

angulas al ajillo (baby eels) - Wow, pretty excited to see these on a menu - never had them before. They came sizzling in olive oil in a moderately sized ramekin. Great flavor - a lot milder 'eel' flavor then the big guys. Texture was a lot like a perfectly cooked piece of pasta. It's too bad buying these things are so much $$, there would be lots of fun uses in other dishes that play on their pasta-quality.

Special that night - Mushroom 'saute' with iberico ham. This was our favorite dish by far. I was a little leery when I asked what type of mushrooms were in it the server replied 'sauteed' and didn't know the variety. Oh well, we like mushrooms and ham. Funny thing is the server didn't even mention the best part of the dish, a perfectly poached egg right in the middle. Mixed together with the mushrooms the yolk pulled everything together nicely. Almost got a second serving of this one.

Second special that night - Fava bean 'stew' with chorizo and pork belly. - The server realllllly pushed this on us, almost uncomfortable so. It was 'ok', our second least favorite dish. We love fava beans and use them often, and this wasn't anything much better then we could make at home. The chorizo was of course great and added a nice smokiness to the whole dish.

chicken chilindron | ragout of peppers tomato and iberico ham - We were full by the time it came it which was a shame, this was amazingly flavorful dish. The ragout tasted like it had been cooked for days - rich, peppery, tomatoe-y goodness. The chicken was almost crispy which contrasted nicely with the richness of the ragout. This was wiped clean with the served bread.

Overall with a bottle of cava it was a relative bargain at ~150$. The server had some definite off moments with the pushy recommendations. We also felt a bit rushed at the beginning - we were their relatively early and he may have thought we were just getting a small bite. Once it was obvious we'd be there for a while, he calmed down. Other then that it was a great meal.

Restaurant dot com is doing their big special on gift certificates again. You can get a $50 Strip Steak one for $2 along with other Las Vegas restaurants.

nice thanks! do you think they have any problems with me using two $50 gift cards at same meal?

This sounds like one of those situations where'd I'd read the fine print and/or call up the restaurant. I would imagine it's *probably* limit one per visit.

yeah i checked the website and it seems to be limit one per.. oh well still good !

I'm a big burger fan. Visiting Vegas in a couple of weeks. Any recommendations for some amazing burgers in town?

edit: oops, not really a fine dining question, but any recommendations I'd be very grateful!

Carnevino. Go for lunch, sit at bar.

KGB at Harrahs
BLT at Mirage

Holstein's at Cosmopolitan.

KGB is legitimately terrible.

Discussion also exists in the Casual Dining Thread.

Answer to the burger question is now Holsteins. But yeah, other thread.

Just got back, here were my dinners:

Cut: had not had a real dinner here (only at the Beverly Hills one) so it's essentially new to me. I had the 35-day dry-aged Nebraska ribeye, and it was absolutely the best steak I've had in Vegas (disclaimer: I'm not a guy that will spend $180 on Kobe so I haven't had that anywhere).

Before going I was deciding between Cut and Carnevino and noticed something interesting- Carnevino seems to be as or more expensive than Cut. Seems like an unbalanced universe kind of thing.

Country Club: Have been here many times and consider it a favorite. It was a bit more ho-hum this time around, but I might have just not had the appetite I should have. Pork loin w/succotash, which was better the first time I had it.

Sage: Another place I consider a favorite but it feels like diminishing returns to me. I've been 6 or 7 times at this point and the best meal I had there was the first one. This time around I had squash and celery root risotto and their Maryland black bass, with chorizo. Both very good. Neither was exciting. What I loved was a cocktail they're making with smoked peach-infused Bulleit bourbon. I'm a whiskey guy and I've never had anything like this cocktail. It was perfect.

And a programming note- I had wanted Italian and was going to go to Sirio. Get there and find out that they're only opening their main dining room on weekends these days. Cafe only the rest of the time. Bad times for them, apparently.

Just go to Circo. Same ownership, same price range, similar menu, a bit better IMO.

anyone try the pre show dinner at masa's before? 50$ bento box, was gonna check it out

Am i right to still be excited to have gotten a reservation at e by jose andres. Really looking forward to it for the experience if nothing else!

You have every right to be excited, it's one of the best dining experiences you might ever have. Congrats! Please come back and report on your meal, quite a few of the guys who frequent this thread have done e' a few times now but the menu changes, it's always good to hear about the updates. Thnx!

Brief trip report to Prime at the Bellagio last Wed nite;

Reservations at 6p got there a bit early and were seated immediately, which was nice.
Nice young woman waiter, very attentive and knowledgeable about the menu and specials.
We split a ribeye and each had a Caeser salad. Ribeye was great, salad was REALLY bad. Dressing seemed to be about 80% vinegar, made us both slightly sick. Side dishes were mixed - carrots were very good, "crunch" potatoes were meh - kind of like paying $10 for a couple of potato skins.
Screwed up wife's wine order, also - she ordered a Rombauer chardonnay, and got a glass of some other white wine that she couldn't identify. By that time she thought she was gonna be sick from the salad, so we left.

Sad, really. Been there a couple of times before, and had good experiences - but for $140 or so it shouldn't be expecting too much to get the right wine, and a salad that doesn't suck.

MM MD

Go to CUT next time. That place is incredible.

Any good hibachi japanese steakhouse?

musashi: http://www.yelp.com/biz/musashi-japa...ouse-las-vegas

Open late and very good. Only go if you're going to sit by the grill and get teppanyaki. Sitting in the other dining room and ordering off the kitchen menu is a thoroughly mediocre experience.

Does anyone know the approx. running time of the discovery menu at L'atelier?

Not sure if this belongs here, but going to Vegas next week with the wife, and she saw an ad for Taste of the Strip Walking Tour , and was wanting to try it. I was wondering if anyone here has ever done it, and if so if you think it is worthwhile? Thanks.

Looks pretty weak to me. The website mentions 4 places you might go: chandelier bar, cosmopolitan secret pizza place, china poblano, max brenner's.

Chandelier bar is a perfectly decent bar with cool decoration/location.

The pizza place is good. It's probably the best place on the strip if not in all of Vegas to get a quick slice of pizza, but hardly a tour-destination highlight of Vegas sort of thing.

China Poblano is awesome. If you're into food, it would be a mistake to leave Vegas without trying it.

I had never heard of Max Brenner's and had to look it up. It gets a bunch of good reviews on Yelp, but the Eating Las Vegas blog, which I tend to trust a lot more, wrote a pretty scathing review. Consistent with what ELV had to say, the menu does look pretty ****ty and gimmicky in a Cheesecake Factory sort of way.

If you decide to go, post a little trip report here after. Maybe it'll be better than it sounds.

depends on whether you get alchohol, etc...but I would say 2 to 2.5 hours.