Green Plastic, if I were to go to Vegas with my gf right now and am looking for a nice place to eat with some review buzz I'd check out Sage @ Aria. Eco74 posted a very positive review and both KevinEats and John Curtas rave about it.

Go to Musashi if she's never been to teppanyaki before, see if you can call ahead and get Tiger to cook and maybe a table to yourselves. The chefs there will ham it up a ton for dates and she'll probably love it. The food is also spectacular.

It's good but definitely does not justify the high prices. I didn't think it was anything special- just another good, high-end restaurant in a city full of those. It does look like the kind of place Tony Montana would eat at though.

Couldn't agree more. Fantastic meal done with care, great atmosphere, doesn't break the bank.

Devilsox- my suggestion to you too would be Sage @ Aria.

Last time I went to Spago was a year ago, it was a great lunch but not a dining "experience", I wasn't wowed by the staff but they were good servers. I wasn't wowed by the menu, nor was I wowed by the food. Its my opinion that in a town like Vegas where there are so many Wow experiences why go anywhere that is just good? Spago is good... but I cannot say I had a wow experience.

Clark and I have opposite opinions on these two chefs who happen to be the closest of friends - but I have a very healthy admiration of Clarks reasons even though we pick different teams. I love Emiril's concepts and execution but I am not as thrilled with his management teams, from my minimal experience the product coming out of the kitchen doesn't always have the same consistency, and the preparations tend to be a little over-seasoned for my taste in some cases, in other cases under-seasoned to appeal to the bland Vegas tourist pallats. Batali has greater consistency (although as Gobbo points out above nobody is immune to having off-nights) and I am a huge fan of his "start with the freshest ingredients and F*ck with it the least" philosophy while assuring the dishes are true to their ethnic heritage. As Clark points out each his own, dining is all about personal experience, there is no true answer, its not about right or wrong.

PS: Although Emril is not on the top of my list, I would never turn down the offer to eat at one of his places, his service staff tends to be some of the best in the biz.

PPS: Speaking of Mina, any reviews of American Fish? I'm interested in freshwater dining and Mina's kitchen preparation techniques if anyone has any details I would appreciate it!

PPPS: for my foodie buddies in Vegas, anyone want to do MOzen at Mandarin Oriental Sunday morning with me? Send a PM, I'm too lazy to call anyone today ;-P

This you have dessert while you were there? The two items I tasted had a big wow factor for me. Otherwise I would agree with you about Spago, it's a very solid menu that will not disappoint, but 'wow' would be going too far I agree.

Btw, I had the same experience with Carnevino as Gobbo. The only redeeming piece of my meal was the excellent steak (the 3 pasta dishes were sub-standard imo).

I see Mastro's is opening an Ocean Club inside Crytsal's on Friday, is anyone else excited about this? I have heard nothing but GLOWING reviews about Mastro's and cannot wait to try it out.

After all the talk in this thread Deeb dragged me here last night because he wanted to try the burger, instead we ended up with a six wine flight paired with the meal shown below (for 3) where we ordered family style and tasted a little bit of everything. With the locals discount this meal cam out to just over $400 after tip, a steal IMO. Although Care is technically a steakhouse we ordered like it was a Tuscan restaurant - steak is included but as an afterthought to the full dining experience. As Deeb's friend Brent pointed out the steak didn't matter... it wasn't necessary in the dining plan.

Starters -

HOUSE-CURED PASTRAMI local duck egg and emerald butter lettuce
the off the menu boarata
JAMON IBERICO DE BELLOTA gnocco frito

Pasta -

POTATO GNOCCHI BOLOGNESE
ORECCHIETTE sweet sausage and broccoli rabe- my fav'SPAGO' with lamb ragu - Brent & Deeb's fav
RICOTTA AND EGG RAVIOLO
RAVIOLI DI STRACOTTO duck livers and 50 year old acero balsamico

Meat -

DAY AGED BONE IN RIBEYE (we almost got the riserva steak by the inch but opted against it at the last minute, our dining plan was north of the menu with a dabbling in south, we ordered the wrong courses for the reserva IMO)

Desert -

VANILLA BEAN GELATO "spooned" with 50 year old acero balsamico, Borschi Amaro, and a new Amaro in Vegas whose name escapes me that is made of walnuts.

DIGESTIFS
Amaro tasting including Nonino, Borschi, the walnut Amaro mentioned above, and Averna

Long story short the steak was at the bottom of the priority list for this dinner, but everyone was wowed because the north end of the menu is the area that is most overlooked with some of the best tasting experiences. Give it a try, its not what you would expect to eat at a steakhouse, but once you have a duck egg on top of the most divine pastrami in the world you will soon know why.

The GM read Gobbo's post by the way, they are now keeping track of 2+2 because so many of us go there and of course they want to make things right. Same with Cut, the somolier for Cut sat next to us, she had been noticing the numbers of "baller" poker players recently - collectively poker players are fast becoming a foodie army in Vegas with a lot of clout, this thread/forum is helping our status as customers!

My former company had a deal with Mastros in Phoenix, I ate there all the time - it was as good as it gets for Phoenix but there are no "wow" moments on the menu. The architecture in Crystals for Mastro's is stunning, I'm interested to know more.

I've been once and liked it a lot. I had a salt-baked sweet shrimp dish that was simple but very good (in the link below, it appears to have been moved from the entree section to the appetizers, I do recall it being a smallish portion). IIRC the other guy I was with got Turbot poached in seawater which was also good. It was topped with hollandaise, which the menu neglected to mention and which I thought was too heavy for what would have otherwise been a very fresh and clean dish, but a reasonable person could disagree.

ELV got to try a lot more of the menu than I did and was pretty pleased: http://www.eatinglv.com/2010/01/american-fish/

The menu (since the aria website, for no apparent reason, doesn't post menus from their restaurants, this actually took some searching): http://michaelmina.net/americanfish/

lololo

8 courses paired with wine at Cyrus is $260 + tax/tip and I'm pretty sure it crushes Carnevino/the meal you had there up and down.

The French Laundry is $250 (including tip) + wine, and I know this crushes it even more so.

El Bulli all in will cost 250 Euro.

your meal is perhaps a steal in the universe where the only restaurants are the overpriced ones in the Venetian

I'm pretty sure TT didn't mean $400 PP but if he did then thats ridiculously expensive.

ah, gotcha. still $200 per person is not a steal. I've yet to experience any on strip dining that is a steal...there are some great places to go, but you are paying retail + not retail -

my fine dining experience is fairly limited...I've eaten at places with perhaps a combined 12 Michelin stars + a few others which would have them if rated, and the Vegas ones are the most expensive. and Carnevino isn't in that class to begin with

I think you still missed it. Three people dined for $400. Considering the wine, the after dinner drinks, and gratuity, that's not bad.

Unexcited. Mastros (the steakhouse, not the Ocean Club) is just another corp. chain steakhouse- certainly not bad, but nothing to get excited about. People rave about the steak because they dump a pound or so of seasoning on it. Haven't been to the Newport Beach Ocean Club, but it just seems very pedestrian, like a steakhouse trying to be a seafood joint.

We play CCR for the meal so I only think of the final cost for three rather than per person, after tip per person was around $133-$150 (unsure of the exact final amount but it was just over $400 I think, we left 25% tip). Considering what we ate nobody can claim thats expensive. It might be over someones dining budget per person, but its very very cheep for what we ordered. The wine, beer Amaro & desert alone should have been more than $133/head, the discount they give locals is fantastic.

Ike - the GM was talking about your recent dinner party with Justin & Maxim, I think you guys left a good impression!

for real, 3 people worth of food (and probably a lot of food for 3 people) + 18 glasses of wine + amaro + a steak no one wanted + 20% tip + 10% tax or whatever and coming in under $135 a person is pretty great if the food is of any real quality. and seriously, any discussion that includes "well the food probably isn't as good as at el bulli" is just dumb. yes, things in general cost more in vegas, and even more on the strip, and even more in the wynn, bellagio, palazzo, and city center. boo hoo.

FL is $250 without vino, after a six glass flight your paying another $150/head. $400/person... not cheep. you also need to factor in the cost of the helicopter to take you to El Bulli from the airport ;-) A business associate of mine put in for reservations for us at El Bulli, someday.... someday....

The bone-in ribeye is spectacular, especially going caveman on the bone.

green plastic,
while maybe you will go to sage on these recommendations and maybe it will be great, i can't help but feel that there has to be a better option than going to a place by a chef that has his flagship restaurant like a block from your apartment. that said, next time i'm in vegas for >4 days, i'm definitely going to try sage out, so maybe i'm just a ****ing hypocrite?

Mix is (or was until my first visit to Twist last Friday) a fav LV restaurant, and a fav Alain Ducasse joint as well.

Fortunate enough to live in a city with currently two operating Alain Ducasse restaurants, and fortunate enough to be able to enjoy a meal there once in a while it's striking how Mix combines all the nice features of AD's cooking with all the fun of Las Vegas.

Solid craftsmanship, imagination - and a lighthearted atmosphere!

IMO the combination of "Las Vegas" specials and more traditional "serious" courses from the Ducasse repertoire is very successful.

Obv. al fresco dining in spring and autumn where you can enjoy the terrace and the view without either frying or freezing is preferable.

look, I tmisread the price

it's not boo hoo, it's what it is. it just means I've never paid for anything in Vegas that I would consider a steal. I've eaten at L'Atelier, Nobu, SW, Prime, Picasso, Craftsteak, Michael Mina, Nob Hill and various other lower places on the Carnevino level and compared to places of comparable price in NYC and SF it's lol if you anything you get there is a "steal". just don't give it that adjective is what I'm saying...unless you are comparing it to places only within a 1/2 mile drive (which is silly)

I'm staying at the new Rush Tower at the Golden Nugget next week, has anyone tried their new Chart House restaurant?

Thinly veiled brags ITT.

Glad to hear that

We were the last people in there on a slow weeknight and got to spend a while chatting with some bored managers and waiters.

p.s. If they have the special of NY Strip topped with a fried duck egg next time you're there, I advise getting it.