How were Bavettes and Cleaver?

My bias lean towards off strip food is likely large because of how they try to generate value and how it trends towards following European trends. Like if you compare edo to Jaleo or Bazaar meats their Patatas Bravas its $9 v $13 which is a total scam.

If you take price out of the equation what you’re left with is Jose’s love of certain techniques, which are front and center and will always be on the menu. (Liquid olive, foie gras cotton candy, etc). After years of dining at restaurants that demand similar / higher price points I’m used to seeing these things, but as a component of a composed dish. It’s enough for Jose to put the technique at the forefront because of scarcity. Because of this Jose’s restaurants on strip will be the same for a long, long time. The off strip restaurants will evolve over time

If you start to read menus and ask the waitstaff what they’re putting into the dishes in the places I mention, they are putting more effort with less staff and often times similar quality of ingredients.

I feel Partage tries to do these things as well but the three times I’ve had their food I’ve been unimpressed so I don’t have a permanent hard on for anyone who tries off strip

After typing all that out I feel a lot of the enjoyment I get is out of the evolution of offstrip restaurants being super promising whereas the strip doesn’t really evolve. It will pull in a big name chef every now and then that will make a good but not as good of a restaurant as their flagstaff as they have to cater to the needs of Vegas tourism. Feels less and less like the off strip restaurants are compromising and just making food that they want

Ate @ "The One" steakhouse @ Hardrock now renamed Virgin Hotels.

Trash, filet was trash and Watsumua Waygu a5 newyork they had was trash too. Best thing creamed corn. Wine list was also very whack and they only had one of each bottle basically and kept having to get a new one.

Steak tartar app was too chunky, calamari and fried shrimp one wasnt bad. Bacon was bacon

Cool thread - I ate at the RIO steak place - Voodoo steak house once and the oysters were bad. Drink also sucked. Didn't order anything else. Went to Hells kitchen and had a much better experience.

Had the premium tasting menu at Nobu Monday night. I'm not a frequent high end diner but I thought it was great and well worth the money. Especially the tuna dishes were amazing.

I thought Bavettes was just overall excellent, and Cleaver was really good value. Bavettes was a significantly better experience than Cleaver, and I'd put it on par with (or above) a lot of the Strip experiences. Worst thing about Bavettes was having to walk through Monte Carlo to get there.

Cleaver was a good local steak joint - great place to go after work for cocktails and half price steak, just like Herbs and Rye. But it's not a strip steakhouse experience. I actually thought Cleaver was too dark. I did appreciate the portraits of comedians dressed as war generals

Looks great!

[QUOTE=Doorbread;57034601]People I take to Sparrow and Wolf tend to feel the same. Haven’t taken anyone there and have them been super impressed, but I think the amount of effort they put into the food and for the price is almost unrivalled in Vegas to be honest

Between Edo, Sparrow and Wolf, Main St Provisions and Esthers I rarely find reason to eat on strip

thanks for the Sparrow tip.
im heading out next week and one night i will defitely dine there.
looks amazing

I didn’t read through this thread but has anyone eaten at wing lei (Wynn)? I wanted to eat there my last trip but was unable to.

Ate at mizumi which was ok but not a fan of the super small portions. Also are at SW steakhouse which was excellent. By far my most expensive meal ever but was really solid (like a shade under $300 with tip and I was alone).

Ugh any thoughts on good spots at the Venetian to check out for food and maybe other places on the strip?

I like steak houses, Mediterranean, sushi, etc. thanks for thoughts.

I ate at Wing Lei Xmas '19, and really enjoyed it. Was solo, and think I got out ~$200 including tip. Really good meal, and will go again with someone else, so I can do the Duck tasting.

At Venetian/Palazzo, you can't go wrong with CUT or Delmonico for steak.

I like Sushi Samba, though I know it's not as good as you'll get elsewhere for less money, and they have a good happy hour.

Had a nice lunch at Sugarcane somewhere along restaurant row, which was lots of tapas style plates a bunch of us picked at while watching sports one afternoon.

Estiatorio Milos has just moved into the Venetian from Cosmo, and I believe they have a really good lunch deal on their menu.

That was an outstanding deal when they opened at Cosmo and charged $20.11. These days it’s apparently $36 (+$10 if you want a real appetizer instead of salad or tzatziki). Still not a bad deal by any means but nowhere as good as it was.

For some reason I have a soft spot for Sushi Samba. No idea why, there’s nothing really special about it.

+1

Sushi samba, nobu, et all def bring back 2010s eating with a bunch of poker reg vibes

Think anywhere on restaurant row is good. Ideally you’d go to Major-domo with a group but if you want a steak it’s a good shout but don’t think you can directly compare it to steakhouses like you would cut - SW

It looked amazing, but never got to it when it was at Cosmo, as the company I had wanted to eat elsewhere. Price of food has gone up, lol.

Same as yourself. I know from all the real sushi afficionados here it's not great, but I just love the restaurant, and enjoy a lot of the dishes on the menu.

Which high end restaurant is open? I am going there next week from Tuesday to Friday. Thank you.

Think the majority of them are by now, mate.

Pick one you like the look of, and give them a call. You'll be able to get yourself set easily enough, if you want to plan ahead.

I scarfed down the duck fried rice at sugarcane during a dinner break last week. Will definitely be going back to try some other stuff next trip.

I did the peking duck menu at Wing Lei in 2018. It was good, but not 'blow you away' good like I'd hope for the price they charge, and three years on I can't say I have strong memories of any of the dishes.

whereas I ate at EDO Tapas on the same trip and several of their dishes still come to mind whenever I'm fantasising about Spanish food

similarly, the toro at Kabuto, which has still ruined all sushi in the UK for me five years after I ate there because I'm chasing something that good again

I'll have to try that next time I manage to make my way there.

Only trouble with Venazzo is you've got sooooo much to choose from over the 2 resorts.


I'll probably drop it down the to-do list in that case, and just tick it off if we happen to plan a meal there.

I have EDO on that list, and have always wanted to do kabuto, but none of my friends are really into it, and as someone that enjoys SS so much, you can tell I'm obviously not that educated in the world of Sushi

Did anyone get the roasted suckling pig at Edo? I’m very curious about that.

FWIW, Edo serves a Monkey47 gin tonic. Their distillery is only an hour away from my hometown and I’ve done their distillery tour. Pretty cool.

Re Peking Duck, I guess I still haven’t gotten the concept yet. When we went to Tim Raue’s two Michelin star restaurant in Berlin, they advertised that as his signature dish that you had to get as a supplement to his signature menu (which didn’t make too much sense to me). The whole thing is just crispy duck skin with a tiny bit of meat, right?

Main Street Provisions - their food is excellent and really well-executed. Had the beef Wellington, boudin, salad (whatever the one w artichoke oil is), and the charcuterie. Not a bad thing to say about any of them.

They didn’t course the meal out well, and the woman checking in on us didn’t seem super receptive to that feedback, so 4* out of 5, but the meal wanted badly to be 5*. Maybe I just expect too much. Or I’m an *******. Shrug.

Pretty fair critique imo. If you order a bunch of food and they don’t ask you should just assume they’ll spread the meal accordingly. If you have to worry about the speed at which you’re eating things to make sure certain things don’t get too cold, or melt it’s a real problem. You’re put into a situation where you’re pressured to eat faster or at the dishes unintended temperature, both of which make the meal less enjoyable on the whole

Iirc their charcuterie came with fry bread which on its own I really enjoyed, but personally prefer high gluten breads with charcuterie as I want a bread that will be in my mouth for longer as high fat foods linger

Yeah we had barely started the salad when charcuterie came out, which whatever they are both cold appetizers (but the bread was warm...anyway) but we were maybe half thru the charcuterie when the Wellington came out, with boudin close behind. I thought I heard an audible “oh” as an indication from the server that she thought we’d have made more progress by then. When the mgr came over and cozily asked “you’re loving everything right? I love wellie night.” I simply said “well, the food is great but it could’ve been coursed out a little better” and she goes “oh <shocked>. Um, alright.” As if she’s never taken negative feedback before. Then it was “glad everything tastes great” with no further acknowledgment. Obviously wasn’t going to let it sour dinner, which was excellent. Separately the waitress sounded like missy from big mouth and once I placed it it was like impossible not to hear it every single time.

I loved the fry bread but honestly I can eat pita/naan/thick tortillas with damn near anything, not the least of which is rilletes and pate w mustard and pickles

Is fry bread the only bread option they offer for the charcuterie board? That sounds like a somewhat curious choice.

Wyman and Doorbread, what’s your guys thoughts on Majordomo and David Chang in general? Also curious on your thoughts on John Curtis and the beef between the two?

Havent been to majordomo. Haven't been following the beef, but overall:

Loved DC's places in NYC and have eaten at Noodle Bar a bunch of times, also Ko;

DC has almost singlehandedly popularized a bunch of dishes - think Bo Ssam - and he also does the celeb thing in a hilarious but wholesome way, so i follow him on IG (e.g.) and wish him the best;

Obviously with anywhere on the strip it's not a value play, and you can often do something close way cheaper in Chinatown, but that isn't the point. You'll get way more refined execution and better flavor profile (by and large) at DC than at random Chinatown joint, and you pay for it;

As far as i can tell (I did some research this AM), Curtas lit up Momofuku but I thought was generally fair, and DC didn't handle it well. I think comparing DC karaage to karaage in Chinatown is fine but who cares? If you're going to momofuku for the karaage, John Curtas's review just doesn't matter. You order the karaage because you have a pitcher of beer and because fried chicken is delicious, whether or not it's better than those in Chinatown. And obviously Momofuku's costs more. But overall I think there's a difference between having a noodle bar with 8-then-50 seats and serving a limited menu and knocking it out of the park, and having food critics pick apart your ostensibly-fine-dining menu. And look, I've always been happy w my food from DC restaurants, but I think you've gotta roll w the punches and take the feedback graciously. Sometimes even white guys from Vegas know something about Asian food too.

ETA: I also think that it's SUPER hard to bridge "fine dining" and "big restaurant that serves the masses in Las Vegas." You're either appealing to the masses or the gourmands, and trying to walk the tightrope is super hard. Maybe momofuku could just be "elevated but accessible Asian" which I think plays well into its digs, its size, its price points, etc. But, you also can't confuse that with Guy Savoy -- whether you're John Curtas or DC.