Vegas Dry Aged?

[nibbs]

Well, I'll be in Vegas this weekend (Jan 26-29), and one of my work buddies wanted to know where a good steakhouse would be. I've heard a few things on Smith & Wollensky's, but I can't seen to find any kind of pricing. I'm not so worried about it, but you know how eating in groups can be... Compromise, compromise.

I'd really like someplace that offers dry aged beef. I followed Jeffery Steingarten's advice on a random business trip to Tampa and went to Burns Steakhouse. Now I'm stuck on dry aged for life.

So if anyone has a particular recomendation and some kind of price range, that would be great.

I've already informed them that I'll be eating at LOS one day that weekend, and if they don't want to miss out, they should come along. Compromise, schmomprimise. Some things are worth the trouble.

~Nibbs

[rjwong]

Nibbs,

While there are several threads on Las Vegas dining, here are a couple of threads that include a few words about some steakhouses in Las Vegas:

Marlene's Las Vegas thread

My Vegas Vacation 2005 thread

I like Prime at the Bellagio. I haven't tried S&W, Delmonico's or Craftsteak yet. If you go to Prime, definitely dress up. You'll be paying low 3-digits (Benjamin & Ulysses should cover everything, if you keep it at one glass of wine).

Personally, I would suggest going to a one-of-a-kind steakhouse (Prime, Delmonico, Craftseak) instead of a corporate chain steakhouse (S&W, Ruth's Chris , Capital Grille ). Mind you, I enjoy a Ruth's Chris steak very much.

Lotus of Siam? Good for you! I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Remember, you're going to Las Vegas, mon!

[Carlsbad]

We recently had a late lunch/early dinner at Smith & Wollensky before heading to the airport, and loved it. The front room is open during the afternoon, and both lunch and dinner menus were available. At 3:00 p.m., the room was full of hard-core, meat-eating men for the most part, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. A young man with an Australian accent was getting up to leave as we arrived, and he told us that his bone-in rib-eye was the best he had ever had.

The place has the real New York steakhouse look and feel, including charming and somewhat gruff servers. All three of us started with the S&W salad, which was about $10. The salads had large pieces of bacon and big potato croutons, and one of them would have been enough for all of us. I thought it was okay, but not great, and if I had it to do over again, I would probably order something else. My wife and our friend liked it a lot more than I did. Our friend and I split the very large porterhouse for two, which was outstanding. I had had this before here, and it was as good as I remembered. I think it was 44 oz. and was about $70, although the pricing details are a little hazy. It had a very rich taste, was perfectly charred on the outside and rare in the middle. It is carved tableside. My wife had an excellent veal chop, which was about $38. If I remember correctly, the dinner steaks started at about $32. We had side dishes of hashed brown potatoes, onion rings, and asparagas with hollandaise. The potatoes and onion rings were as they should be. The asparagas was perfect- about as good as could be. I think the large sides are about $12. I had an assortment of six little glasses of sorbets and ice creams, which were all thankfully light and quite good.

The wine list is now all American, although if you ask, they have a list of imported wines, mostly French, that are left over from the old list. The regular list is large and has some very interesting wines, which make it easy to get a little carried away. We had a Burgess cab 1983, which was on the edge but enjoyable (about $110 I think) and a French Burgundy the details of which I can't remember, which was outstanding and priced at about $75 if I remember right. They have some good, less expensive wines and a short list of serviceable wines by the glass.

For a real steakhouse experience, I recommend this place highly.

[Marlene]

We're headed back to Vegas in April and we have made reservations for Delmonico's, Prime and Craftsteak. I'd like to get to Chef Robuchon's new restaurant given the chance. You absolutely can't go wrong with either Delmonico's or Prime, although as I've said, my heart is with Delmonico's.

[Brahms]

Anyone tried Hanks at Green Valley Ranch? I was driving by the other night and saw it just opened. I have read some very good reviews but would love to hear some foodie's thoughts>

[nibbs]

Well, I got to both LOS and S&W this weekend.

We started at LOS and like so many other things, it wasn't as good as the first time. But it was still pretty good and I'll probably do it again. Crunchy rice and spicy wings were great, but the beef jerky and the wonton wrapped shrimp are a waste of time.

For entrees, we got a selection of things - drunken noodle with chicken (ok - but not as good as the last time I went by a wide margin), someone got the catfish and said it was good, and then 2 curries (red and green) that I thought were OK. I ordered the green chili dip, which probably was meant to be an appetizer. It was a thai salsa served with some pork skins (good) and brocolli (which I don't touch) to dip into it. I ended up just scooping it out and putting it on rice. Now that I think back, it would have done OK on a corn chip...

Anyway, I bought at LoS for the group. Big spender - like $100 or so. There were 5 of us. Then to Smith & Wollensky the next day for dinner. With 10 or us. Mostly drunk. All rowdy. Some hungry. My 2nd steak of the day, if you count a chicken fried one from The New Frontier (which was not as bad as expected, and surely better than the buffet, which needed only some flies around it to make it less appetizing. I think maybe the flies died of food poisoning).

Split the Porterhouse for 2. Should be for 3. It was a great piece of meat, but could have used a little better dry-aged flavor. Still very solid, tho. Well cooked and good texture. Got hashbrowns, onion rings, creamed spinich and mac and cheese. Mac and cheese was outstanding, spinich and o-rings were good not great, and hashbrowns seemed pointless to me. All were sides were $11.50 and plenty enough for everyone at the table to have some. So even tho they say sides are for 2, you'd be better off eating with 8 people and ordering 4 sides. More to share. And none was so good and so small you'd want to eat half of it. Steak was $88 and could feed 3 (and is plainly offered as a meal for 2). Beef carpaccio was well done as well for $14, but not a requirement. My picks - the porterhouse and the mac and cheese. Everyone else liked their meat as well. We had the spearamint rhino for dessert. It was OK too, if somewhat expensive.

Best of all, when it came time to pay the $550 tab, the guy that we had to call LVPD looking for, the man on the missing persons report, the man who claimed he had a comped room at the Hilton and slept from 9AM until 10PM on Friday night, thus screwing up 5 hours of Vegas waking hours, the guy who was inquired about from noon to 9 by every security guard, hospital operator and cab company that would answer the phone... He paid. We are even.

Thanks to the Egulleters that posted some tips. Thus ends my 2nd annual bachelor party. I'll just have to wait until next year to do it all again.

[bgut1]

During our trip to Vegas in November we ate at Delmonicos. I enjoyed one of the best steaks I have ever eaten. The rib steak was cooked perfectly with a nice crust and a beautiful medium rare center. Side dishes, cocktails and service were exemplary. One shortfall however was the dessert. The bananas foster ice cream pie was terrible as the bananas were hard and crunchy (ice crystals). Having dined at most of the "top" NY steakhouses, I would have to put the restaurant right up there with the best.

Edited February 6, 2006 by bgut1 (log)