Vegas hits the jackpot: the city's new restaurants offer a big payout

Sunset, Nov, 2004 by Lisa Taggart, Sara Schneider

Dining in Las Vegas has been moving from buffet to gourmet for at least a decade, but with the latest round of restaurants, it's vying to become the country's culinary capital.

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Westerners can attribute much of this to their own good taste: The hottest new restaurants are led by chefs from Hollywood, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Napa Valley. Menus now are less formal and more fresh, less about showmanship and more about substance.

Las Vegas has become a kind of litmus test of culinary importance--come here after you've made it elsewhere. "Las Vegas is a headliner kind of city, so casinos brought in recognizable names," says Thomas Keller of the famed French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, California. He opened Bouchon, a French brasserie similar to his Napa Valley catery of the same name, in January in the Venetian's new tower, Venezia.

The influx of big names means that the Strip is now a smorgasbord of food trends. Along with Keller, in the last year and a half, other chefs who have opened up shop Strip-side include the Lark Creek Inn's Bradley Ogden, Maya's Richard Sandoval, the Bellagio's Michael Mina (who now has three Vegas venues), and Hubert Keller, whose second restaurant here, Fleur de Lys, has just opened. And then, of course, there is the city's original culinary innovator, Spago's Wolfgang Puck, who launched his latest, a bar and grill, at the MGM Grand last summer.

It was Puck who prompted Las Vegas to shed its humble all-you-can-cat beginnings when he opened Spago here in 1992. By the late '90s, with the opening of the Bellagio Hotel & Casino and Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, the city was gaining gourmet heft. Other big-name chefs had followed Puck's lead, including New Orleans' Emeril Lagasse and Frenchman Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The elaborate dining rooms at Le Cirque, Picasso, Prime Steakhouse, Renoir, and Valentino featured classic French and Italian menus, and were pure Vegas, with the over-the-top formality of a Bally's chorus line: fantastic, but full of artifice.

The newest restaurants also showcase celebrity chefs, but in less formal (though stylish) venues. And more than ever, these chefs are focusing on fresh, honest flavors and highest quality ingredients flown in from small producers all over the world.

Even Puck marvels at the city's new character. "I think it's amazing what has happened in Las Vegas," he says. "You can go five or six times a year, for two to three days, and never eat in the same place--and always have great food. It seems that Las Vegas is a bigger food town than San Francisco or Chicago. Maybe only New York is bigger."

RELATED ARTICLE: The new heavyweights in Las Vegas

From classic French comfort to California fresh to cutting-edge seafood, the city's latest generation of restaurants is definitely packed with knockouts.

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Bradley Ogden

Of the headliner chefs in this city, Bradley Ogden is the only one who actually appears in his show; he's in the kitchen most nights, along with his son, Bryan, who is one of his senior chefs tournants.

Beautiful produce from all over the country populates the kitchen, and there's a California sensibility to the simple, sophisticated combinations that emerge: a warm Maytag blue cheese souffle with pluots, candied walnuts, and greens in an ice-wine verjus vinaigrette; beautifully crusted striped bass on a green-onion cake, surrounded by a peppery arugula puree. $$$$. Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 702/731-7410.

Diego

At Diego, executive chef Christopher House imports authenticity from Oaxaca, Veracruz, and the Yucatan. Guacamole made tableside and six salsa choices are just a start. While appetizer execution is still developing, crispy empanadas, packed with crab, roasted poblanos, corn, and Chihuahua cheese, are a winner.

As for entrees, the chicken mole might be the best north of the border--tender, smoky meat in a sauce with the complexity of some 32 ingredients. And real memories of the Yucatan are evoked by the cochinita pibil, pork marinated in achiote paste and orange juice, then slow-cooked in banana leaves and served with roasted green chiles, black beans, mandatory pickled red onions, and a habanero salsa that brings tears to your eyes. $$$. MGM Grand, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; www.mgmgrand.com or 702/891-3200.

Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill

Puck's new prototype restaurant resides in the middle of the MGM Grand casino. "The ultimate California patio," he's calling it. We'd call it a Las Vegas-style diner (views over the shoulders of blackjack players being rare on California decks).

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He does have the ultimate Las Vegas snack--crisp, warm, paper-thin potato chips drizzled with creamy blue cheese sauce and pungent white truffle oil; pair them with a glass of champagne.

All the grill favorites are here in fresh, fine form: crab cakes, Puck's signature duck bratwurst sausage, and wood-fired pizzas. Drinks are even better--try a prickly pear mojito or a fruity "chop chop." $$$. MGM Grand, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; www.mgmgrand.com or 702/891-3000.