Vegas Restaurants: All the Rage
by Leon Schwarzbaum



They're still standing in line for the $3.99 breakfast buffets and the $6.99 sirloin steak dinners in Las Vegas, but with the advent of the newest five-star hotel casinos, haute cuisine (at haute prices) has become an attraction. In a town where fine dining once consisted of a huge shrimp cocktail, a 24-ounce steak, a salad and pie a la mode, world famous chefs create meals for sophisticated diners drawn by the luxury of the new and refurbished resorts.

Famous chefs and their backers are leasing the restaurants at these temples dedicated to the worship of the gods of chance and creating eating establishments worthy of note in any gourmet's diary. Such celebrities as Wolfgang Puck, who opened his Spago in the early 1990s, have been joined by star chefs earning upwards of $300,000 annually.

At one of the newest hotels, The Venetian, an embarrassment of culinary riches awaits the gourmet visitor. Wolfgang Puck's newest restaurant is named Postrio, and Emeril Lagasse (of TV and New Orleans fame) is opening Delmonico Steakhouse. Puck and his wife-partner have created a bistro-style café with formal dining room, private dining rooms and bar. Lagasse's Delmonico takes its name from his New Orleans restaurant, and features ribeye steak, double pork chops and baked jumbo shrimp. Fans can buy cookbooks, spices and other "Emeril" souvenirs.

And, if that's not enough, Canaletto, also at the Venetian, features food of Italy's Northeast region, prepared under the supervision of Maurizio Mazzon as chef-de-cuisine Luigi Bomparola supplies the Milanese touch. If you're still not sated, stop at the Valentino Grill where Piero Selvaggio will offer traditional Italian dishes and selections from his fine wine cellars. The Valentino's cucina (kitchen to the less cosmopolitan) is under the aegis of Chef Luciano Pellegrini.

Serious eaters will also find Zeffrino (Chef Gian Paulo Belloni) serving Italian seafood. Chef Robert Kirchoff presides over Lutece, offering a nightly "dining experience," while Joachim Splichal's Pinot Brasserie under the unflinching eyes of Chef Octavio Beccera and Executive Chef Brian Bennington rule the galley. Add to the roster the Star Canyon for cowboy grub (Stephan Pyles) and Taqueria Canonita (Alena Pyles, Stephan's sister) and Royal Star (Lai Lam and Chiu Kee Yung, of Hong Kong) and you will be able to eat a different meal every night at the Venetian for almost a year.

Stephan Pyles' menu includes such outdoorsman fare as Vine Ripened Tomato Salad With Texas Mozzarella and Garlic-Chile Croutons. Yee hah, round up them mozzarellas, Tex, and we'll have a cookout.

At the Orleans Hotel on West Tropicana, Michael Gaughan's Canal Street Restaurant features a varied range of Cajun specialties, including salmon wrapped in thin potato slices and baked in lime-ginger sauce. Chef Louis Guiga and executive chef Chrisopher Johns prepare a variety of dishes, from Cajun chicken breast to a wide choice of beef cuts.

A fast-growing area, west of the high-rent strip, is the site of The Resort at Summerlin. Minutes from the heavy traffic, the Harmon-Nickolas group operates Nevada Nick's under the master chef, Kevin Graham. Graham learned his trade in Europe at such hotels as the Savoy in London and Hotel Negresco in Nice. Graham supervises everything done in-house, such as smoking the fish and meats to making mozzarella cheese and baking bread. Nick's features open-flame cooking in the style and flavor of the American West.

At Treasurer Island, Chef Marco Porceddu creates inventive and authentic Italian dishes at Francesco's, while outside, a battle between the HMS Britannia and the pirate ship Hispaniola takes place every 90 minutes beginning at 4:00 p.m.

At the Mirage, Samba Grill serves Brazilian specialties, notwithstanding the fact that chef Patrick Glennon was born in Ireland. Glennon worked in Brazil long enough to have mastered the subtle seasoning and hearty dishes loved by the Cariocas.

Sunset Station, a spectacular high-rise hotel rising from the desert in Henderson, NV, only 15 minutes from the Strip, is home to Sonoma Cellar Steakhouse, a product of Don Marrandino's creative mind.

The Las Vegas Hilton is the address of the Monte Carlo Restaurant, Las Vegas' only four-diamond eatery this year, under the capable chef Arnauld Briand (whose horse-radish laced mashed potatoes are "to die for") and chef de cuisine Francois Meulien. If French is your taste, head for the Hilton's Monte Carlo (not to be confused with the resort of the same name).

If your appetite and wallet can stand it, there's more gustatory excitement at Le Montrachet also in the Las Vegas Hilton, Napa at the Rio, Lillie Langtry at the Golden Nugget, Emeril's New Orleans Fish House in the MGM Grand, Palace Court at Caesars Palace and Sacred Sea at Luxor.

Don't get me wrong. With competition keen, the buffets and "early-bird specials" are great. Prime ribs, steaks, seafood including crab legs and shrimp, freshly prepared salads and mind-boggling desserts are included in these "loss leaders" run by the casinos to keep the players in the house. But there's more to dining than meat and potatoes in a noisy dining room, and more people are finding their way into the fine restaurants in Las Vegas. Reservations are almost always necessary at the more popular places and not a bad idea at the others to avoid a wait in the smoky bar.

And don't forget, there's Denny's, but I didn't catch the chef's name - he rode away on his bicycle before I could write it down.