Five Haute Dining Spots in Vegas (Plus One Killer Brunch)
Gordon Ramsay Steak @ Paris Las Vegas
To get to London from Paris, you have to pass through the Chunnel - even in Vegas. You leave behind the streets of Montmartre and the (painted) Parisian sky and enter a room festooned with a massive Union Jack.
The two-level space with private dining rooms overlooking the main floor of the Paris casino opened in May of 2012 - and already the restaurant is buzzing with a cacophony of global accents as omnivores from around the world chomp into Ramsay’s reinterpretation of American steakhouse fare.
Beef Wellington is a crowd-pleaser as is the toxically delicious toffee pudding. Cocktails (and wines) are ordered from an iPad and are as much fun to drink as they are to photograph.
The service at Gordon Ramsay Steak is impeccable and polished, not unlike a British gentleman - and the entire evening evokes the glories and good times of Merry Old England.
LINK: Gordon Ramsay Steak
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miX in Las Vegas @ THEHotel at Mandalay Bay
You might come here for the view, which is arguably the best perspective of the Strip in all of Vegas, but you’ll be happy you’re eating Alain Ducasse’s classic French/American cuisine at this 64th-floor restaurant in the sky.
Named "Best Restaurant" (2006) by Travel + Leisure magazine, miX is a mid-century Modern vision of white and silver with a sweeping staircase that recalls Morris Lapidus’s "Staircase to Nowhere" at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. Murano glass bubbles float through the air - and even the bathrooms provide panoramic views.
Dining in this stunning room is the equivalent to floating in a cloud - and it’s no wonder that one recent evening a newly-married couple, the bride still in her wedding gown, chose miX to celebrate their nuptials.
The menu is sprinkled with Ducasse’s signature dishes including lobster and shellfish artisanal pasta and baba a l’Armagnac, both from Louis XV in Monte Carlo, now celebrating its 25th anniversary.
LINK: miX
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Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood @ THEHotel at Mandalay Bay:
When you feel like slurping oysters in the middle of the afternoon, this is where you want to be. Chef Rick Moonen has been a long-time advocate for ocean conservation, working to insure that his restaurants support sustainable fishing. All fish are caught or farmed without harm to the environment.
An oyster sampler of six oysters - three from the Pacific, three from the Atlantic - arrives with descriptions as evocative as wine. Best of all, each oyster is as delicious as the descriptive prose - so much so that a second sampler is mandatory.
Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood utilizes produce from local purveyors, including the Andracki farm, which supplies Vegas restaurants with its basil, squash flowers, turnips, and radishes. A salad of organic greens from the Andracki family is sprinkled with yellow and orange marigold flowers - and tastes as fresh as if you were eating it in your mother’s garden.
Chef Moonen graduated first in his class at CIA in Hyde Park and his background has included New York stints at La Cote Basque, Le Cirque, Chelsea Central, and Oceana. Vegas has him now and seafood has never tasted better in the desert.
LINK: Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood
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Serendipity 3 @ Caesars Palace
Let’s imagine that you had a rough night of it in Vegas. Hard to imagine, but still. Maybe a few too many - of everything. When you wake, the thunder down under is in your head - and what you need is breakfast at Serendipity 3.
What you need is Fried Eggs Benedict: a pair of corn meal crusted fried poached eggs, with classic Hollandaise and Canadian bacon atop sausage gravy and housemade biscuits. Feeling better, already?
Located next to the Caesars Palace fountains, right across the street from the Flamingo, this outpost of New York City’s legendary comfort food favorite fits perfectly into the excesses of Vegas.
LINK: Serendipity 3 @ Caesars Palace
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