1) Lotus of Siam
If you eat one meal in Las Vegas, do it at Lotus. (Well, that and breakfast at the Wynn buffet – see below.) Yes, this Thai dive has been lauded coast to coast, but it still feels like one of the city’s best-kept secrets, largely due to its location. It’s tucked away inside Commercial Center, one of Vegas’ most famously dodgy strip malls, east of the Strip. Stores run the gamut from Serge’s Showgirl Wigs to a Filipino Christian church to a variety of sex clubs licensed (but poorly concealed) as novelty shops and health spas. Don’t let that put you off some of the best Thai food west of the Mississippi. Easy-to-miss, the walls of this diminutive dining room are plastered with the hundreds of press clippings that justifiably praise chef Saipin Chutima’s cooking. Avoid the bafflingly bad lunch buffet and request the Chiang Mai menu to try her northern specialties like sai ua (country pork sausage full of basil) and kai soi (curry noodles garnished with pickled vegetable, red shallots and lime). A warning: Trust the waiters on the heat levels or you’ll leave with seared taste buds. From the main menu, try seared scallops with chile and mint leaves, tangy beef jerky and fried, salted fish chunks. Cool down with the other big surprise: Lotus’s incredible wine list, full of hard-to-find Rieslings that perfectly douse the flames.
INFO: 953 E. Sahara Ave.; (702) 735-3033
2) Rosemary’s Restaurant
This mostly-locals spot on Sahara, just ten minutes west of the Strip, serves incredible comfort food derived from the Southern and Midwestern roots of chefs Michael and Wendy Jordan, influenced by France. If it sounds like a strange combo, you’ll be converted when you try the dishes. The menu changes often, but some items thankfully never go away, like Hugo’s Texas BBQ shrimp, served over Maytag bleu-cheese-laced coleslaw. Other standouts include thick pork chops with hopping John (rice and peas seasoned with fatback) and Creole mustard reduction; and striped bass with crispy skin atop a hash of andouille sausage, rock shrimp, and fingerling potatoes with a Creole meuniére sauce. The best time to go is Sunday nights, when chefs and sommeliers come here on their nights off, bottles of wine are half-price and you can eat at the bar or one of the high tables surrounding it and overhear some of the best restaurant-industry gossip in Las Vegas.
INFO: 8125 W. Sahara Ave.; (702) 869-2251; rosemaryrestaurant.com
3) Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare
One of the most extravagant Mediterranean seafood experiences, well, ever, Bartolotta receives a daily shipment of langoustines, cuttlefish, and prehistoric-looking slipper lobster from the Ionian, Tyrrhenian, Adriatic and Ligurian seas. Chef Paul Bartolotta (formerly of San Domenico in New York, Spiaggia in Chicago and still a household name in his native Milwaukee), is nearly always in the kitchen, ensuring the astounding quality of everything that comes out. The theatrical bi-level room – with neo-Baroque chandeliers and tented outdoor dining loggias surrounding a lake – is maximalist. The best dishes – fish you can choose from a cart piled high and then simply grilled with olive oil, lemon and parsley – are minimalist. The best way to eat at Bartolotta is family-style. Bring along as many friends as you can and order either the Menu di Paranza or the Gran Menu di Mare (for $135 and $155 per person), and allow the chef to prepare a meal of the day’s best ingredients. In a town filled with big-ticket restaurants, this is one so very worth the splurge.
INFO: 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South (inside Wynn Las Vegas); (888) 372-3463; www.wynnlasvegas.com
4) Buffet at Wynn Las Vegas
Even non-buffet people will like this fanciful departure from the usual Vegas trough, er, buffet line (generally characterized by harsh décor and overcooked, institutional food). First, and most importantly, it’s lit overhead by natural light, evoking a garden party (unlike other buffets, which evoke the fluorescent-lit school cafeterias of our youth). Towers of fruit and flowers fill the central atrium, around which are arranged multiple stations. You’ll find faultlessly fresh maki rolls, ceviche, tandoori chicken and truffled risotto among the Mexican, seafood, Japanese, Indian and Italian selections. An entire sweetshop-style room is devoted to pastries, baba au rhum, lemon tarts, bread pudding, and a full complement of gelato flavors. The pastry chef has even thoughtfully included sugar-free desserts so everyone can indulge. If you’re not in a hurry, offer to wait in order to secure a table in the atrium – you’ll be glad you did.
INFO: inside Wynn Las Vegas, 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South; (877) 321-9966; www.wynnlasvegas.com
5) Vintner Grill
While most of the best restaurants off the Strip can be found in a strip mall, Vintner Grill has mixed things up and opened in an office park. Never mind: They’ve done a grand job creating a Hamptons-like environment in the all-white modern dining room, which opened in 2006. Close to Red Rock Casino (a 15-20 minute drive from the Strip), the Mediterranean-influenced American dishes include Moroccan-spiced lamb spareribs; crispy wood-fired flatbreads (try prosciutto with roasted peppers, fennel, micro arugula and white truffle oil); and halibut with toasted orzo, lemon gremolata, and sweet tomatoes. Everything is well paired with a reasonably priced wine list of more than 200 bottles, half-bottles, and wines by the glass, from 10 different countries. Dinner for two, with wine, $150.
INFO: 10100 W. Charleston Blvd, Suite 150; (702) 214-5590; www.vglasvegas.com
6) Marche Bacchus
What began as a wine shop called Marche Bacchus has evolved over the years into Bistro Bacchus: Pass through the impressive shop and you’ll find yourself on a tiered patio on a manmade lake – definitely one of the Vegas valley’s most transformative experiences. The waterfront tables are the most romantic in town, lit by torches and tiny twinkling lights. Wander the aisles inside and select your own wine (competitively priced to the Strip even with the $10 corkage fee) and order the charcuterie plate with pate, French salami, prosciutto and red onion confit or moules frites steamed in wine with Parmesan-crusted frites. The whole experience is very affordable – two can easily slink out down only around $60.
INFO: 2620 Regatta Drive; (702) 804-8008
7) L’Atelier de Joi 1/2l Robuchon
The 16-course tasting menu at Joi 1/2l Robuchon at the Mansion is nothing short of amazing – and totally ponderous (it’s also more like 20 courses, after cheese, bread, multiple sweets courses, coffee, etc.) A better way to sample the three-Michelin-starred master chef’s French cuisine can be found next door, at L’Atelier de Joi 1/2l Robuchon, a microscopic, sushi bar-style counter surrounding a very open kitchen. Order the tangy steak tartare with perfectly crispy crinkle fries, and watch the chefs execute each precisely plated dish. Throw caution to the wind and order Robuchon’s cream-and-butter laden signature pommes purée along with the fries. Sure, there’s one in New York, but this one’s so much more laid back (plus, there’s way more bar seating).
INFO: Inside MGM Grand, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. South; (702) 891-7358; www.joel-robuchon.com
8) Paymon’s Mediterranean
Las Vegas’s least likely favorite college hangout is also one of its best restaurants: a former Mediterranean deli that morphed into an incredible Turkish, Persian, and Greek restaurant near the UNLV campus on the eastside of the Strip. Paymon’s, named after Iran-born Paymon Raouf who began cooking his childhood favorites here in the late 1970s, has a new location 20 minutes west of the Strip on Sahara. Here, you’ll find a more grown-up crowd, but eating the same intricately spiced dishes like fesenjan, chicken in crushed walnuts and pomegranate sauce; and cinnamon-spiced moussaka. Or, just spend the entire time in the hookah lounge next door, slouching in its velvet banquets beneath sexily lantern-lit, tapestry-bedecked walls. It’s as authentic as any Middle Eastern sheesha café. Order one of the fragrant fruit and floral hookahs to pass around (try the rose), and a selection of appetizers like meat-stuffed grape leaves and hummus.
INFO: 8380 W. Sahara Ave; (702) 804-0293
9) Abuyira Raku
Tucked in the back of one of the many shopping centers that comprise Las Vegas’ vibrant Chinatown, this small Japanese joint is a current chef favorite – come here after midnight on a Friday and it could just end up being a who’s-who of major players on the strip. Its extensive robata (grilled items) and oden (broth pot) menus are a draw, as are the specials: On a recent evening, we tried the golden-eye snapper collar with a tofu-laden broth – a steal at $35, but priced through the roof compared to the rest of the very reasonable menu. It’s open until three o’clock in the morning on weekends, perfect when you’ve got the late-night munchies for something other than a bad buffet. Points if you order the “meat guts,” which actually turn out to be a very tasty pork stomach dish.
INFO: 5030 Spring Mountain Road, (702) 367-3511
10) T.C.’s Rib Crib
Vegas is a town with its share of barbecue pretenders, but this is smoked meat at its most authentic, from a man who left Katrina-ruined Louisiana with family recipes in his pocket. At this way-west, pocked-sized shrine to Southern cooking, you’ll eat at cafeteria-style tables under harsh, fluorescent lighting. And you’ll like it. Choose from moist pulled pork, spare ribs, baby backs and beef ribs (pork is better) with sides like spicy collards and fried okra. Ask for sweet tea or Kool-Aid (on tap), and check the chalkboard for the glazed-doughnut bread pudding. We like to order one of the giant “Lots O’ Meat” meal deals, which come with sides named after various uncles and cousins. We also take perverse pleasure in ordering it to go, back to as fancy a hotel room as we can manage.
INFO: 8470 W. Desert Inn Road; (702) 451-7427