Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

6
Where to Dine
Among the many images that come
to mind when people think of Las
Vegas are cheap food deals, bargains so
good the food is practically free. They
think of the buffets—all a small country
can eat—for only $3.99!
All that is true, but frankly, eating in
Las Vegas is no longer something you
don’t have to worry about budgeting
for. The buffets are certainly there—no
good hotel would be without one—as
are the cheap meal deals, but you get
what you pay for. Some of the cheaper
buffets, and even some of the more
moderately priced ones, are mediocre
at best, ghastly and inedible at worst.
And we don’t even want to think about
those 69¢ beef stew specials.
However, there is some good,
indeed, almost unheard-of news on the
Vegas food scene. Virtually overnight,
there has been an explosion of new
restaurants that are actually of high
quality. For this, we can thank those
new luxury-resort hotels, whose management
realized that food today is a
major indulgence and obsession, and
thus a significant part of the vacation
experience. All of a sudden, Vegas can
hold its head up alongside other big
cities as a legitimate foodie destination.
Look at this partial list: Celebrity
chefs Wolfgang Puck and Emeril
Lagasse have half a dozen restaurants in
town between them; deservedly famed
chef Julian Serrano has set up shop at
Bellagio’s Picasso; and branches of
L.A., New York, San Francisco, and
Boston high-profile names such as
Pinot, Le Cirque, Aqua, Aureole,
Olives, Star Canyon, Lutèce, Border
Grill, Nobu, and others have all rolled
into town.
Unfortunately, this boom has
affected only the very highest end of
the price category. In other words,
boy, can you eat well, as long as you
have a trust fund. Even as dedicated
foodies, we can’t in good conscience
tell you to eat only at places that will
require taking out a small bank loan—
except we just don’t really have any
other options. For the moment, with a
few exceptions, it’s hard to eat
extremely well in Vegas (especially on
the Strip) for a down-to-earth price.
The buffets remain, certainly, but
they’re not the bargains they once
were; the midprice-range food is, by
and large, pretty forgettable; and the
really low-end food found in the
hotels—well, we try not to think of it
as anything but fuel. Of course, this
may not bother you as much as it
bothers us.
If you get off the Strip, however,
you can find some cheaper, more
interesting alternatives, which we have
listed below. If you’re staying on the
Strip and you don’t have the mobility
of a car, your food options will be
severely limited. Getting outside of
those enormous hotel resorts is a
major proposition (and don’t think
that’s not done on purpose), which is
why visitors often settle for what the
hotel has to offer—long lines and
diminished quality. Walking to
another hotel—on the Strip, yet
another major investment of time—
means probably encountering much
of the same thing. But not always.