The Best Steak In Vegas

If you’ve ever had a hankerin’ for some moldy, nasty (looking), crusty, blue-cheese-like ancient-aged beef — and let’s face it who hasn’t? — then you owe it to yourself to saunter in to Carnevino for one of their eight-month-old, dry-aged beauties.

You heard us right. Not wet-aged. (There really is no such thing.) Forget 30-days dry-aged (Those are for sissies.) 60 days on? (A mere tyke.)

No, we’re talking meat that was cut and set to aging in Molto Mario’s humongous, temperature-and-humidity-controlled meat locker near Blue Diamond Road, before last Thanksgiving! By our count that’s over 240 days between the time the meat arrived fresh off the steer, until it was cooked and served.

Hell, ELV has had marriages that didn’t last that long.

By way of comparison, we also had a 60 day, bone-in, aged steak (called a Kansas City strip in the old days), cooked by Chef Zach Allen and his crew, so we could compare. The 60 day-er was everything you’d want a steak to be: beefy, rich, marbled, tangy, and with just a tad of mineral funk to keep your interest.

As good as it was, the main event was like a steak from another planet. The texture is almost ham-like, the taste, like steak infused with some vague, subtle, blue cheese essence. You know you’re eating beef, but it’s beef that has transcended its humble roots and metamorphosed into something ethereal — earthy, funky, silky and soft — with an umami depth charge that lasts a full five minutes after you’ve swallowed a morsel. Our staff likened the taste to eating ham-cured beef, with gamy/cheesy/meat foie gras undertones.

It’s the best steak we’ve ever eaten. And we’ve eaten them all, everywhere but Japan and South America. Which begs the question: is anyone else, anywhere, doing this? Certainly no steak house in this country that we’re aware of.

Allen couldn’t answer the question either, and explained to us that so much of the connective tissue is broken down (and over 50% of the weight lost) due to this lengthy dry-aging, that you can’t subject it to the 1,200 degree broiler that most meat gets. “It will just incinerate if you get it that hot,” he says. Instead, the whole steak essentially roasts in the side of the broiler that’s turned off, while younger cuts are being charred on the other half of the super-salamander.

He also explained that because of all that condensing and evaporation within the meat, it cooks super fast and has to be watched like a hawk while it’s doing so.

And you’ll want to eat it fast, but you won’t because every bite is a revelation. And you’ll savor every one because you know you’re having a once in a lifetime steak experience.

Only in Vegas.

These steaks are incredibly expensive, but, as we said, a once in a lifetime experience. The aged strips are priced at $65/inch and the porterhouse riservas at $100/inch, so expect to pay between $100-$200 for one of them (and one is plenty to share between two people).

CARNEVINO

In The Palazzo Hotel and Casino

3325 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.789.4141

http://www.carnevino.com/

11 thoughts on “The Best Steak In Vegas

  1. While I greatly enjoyed the steak I had at Carne Vino, in my opinion, nothing tops the steaks as StripSteak, Michael Mina’s fabulous restaurant at Mandalay Bay. I love their Waygu beef.

  2. ELV, how is it you have the exact same picture being used at carnevino and rare 120???? grass fed beef right off the steer in the yellow bag, same picture you had for the hottie hostess entry a week or so ago for rare 120 hmmmmmm???!!!!

    ive eaten at Carnevino and will never go back. the food was…ehhhhhh but the service was so bad they will never get another dollar out of my pocket.

    there are plenty better steak houses out there in vegas for sure, most alot cheaper, and without the snobbery of people who think they are still in NYC.

    the dry aged steak is for sure great, the sides are a joke , 9-15 bucks for a few tablespoons of poorly seasoned food, no thanks

    there you go again ELV kissin a$$ to those ‘celebrity’ chefs, guess you gotta do it to keep getting invited to guest judge on ICA

  3. yes as a matter of fact i do, had lotus of siam the other nite, was superb

    someone has to keep an eye on this guy, keep him honest, i mean how do you use the same pictures for two completely different places???? if i cant trust something simple liek that obviously cant trust anything else he writes!!!!

  4. The first picture is clearly meant to illustrate what the beef looks like right off the steer, before the aging process. It’s not the actual steak that ELV ate at Carnevino or at Rare 120. In the Rare 120 article, it’s used to humorously illustrate how hot the hostesses are (i.e. they can cook your steak just by looking at it). I’m thinking you might need to go shopping for a new clue.

    As for ELV kissing celebrity butt, I’m pretty sure the chefs at places like Yun Nan Garden and Ping Pang Pong are not going to appear on Top Chef Masters very soon, but ELV will rave about them at the drop of a hat.

  5. has a clue – I doubt you have ever been at Carnevino before because the service at Carnevino is perhaps even better than the quality of the food, accusing their staff of snobbery is a dead giveaway that your uninformed or the foodie equivalent of the comic book guy in the Simpsons who ironically enough looks close enough like Batalli but anyone who claims “worst meal ever” here is clueless. There is no snobbery, the staff are all essentially teachers educating their customers about the source of the food products and the preparation, and some of the best food industry teachers in Las Vegas I might add, spend some time with them to learn about the aging process, why a choice was added to the menu, it makes the dining experience greater. Removing the factors of price and environment Carnevino is the best dining experience in the steak house category I have ever head, although technically I am hesitant to call it a steakhouse because like Cut, Carnevino redefines the category. I agree that if your on a budget then Carnevino is not the best option but this blog is about great food experiences, not great food experiences relative to cost; if you can afford Carnevino (or your willing to play credit card roulette with your friends with the hope that someone else at the table gets stuck with the bill) then without a doubt its the best option in the category in Las Vegas at this time.

    PS: if your example of proof that you understand good food is Lotus of Siam then you need to search a little deeper than the standard “I have a clue about food” memme of Las Vegas, its such a standard measure that LoS might as well be the house of pancakes, your reference proves nothing. Please try harder next time, I admire a differing opinion but I have less respect for a differing opinion which is backed up by a worthless reference – and I do want to respect you.

  6. John

    The price you quote based on inches. Is that inches of thickness? Also, the “porterhouse riserva”.. That is what they call the really aged ones (the 8 month one).

  7. ok mr inthecards. i have been a chef in las vegas for over 8 years working at some of the best restaurants and hotels in town, alot of the people (including myself) that ELV is writing about i am freinds with and/or have worked with at 1 point or another in my career in las vegas.
    i ate at carnevino about 7 months ago, was in mid january. our party of 6 walked to host stand at 7:30 for a 7:30 reservation, we were told there are no tables available and ushered to the bar, a NYC ploy used to get patron to buy a few drinks, the problem is when the place is virtually empty that ploy does not work! this upset a few people in the party who wanted to eat and get going, myself included. after 15 minutes at the bar we were ushered to a table and the service didnt get much better. out waiter was a quick talking sheister tryin to upsell and swindle everyone into the most expensive wine and appetizer on the menu. his knowledge was vague at best. and for a guy trying to rip you off from the get go, getting a second glass of wine was liek pulling teeth. apps arrived after 30 minutes, and they were decent, overall underseasoned. table was cleared and entrees lagged another 30 minutes after that. i had the dryaged ribeye for 2 with my significant other, which was tasty and cooked correctly. the sides were a complete joke, literally 2 tablespoons of mushrooms for 15 bucks!!!! the main problem after entrees were dropped is the service staffed forgot to re-mark the table with silverware, so the entire party had to ask and wait to get a fork and knife.
    now if you re-read what i wrote, i never said it was the worst meal, i actually said the steak was ‘great for sure’ and that there are much better places to go and graze on meat then carnevino!!!!!! i would gladly walk across the way and grub and CUT.

    PS if you would liek to argue my standard of great food, you would need to read every response i post to ELV’s blog. I am probably the pickiest diner out there, and eat out often enough to be critical. i have applauded many of ELV’s posts and i have also criticized many. so you need to make sure your rebuttal is actually backed up with some substance, my initial comment about usisng the same picture for two totally different places is completely accurate

  8. Thankyou ELV for not being as pretentiously “CSI” as Ulterior Epicure above. Having said that the photography is drop dead gorgeous on that site.

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