EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50 Essential Restaurants Coming Soon, No Fooling

Remember this book?

Remember these guys?

Remember all the fun we had with the first three editions of EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50 Essential Restaurants?

Let’s face it, who doesn’t?

Who can ever forget the ego wars? The temper tantrums? The pitched battles between Max Jacobson, Al Mancini and I, in which low-brow insults and high-pitched bon mots were our only weapons? Ah, those were the days:

ImageWell….we’re baaaaack….bigger and better than ever, later this month, when edition #4 will hit the shelves of more than a few bookstores and Amazon.com.

This time, we’ve substituted youthful insight and vigor — in the form of Greg Thilmont and Mitchell Wilburn — for the dueling critics format, and we spread a lot of love around in the second half of the book, which aims to cover almost every sort of quality eating and drinking activity you can think of in our humble burg.

The official Huntington Press press release went out yesterday, and none other than Robin Leach had a few choice words to say about some of our choices.

And since the cat’s out of the bag about the Top 10 Restaurants in the book, we’ll list them here for you (which in no way relieves you of the obligation to actually BUY the book and spend countless HOURS pouring over our DEATHLESS PROSE).

BARDOT BRASSERIE

BAZAAR MEAT

CARNEVINO

‘e’ by JOSÉ ANDRÉS

L’ATELIER DE JOËL ROBUCHON

JOËL ROBUCHON

LE CIRQUE

RESTAURANT GUY SAVOY

RAKU/RAKU SWEETS

TWIST BY PIERRE GAGNAIRE

For the record: If one of your favorites didn’t make it to the top ten, take heart, there are forty other slots to fill. For the record #2: Almost half of the 50 Essential Restaurants are places that were not in the last (2013) edition. For the record #3: What this edition lacks in venom it more than makes up for in content. And we’re happy and proud to have Al’s blessing and Max’s quotes in the book….and look forward to dueling with them in the future, on or off the internet.

(As long as this man is in town, his restaurant will be in our top 10)

BTW: Today is auspicious in more ways than one. April 1st marks the 8th anniversary of this web site — something else we’re awfully proud off.

No foolin’ on that one either.

Happy April Fool’s Day!

7 thoughts on “EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50 Essential Restaurants Coming Soon, No Fooling”

  1. Congratulations on getting the book out the door. I can’t wait to see what you’ve written. I look forward to disagreeing with parts of it near violently.

  3. Dear Mr. Curtas: I look forward to reading your reviews to learn about new restaurants in the Valley.
    As for the Top 10 Vegas Restaurants: Not long ago my husband and I dined at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon and Sage. Two restaurants that you have raved about. I can only assume that since we may have been mistaken for “Touristas”, our experiences have been very different from yours.
    At L’Atelier we each ordered different courses from the Prix Fixe menu. I cannot say that any dish was especially good or bad, but none of them were memorable. As for the wine, I ordered the wine pairing with my menu. I was more than a little disappointed to be served several wines that can easily purchased at Costco or any decent liquor store. Not that they were bad wines, but I expect more of a Robuchon restaurant. (When we dined at Guy Savoy, they served a fairly modest house Pinot Noir. Not only is it an excellent wine, but it’s almost impossible to find on the retail market.)
    As for Sage, our meal there in January was shamefully bad. The roasted pear in my first course was mealy and tasteless. I’ve had better pear from a jar of baby food! The service was good and thankfully so was the bread, and that’s it. A dinner for two, upwards of $475, and the meal was very disappointing.
    Lastly, we miss Paul Bartollotta. We were happy to pay for his outstanding quality. Where to go for great Italian cuisine that isn’t a tourist trap?

  4. Ms. Winniefed. Sorry to say as a long time Vegas purveyor of the local cusine scene your experience at the “finer” upscale Strip eatting establishments is sadly what passes for food and service in todays corporate run bottomline thinking. When dining at one of these pillars of gastronomic delights they see “tourista” plasterred all over your kiester when the guest orders off the Prix Fixe menu ( including wine pairing). They figure you are not a regular and dont know what you are doing or ordering. So the Prix Fixe is the dumbed down version of their bill of fare along with the cheapest wine list they can get away with while charging you their flagship prices as if you were ordering at their original venues in NYC, Milian, Paris, etc. To add insult to injury, the orginal named celebrity chef is never in attendance and you are probably getting the food prepared by a mexican immigrant or poor subsitute for the executive chef . Welcome to Vegas. As to where to get great italian food, make it at home with the freshest ingridents and love.

  5. I am so glad the book is back! The one thing I don’t understand is the slavish devotion to Carnevino, perhaps the worst restaurant in Las Vegas (well, after Gordon Ramsey Pub and Grill…)

    Hopefully some off strip favorites like Soho, Honey Salt, Andiron and Yonaka will make the list.

  6. I’ve been to Kabuto and Raku and Monta and Chada Street and Other Mama and Yui Edomae and Omae and others but Carnevino was awesome both times I’ve been there. I guess its size makes it hard for everyone to have a great experience.

    Dying to try Yonaka soon.

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