DAVID BURKE

Dinner was at David Burke in the Venetian last night (our fifth meal here).

The steak is advertised as a prime, dry-aged, New York Strip. It tastes like one should (although not as aged, mineral rich, beefy and funky as the best beef we’ve had at Keens, Palm, Gallagher’s, BLT Prime, BLT Steak, Wolfgang’s, Spark’s, Ben Benson’s and Peter Luger’s in the Big Apple). Still, it is one of the better dry-aged steaks in town. It cost $48.

The (small) iceberg wedge salad was sprinkled with nice, meaty bacon chunks and not enough thousand island dressing. It was made with lettuce that was at least two days past its prime. At $16, it’s a steal….from the diner.

Bread was never offered.

Rounding out the meal were two glasses of a Chapoutier Rhone grenache-syrah blend, at $13/per; and a half-order of cheese that wasn’t bad…but wasn’t that good either.

Total cost of the meal: $121, for one. Accompanying it was a constant blast of tunes ranging from The Verve to Bono to Johnny Cash and Bob Marley — along with lots and lots of Rolling Stones songs that ELV was tired of listening to in 1977.

And no, it wasn’t worth it.

DAVID BURKE

In The Venetian Hotel and Casino

3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

702.414.7111

www.davidburkelasvegas.net/

FOOD FOR THOUGHT on News 88.9 FM KNPR – Nevada Public Radio – Belt-Tightening Time

ELV Readers: Almost on cue, this e-mail popped up in our mailbox this morning (11.17.08). It perfectly illustrates the phenomenon we commented on last week (and offers some tasty bargains at the MGM — if you, as a local, are willing to go there).

If you haven’t heard or seen for yourself, the restaurants of Las Vegas are hurtin’ critters. Click here to hear ELV expound upon this unfortunate fact in the indelible intonations for which he is known, or continue reading if that’s how you prefer to educate yourself on this weighty matter:

Belt-Tightening Time

Louis Osteen threw in the towel for good two weeks ago, Andre’s downtown is history as of New Year’s Day, and Joseph Keller’s Bistro Zinc quietly shuttered last month.

Expect more of the same in the coming months (including some high profile closings in The Palazzo) as the boom-boom restaurant years die a slow and noisy death.

Continue reading “FOOD FOR THOUGHT on News 88.9 FM KNPR – Nevada Public Radio – Belt-Tightening Time”