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If someone had dropped a bomb on Restaurant Guy Savoy last night between the hours of 6-8 pm, it would’ve set Las Vegas’ culinary destiny back twenty years. Such was the assemblage of top toques from across the valley (and from beyond the pond as well), who came to kibbitz and consume incomparable comestibles (jamon iberico de bellotta de pata negra, pumpkin soup with white truffles, oysters en gelée, Paris-Brest pastries, and two croquembouche towers of nonpareil profiteroles) and champagne in the consummate style the French do better than anyone.

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EATING LAS VEGAS – The Fifty Essential Restaurants (2012) gets its big reveal at a media launch party this evening at Restaurant Guy Savoy, and then another one at the Top of the World restaurant on Wednesday night.

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You have to admire what Michael Mina and Marc St. Jacques have done to this venerable seafood-er, tucked away for over twelve years now in a corner of the Bellagio Conservatory. Since the departure of Anthony Amoroso a couple of years ago, this place has struggled to find its sea legs as the ebb and flow of a choppy economy have threatened to leave it floating adrift as it navigates an ocean of heavy tides and difficult sailing. (Block that metaphor!) In other words: Michael Mina (the restaurant) has been searching for an identity ever since our economy hit the skids.

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Click here to hear our interview on KNPR this past Wednesday, wherein, under intense, rapier-like questioning by Dave Becker, Slapsie Maxie, Al “Mad Man” Mancini and ELV hurl bon mots and bon bons at each other…

ELV note: Continue after the jump to see ELV’s interview (and what looks like his half-open fly) on KLAS TV (CBS) Channel 8 yesterday morning. Those long winter shadows sure do funny things to a white suit this time of year…

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Illustration: Chris Morris

What happens when three food critics get together and try to pick the city’s 50 best restaurants? We ask the Weekly’s John Curtas, who teamed up with Max Jacobson and Al Mancini on Eating Las Vegas: The 50 Essential Restaurants, out this week on Huntington Press.

Did the three of you approach the project planning to include 50 restaurants, or did you arrive at that number once you evaluated Las Vegas’ food scene?

I think the 50 kind of evolved. My first top-50 list had 75 restaurants on it, but 50’s a good round number. Vegas probably doesn’t have enough of a broad-based culinary scene to do a top 100.

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PRE-ORDER SPECIAL OFFER:

Now through October 15, Get the Best Guide Ever to Las Vegas Dining for 50% Off and $2 Shipping! Ships early Nov., 2010.

From the 5-Star Robuchons to hole-in-the walls you’ve never heard of, Eating Las Vegas has more than 120 recommendations from the city’s top three food critics, broken down by:

–The Top 10

–The Essential 50

– And by category, including Late Night, Old Vegas, Celebrity Watching, Cheap Eats, Burgers, Pizza, Desserts, Sushi, Beer, Wine Bars, Cocktail Programs, and Chinatown.

In Eating Las Vegas, John Curtas, Max Jacobson, and Al Mancini spotlight the 50 restaurants they could all agree are essential stops for foodies, visitors, and locals seeking an unforgettable meal. In the city that boasts more than 2,000 places for dining out, this groundbreaking guide ushers you through the best of what this dining destination has to offer, with reviews covering the best of the city’s most lavish dining rooms to off-the-Strip ethnic gems. Once you’ve made your way through all 50, you can truly say you’ve “eaten Las Vegas.”

Altogether, we think this is the most comprehensive, honest, and entertaining restaurant guide we’ve ever seen. It’s essential reading for every foodie and makes a great gift for any Vegas fan with an appetite.

Click this link to read a sample review.

Click here to see one of the restaurants from the Vetoes section that didn’t quite make the cut, and why.

Click here to read the Best of Chinatown.

About The Author(s)

	John Curtas John A. Curtas has been Las Vegas’ reigning voice of food and restaurant commentary on KNPR, Nevada Public Radio, for the past 15 years. During that time, he has also been the first restaurant critic for Las Vegas Life magazine and the Las Vegas Weekly (for which he still writes), and is the man behind the “Eating Las Vegas” food blog (eatinglv.com). Nationally, he’s written for Time Out Las Vegas, Fodor’s Las Vegas, Best Places Las Vegas, and for John Mariani’s The Virtual Gourmet. He’s a voting member for the James Beard Foundation restaurant/chef awards and San Pellegino World’s 50 Best Restaurants, as well as a frequent guest on Food Network programs, including two stints as a judge on “Iron Chef America.”
	Max Jacobson Max Jacobson has had a rousing career spanning almost 30 years in food journalism, but he’ll be happy to fly under the radar if he loses some weight. His career took flight in 1984, when he signed on at the Los Angeles Times as a writer on Chinese and Japanese food, and expanded into food and wine writing shortly thereafter. He was fortunate to arrive in Vegas when the food scene really began to blossom and has been a food writer and editor there since 1999.
	Al Mancini Al Mancini discovered his passion for food while living in New York City, where he attended law school by day, tended bar and made pizza at the infamous punk club CBGB by night, and explored the Big Apple’s dynamic dining scene during every spare moment in between. For the past eight years, he’s served as the restaurant critic for Las Vegas CityLife. He’s also written extensively about food and dining for numerous local lifestyle publications, such as 944, Where, What’s On, Desert Companion, and Luxury Las Vegas, and has served as a contributor to the international guidebook Time Out Las Vegas.