THE BEST OF THE REST
If none of your connections scores you seats at the previous restaurants, these seven places off the Strip are worth snagging seats at, with selections like fresh oysters, terrific Chinese soup dumplings and serious rib-eyes.
Abriya Raku: Like many chefs in Vegas, Mario Batali is a fan of this Japanese grill. “I LOVE Raku on Spring Mountain Road,” he said via email. “It’s one of my top five restaurants in the entire U.S. You must order: beef liver sashimi, pork ear robata, cold green tea soba with poached egg.”
Lotus of Siam: The most famous Thai restaurant in the Americas, located in a Vegas strip mall, is renowned for its vast menu, which ranges from recognizable chicken satays to potent, well-spiced northern Thai dishes. Recently the restaurant began offering appetizers at the bar, which was kind of it because guests are generally starving after the inevitable wait for seats in the dining room.
Andiron Steak & Sea: On the outskirts of Vegas is this crowd-pleasing, white-walled steak house from noted restaurateurs Elizabeth Blau and Kim Canteenwalla. The menu runs the gamut from avocado toast and cheese fondue to a 20-ounce cowboy rib-eye. Bund Shanghai: Momofuku’s David Chang loves this pan-Chinese restaurant
so much, he wrote a story about it for Lucky Peach. Among the things he picks out on the picture menu: soup dumplings, pan-fried buns, spicy fish hot pot. And “if I’m dining with my less adventurous white friends, a plate of sweet-and-sour chicken.”
Kabuto Sushi: People say this is the best sushi in Vegas; that’s not faint praise. This is a sushi purist pilgrimage spot that makes a point of not serving any maki rolls. At $48, the 10-piece nigiri sushi omakase is a great deal. Helpfully, Kabuto is in the same strip mall as Raku, above.
Other Mama: Favoured by Carbone’s Mario Carbone, Other Mama has terrific craft cocktails, like the Geraldine with bourbon and grilled pineapple, plus plenty of raw seafood, from oysters to octopus-habanero ceviche. (Another recommendation from Carbone is the “always important to remember” dim sum buffet at Aria, which is served on Saturdays.)
The Halal Guys: This summer, the famed street food cart that started in midtown Manhattan — the cause of lines that can stretch down the block in the middle of the night — opened in Vegas on Spring Mountain Road. From 10 a.m. to 4 a.m., Halal Guys offer the same sublime chicken and/ or gyro platters and sandwiches with the option of their mouth-burning hot sauce.