David and Michael Morton reimagined their steakhouse for Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
With MB Steak at the old Hard Rock Hotel, David and Michael Morton emphasized their relationship, as the name stood for “my brothers.” With their new spot at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, the two will become One.
One Steakhouse, which the hospitality veterans say is “more appropriate for Virgin,” will open with the resort March 25.
Michael Morton said they knew they wanted to make fundamental changes after meeting with Richard “Boz” Bosworth, president and CEO of JC Hospitality, owner of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
“What he had done for this property was absolutely incredible,” Morton said. “The surroundings are wildly different. We knew we needed to change and morph into a special place.”
That has translated to a much more open feel, with the restaurant extending into the casino instead of being more separated with its own valet. While they are holding off on some of the details as far as decor, they say bar and lounge seats have been expanded from 23 to 100, and there’s a 12-by8-foot video wall, “like you’d see in a sportsbook.” There will also be a custom chandelier in the downstairs bar and a succulent frame for a touch of nature.
“The whole energy of the restaurant has completely changed,” Morton said. And that was their intention.
“It’s more fun to eat at a bar than drink at a restaurant,” David Morton said. “You can sit down and watch your favorite Vegas Golden Knights game while eating at what we think is going to be the most exciting culinary experience in town.”
One thing hasn’t changed: This is a steakhouse, with a more intimate feeling in the dining areas. The Mortons are the sons of Arnie Morton, founder of the Morton’s The Steakhouse chain now owned by Landry’s, and grandsons of restaurateur Morton C. Morton.
“David and I like to say from growing up living in steakhouses, steak is the one thing we know best,” Michael
Morton said.
Still on the team is executive chef Patrick Munster, who ran the kitchen at MB Steak when it closed. And they have retained some of their signature dishes, such as the 16-pound — yes, pound, not ounce — dry-aged prime tomahawk steak that serves 10 to 12 for a cool $1,200.
The menu, David Morton said,
“has always been really honoring the classics and adding some modern twists.” For a fun touch, there’s a selection of potato skins, with available toppings including smoked salmon
roe, $15, and osetra caviar, $18.
“Some cool pastas,” he said. “In every category, we’ve introduced some new dishes and left in place a number of things.”
Entrees include an Alaskan king crab pasta with white miso butter, $42; fennel-crusted salmon, $36; and baked short rib rigatoni with whipped burrata, $36. There’s a selection of chilled shellfish, including platters sized for two or four, and three surf-and-turf combinations.
Steaks include three sizes of filet mignon, $44 to $64; a 16-ounce New York strip, $58; and an 18-ounce rib-eye, $62. “Sliced for two” selections include a 32-ounce double Porterhouse, $99; and a 6-ounce A5
Japanese Satsuma New York strip, $160.
Side dishes include steakhouse classics such as creamed spinach and creamed corn, but in this case with poached egg and truffle Gouda, $13, in the former, and king crab and roasted poblano in the latter, $23, plus the likes of maitake mushrooms with aged goat cheese, $13; and ricotta gnocchi with Parmesano Reggiano and creamy peppercorns, $13.
“This place really feels very special,” Michael Morton said. “People are going to get it when they come in.”