The Best New Restaurants In Las Vegas
MAY 2, 2024
While some might argue that the best way to get to know a place as sensory saturated as Las Vegas is to get out and explore, to truly experience this city, from the Strip to downtown and from the westside to Boulder City, is to taste it.
When Wolfgang Puck’s Spago — imported from Los Angeles — opened its doors in 1992, it ushered in a celebrity-chef-driven restaurant migration to the Strip. From that moment, Las Vegas’ luxury dining scene has been a continually evolving world that’s only expanding into a wider playing field.
Beyond offering delicious dupes of renowned restaurants from coast to coast, all within a four-mile stretch around the Las Vegas Valley, the area brightly shines with an up-and-coming local dining scene, innovative takes on culinary trends and exceptional places to try different types of cuisines in varying styles.
These are the best new restaurants in Las Vegas.
Top New Fine Dining Experiences
The recently opened Fontainebleau features top restaurants from coast to coast, and the pinnacle comes from Hollywood with chef Evan Funke’s Mother Wolf. Martin Brudnizki designed the opulent Roman temple dedicated to the dishes of the Italian capital.
When you dine here, start with polpette di coda (oxtail meatballs). Their dense, rich, crisp texture is a surprising departure from the traditional. Move on to the Roman-style, wafer-thin woodfired pizzas, which come in eight different styles such as diavola (spicy salami), quattro formaggi (four cheese), Calabrese and funghi (mushroom). Next is the dedicated pasta Romana course, with carbonara, all’amatriciana, alla gricia (cheese and the guanciale), al burro (butter and Parmesan) and arrabbiata filing out of the open kitchen, rapid fire.
Funke aims to tell authentic stories with his food and provide a sense of place and meaning to the people who dine in his restaurant. “It’s not just about the food, a great wine list or ambiance,” Funke said. “It’s the entire experience. I want to sweep people off their feet and put them into a different mindset and a different place.”
After debuting in December 2023, southwest Las Vegas’ Durango Resort has quickly become adored by locals and visitors alike as the place to dine off the Strip.
The new resort’s parent company, Station Casinos, is known for its popular steakhouses around town. The new jewel is Nicco’s Prime Cuts & Fresh Meats from chefs and Nobu alumni Frankie Gorriceta and Daniel Ye. Nicco’s prides itself on high-quality beef and presents a tableside grilled wagyu flight with Hokkaido snow wagyu, true Kobe and the rare A5 olive wagyu. Additional bragging rights go to the open kitchen, luminous selenite bar and 4,000-bottle wine cellar.
Peter Luger Steak House at Caesars Palace
New York City dining institution Peter Luger makes its way to Las Vegas at Caesars Palace. Revel in Luger’s legendary dry-aged porterhouse steak for one, two, three or four. If you are lucky enough, you might be given a tour of the impressive dry-aging room deep in the resort’s basement.
Only available midday, the burger and the steak sandwich might have enough pull to make the three-martini lunch a thing again.
Exploring International Cuisines
Mother Wolf’s close neighbor at Fontainebleau, Chyna Club, from Forbes Travel Guide Recommended Hakkasan Las Vegas creator Alan Yau, serves Cantonese cuisine and dim sum in a setting with the allure of a private residence in Hong Kong.
In a city that does Peking duck well, this restaurant serves one of the best, carved tableside and presented the traditional way with featherlight pancakes, steamed buns and sweet bean sauce with thinly sliced cucumbers and scallions. Fresh lobster Cantonese and drunken king crab are the yang to the yin of delicately folded Sichuan dumplings. Yau’s classics, such as jasmine tea short ribs, scallop shumai, crispy duck salad and club carbonara, are also found on the menu.
Innovating on the pop-up restaurant trend and playing off the city’s popular music residencies, New Orleans-based chef Alon Shaya (whose eateries include Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans’ Miss River) kicks off a culinary residency with Safta 1964. Taking over Four-Star Wynn Las Vegas’ Jardin restaurant by night to create a playful prequel to his Denver-based Mediterranean restaurant, Safta (“grandmother” in Hebrew) is inspired by the chef’s matriarchal figure riding around town in her ’64 Thunderbird and throwing elaborate dinner parties.
What kinds of things served at those social gatherings can you expect at Safta 1964? Salatim (dips, spreads and vegetables) and freshly milled wheat pita start the evening. Shaya makes hummus six different ways, from classic tahini and lamb ragu to warmed buttered black summer truffles and blue crab with Ossetra caviar. The duck matzo ball soup and harissa-roasted chicken steal the show. And in the ultimate throwback, there’s a tableside Jell-O service.
French dining sensation LPM has made its way to Forbes Travel Guide Recommended Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas with Côte d’Azur charm and a spectacular look onto the Strip. This eatery’s French Riviera-inspired food is unique compared to other Las Vegas bistros. Warm prawns with olive oil and lemon juice are simple and perfect. On the more decadent side, the roasted chicken comes with foie gras, rigatoni and truffles. The cocktail menu is inspired by the French artist Jean Cocteau and is even accompanied by drawings and poems. The piquant Tomatini (tomatoes, white balsamic, honey and pepper) is LPM’s don’t-miss cocktail. You’ve never tasted savory goodness like it before.
With locations in New York City, Miami and Tel Aviv, celebrated Israeli chef Eyal Shani and Shahar Segal’s HaSalon found a natural fit in Las Vegas. The part nightclub/part restaurant at the Four-Star Palazzo at the Venetian Resort is culinary theater at its finest. Expect a celebration of the Mediterranean’s fresh ingredients in creative iterations and dishes that have velocity, literally. The Terrifying Hammer, for example, features herbs and flowers smashed atop thin slices of beef carpaccio.
There are two nightly seatings. The first makes the food the star of the show in a more tranquil environment. The second transitions from calm to wild with thumping music and napkin waving as the wine flows. The evening menu features a disclaimer about standing on the serving counters, tables or bar stools. But if you dance, sing and drink in a reasonable manner, you’ll have a safe, satiated time.
Unique Settings
Eat Your Heart Out Hall of Foods
Also at Durango, Eat Your Heart Out Hall of Foods eschews the typical fast-food-style counters found at most trendy food halls, for bar and table seatings in intimate boutique restaurant spaces and fast-casual settings. One of these unique enclaves belongs to Fiorella from celebrated Philadelphia chef Marc Vetri, whose Vetri at Palms and Osteria Fiorella at Red Rock consistently rank among the top high-end restaurants in Vegas.
Fiorella is almost a replica of his Philly pasta bar with 40 seats, a brick facade, a red-painted front door, copper ceilings, wood paneling and Murano chandeliers. The menu’s nine different pastas share signature touches like brown-butter ricotta gnocchi, basil-almond pesto garganelli and lemon-poppy seed tagliolini. Everything is made in the open kitchen and best enjoyed at the chef’s counter.
Carversteak at Resorts World opened in 2021, but new for this season is a climate-controlled, 3,500-square-foot enclosed patio garden and bar. Dine alfresco year-round on executive chef Daniel Ontiveros’ Japanese, Australian and domestic wagyu steaks.
As one of the largest steakhouses in the city, it boasts one of the most diverse meat programs in the highly competitive field. The indoor-outdoor addition makes for a tremendous dining ambiance at one of the most Instagrammable restaurants in town. Check your social feed for pictures of the famed dining room portrait of Cookie Monster or the beloved Cookie Monster dessert trio if you have any doubts about the place’s popularity.
Off-Strip Deliciousness
Esther’s Kitchen, a breakout star in the Arts District and a hero of the local Las Vegas dining scene since its 2018 debut, recently relocated to a next-door space (a 1940s-vintage corrugated steel and concrete building that previously housed the Retro Vegas vintage store) that’s three times the size. As a result, chef James Trees expanded the menu and hours to meet the demand for reservations. Now, there are pasta-making setups, wood-fired pizza stations, a private dining room and a wraparound bar.
The Spring Mountain corridor welcomes Casa de Raku, a traditional Spanish-European tapas and wine bar created by restaurateur Mitsuo Endo, of Raku fame. Open for dinner and late-night, the tapas bar is as authentic as you will find stateside, with products discovered on culinary expeditions to Madrid, San Sebastián, León and Segovia.
The Iberico katsu represents the best of both Japan and Spain as premium Spanish Iberico ham is prepared in a classically Asian style. These sophisticated snacks are best paired with a sample of Spanish wines.
For a real break from the Strip, head out about 30 minutes to the quaint enclave of Boulder City, where Eligio Gomez Morais has opened Casa Don Quixote. The restaurant courts the authentic flavors of Galicia, Spain, Morais’ home province, as well as Italy, France and Portugal. Dinner here feels like a warm hug disguised as a home-cooked meal of classics such as gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp), pulpo a la Gallega (Galician-style octopus) and lomo de vaca a la plancha (grilled beef loin).
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