Perhaps the only thing more decadent than a high-end steakhouse is a high-end steakhouse in Las Vegas. The grown-up playground is littered with them, from the midcentury titan the Golden Steer to the sleek and sophisticated Don’s Prime at the Fontainebleau. But that concentration hasn’t stopped a deluge of like-minded restaurants from opening in Sin City.
Simon Kim imported his Michelin-starred Korean steakhouse, Cote, to the Venetian in October. The same month, James Trees debuted the aptly named High Steaks on the 50th floor of the Rio. Coming soon: Kwame Onwuachi will unveil his Caribbean take on the genre, Maroon, at the Sahara this winter. And Scott Sartiano, the mastermind behind Zero Bond, is bringing both his members’ club and Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse to the Wynn.
Part of the impetus for all these openings is the same reason Las Vegas is so primed for these restaurants in the first place. It’s a city of “more is more” energy, says José Andrés, who recently relaunched his own steakhouse, Bazaar Meat, at the Venetian, after 10-plus years at the Sahara. The steakhouse is the ideal environment for living large and celebrating—exactly what 40 million visitors come to this city every year to do. The new arrivals want to take the classic format and put a fresh, creative spin on it. “I think if Sartiano’s was just called a Vegas steakhouse, it wouldn’t really be doing it justice,” Sartiano says. But is there the appetite—both literally and figuratively—for all these openings to succeed?
Kim seems to think so. “Fingers crossed, hopefully you might have to choose another steakhouse because you cannot get into Cote,” he says. Cote’s West Coast venue, which follows locations in New York City and Miami, is something of a homecoming for the restaurateur, who started his culinary career while a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The new restaurant is bigger, louder, and flashier than its predecessors, with tables designed in a tiered stadium-style layout and an entrance made for attention-seekers: You walk in beneath the D.J. booth, where everyone’s eyes are already trained.
The design of Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse takes a different tack, prioritizing intimacy and exposure to the outdoors. It offers a calm backdrop for the Calabrian and Neapolitan family recipes on the menu. Maroon, meanwhile, will spotlight Caribbean cuisine; it’s a restaurant Onwuachi says is “needed” in the city. He plans to serve jerk-rubbed steaks, mashed potatoes with crawfish Creole sauce, and traditional dishes like pepper shrimp.
Then there’s Trees, who, unlike the out-of-towners, was born and raised in Vegas. Though he has opened a number of acclaimed restaurants in the city, High Steaks will be his first steakhouse here—and he’s not aiming it at tourists. “We want to be a local spot,” he says, explaining his decision to partner with the Rio, which sits slightly off the Strip, rather than with one of the major casino operators. “Vegas is really good at giving you 80 percent of what you want,” he adds, referencing establishments that score high points for aesthetics, but not for food. “We want to take that and give people 100 percent.”
While he admits that chefs from far and wide have helped elevate the city’s food scene, Trees also posits that some treat the city “like an A.T.M.,” opening outposts of preexisting concepts to cash in on all the tourism. Talking about the hubbub around Cote’s expansion, for example, Trees says simply, “I will never go there. There will be no reason for me to ever go there.” That may not be a problem if, as Kim hopes, you can’t get a reservation in the first place.
Restaurant Roulette
Part of a steakhouse’s appeal is that there’s something for everyone. If you don’t love red meat, here’s what else to order.
High Steaks: Trees has created a steak-like experience for vegetarians with lion’s mane mushroom that’s pressed, caramelized, and soaked in a vegan demi-glace.
Maroon: Onwuachi is at work on a large-format barbecued-brussels-sprouts dish, something he has never seen at another restaurant.
Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse: One of the most popular dishes at Sartiano’s in New York is the mushroom-truffle lasagna (left), which you’ll be able to get in Vegas, too.
Cote: Kim and his team have debuted their most extravagant raw bar yet, which they envisioned for years before bringing it to Las Vegas.
Bazaar Meat: Inspired by a dish at the former El Bulli in Spain, the “beefsteak” tomato is a twist on tartare that doesn’t use meat at all.
