Primal Steakhouse opened quietly in October at the Boulevard Mall, a fine-dining experience in an unlikely location. But the man in the kitchen has the chops to turn this unique chophouse into something special.
Executive chef Angel Lopez came to Las Vegas at the age of 18 from Guatemala and began working in casino restaurants, eventually spending time on the line at some of the Strip’s most prominent spots: Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen at Caesars Palace, Carbone and Javier’s at Aria, and the former Katsuya at SLS (now Sahara). After helping Enrique Olvera open Elio at Wynn, Lopez decided to take the leap off the Strip and create a new steakhouse with some Central American flair.
“My entire career, I’ve been working for somebody else,” he says. “So I wanted to take this opportunity to do something for myself, create my own stuff, and I really enjoy playing around with this food. There’s nothing better than seeing people eat and enjoy my food.”
Bringing his personal style and favorite flavors to a high-quality but still value-driven restaurant—he points to the 32-ounce tomahawk steak ($125) that would cost twice as much on the Strip—has yielded unique results. The 28-ounce Delmonico ($69), a thick French-cut ribeye with fresh herb butter, might be the top seller, but the smoked New York steak ($49) is right there.
“When you talk about smoked meat, you think well-done. But we infuse the flavors of applewood smoke and get the temperature the way you like it,” Lopez says. His favorite dishes on the menu are the Pork Belly Scabeche ($35), braised and caramelized with Guatemalan pickled vegetables, and the Primal Stew ($9), a warm-up with tender chunks of beef and vegetables served spicy or mild.
For a chef who’s familiar with turning over 1,500 covers a day at a massive eatery like Hell’s Kitchen, focusing on flavor and a memorable experience has been a nice change of pace. “People are surprised when they get here, because they’re not expecting that kind of place, that kind of quality,” Lopez says. “The difference between me and a [casino] restaurant is, you can get the same quality and the same flavors without the expensive prices.”
PRIMAL STEAKHOUSE 3542 S. Maryland Parkway, 702-620-5103. Daily, 5-11 p.m.
