Many of Travel + Leisure magazine’s picks for the 20 best seafood restaurants in the U.S. are oceanside spots—the Clam Shack in Kennebunkport, Maine, or Mama’s Fish House in Maui, where local fish have been getting the royal treatment for 30-plus years. But among writer Geraldine Campbell’s selections is a restaurant miles away from the nearest fishing fleet—RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay.

Photo: Yasmina Chavez

Chef Rick Moonen of RM Seafood restaurant at Mandalay Tebows with lobster.

Rick Moonen’s landlocked eatery (if you don’t count Mandalay’s sandy bottomed “beach”) takes sustainability seriously, but just because you’re eating responsibly doesn’t mean the food will lack for flavor. Campbell—a former Las Vegas local—suggests going “haute with a tasting menu at RM Upstairs” or digging into one of Moonen’s signature catfish sloppy Joes in the more casual downstairs dining room. Good advice. Now, who wants to road trip to the other 19 restaurants? First round of oysters is on me.