The Rio finally reopened last month, bringing along some, but not all of its signature food and drink offerings. VooDoo Steak and KJ Dim Sum are back, but the Wine Cellar and Guy Fieri’s El Burro Borracho aren’t yet.
When you think of eating at the Rio, you might think of the Carnival World Buffet, which is obviously closed right now. I think of seafood. The Rio once had a second buffet dedicated to fish dishes, before it merged into the Carnival buffet operation. Even earlier, the resort boasted an often-overlooked but truly delicious oyster bar called Buzio’s, which closed five years ago to make way for the Fieri Mexican restaurant. I ate a lot of creamy, spicy pan roasts at Buzio’s.
Ekasit “Jack” Jerukasem, who came to the U.S. from his native Thailand at age 11, spent years in the kitchens of the Rio making those pan roasts and running the seafood buffet. In April, he opened his own restaurant near the Lakes neighborhood—at first for takeout only due to pandemic restrictions—serving locals the type of food he’s been cooking for two decades for casino customers.
“I looked around, but really all the oyster bars I’ve seen are in the casinos, and I want to bring that outside the casino, with a fair price and great value for locals,” he says. “Instead of finding a place to park and going inside a casino, it should be easy access for customers.”
It’s no surprise that the rich pan roast ($25), a chili-spiked tomato cream sauce stocked with crab, shrimp and lobster served over rice, is one of the most popular dishes at his Legends Oyster Bar & Grill. Jerukasem says he’s also been selling plenty of gumbo ($27), another multi-meat stew with shrimp, crawfish, mussels, clams, chicken and pork Andouille sausage, and the over-the-top megameal called the Louisiana Boil ($27) that tosses fresh corn and potatoes into the seafood mix with a buttery Cajun-spiced sauce.
But Legends is dishing up plenty of other favorites that don’t have Southern roots, like pan-seared Chilean sea bass ($35) with jasmine rice done risotto-style and a smooth miso beurre blanc, seven different types of fresh oysters, honey-sriracha chicken wings ($9) and a throwback beef Stroganoff ($20) pepped up with fresh dill.
“That’s an old, classic dish people still love,” Jerukasem says. “It’s just become my passion to do all those dishes and the recipes I’ve collected in the past, but with my own touch.”
Jerukasem says he’s looking to expand the menu to include a selection of crudos and other raw bar dishes plus a rotating chef’s catch of the day, but he’s strategically waiting for restaurant capacities to increase before making moves. Legends was originally set to open in early March of last year, and making its debut as a takeout-only option was rough sailing; being able to offer a traditional, dine-in oyster bar experience made all the difference. “Since that happened, business has been climbing, and it’s all word-of-mouth and social media,” Jerukasem says. “As soon as customers could come in and we can see they’re happy with their food and saying things like, ‘I haven’t had this in a long time,’ those [comments] give me the motivation to move forward.”
If this type of seafood restaurant is new to you, start with the Chowder Fries ($9), bacon-laden clam chowder topped with cheddar cheese and crispy French fries. How can you not love a dish like that?
THE LEGENDS OYSTER BAR & GRILL 3220 S. Durango Drive #B1, 702-476-8887. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
