It’s readily apparent to anyone visiting one of the restaurants belonging to Sean and Michael Corrigan—among them Vintner Grill, Agave and the various Roadrunners—that these guys are serious. They spare virtually no expense in creating the most elaborate and impressive off-Strip restaurants in town, and the quality of their product is always high.
Their latest project, though, a Roadrunner Bistro at the far north end of the Valley, may outdo the rest. Cowboy-themed and freestanding, it has design again by Paul Duesing, the same designer who did the elegant Vintner Grill in Summerlin, and he’s pulled out all the stops.
This cavernous room has bells and whistles that even a casino venue would envy. The chairs are covered with rawhide, and huge wagon-wheel chandeliers dominate overhead, with lights posing as trompe l’oeil votive candles suspended from them.
Local cowhands and cowgirls (I guess there are a lot of them up here at the north end of the Valley) are likely to play pool or bowl in between courses—when they aren’t sipping on their lemon drops or mojitos by the roaring stone fireplace.
With all the new construction out this way, and the Speedway within shouting distance, this place seems like a no-brainer for Centennial Hills and the burgeoning Aliante area. I drove all the way from Green Valley to eat here, muttering under my breath that I would not make the drive again. Now, I am hankering to get back. Yes, the dishes, by corporate chef Matthew Silverman, who cut his teeth with the Wolfgang Puck people, are that good.
I haven’t forgotten the Corrigans’ experiment with “The Cowboy Chef,” a young man from Fort Worth, Texas, named Grady Spears. Spears created some terrific recipes for the Roadrunner Bistro at Flamingo and the 215, but his tenure was short-lived because, it was rumored, he had difficulty putting out his dishes en masse.
Silverman has no such problem, and although most of the dishes on this menu are his, I still sense the spirit of the Cowboy Chef, which lingers on in dishes such as the Campfire Bread appetizer, a rustic flatbread done with cheese, chili and apple-wood-smoked bacon, and main dishes like barbecued beef brisket, scented lightly with cumin, Texas-style.
One of my favorite dishes on the menu was actually inspired by the Corrigans’ Agave, their Mexican restaurant. Pulled-pork quesadillas are served in filling wedges stuffed with fragrant shredded carnitas, smoked Gouda cheese and green onions, with a little avocado crème drizzled on top, as if the dish weren’t rich enough already.
“Kettle Creations” can be soups such as Jack Daniel’s chili—meaty and messy—or oven-baked mac and cheese, topped with a slurry of buttered bread crumbs. Even salads tend to be overly indulgent here. Cowboy Cobb is fairly conventional, composed of turkey, bacon, roasted corn, cherry tomatoes and the requisite crumbled blue cheese, but the portion is big enough for Trigger, let alone Roy Rogers.
There is a nice spinach salad made with candied spiced pecans, and something called a Vaquero steak salad, piled high with slices of what looks as if it once was a 12-ounce top sirloin. All of these salads, one surmises, are intended to be entrees.
“From The Range” is the section of the menu devoted to steaks and chops, and they come with a choice of sides, such as green chili cheese grits, twice-baked potato, mac and cheese and a wonderful grilled asparagus scented with chipotle peppers.
A bone-in rib eye crusted with black peppercorns is a full 20 ounces, so good luck. Colorado lamb chops get a garlic and black pepper crust, while pork chops are glazed in maple syrup and crusted with cornmeal. Silverman, I’ll go out on a limb and guess, loves crusts.
As further evidence, try his take on chicken pot pie, a boat-sized dish topped with a cobbler-like biscuit crust. Inside, there is lots of smoked chicken, fresh garden vegetables and chunky potatoes. This monster could feed a small family. Another main course worth its salt is braised beef pot roast. It’s an uncommonly tender version and, again, huge and comforting, in a red wine reduction flanked by mashed potatoes and braised cabbage.
The only thing I’d avoid next time would be the much-ballyhooed Dr. Pepper-marinated steak tacos. Sickly sweet shards of browned meat served with decent black beans and rice that tastes just fine if the sweet juice from the meat doesn’t run off onto it, this dish has to be the worst idea I’ve run across since the deep-fried Snickers bar.
Speaking of dessert, Roadrunner Centennial has a few good ones. Buttermilk biscuit strawberry shortcake has fresh whipped cream, a nice, flaky biscuit and a scoop of some high-end vanilla ice cream. If the kitchen added just a few more berries, it’d be killer. I’d also give high marks to the pecan pie, served in a cast-iron skillet. The Corrigan boys are winning the West all by themselves.