With all due respect to those who made it happen for us week after week, month after month, meal after meal, we don’t want to think about curbside takeout for a while. We don’t want to order food on our phones to be delivered to our homes. And we damn sure don’t want to cook. Eating became all about eating for a year plus. It’s time to get back to dining.

Many of us rediscovered an indisputable human truth: Restaurants aren’t just about food. We want to join together with loved ones again in a space actually designed for that purpose, and be immersed in hospitality, smiling service and the great care given to each cocktail and plate. We want someone else to open the bottle of wine.

Now’s a great time to return to these cherished, if indulgent, experiences. And though Las Vegas understandably has seen fewer big restaurant openings during the past year, there are still many new deserving new destinations waiting for you. So use that phone for a more noble cause, and make a reservation right away.

Amalfi

Only a passion project could take the place of Mesa Grill, still one of the most successful restaurants on the Strip after 16 years. When his Caesars partners asked what he wanted to do next, celebrity chef Bobby Flay jumped at the chance to create his first-ever Italian concept, inspired by his obsession with the Amalfi Coast.

“Americans think of Italian cuisine, and the first thought is red sauces and more American-style dishes that have taken influence from Italy. This is a very focused cuisine based on fish and pasta, and it’s a very gutsy cuisine,” Flay says. “There are actually lots of chilies used from Calabria, and that really plays into my experience with chili peppers.”

A natural palette with touches of stone and wood has transformed the former Mesa space into a Mediterranean hideaway complete with a fresh seafood display inspired by the fish markets Flay loves to visit in Italy. And the influence from those travels is not subtle; some dishes are direct interpretations.

“The fish market in general is the centerpiece of the cuisine there. On the Amalfi Coast, the fruits of the sea get paired with local vegetables and handcrafted pastas, and that’s what the restaurant is really about,” Flay says. “Specifically, I would say the bufala mozzarella grilled in the lemon leaves is a direct influence, and also the scialatielli pasta with scampi sauce—that noodle is a classic Amalfi Coast technique. The zucchini pasta with shishito pesto is a play off of something called spaghetti Nerano. I was taught the basis of that dish by a chef at a restaurant called Lo Scoglio in Nerano.”

Caesars Palace, 702-650-5965. Monday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 5-10:30 p.m.

Barry's Downtown Prime

Casino owner Derek Stevens already created a well-rounded Downtown dining hot spot by importing Joe Vicari’s Andiamo Steakhouse from Detroit for a hideaway location inside the D. So when Stevens started to build Circa at the other end of Fremont Street, he had to go next-level. That’s where veteran chef Barry Dakake and his team came in, leading to October’s arrival of a new classic steakhouse dripping with Vegasness.

You’d have to splurge every other week to fully explore all the design details and colorful corners of this sprawling destination hiding out under the restored Vegas Vickie neon sign just off the hotel lobby. And the menu is the definition of a big night out, loaded with the best cuts, seafood, salads and sides. Stevens and Dakake have each done it again, but this dramatic restaurant’s Downtown location is the real game changer.

Circa, 702-726-5504. Daily, 5-11 p.m.

Din Tai Fung

The history of Chinese food on the Strip has mostly been written by casinos creating fine-dining options for Asian visitors, relying on local resources and importing experienced chefs. That has changed in recent years, when it started to make more sense for globally successful restaurants brands like Hakkasan, Mott 32, China Tang and Tim Ho Wan to join the Vegas party. As the trend developed, savvy local diners started to wonder: When will we get Din Tai Fung?

Finally, after first debuting in the States 20 years ago, the Taiwan-based dumpling house hit the Strip in October, opening in the spacious former Aria Cafe site. Here, it’s all about the cult favorite Shanghai-style soup dumplings known as xiao long bao, filled with pork, crab and pork, or truffle and pork. But the spicy wontons—especially the vegan variety—are just as delicious and carefully crafted by hand, and the kimchi and Kurobuta pork dumplings (no soup in these) are another standout.

Really, everything’s good at Din Tai Fung, from puffy steamed bao buns to delightfully simple vegetables and all the soups and noodles in between. This is a different style of Chinese dining for the Strip, and we’re not going to tire of it.

Aria, 702-590-8650. Monday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Tuesday-Thursday, 4-10 p.m.; Friday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

Estiatorio Milos

No knock on its original location at the Cosmopolitan, but there’s something about the three-month-old version of Estiatorio Milos at the Venetian’s Restaurant Row that just feels grand … maybe even spectacular.

Milos arrived in Las Vegas in 2010 as an intriguing exploration into Greek cuisine—built not on recipes but impeccable ingredients—and quickly evolved into one of the most talked-about restaurants in the city. Locals loved it, too, and now that its famous fresh Mediterranean fish, $38 prix fixe lunch, fried zucchini and eggplant appetizer, and wondrous wine selection have moved to this easy-access location (with free parking!), we’re finding ourselves even more enamored with an all-time favorite.

Venetian, 702-414-1270. Sunday-Thursday, noon-3 p.m. & 5-10 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, noon-3 p.m. & 5-11 p.m.

One Steakhouse

Las Vegas and Chicago hospitality veterans Michael and David Morton didn’t need to refresh their stylish steakhouse for the Hard Rock Hotel’s transition into Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Opened in 2017, MB Steak was a modern, luxurious restaurant with its own vibe. You could say that the resort adjusted around it, as the more serene and refined Virgin atmosphere feels like a better fit for what the brothers created.

But they went ahead and improved it anyway, most notably with the addition of a gorgeous, welcoming lounge that brings all the old-school swank you want from a night at a cool Vegas steakhouse. Chef Patrick Munster channels the storied Morton culinary history with classics like Maine lobster bisque and iceberg salad with smoked bacon and buttermilk blue cheese dressing, and tableside presentations of prime porterhouses and tomahawk ribeyes. Our favorite thing is the way sides become mains, like baked short rib rigatoni or ricotta gnocchi with creamy peppercorn sauce. Good luck saving room for the raspberry lemon baked Alaska.

Virgin, 702-522-8111. Daily, 5-11 p.m.

Main St. Provisions

Before the pandemic, the Strip was all about creating ultracool, chef-driven culinary experiences that felt personal and authentic. It can be done in a casino resort, but it means more to the broadening Vegas scene when it happens organically.

Created by chef Justin Kingsley Hall and hospitality veteran Kim Owens, Main St. Provisions is a thoughtful, gorgeous space that feels like it could only exist at the heart of the Arts District’s exciting new growth. It’s fancy enough to become the next great local restaurant tourists need to try, and cozy enough for weekly visits to the bar for sublime cocktails and a bite of whatever’s new from the kitchen.

Every dish is enticing: New Zealand venison tataki, with whiskey-shoyu dressing and roasted salsify; fry bread with wood-roasted artichoke dip and hominy hummus; or striped bass with uni barbecue sauce and seafood broth-baked rice. Every rustic bite will revise your attitude about Downtown dining.

1214 S. Main St., 702-457-0111. Wednesday-Friday, 5-10 p.m.; Saturday, 4-10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

OSTERIA FIORELLA

No one seems to know what will happen to the amazing restaurants that came to Las Vegas during the renovation of the Palms. When asked if his Shark concept could reopen under the off-Strip resort’s impending new ownership, Bobby Flay said: “I know as much as you know.”

His pal Marc Vetri, who brought the regal Vetri Cucina to the top of the Palms’ original tower, must have taken a real liking to Las Vegas. While the pandemic kept his spot closed, the Philadelphia chef and restaurateur collaborated again with Station Casinos to open Osteria Fiorella in Summerlin at a Red Rock restaurant space that has housed several different Italian concepts. This one should stick, thanks to a menu of ridiculously satisfying pasta, pizza, meat and fish dishes that are familiar enough but elevated to Strip status or beyond.

The meatballs, served with whipped ricotta and garlic focaccia, deserve to be in the debate about the city’s best, and the sausage is another must, a recipe resurrected from the 125-year-old Philly butcher shop on which Vetri built the original Fiorella restaurant. The sausage ragu over rigatoni is simple savory bliss, and other perfect pasta dishes include pappardelle with beef short ribs, littleneck clams and linguine, tonnarelli cacio e pepe and tortellini with peas and spring onions kissed with mint and pecorino cheese.

Red Rock Resort, 702-797-7777. Daily, 4:30-9:30 p.m.

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