This is an offshoot of the original Vic & Anthony's in Houston and includes several members of the Zax team, including the executive chef, Josh Overturf, who went to Houston to learn this menu. He executes it quite well.
After our charming waiter struggled to reel off the daily specials, three of us settled in for what was to be one of the better steak-house meals I've had in quite a while. The commercial house bread aside, most of what you will eat here is flawless, (other than a punchless Caesar salad).
Appetizers are opulent and hard to resist. My favorite: the maple-glazed quail, a terrific plate of two perfectly roasted birds basted with maple syrup and Sriracha sauce, which adds a heady kick. The chef uses delicious Bob White quail, which, according to GM Brian McMahon, come in from Texas. Sriracha, for those who are unfamiliar, is that squeeze-bottle red sauce you see in Thai and Vietnamese restaurants.
There is also a nice shrimp remoulade, which I prefer to the shrimp cocktail because of the spicy pink sauce that ramps up the briny, sweet flavors of the large prawns. A jumbo lump crab cake is equally delicious, topped with buttery chunks of more crab, drizzled in a chive beurre blanc. Purists can have freshwater oysters in the shell, in this case Fanny Bay oysters from Puget Sound. Make mine oysters Rockefeller, baked with spinach and a rich Hollandaise. Instead of the Caesar, I'd recommend tomato and mozzarella, dressed with vinaigrette and balsamic vinegar.
DYSPEPTO BISMOL, MR. RICHMAN? |
WINNERS: Richman judged Restaurant Guy Savoy better than the chef's Paris kitchen. He liked Bartolotta, although he did gripe about the restaurant obtaining its fish through dynamite fishing—a critique of one dish's chaotic presentation. Of Aureole he writes, "Little is said about how sound [it] has become ..." MIXED: Bouchon and L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. The former was merely okay, the latter disappointing, given the chef's rep. LOSERS: Alex, in Wynn Las Vegas. Hated it, thanks to a pushy wine guy and food that was "predictably luxurious" but lacking refinement. Spago Las Vegas isn't 50 percent as good as the original. He reserved special scorn for Mix: "This place isn't merely [Alain] Ducasse's worst idea. It might be the worst idea ever." |
Main dishes are mostly steaks and seafood, although a rack of lamb and a few chicken dishes manage to sneak in. All steaks are wet-aged, USDA Prime, Midwest grain-fed, and the two I tasted were cooked perfectly. One of my guests selected the 8-ounce filet mignon topped with shrimp and garlic cream sauce. It came fork-tender.
My wife tried the mammoth 24-ounce bone-in rib eye, which had more fat and beefy flavor. I settled for sake-glazed tuna, a softball-size piece of fish paired with fresh asparagus spears and marinated cucumber. The fish was terrific, but dish was slightly marred by its too-salty glaze.
Accompanying these mains is a host of side dishes and vegetable choices, including an angel-hair pasta with marinara for those who long for the old Vegas steak-house tradition, and a cheesy au gratin for those who like their carbs. We went a more austere route, with French string beans cooked perfectly al dente and topped with chopped garlic, and two hunks of buttered broccoli—the epitome of skillful vegetable cooking.
For dessert there is a soft, buttery brioche bread pudding, a thick slice that isn't too sweet or cloying and the usual sorbet and ice cream choices, plus a nice list of dessert wines. The wine list, leather-bound and listing more than 800 bottles, is one of distinction, loaded with Spanish, California and Oregon wines.
The service, incidentally, is refreshingly professional. That's one carryover from old Vegas that everyone can appreciate.