There is something heartwarming about the sight of a man with a hangover, hunched over a video-poker machine, chowing down on a huge platter of chicken-fried steak and fried eggs at 7 a.m. Isn't that what we love about Vegas?
Now, at least, he can do it in style at Fire Side, a huge roadhouse just off a (for now) quiet stretch of St. Rose Parkway. As you drive up, it looms up like a great Alaskan lodge would if you were dog-sledding in from the glacier. You can take it to the bank that these lots nearby won't be vacant for very long.
That chicken-fried steak, I must add, might be the best in town. It's an outsized obloid thing, enrobed in a delicious, tooth-crunching batter, smothered with tasty sausage gravy and flanked by a pile of peppery skillet potatoes. Doesn't everyone eat this at breakfast?
If not, don't worry. There are other options. You enter by a modestly unmarked door that gives a private-club sort of impression. The kitchen serves 24/7, though it dishes up breakfast only from 7-11 a.m.; after midnight, there's an even more limited menu.
The atmo is textbook cozy. There are more than a few cute rooms to sit in, such as a library room that features a gas fireplace, abundant stonework, built-in bookshelves stocked with titles you wouldn't want to read and an enormous octagonal bar. (I counted 27 stools.)
The main dining room is fairly staid; walls adorned with china, copperware and similarly homey accoutrements, and plush booths to disappear into. There is also a sitting area with an ultralounge motif, so you can romance your date on a leather sofa, staring at the flame in a second gas fireplace. Okay, so it's not Aspen.
But if you've come to eat, the food is bound to exceed your expectations, as it did mine. Chicken-fried steak isn't the only good breakfast. There is a nice bagel platter with lots of good smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, red onion and capers, for example, an even nicer corned-beef hash and pancakes served with real maple syrup.
Lunches can be seriously creative, and there are many dishes I'd come back for anytime. I'm wild about this seafood bisque, a flavorful, creamy bowl stocked with crab, shrimp and fish, with a coral pink color and a pastry hat protecting it. It's a real meal.
Artichokes come fire-roasted, with a lemon-garlic aioli, a dish perfect for sharing, if you don't mind fighting over the leaves. Salmon cakes, laced with shredded potato and chive, are a nice departure from the more usual crab cakes. And even sliders are distinguished, a plate of four mini-tenderloin burgers gussied up by caramelized onion and chipotle mayo.
The huge chopped salad is composed of nearly a dozen ingredients, bacon, green olives and blue cheese being just a few, and there is a proper Caesar with a nice bite. I love that the chef puts seared walleye, a delicate lake fish from the upper Midwest, into a roll with lettuce, tomato and tartar sauce. But I wouldn't refuse the smoked pork dip on ciabatta, or the hot jerk chicken sandwich, also on ciabatta and flanked by a goofy pineapple salsa.
Pizzas are workmanlike, a medium crust also finished in a wood oven with the usual toppings. It's not that they are bad, it's just that the rest of the menu outshines them.
At dinner, 5-11 p.m., you'll get the best of this place. Smoked prime rib is slow-roasted and tastes it, and is served with a creamy horseradish sauce and a beefy rosemary jus. Old-fashioned meat loaf, chunky and mouth-filling, rivals that of Simon Kitchen and Bar or Envy Steakhouse.
Steaks and chops are woodfired and taste it, generally accompanied by roasted-garlic mashed potatoes and nicely cooked seasonal vegetables. For a calorie splurge, try a 14-ounce veal chop stuffed with crab and shrimp, garnished with asparagus and bearnaise. Maybe the menu doesn't say so, but we know what this really is. This is the famous Danish dish veal Oscar, disguised as bar food in the hinterlands of Vegas.
Save room for desserts, too. When Fire Side says cobbler, they mean cobbler, a crusty thing filled with fruit and topped with vanilla ice cream, no mealy oatmeal topping here. Homemade cheesecake is rich and worthy, too, topped with real whipped cream and cut strawberries. And the apple haystack, a decadent mound of cinnamon sugar pita strips, a handful of candied pecans, lots of gooey caramel sauce and apples, is, well, enough to give a fellow a hangover, at any time of day.