I had a really hard time deciding where I wanted to eat in Vegas, as the options are limitless. Not only do many well known chefs have restaurants there, but they have several different ones, and I only had time to fit in three dinners. Yes, I absolutely schedule my vacations around meals. Dinner reservations have to be made first, and then I plan my activities around those times. It’s sick, I know, but most of the fun I have on vacation comes from what I eat. I did some research and quickly discovered that sadly, fine dining in Vegas doesn’t come cheap. Not that I expected it to be cheap, but the nicer restaurants are sometimes pricier than those in NY.
Prices pretty much eliminated several restaurants from contention, like Guy Savoy, but then I found out that the MGM Grand was running a summer tasting menu special at most of its restaurants. Score! Not only were there great deals to be found, the Signature is connected to the Grand by tunnels, so I wouldn’t even have to walk outside in the heat (though it ended up being surprisingly cold in Vegas the weekend I was there).
We had made plans already to get dinner Friday night with a few of Josh’s coworkers and their respective visitors for the weekend, so we tried to find a place that would be pleasing to all. Craftsteak was an easy choice, since who doesn’t like meat and potatoes and vegetables? Luckily, there were no vegetarians in the group. The summer tasting menu, which was posted outside the door, looked fantastic. For just $60/person, it came with three courses and multiple dishes per course, served family style. We verified beforehand that we would get everything listed on the menu, no having to pick or choose an item from each category. How amazing is that?
Dinner started off with buttery rolls with a nice sprinkling of salt on top. We munched on these while we looked over the different menu options.
Buttery rolls
I almost had a heart attack when some people in our group wanted to order off the a la carte menu and the waiter said that everyone at the table had to participate in order to get the summer tasting menu. Luckily, since we were such a large group and half of us wanted to do the tasting, he checked with the manager who agreed to let those of us who wanted to have the special menu while the others chose a la carte. We had to shuffle seats at the table so that those participating would be seated near each other because of the family style serving, but that was not a problem. Josh and I also decided to get the additional $30 wine pairing, which was another bargain considering wines by the glass were mostly over $10 each.
The first courses were a shaved fennel salad, grilled quail, buffalo mozzarella and a Persian cucumber salad. The fennel salad had a nice lemony dressing but I’m not the hugest fan of licorice, so I only ate a little bit.
Shaved fennel salad
The buffalo mozzarella, however, was soft and milky and topped with red pepper caponata that complemented it perfectly. Not so complementary were the nuts scattered about over the top of the dish. I’m not sure why they were there, as the nut taste overpowered the delicate mozzarella. After my first bite, I ended up picking them out. Fortunately there weren’t so many of them.
Buffalo mozzarella
The Persian cucumber salad came with thinly sliced red onions, and I found the dish to be very light and refreshing.
Persian cucumber salad
The grilled quail was finger-licking good, literally. The tiny pieces were hot and juicy, and so tasty that we threw etiquette aside and picked them up to suck every morsel off the tiny bones.
A little taste of everything - persian cucumber salad, buffalo mozzarella, shaved fennel salad, grilled quail
The main courses were two different kinds of steak, prime flat iron and angus skirt steak, as well as seared diver scallops.
Prime flat iron steak
Angus skirt steak
Obviously they were the cheaper cuts of beef, but were cooked beautifully. The steaks were rare, but not tough or stringy, well seasoned (the skirt steak might have been a tad overseasoned, but only on some pieces), and still juicy. And there was a lot of it. They definitely did not skimp on the portions for this menu. The diver scallops were also cooked perfectly, with a nice outer crust and still tender in the middle.
Seared diver scallops
The side dishes were also delicious, with a buttery smooth Yukon gold potato puree, crunchy sugar snap peas, and earthy roasted shiitake mushrooms.
A little taste of everything - seared diver scallop, flat iron steak, skirt steak, potato puree, roasted shiitake mushrooms, sugar snap peas
Desserts were the chef’s selection, and there were lots of them! We had liquid chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream, a vanilla bean cheesecake with blueberries, a rhubarb crisp with tangerine creamsicle ice cream, and a peach pavlova. We were so stuffed from dinner that we barely got through half the desserts, but I made sure to have a little taste of each.
Vanilla bean cheesecake with blueberries, peach pavlova, rhubarb crisp with tangerine creamsicle ice cream, liquid chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream
The molten chocolate cake was my favorite, even though it’s a very clichéd dessert these days, but the pistachio ice cream was a nice twist and complemented the gooey chocolate perfectly.
Overall, it was a terrific meal. I was stuffed to the gills and completely satisfied. The wine pairings were a sauvignon blanc with the first courses, a malbec with the main courses, and a moscato for the dessert course. They were all quality wines, and definitely ones that I would order again. The pours were also very generous – full glasses, not just tastings. I had Josh take pictures of the labels with his iphone and I’m hoping to find them in a liquor store around here.
In the end, our share of the bill came out to about $230, after tax and a generous tip (we figured out what tax and tip would be and split that total evenly as a group, then everyone paid for whatever they ordered). Not cheap, but absolutely reasonable for the amount of food and wine we consumed. I know they had a spring tasting menu prior to the summer tasting menu, so hopefully they will continue to have these specials down the road. They are a good value and a great way to try many different things on the menu.
Craftsteak
At the MGM Grand
Las Vegas, NV