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| - The girlfriend and I were checking out Fremont Street on a Wednesday evening. It was dinnertime and we were hungry. After some cursory research, we decided to give Hugo's Cellar a try. Tucked away downstairs off of the casino floor at Four Queens, Hugo's Cellar is an unassuming looking place, which, from its décor, looks like time stood still stopping somewhere in the late-60s/early-70s. That said, this only adds to the dining experience as Hugo's Cellar exudes old school charm and harkens back to the day when going out to dinner at a nice restaurant was truly considered a special occasion.
We didn't have reservations, not that we probably needed them on this particular mid-week evening. Upon stepping up to the host stand, the maître-d handed a red rose to my girlfriend (and all women who dine at the restaurant) before leading us to our table. At its heart, HC is a steak place, but the menu has a good selection of seafood choices as well as lamb, veal, chicken, and duck. We opted for the Chateaubriand and Lobster for Two which consisted of a roasted center-cut tenderloin filet and broiled lobster tails with a side of green and white asparagus. Soon after our order was placed, a cart wheeled up to prepare custom, made to order salads at our tableside. The salad was made with fresh romaine lettuce and topped with pretty much anything you could think to throw on a salad. Think salad bar at Fogo de Chao, not Ponderosa. After our salads were cleared away, David our lead server delivered two small cones of raspberry sorbet to cleanse our palate. Next, our main course was served up. The chateaubriand was cooked to a perfect medium rare doneness, as requested, and the good-sized lobster tails were also flawlessly prepared, moist, tender and flavorful. The GF remarked it was the best lobster tail she'd ever had. A meal like this required a good, hearty red wine. HC has an extensive and surprisingly affordable wine list. Vince, the extremely knowledgeable and personable sommelier, guided us through the list, but we knew exactly what we wanted when we spied a bottle of the 2008 Frank Family Cabernet Sauvignon ($68). Frankly (no pun intended), this wine at the price was a steal especially given the fact that a bottle retails in the $40-50 range online! The 2007 Frank Family Cab was the best wine I had the pleasure of tasting this year and the 2008 shared virtually all of the same, pleasurable characteristics of the 2007. At this point, I didn't need anything else to eat. Yet, a plate of chocolate-dipped strawberries, dried apricots, and figs showed up at the table to close out our thoroughly enjoyable meal.
Compared to the Strip, Downtown Vegas and Fremont Street lacks the wide array of fine dining choices. However, Hugo's Cellar easily dispels the notion that there isn't any fine dining to be found and that you need the culinary draw of a big name, celeb-chef to be successful. Hugo's Cellar isn't a cheap night out, but it delivers quality, quantity, and among the highest levels of service I've ever experienced at a restaurant. Old school, indeed!
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