| rev:text
| - 4.5 stars.
I've been putting off this review because I really want to do my honey, Tom C., justice. I probably won't, but I hope that won't hurt my chances with him anyway. I need to keep relations good since he's at the top of my Ross-and-Rachel-esque Top 5 Celebrities You Can Cheat With list. Yes, he's my Dorothy Hamill.
We dined here as a party of 10 on a 10:00 pm reservation, and the experience was wholly pleasant and pleasurable. The staff was consummately gracious and professional throughout the entire meal. I've eaten places where we've arrived shortly before closing like this, and the servers could not have been -- or overtly acted -- more put-out. Not the case at all at Craftsteak. In fact, no one batted an eye, and our server David treated us like we were his only table and like he was beyond pleased to attend to our every little need. When we left the restaurant (the absolute last party to depart), all the staff thanked us for coming and bid us good-night. And they actually seemed genuine.
Our dinner was pretty darn phenomenal. Most of the top-of-the-line ingredients come from local or small farms (even spotted some oysters from Virginny!). Three of the diners raved it was the best meal they'd ever had anywhere. I didn't feel *quite* that way, but it definitely approached dining Nirvana. I was just really excited to be able to partake in Colicchio's famously prepared steak: there was a farm-raised grass-finished bison striploin on the menu that I jumped on as a newfound "ethical flexitarian" (I can hear you guys groaning, you know). It was 42 bucks. By itself. The entire menu is à la carte, in true upscale steakhouse fashion. Was it worth 42 bones? Probably not. Was it fabulous? Absolutely: cooked exactly to my specifications, tender and juicy, robust with flavor, seasoned perfectly, and seared to a beautiful crust on the outside.
We started with some salads: warm frisée with a soft poached egg and lardons of chewy bacon, and peppery arugula with toasted pine-nuts. I really dislike eggs in most of their forms, but when this farm-fresh egg split and oozed over the frisée, something special happened...and I had a bite. For their mains others sampled beef filet and ribeye, surf and turf with lobster, and the chilled seafood plate. Everyone swooned. The table shared roasted asparagus with lemon (fine, but uninspiring); roasted corn with herbs and scallions (this tasted, I kid you not, *exactly* like SunChips -- fine-dining, blow-your-mind SunChips); mushroom risotto (creamy, decadent, punctuated by sweet, fresh peas and topped with crisp chanterelles); and fried squash blossoms (way too rich and oily for most everyone's taste).
When David discovered we were in Vegas to celebrate husband's big three-oh, small plates of dessert samplers appeared at the table gratis. Husband's had birthday wishes written in chocolate across the plate and a solitary candle. Little details like this (and the posh, sophisticated interior décor) make Craftsteak an overall fabulous dining experience.
We ended up with a $1300 bill (tip included for party our size, tho) -- not that bad considering all we ate and drank, but to see a $1300 bill is so striking in its absurdity that someone actually snapped a pic of it and instantly uploaded it to Facebook...where it was met with all kinds of incredulity. So no, it's not the kind of place you'd eat at on the regular (my honey has a $200+ Wagyu steak on his menu!). But yes, it *is* the kind of place you really want to treat yourself to once in your lifetime. The only reason I don't give it 5 enthusiastic stars is because I don't *quite* think the pricetag is justifiable.
[Top Chef: Tom Colicchio]
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)