Food possibilities at Wynn, Las Vegas

Food possibilities at Wynn, Las Vegas

I'm going to be locked in Wynn for three days, and am interested to know if anyone has had recent experiences with their in-house restaurants.

My plan is to escape for a lunch at Lotus of Siam, but otherwise I'm probably going to have to make-do with what they got at Wynn (which may not be too bad...I just don't know).

David "Hit me" Hammond

David,

I just returned last night from a 3 day stay at the Wynn. I could think of worse places to be locked in. I had a great dinner at Daniel Balud's Brasserie which I will be posting about soon, and there were several other worthy choices. If you avoid their coffeeshop, you should be fine. More info later.

stevez wrote:David,

I just returned last night from a 3 day stay at the Wynn. I could think of worse places to be locked in. I had a great dinner at Daniel Balud's Brasserie which I will be posting about soon, and there were several other worthy choices. If you avoid their coffeeshop, you should be fine. More info later.

Steve, your insights here would be invaluable. I went to Wynn's site, and they have audio clips from chefs, and other cool stuff, but I couldn't separate marketing from reality. Balud's sounds excellent...though I just don't know.

Hammond

Because I wasn't a "prisoner" to some corporate entity in the hotel (I went on my own accord as a mini-vacation with my wife, who hadn't been to Vegas in 5 years), I did most of my dining outside of the hotel, but I do have some insights for you.

First, let me say that The Wynn is a beautiful hotel which is actually pretty tastefully decorated by Las Vegas standards. The guest rooms are large and well appointed and include High-Def flat panel TVs in both the main room and the bathroom, high speed internet access and a great desk area for doing some work. The room has every amenity you can imagine except for a small fridge, which I imagine you could have for the asking. Beware! The mini-bar uses new RFID technology that will automatically charge you for whatever you take within 60 seconds of removing it from the bar or even the little basket they conveniently put on the counter to tempt you. The most Vegasy feature of the rooms is the Austin Powers-like remote control buttons next to the bed that control the curtains on the floor-to-ceiling windows. "Does that make you horny?"

In terms of food, there are some 18 restaurants in the hotel. I only tried a few, but here are my impressions. There is a small deli next to the Italian restaurant just off the Casino which had a servicable pastrami sandwich (although it lacked any strong garlic/pepper spicing ala Manny's or a generic NYC deli) and made a pretty good bowl of chicken soup. They also had real NYC style Black & White cookies which had the requisite cake-like texture, but lacked in the flavor department IMO.

Across the Casino is an Asian restaurant (one of several) called Red 8. Red 8 had a pretty impressive looking menu of noodle & dumpling dishes. I never got the chance to eat there, but it looked very good and if I was stuck in the hotel for meals, it would have probably been my go to place.

I did eat in the coffee shop (Terrace Point Cafe) for some late night snacks and I have to say that I was completely unimpressed. This place failed to measure up to other Vegas hotel coffee shops in terms of both the quality of the food and the breadth of the menu. For example they were unable to serve me that staple of Vegas coffee shops, a hot turkey sandwich with gravy and mashed potatoes. On the day we left, we had breakfast there, which turned out to be the best meal we had at that particular restaurant. I ordered corned beef hash with poached eggs, which came perfectly prepared. My only complaint (and this is typical of why this place falls flat) is that the hash browns, while looking good, had an hebal note to them which I found off putting.

Wynn Hotel Corned Beef Hash and Poached Eggs


As I said in a previous post, we did have an exquisite meal at Daniel Boulud's Brasserie. We started with an appetiser of Pumpkin Ravioli, which was served in a sage brown butter sauce and topped with fresh porcinis and toasted almonds (pastas are available in appetiser and main course portions). I followed that up with Soupe a L'Oignon Gratinee, which was one of the best renditions of this soup I have ever had. The broth was exquisite and the cheese topping was not of the "sheet of rubber" consistancy that one can find in many versions of this dish. The soup was made with large croutons rahter than a full slice of bread, which I found to be a nice touch. Julie's starter was a composed Roasted Beet Salad served with Cabrales Blue Cheese (their spelling), endive and walnuts, which she declared delicious (I'm a beet hater, so I did not try it). For the mains, I ordered their signature Braised Beef Shrot Ribs Bourguignon. This is an outstanding dish, served with mashed potatoes, harcort verts and little carrots. Every person who worked in the restaurant, from the waiter to the hostess who stopped by the table when she saw what I was having, declared this dish to be their favorite thing on the menu (which includes not only a $32 version of the DB Burger*, but also a $28 DB West burger**). Julie ordered Steak Frites, which came expertly cooked to medium, as she likes to order her steaks (I finally convinced her to stop ordering medium well) and included a bonus marrow bone served with the steak. Don't miss a chance to have a meal here. The menu is very deep.

DB Steak Frites


Of course, no visit to Las Vegas is complete without at least one breakfast at The Peppermill, serving obscenely large amounts of food in a tacky 70's atmosphere 24/7.

Pepprmill Child's Portion


Wynn Las Vegas
3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV
702-770-7000

The Peppermill
2985 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV
702-735-4177

* The DB Burger consists of a 9-oz. sirloin burger filled with braised short ribs, foie gras and black truffle on a parmesan bun.

** The DB West Burger consists of a 9-oz beef top round burger stuffed with BBQ pulled pork, jalapeno and bewefsteak tomato served on a cornmeal bun.

Edited to appease the spelling police

Boy, I wish to be imprisoned at Wynn...

The latest issue of Gourmet has an article on Las Vegas restaurants, with dueling reviews by Carolyn Bates and the Clown Prince of Adventure Dining. Bates covers a lot of Wynn places and just gushes about Bartollota's place.

For the record, it's Daniel Boulud.

I'm still plugging, btw, Bouchon, which is about next door at the Venetian. Gourmet also loved Bouchon.

Rob

VI,

I'm the first to admit that I eat better than I spell. Bartollota's restaurant looked very good as well, but I'm not sure I'd go all the way to Vegas just to seek out a meal there. FYI, It was never very full whenever I walked by and looked in the windows, which was often because it sits prominantly just off the casino floor right next to the elevators. I probably would try some of the other offerings (like Alessandro Stratas's Alex or the previously mentioned Red 8 ) before trying Bartollota's Restaurante de Mare.

stevez wrote:VI,

I'm the first to admit that I eat better than I spell.

I know me commenting on someone's spelling is the very defination of chutzpah, but I was only thinking of the best interest of future LTH searchers.

A couple of things I forgot to include in my original post:

- The coffee shop, although lacking in such basics as a hot turkey sandwich, served three wagyu sliders for $11. That is what I ordered instead of the turkey. The sliders were exactly that...3 very thin patties with grilled onions on top. Unfortunately, they were cooked into oblivion, so the wagyu beef was wasted. It could have just as easily been Jewel generic ground beef cooked to death, although the interestingly spiced catsup/ketchup that was served along side might be interesting for David Hammond's world survey of ketchup/catsup.

- When dining at Daniel Boulud's Brasserie, be sure to request an outside table (if the weather is not too hot). The outside tables overlook a small lake and waterfall. At night both are illuminated by a light show and periodically short music videos/films are shown using the waterfall as a movie screen along with some "special lighting effects". Very entertaining and not nearly as garish as it sounds!

If you can wrestle yourself away from Mr. Wynn, you might want to consider this:

http://www.gayot.com/restaurantpages/La ... 0-01&code=

(hat tip Liz from OA)

Vital Information wrote:If you can wrestle yourself away from Mr. Wynn, you might want to consider this:

http://www.gayot.com/restaurantpages/La ... 0-01&code=

(hat tip Liz from OA)

And if you do, check out the Cirque du Soliel show KA at the MGM while you are there. It's the most amazing piece of stagecraft I have ever seen!

I've eaten at DB Bistro in New York and just had to get what was at that time the most expensive burger in the country. Truffles on top, stuffed with foie gras-served with puffed souffle potatoes? Damn the price! As so often happens, the anticipation can outshine the reality and it certainly held true to form in this case. The meat was good but the truffles and foie gras were overshadowed by everything else involved in the burger. It ended up being a good burger but certainly not worth the price of admission. IMO, don't be tempted. The potatoes were excellent, but I'd still prefer Hot Doug's duck fries.

If you're going to leave the hotel I'll put a plug in for Aureole at Mandalay Bay. I've been to both(the original is in New York) and the experience has been wonderful every time. Great food, beautiful restaurant, wine list that's served on a pocket pc, and those fabulous wine angels. I've dined at a bunch of restaurants in Vegas and nothing has been better than this.

I haven't seen KA at MGM and I'm sure it's outstanding but O at Bellagio is really unique because of the water theme.

RevrendAndy wrote:

I haven't seen KA at MGM and I'm sure it's outstanding but O at Bellagio is really unique because of the water theme.

I've seen O and as amazing as that show is, KA takes it to the next level. Don't miss it if you get the chance to see it.

David Hammond wrote:
My plan is to escape for a lunch at Lotus of Siam, but otherwise I'm probably going to have to make-do with what they got at Wynn (which may not be too bad...I just don't know).
David "Hit me" Hammond

Unlike Chicago--where I get covered up with lipstick at every turn, the only Las Vegas restaurant that kisses me on the lips full on is Lotus Of Siam.

That's the net of it, and it ain't bad either.

My food experiences inside Wynn were extremely limited (shot three videos on Monday, edited on Tuesday, delivered on Wednesday – little time for pleasure, which given multiple temptations, may have been a good thing).

Tuesday night, though, I did escape around midnight and walked (a long way) to Fremont street to visit some old places; on the way back, I hit Peppermill and had the Eggs Benedict. Usually, this dish disappoints for one reason or another, but this was a very good rendition, with properly prepared Hollandaise and perfectly done eggs – eggs done right might seem a small thing, but I really appreciate when the yolk is liquid gold, not runny just firm, glistening and very moist. Of course, in line with the theme of EXCESS that characterizes all things Vegas, there were not two eggs on the two muffins but three, crowding each other good naturedly, like plump triplets under a yellow comforter. The hash browns* were also exceptional; crispy spud shards, their rough simplicity a fine foil for the rich, saucy eggs. This was probably the most satisfying meal I had in Vegas.

The Peppermill
2985 Las Vegas Blvd.
702-735-4177

* Stevez – I accidentally had the hash browns at Terrace Point Café in Wynn – the herbal notes were the least of their problems: they were dry, recently defrosted, and nowhere near as nicely browned as the one in your photo. As far as I can tell, this restaurant has one thing going for it: it’s open early. My nights were usually blocked, or I would have gone to the more intriguing places, though I did enjoy Daniel Boulud’s foie gras burger.

I heard good things about Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare at the Wynn. The menu is available at the Wynn website http://www.wynnlasvegas.com/wynn.html.

Outatime wrote:I heard good things about Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare at the Wynn. The menu is available at the Wynn website http://www.wynnlasvegas.com/wynn.html.

Yes, I walked by that place and checked out their menu. Many unusual fish items...but in Vegas, I always get just a little concerned when there are no prices listed (I realize that's the way it's done at many places there, but when the restaurant is serving a fish flown in earlier that day from Italy, well, who knows what kind of price tag they might put on that).

Hammond

I've tried many buffets in the past and the Wynn buffet is my favorite. There's such a large variety of foods to choose from. What I like about this place the most is the dessert section. I love sweets and this place had a big selection of delicious desserts.

Also, I like how updated the restaurant is. If you compare this buffet to the Bellagio, the Wynn buffet just looks cleaner, more modern, brighter, and an overall better environment. Of course you pay a hefty price, but in Vegas that's really not bad. You'll probably spend more at a restaurant.

Red 8 is my favorite restaurant at the Wynn and top three in Vegas. I'd recommend that everyone try it when visiting Vegas.