In a modern restaurant with an al fresco rooftop and a rock and roll sensibility reminiscent of its founder, the late celebrity chef Kerry Simon, this downtown restaurant shakes up the menu seasonally, exploring new ways to play with comfort foods. Reliable mainstays include a cast iron skillet filled with sweet and smoky bacon jam and a slice of melted Havarti, ready to be scooped onto toasted slices of baguette. Perfectly cubed bites of pork belly are standouts in a pool of ocher buffalo sauce. And you can’t go wrong with the signature appetizer of crispy chicken skins with smoky honey.

If the lines outside Tacos El Gordo are any indication, the wildly popular tacos are still one of the can’t-miss experiences in Las Vegas. What the cafeteria-style restaurant lacks in ambiance, it more than makes up for in flavor. Each of the Tijuana-style tacos here is bursting with spice and texture. Arrive hungry and sample a few varieties, each about $3.50, by queueing separately for each kind of meat. In one line, order carne asada. In another, ask for extra pineapple to go with the al pastor. Mulas, with cheese melted between the taco’s two corn tortillas are also worth ordering. Bring cash for tipping both at the counter when orders are placed and when paying.

Esther’s Kitchen was one of the first successful restaurants to debut in the Las Vegas Arts District, hailing a new era for the neighborhood as a culinary destination. The Italian restaurant, named for chef and restaurateur James Trees’ great aunt Esther, is now in a new and spacious location, but still a frequent haunt among locals. You have to pay for the bread here — and for good reason. Trees’ sourdough loaves are hearty and crusty, just right for slathering with spreads like basil ricotta and delightfully salty anchovy butter. But the real draw is the pasta. Take the butternut squash tortellini, tossed with brown butter and a hint of espresso for a richness that just works. In a dish of pasta al zucco, pumpkin-shaped noodles scoop up spicy bites of pork sausage and broccoli rabe.

Chef Roy Ellamar is a veteran of Las Vegas Strip kitchens, most recently at Harvest by Roy Ellamar inside the Bellagio. His newest restaurant is off-Strip, in Downtown Summerlin. Here, he dabbles in New American cuisine, influenced by his life journey as a Filipino American born in Hawai’i. His small loaves of banana bread are a must with any breakfast or lunch. And dinner calls for soft, rich-flavored dates stuffed with savory lamb sausage and a Jidori fried chicken sandwich swathed in a honey cumin glaze.

With barely-there lighting, red and black damask wallpaper, and a bar stocked with a veritable century’s worth of cocktail fixins, Nectaly Mendoza’s off-Strip steakhouse and bar feels at once like both a romantic date spot and 1920s speakeasy. Whether dining at a table or at the bar, the move here is to order steak. Happy hour runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and after midnight — though sometimes it’s all-day, which means your steaks, pork chops, and spicy mussels are likely to be half-priced no matter when you stop in. The cocktail menu here is broken up by decade so you can start with something like a gin-based Martinez from the Gothic Age, follow up with a Hemingway daiquiri from the Prohibition era, and enjoy a painkiller from the tiki boom with dessert. 

José Andrés went all out with his steakhouse at Sahara Las Vegas with Candace Ochoa at the helm of the kitchen. A raw bar with ceviches and carpaccios and a fire stage with wood grills and rotisseries make Bazaar Meat more than a standard steakhouse. Fan-favorite dishes include the cotton candy foie gras, caviar flights, and Kobe beef (Bazaar is one of a handful of spots in Vegas that serve the real deal), which can be grilled on an ishiyaki stone at the table or served in a miniature airbread “sandwich” on the specials menu.

With touches of coastal Italy and a menu of light and flavorful pasta, chef Shawn McClain’s Italian restaurant inside the Sahara celebrates all things pasta, pizza, and Aperol spritzes. His Roman-style pizzas incorporate the crust that McClain developed when he was running Five50 Pizza Bar, also at Aria. And Balla’s pasta dishes, like the casarecce — a dish of chewy noodles in a tangy sauce brimming with tomatoes, garlic, and Calabrian pepper — draw on flavors that are bright, vibrant, sometimes citrusy, and often a little spicy.

Nicole Brisson’s Brezza at Resorts World earned an Eater Vegas 2022 Eater Award winner for Restaurant of the Year for its hand-made pasta, breezy dining room and fragrant pockets of cappellacci “oreganata.” The coastal Italian restaurant sits in the District, the 70,000-square-foot shopping center at the front of the resort facing Las Vegas Boulevard. The menu spans antipasti, fresh crudo, handmade pastas, and a Tuscan-style wood-fired grill, where sustainable seafood, dry-aged steaks, and seasonal produce are all charred over white oak and olive branches.

Tucked behind a nondescript storefront in a Chinatown strip mall, Edo Tapas & Wine serves savory dishes inside a moody, chandelier-illumined dining room. Chef Oscar Amador Edo grew up in Barcelona, Spain and brings his own approach to tapas with hot and cold dishes, charcuterie, and a rotating tasting menu. Order a bikini, a pressed sandwich with sobrasada and Mahon cheese, as well as a 30-day dry-aged striploin carpaccio with puri bread, and “textures of artichokes,” an exploration of the vegetable done three ways. 

Kaoru Azeuchi was tapped as a finalist for a James Beard Award this year for his intricate dishes and thoughtfully coursed menus at Kaiseki Yuzu. Inside the open kitchen and at the sushi bar, Azeuchi specializes in omakase dinners that highlight technique and ingredients with ornate presentations and artful slices of sashimi. Seasonal fish is handpicked for every service. Azeuchi wraps seared king mackerel in lettuce and layers it with caviar and uni sauce. He grills A5 wagyu steak ribeye and plates it with winter truffles, foie gras, and vegetables.

The long-awaited Delilah, the breathtaking supper club from H.Wood Group at Wynn Las Vegas, features a two-level space with lavish chandeliers, a fireplace, and entertainers dancing alongside a live jazz band. Executive chef Josh Smith’s take on refined American fare includes Wagyu beef Wellington, a reinvented — and high-end — chicken TV dinner, and Dover sole fish and chips with pommes soufflé. The decadence extends to the desserts, where a strawberry shortcake baked Alaska leads the way.

Every chef in town stops by Mitsuo Endo’s tiny restaurant in Chinatown for small-portioned Japanese robata dishes cooked over a charcoal grill. Diners can order a variety of items since most start at $3, or try the omakase with a flight of food chosen by the chef for $75 to $100. Inside the moody restaurant with sleek metallic details, order the agedashi tofu with salmon roe and a vinegary dipping sauce. The green tea soba noodles with poached egg and bonito flakes are texturally satisfying and the hot skewered yellowtail is seasoned in all the right ways.

Colin Fukunaga’s Japanese-influenced burgers, which gained something of a cult following when only available by food truck, now have a permanent home in Chinatown and in the southwest. Located in what used to be a Taco Bell (the 90s-style kind with the three archways), the counter-service restaurant has been retrofitted with a red and gray color palette and graphic stickers. Visitors should try the namesake FukuBurger, aka the “Lucky” burger, with an all-beef patty with American cheese topped with lettuce, tomato, onions, wasabi mayo, and fuku sauce.

Chef Brian Howard opened Sparrow & Wolf in 2017, in the early days of an ongoing trend in which on-Strip talent exits the casinos and strikes out on their own in Las Vegas neighborhoods. Emerging in a neighborhood best known for its exceptional Asian restaurants, the Chinatown bar and restaurant serves modern American fare that leans into the fine-dining techniques Howard picked up working in on-Strip restaurants like Comme Ça, Alizé, and Bouchon. Inside, servers flit around the dimly lit dining room ferrying dishes like oxtail hummus and tortellini birria drenched in goat consomme, as well as cocktails infused with brûléed pineapple or garnished with fried mushroom. And Howard’s take on the northern Vietnamese bánh cuốn, a dish of savory duck, fresh basil, and black rice roll, is at once sweet, spicy, and bright. Put your trust in the tasting menu, which opens with oysters and Japanese milk bread and ends with a chocolate espresso flan — each course paired with a wine from a small producer you’ve likely never heard of.

Modern — and even modernist — French fare gets pride of place at Partage, a partnership from the French trio chef Yuri Szarzewski, pastry chef Vincent Pellerin, and manager Nicolas Kalpokdjian. Szarzewski’s three-, five-, and seven-course tasting menus rotate seasonally, but consistently offer dishes prepared with equal parts technique and whimsy. Duck breast is plated with vibrant yellow sweet potato puree, lobster carpaccio comes with a quenelle of icy mango sorbet, and high-pigment flavorful sauces color in the negative space between slices of white fish. 

This late-night izakaya hot spot begins with a feast for the eyes: concise descriptions of hamachi sashimi, bowls of udon noodles swirled in broth, and tangy fried chicken are scrawled onto pieces of paper in both Japanese and English and pasted above tables, around the bar, and behind the host stand. The specialties are listed along with reference photos and prices — usually around $3 to $7 — and span tender slices of raw fish from the restaurant’s sushi bar to heavier plates of smoky grilled squid, fluffy crab fried rice, and deep-fried agedashi tofu that go just right with a night of drinking. The move here is to order several dishes to share — evidenced by seating options that include a large communal table at the front and tatami floor-level seating at the rear for private groups. Save room for honey toast, an eye-catching loaf of toasted, buttered white bread with ice cream, fruit, and drizzles of thick honey. 

A killer raw bar and innovative cocktails greet diners at Other Mama on the west side across from Desert Breeze Park. The tight menu includes oyster specials, ceviches and sushi, and larger options like Japanese fried chicken, miso ribs, and kimchi fried rice, all served in a low-key setting with a bar overlooking the cooking action. The industry favorite restaurant offers a fairly modest interior, but the deviled eggs topped with crispy oysters and French toast caviar do all the heavy lifting.

The Gold Coast’s Ping Pang Pong is the gold standard for dim sum by day and Cantonese dishes by night. More than 80 dim sum dishes — spanning from a mango lobster and scallop roll to an aromatic bun with southern Canton five-spice duck — wheel through the dining room steamed, fried, or grilled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. By night, smoked orange rib-eye steak cubes seared with peppercorn and toasted garlic and a Macanese crustacean claypot with a ginger laksa curry broth make the menu until 3 a.m. A Chinese pergola, Chinese lanterns overhead, and a host stand made from a Chinese apothecary cabinet add to the ambiance. Expect a wait or make a reservation in advance.

A celebration of all things maximalism, chef Chris Santos takes full advantage of the restaurant’s location next to the Omnia nightclub to turn the Las Vegas incarnation of his New York hotspot into a high-energy and luxurious night out. Flanked by mirrors and chandeliers, each dish is as much a joy to see on the table as it is to eat. There’s a Tomahawk steak that comes wheeled into the dining room suspended by fairy lights. French onion soup dumplings are drenched in a pool of melted gruyere in an escargot dish. And the desserts are often a fit for Is It Cake?

Revered Lotus of Siam serves chef and owner Saipan Chutima’s northern Thai cuisine, including a menu of Thai-style stews and coconut-less curries, all served with a spice level of 1 to 10. Diners should start with nam-prik-ong, a red chili dip, then try a roasted duck curry, garlic prawns, or thum-ka-noon with its mix of pork, jackfruit, tomato, and spices. The exceptional wine menu of sweet Gewürztraminers and Rieslings cut the heat. 

Peek inside the open kitchen to watch as cooks at Shang Artisan Noodle meticulously knead, spin, and hand-pull tender and chewy noodles, boiling them for inclusion in pork and chicken broth with wontons and veggies or tossed in spicy soy sauce with mixed pork. The beef noodle soup with braised brisket is the crowd favorite here — rivaled only by the juicy and flavorful spicy wontons.

Following a two-year hiatus, chef Marc Vetri’s Vetri Cucina is again open atop the Palms Casino. It’s hard to rival the view that looks out over the Las Vegas Strip from the main dining room, but Vetri does so with just-made pastas like a silky chestnut fettuccine with boar ragu and cocoa, and entrees like supple roasted hen married with prosciutto and foie gras. The restaurant is small — just 75 seats — but charming and sunfilled, just right for dining on rustic Italian while live music plays.

Chef DJ Flores’s Mexican food doesn’t start with his tinga-marinated cauliflower or earthy, braised barbacoa — it begins with his approach to masa itself. Flores regards his tortilla-making with equal parts art and science — sourcing red, yellow, and blue dried corn from small farmers in Mexico, then boiling, milling, forming, pressing, and cooking the tortillas right in the restaurant’s kitchen, where the warm and delicately flavored blue tortillas find their way into chicken adobo tacos, triangle-shaped tetelas filled with spiced squash and mushrooms, and fried until crisp for chilaquiles. It’s all served in his casual restaurant, just right for dining in with a michelada or paloma — or ordering to go.

In Las Vegas, special is often synonymous with exclusive — and it doesn’t get more exclusive than an immersive dining experience that has exactly one table. The Garden Table is located inside the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, a seasonally rotating atrium of plants and flowers arranged in dreamy, larger-than-life displays. The private table is available to reserve via phone call for both brunch and dinner. Brunch comes from the adjacent Sadelle’s, with a tower of its fluffy bagels, tender smoked fish, and caviar, and entrees like French toast with berries or salmon Benedicts. Chef Michael Mina’s eponymous restaurant provides dinner, starting with an amuse-bouche of eggs and caviar on toasted brioche with white miso and a dessert of subtly sweet Earl Grey panna cotta. It all pairs beautifully with a backdrop of florals and foliage.

While José Andrés finally brought his divine tapas and paellas to Vegas, it’s é by José Andrés inside Jaleo at the Cosmopolitan that stands out for its creative tasting menu set before a vibrant red backdrop. Diners must make reservations far in advance to nab one of the eight seats for this exclusive multi-course meal. The menu, assembled in front of customers with tweezers and dry ice, changes constantly; one night may include scallop with black truffle, the next a literal bag of wild mushrooms, and another may feature foie gras encased in a cotton candy dumpling, a sprinkle doughnut or a slice of Wonder Bread.

The Aria location of the decadent Italian-American restaurant Carbone features captains serving dishes tableside and seductive red velvet booths set in a circle so everyone has a view of the dining room drama. Lobster fra diavolo, chicken scarpariello, veal Parmesan, and spicy rigatoni are just some of the folkloric dishes here, but octopus pizzaiolo and pickled cauliflower are worth considering. Daring diners can put themselves in the captain’s hands ​​— that is, if money is no object.

Diners may sit next to Chuck Norris, one of the celebrity photos that line the opulently decorated space at the grand Joël Robuchon that feels like a cross between the inside of a Faberge egg and the boudoir of Marie Antoinette. The exquisitely crafted fare from Robuchon includes the 15-course degustation menu that is part French grandiosity, part Asian refinement. Truffled langoustine ravioli in a foie gras sauce, a semi-soft boiled egg on a spinach puree, and Maine lobster in a thinly sliced turnip join roving cheese, bread, and mignardises carts. 

With a flair for the dramatic, chef and partner Oscar Amador has built a menu of inventive and playful dishes at this southwest Las Vegas restaurant. The team behind Edo Gastro Tapas and Wine harnesses flavors from Catalonia, Asia, Sicily, and beyond to prepare tapas like the Kaluga caviar and eggs, served inside eggshells, and the fig salad, arranged symmetrically with peach wedges and swirls of prosciutto, nestled among autumnal leaf-shaped wafers. Leave the decision-making to the kitchen and request the tasting menu.