5:13PM EST December 1. 2012 - What's better than one food critic pointing the way to a city's top restaurants?
Three, because when folk with sometimes different tastes agree, you have better odds of ordering a memorable meal.
For the third year, Las Vegas-based John Curtas, Max Jacobson and Al Mancini have cooked up Eating Las Vegas: The 50 Essential Restaurants — an opinionated guide to dining in what has become one of the restaurant capitals of the world with an ever-growing menu of dining options in all price and ethnic categories.
As usual, their top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) is heavy on celeb-chef eateries, but, as the introduction says, "the inclusion of some more affordable choices, as well as two off-Strip locations, is indicative of broader trends that have taken hold on the Las Vegas dining scene over the past year."
New on the list: Marché Bacchus (a French lakeside restaurant off the Strip, where Curtas says you might spot Vegas residents Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf), Raku (serving Japanese cuisine in a strip mall off the Strip) and Valentino (an elegant outpost of the L.A. icon, with an amazing wine list, that's ensconced at The Venetian).
Returning Top-10 restaurants:
Wolfgang Puck's chic and contemporary CUT steakhouse in The Palazzo
Estiatorio Milos at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, a Greek restaurant famed for fresh fish and reasonably priced lunch specials
Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace, from the famed French chef, with Jacobson raving that what's on the plate is "equal" to fare at Savoy's celebrated Paris eatery
Joël Robuchon at MGM Grand, providing a grand dining experience that includes an amazing bread cart and five of the 10 best meals Jacobson says he's had in Vegas (For me, it's the best meal I've had in Vegas, though I haven't visited all on the list. Warning: Prices could give you heartburn).
L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon at MGM Grand. "Don't let the relaxed atmosphere fool you," Mancini writes. "The food is every bit as good as what's being offered in Robuchon's formal restaurant next door." Jacoson says the three critics would probably pick it as the one on the top 10 they'd choose if they could go to "only one for the rest of our lives."
Le Cirque at Bellagio, an outpost of the New York classic which for more than a decade in Vegas has "maintained a level of excellence that few restaurants can match," Curtas says.
Spanish chef Julian Serrano's Picasso at Bellagio, serving what Curtas calls "Cal-Ital-Mediterranean French" cuisine