Of the three food halls that have opened most recently in casinos in Las Vegas, Eat Your Heart Out at Durango is the most popular, Promenade at Fontainebleau is the fanciest, and Canteen at the Rio is the most approachable.
Southland serves nachos ($8), loaded fries (brisket barbacoa, cheese, crema, guacamole, and two salsas, $12), and a half-dozen burritos, from the breakfast (eggs, bacon, potatoes, beans, cheese, guacamole, and salsa $11) to the chile colorado ($13). You can also build your own ($13) with your choice of all the different ingredients if, as the menu dares, “you think you can do better.” We did and got a brisket barbacoa burrito with avocado verde, along with the chips and salsa ($6). It was a major lunch, very good for fast food, and it provided two full meals for $20.59 with tax.
You can also get all the ingredients in a bowl. Next time, that’s what we’ll do; the burrito is really messy and the tortilla was a bit heavy for our taste, so it’ll be easier to build and eat a bowl than a burrito.
Still, so far, we’re three for three at the Canteen’s outlets.
On our first visit, we took a brief look around the Fbleau food hall and were underwhelmed by the offerings and overcome by the prices: $18 for a slice of pepperoni pizza and a Bud Light; $35 for chips and salsa, a burrito, and a churro; $20 for an orange juice and cinnamon roll; $16 for a chicken sandwich. Then there’s the expensive stuff: $18 for a bagel and lox; $22 for a Wagyu and quail-egg bowl; $25 for a cheeseburger and truffle fries. Yikes.
We were, however, impressed with the venue on the second floor of the building. It’s expansive, comfortable, and welcoming.
On the second visit, we dug deeper and we’re glad we did. This food hall is more than meets the eye. Yes, the burgers are dear, but Capon’s is a venue of Josh Capon, a celebrity chef in New York, after making his bones at restaurants all over Europe, appearing on numerous cooking shows, and winning the New York City Wine and Food Festival’s Burger Bash six times. The Smoke Show burger is slathered with mustard, then grilled and topped with cheese, strong pickles, and a signature onion-and-bacon jam.
Bar Ito’s proprietors are Michelin-starred chefs Kevin Kim and Masa Ito, who also own and operate ITO, a New York City omakase restaurant, and the ITO in the Poodle Room, Fbleau’s uber-exclusive members-only club on the 67th floor. Miami Slice, we understand, is one of the most popular pizza places in south Florida; the story is it took the proprietors two years to perfect the dough.
Likewise, El Bagel started as a popup at food truck events around Miami and gained a cult following; last year, Bon Appetit named El Bagel one of the “best bagels in the U.S.”
Still, as on our quest to try the least expensive item at Durango, we wanted to see how little we could get away with spending at the Promenade Food Hall. Next time, we’ll try the burger, a slice of pizza, or a taco, but this time, we opted for an everything bagel and butter, total price $3.99 (cream cheese raises it to $6.50).
We ordered at the counter. When we sat down at a table, we saw the QR code for the menu app and were surprised by how many more choices are available in the online ordering system than on the signs at the outlets. For example, we could have ordered the bagel toasted, untoasted, or even burnt. We could’ve added onion, tomato, jalapeno, or dill for an extra $1 (each, of course), plus lettuce ($2), Swiss or American cheese ($3), bacon or sausage ($4), pastrami ($5), or roe ($6). We’d have never known that just from reading the signs. The tacos have six substitutions, a dozen add-ons, and gluten-free and allergy-free choices. Bar Ito has a complete sushi menu—three handrolls ($33) or five ($50), with lobster, spicy scallop, hamachi, and roast shiitake.
We spent an enjoyable 15 minutes perusing all the different selections, while scarfing the bagel, with was excellent, by the way, oversized and the most loaded-with-everything everything bagel we’ve ever eaten. We’d go back for one — or a dozen — of those in a New York minute.
Roadside Taco and Break, the coffee and pastry bar, round out the Promenade’s offerings.
You’ve no doubt heard or read by now that Fontainebleau is a sparkling brand-new hotel-casino with numerous jaw-dropping and wow-inducing features and the seating area at Promenade is without a doubt the nicest of the two other recent openings (Durango and Rio) and in the top two of them all.
But nowhere is Fontainebleau more sparkling than in the bathrooms. It’s worth the trip just to see these—each at least five times more expensive than this reviewer’s entire house.
Chef Oscar Amador Edo grew up on the outskirts of Barcelona in a cooking family and owned and operated three successful restaurants in the city before taking the plunge and moving to Las Vegas in 2016.
After a brief stint in the kitchen of Le Cirque at Bellagio and launching a food truck making sandwiches, with a partner he opened Edo Gastro Tapas & Wine on the western edge of Chinatown (Jones and Spring Mountain). It immediately earned several local “restaurant of the year” awards. When Edo opened his second eatery, Anima by Edo (Russell and Durango), it was quickly named Best Restaurant of 2023 — in the whole country — by Yelp. Edo himself was also a finalist for a 2023 James Beard Outstanding Chef Southwest award and a semi-finalist for the same in 2024. With all the attention on this chef and his food, we spent an interesting evening sampling the offerings at Anima.
John Curtas, top Las Vegas restaurant critic for the past 30 years and author of our series Eating Las Vegas, recommended “all the appetizers and any pasta.” So we loaded up on the charcuterie of cold cuts and cheeses ($28) and the accompanying Catalan olive-oil bread ($8), artichoke salad ($23), beef tartare ($23), Peruvian scallops crudo ($21), octopus ($27), truffle cavatelli ($29), Bravas potatoes ($12), sprouted cauliflower ($18), and rhubarb-jam lemon-cream pistachio-powder mille-feuille dessert ($14).
scallops crudobeef tartare
If nothing else, it was a lot of food for one person. (Kidding; there were three of us.)
The charcuterie was fantastic, especially the very French and Italian cheeses, though the bread was a bit pedestrian.
We also adored the octopus and cauliflower.
octopuscauliflower
And we liked the cavatelli pasta (that came with a huge beef bone filled with yummy marrow); if we ever go back, octopus and cauliflower will fill the whole bill.
The three of us were less impressed by the tartare, artichoke salad, and raw scallops, while two liked the potatoes and one didn’t. The dessert was good, but it sounded better than it tasted.
With two drinks, the bill came to $227 before tax and tip — very expensive. But in the end, it was worth it to see what all the fuss is about. We mostly saw it, though not entirely.
The popular Texas-based Whataburger fast-food chain opened in Corpus Christi in 1950 and now has upwards of 1,000 locations in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and the South. It opened its first outpost in Nevada, its 15th state, in early February on the Strip in front of the Waldorf Astoria at City Center in the space formerly occupied by Bobby’s Burger Palace, though the two-story building is new.
Actually, several Whataburgers opened around Las Vegas starting in the 1970s, but slowly disappeared and were completely gone by the early ’90s.
The two-story restaurant also houses Parry’s Pizzeria & Taphouse. Parry’s is a chain that launched in 2007 in Colorado and now boasts 23 locations in the Southwest. It serves NY-style slices from 14 pies, 10 styles of never-frozen wings cooked to order, strombolis, and “Italian nachos,” along with cocktails and more than 100 beers on tap, with several local breweries represented.
This is the ultimate late-night play; both outlets are open 24 hours, 365 days a year.
You walk into the big ground floor of the standalone building and order from both the Whataburger and Parry’s Pizza menus at the same counter, unique in our fast-food experience.
Two huge screens are above the ordering-serving wall, probably 25 feet across and eight feet high. Ten more screens fill the walls around the room, all broadcasting sporting events.
Directly across from the order counter is Parry’s downstairs bar, with its triple-digit taps.
On the second floor is another bar, also Parry’s — a little more subdued and, dare we say, classy. You can take your food upstairs or the bartenders will order for you if you’re drinking; it’s delivered by food runners.
The whole front wall and part of the north-side wall on the second floor are sliding-glass doors. Two regular in-swinging doors on either end of the two walls open up to the outside and there’s an L-shaped deck with tables and couches. The view directly across the Strip is of BLVD, the new shopping and entertainment complex replacing the Hawaiian Marketplace and Cable Shops. You really get a feel for how massive this place will be: three stories, with 700 feet of Strip frontage, 400,000 square feet of shopping, and a 110,000-square-foot dining and event rooftop. No opening date has been announced, but it’s making major progress and we suspect the developers are shooting for November 2024 in time for the second-annual F1 race.
Even if the sliders are closed (primarily when it’s windy), you can go out on the deck, sit on the couches, and have a bird’s-eye view of center Strip.
We were trying Whataburger for the first time (a first try of Parry’s pizza will have to wait for another visit). We were frankly surprised by the number of people eating and waiting in line to order.
Then we saw the menu: breakfast served 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. with 30 items, from a breakfast burger and pancakes to a honey-butter chicken biscuit and taquito with cheese ($1.99-$7.99); then all-day burgers, patty melts, chicken strips and sandwiches, three salads, fries and onion rings, even a “secret menu” (veggie burger, grilled cheese, breakfast ranchero breakfast), all in the $1.79-$13.90 price range; and a dozen condiments (buffalo, honey bbq, jalapeno, spicy ketchup). All in all, the burger menu is much more extensive than other chains and with the Parry’s partnership, this place has something for everyone.
We weren’t particularly impressed with the burger and the fries were mealy and limp. Oh well. We were there more to check out the building, bars, balconies, and the bustling scene. And we will be back for the pizza, beer, and BLVD view.
We revisited Durango to take a closer look at the Eat Your Heart Out food hall.
EYHO is, actually, a hybrid space comprising both fast-food counters with common-area seating and sit-down restaurants with fairly expensive menus. The restaurants justify, we suppose, the description of the 25,000-square-foot food hall as “elevated,” the latest buzzword indicating fancier and more sophisticated than usual.
The fast food includes Irv’s Burgers, Uncle Paulie’s, Prince Street Pizza, Nielsen’s Frozen Custard, Vesta Coffee (with its own 10-seat counter), and the center bar, Drink. You order and pick up at the counters, like any fast fooderies, then sit in the common area or outside on the patio (it can be windy out there; we almost got blown away both times we visited in March).
The sit-down restaurants are Ai Pono Café for Hawaiian street food, Shang Artisan Noodle, Yu-or-Mi Sushi, and Fiorello Italian (which has a take-out window); the Oyster Bar is at an 18-seat counter (and is open 24/7).
We tried a burger from Irv’s and a sub from Uncle Paulie’s.
Irv’s traces its history back to 1946 when it opened in West Hollywood on Route 66, as Queen’s Burgers, one of the first roadside burger stands in the U.S. It was renamed Irv’s himself when Irv bought it in 1970; it was sold a couple times since then, though the name hasn’t changed, and the chain now has four locations in southern California and this one in Vegas.
Irv’s serves breakfast starting at 7 (till 11 a.m.) and continues with the burger menu till midnight, 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. The least expensive burger is the Just for You; at $4.50, it’s also the cheapest prepared food you can buy at Durango. Great L.A. reputation notwithstanding, you get what you pay for. It’s a sesame-seed bun, a patty, and a slice of American cheese; that’s it, folks. To us, the best thing about it were the sesame seeds.
To be fair, you’re supposed to build your ultimate burger from the Just for You and the add-ons: lettuce, tomato, pickle, raw or grilled onions, and/or hot honey mustard (.50 each), egg or hatch chile ($2), chili ($3), bacon ($3.50), even pastrami ($5), along with a choice of sauces (.50 to $4). But we wanted to go as cheaply as we could at upscale Durango.
The fries ($4), on the other hand, were the quality of In N Out and the quantity of Five Guys, making them perhaps the only bargain in a joint that proudly proclaims there are no bargains. With tax and tip, we were outta there for a bit more than $10. Next time, we’d probably try the Original Roadside Burger with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and Irv’s sauce for $8. That said, there’s an In N Out only a couple of miles away and we’d go there any day instead.
Uncle Paulie’s is another southern California brand with three outlets and this one at Durango. They call it a “deli,” but even an Italian deli is a stretch. It’s really a sub shop.
We got the cold Italian sub with unnamed cold cuts, provolone, roasted red peppers, lettuce, and vinegarn to compare it to the sandwiches at All’Antico right across the street. At $16, it was a buck or two less than All’Antico’s average price and it was a big sub, no arguing there, but that’s where the similarities end. It’s like the difference between Boticelli’s Primavera fresco in Florence and a velvet Elvis at the Bonanza gift shop. Why buy generic American at a casino when you can get celebrated Italian with just an eight-minute walk across Durango?
We didn’t try any Prince Street Pizza; frankly, it didn’t look like anything special. If we find ourselves at Durango sometime in the future, we’ll sample some Nielsen’s Frozen Custard, but don’t hold your breath for a review.
As part of its retrofitting with coin- and token-operated slots and $5 blackjack tables, Slots A Fun is giving the Stage Door a run for its bargain money by serving $2 Heinekens, hot dogs, and shrimp cocktails, all at the bar.
You can never go wrong with $2 Heinies in bottles or cans, we like to say.
And the $2 shrimp cocktail isn’t too shabby either. It comes in a two-cup setup, with the tartar sauce at the bottom of the big cup and six medium shrimp and a bed of lettuce in the smaller top cup.
Initially, we were a little unimpressed, counting only five shrimp, 40¢ apiece. But one was hiding under the lettuce, bringing the price down to 33¢ and putting this deal over the top as a new Top Tenner.
Included in the decision are: 1) Slots A Fun is easy to get to if you come in the back way on Sammy Davis Jr. Drive, parking in the Circus Circus lot or garages; 2) parking is absolutely free; 3) the previous Top Ten shrimp at the Fremont dropped out after another price raise; and 4) it’s a two-minute walk across the street to Fontainebleau, which is a must-see if it’s your first time. (By walking through Slots A Fun, perhaps playing a few quarters or tokens, and getting a shrimp cocktail at the bar, you’ve done your duty for parking gratis at Circus.) And 4) the soundtrack of quarters and dollar tokens crashing down into the metal hoppers of the old-time slot machines hasn’t been heard around here for a long time and if you’re at all nostalgic for Las Vegas the way it used to be, this is the place to experience it.
Circus Circus – Circus Buffet: This week is dinner during the weekdays only so far. Mon-Thurs, 5 p.m. 9 p.m. at $24.95.
Cosmopolitan – Wicked Spoon: Breakfast and lunch menus are separated by time now. Weekday breakfast is Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-11 a.m. Weekday Lunch is Mon-Fri, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Both priced at $47.
South Point – Garden Buffet: Lunch went up from $20.95 to $22.95. Prime Rib & Champagne Brunch went up from $29.95 to $30.95. And Prime Rib Dinner ft. Peel & Eat Shrimp went up from $29.95 to $30.95.
When we heard a renowned shop that at least one food journal named as serving the best sandwiches in the world was coming to town, we couldn’t wait for it to open. It took eight months, then one more for us to get there.
All’Antico Vinaio means “At the Ancient Wine Merchant” and describes the location of the first shop that opened in Florence, Italy, in 1989 across from a wine bar. In Las Vegas, it’s located at the unfinished UnCommons mixed-use district in the southwest valley. It’s the brand’s third location in the U.S.; the other two are in Manhattan and Venice, California.
It occupies a surprisingly cramped storefront, with seven workers in constant motion behind the small counter, especially the two beefy people operating the meat slicers, one on each side of the counter — back and forth, back and forth, slicing and stacking cold cuts and stopping only to change meat.
And the word is out about All’Antico; customers were lined up all the way back to the door when we were there on a Monday afternoon. You can eat at a couple of two tops and a dozen or so stools against high tables at windows overlooking the street, but it’s pretty cramped; two tables are outside the windows on the sidewalk as well.
The sandwiches are made with freshly baked schiacciata (skia-CHA-tah), a chewy Tuscan flatbread. In the photo below, the sandwich maker is preparing our three-sandwich order from a half-loaf.
Between the bread are meat, cheese, and vegetables, all lined up neatly in the long display case.
The sliced meats include capicollo, two kinds of prosciutto, lardo (Italian fatback), pancetta (salt-cured pork belly), and sbriciolona (fennel-seed salami), with various cheeses like gorgonzola, mozzarella, stracciatella (mozzarella soaked in cream), and other soft cream cheeses (pecorino, nduja, truffle, pistachio), along with fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, spicy eggplant, and grilled vegetables.
Prices start at $12 for the Caprese (mozzarella, tomato, and fresh basil) and go up to $20 for the lardo-gorgonzola-truffle-honey combo. The signature sandwich is the Favoloso: sbriciolona, pecorino cream, artichoke cream, and spicy eggplant. Signs on the countertop advertise two or three daily specials.
We got the Caprese, Favoloso, and Paradiso with mortadella, stracciatella, pistachio cream, and pistachio ($18). The total bill with tip came to $51.
Pricey for three sandwiches, yes, but these are huge; each can easily feed two and the three we brought back to the office satisfied appetites for more than two days. Also, with the specialty bread, the authentic Italian ingredients, and the experience in the small shop, this is a true taste of the birthplace of the Renaissance.
We were pleased that All’Antico isn’t part of the Sundry food hall at Uncommons, which is directly across the street, so we didn’t have to contend with a hostess, QR codes, and ewallets. Instead, you get your food the old-fashioned way: by walking in, waiting in line, and telling the people behind the counter what you want face to face; they make it for you as you watch and wrap it up; you take it to the cashier, pay, and you’re back out on the street with a big bag of food.
To get there, from Durango Road just west of the 215 Beltway and directly across from Station’s Durango Hotel-Casino, turn onto Maule and take your first left. Drive to the end of Helen Toland Street, park in the P2 garage, and All’Antico is right across the street on the corner. There are a few street-parking spots if you can grab one.
We highly recommend All’Antico Vinaio. It’s unique not only in Las Vegas, but all over the world, except New York, L.A., and Florence itself, as well.
[Editor’s Note: We received this trip report from Mike B, who goes to the lobster buffet at the Palms each time he comes to Las Vegas. In this, his second about the lobster feast, he relates his experience with the new reservations system and provides fabulous photographic evidence of the entire process and meal. Thank you, Mike!]
I went on a Wednesday. Luckily, a week before my trip, I read about the new entry procedure and made a reservationfor 4 p.m. I received a text confirmation that day and another a couple of days before my reservation.
I wanted to get there a little early to get the coupon validated at the Club Serrano booth; just as I arrived at the casino, I received a third text alerting me that my table would be ready a half-hour early.
I went to the rewards booth, validated my coupon, and headed over to the buffet.
When I got there, one person was ahead of me at the front where you see the greeter. I was quickly sent to the cashier where I paid and was immediately seated.
All I can say is WOW! What a difference from last September when I waited in line for a couple of hours. I’m not sure if this buffet has become less popular than then, but this time, it couldn’t have gone any smoother. I would say the seating area was about 75% full. No real lines at any of the food stations.
All of the food was as delicious as last time and the service was good.
Last month we wrote about the good chicken fingers at Tender Crush, one of the outlets in the Rio’s Canteen Food Hall. This month we tried Tony Luke’s at Canteen. Billed as “The Real Taste of South Philly,” it’s been operating there since 1992 and now has outlets in several states. The Rio’s is the first in Nevada and farthest west. Hours are 11 a.m.-10 pm (11 p.m. Friday and Saturday).
Sandwiches
There are a dozen cheesesteaks and hoagies on the menu, made with steak, chicken, or pork, plus a veggie option. The cheesesteaks come with choice of American cheese, Kraft Cheez Whiz, or mild provolone. The roast pork comes with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe or spinach. We’re not from Philadelphia, but we think that’s the way they’re supposed to be made. They’re $13-$15, but extras might push that up. For example, a traditional cheesesteak is $13, but if you want mushrooms, it’s $2 additional (the peppers are standard). We tried the traditional cheesesteak with mushrooms ($15). We also had the steak hoagie ($14).
CheesesteakHoagie & CheesesteakHoagie
Verdict
In Philly it’s “Pat’s or Geno’s.” In Vegas we make our cheesesteak comparisons with Capriotti’s. We still like Caps, but it’s close. We didn’t get the hoagie; it’s a cheesesteak with vegetables and Mayonnaise. We weren’t thrilled. Paying for the add-ons is buzz kill, but it’s a food hall after all.
This makes it two for two thumbs up at the Canteen (tenders and cheesesteak). Our next target? Either Sushi or Ramen (we can’t decide).
