Sin City is home to a lot of restaurants and bars, but there are tons of hidden gems that the majority of Las Vegans aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's food players to share their recommendations for a weekly feature dubbed Dining Confidential. Know a chef who wants to share some top dining spots? The tipline is open.
Billy DeMarco [Photo: The Morton Group]
William "Billy" DeMarco, the chef behind Crush at the MGM Grand and La Cave at Wynn Las Vegas, started his culinary career working for Sammy DeMarco, eventually becoming the executive chef at First, Merge and District in New York City. Four years later, DeMarco moved on to The River Café in Brooklyn. He moved to Vegas in 2005 to work at Aureole at Mandalay Bay and then joined Wynn Las Vegas as executive chef of The Buffet, where he oversaw 16 cooking stations. In 2008, he joined the Morton Group, and now as the corporate executive chef he oversees the food programs at La Comida in Downtown Las Vegas and La Cave Wine & Food Hideaway and Crush. Here he shares three of his favorite restaurants in Las Vegas.
Which restaurants do you turn to when you're not working?
Hot N Juicy, Rose.Rabbit.Lie. at Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and Shibuya at the MGM Grand.
What dishes are most memorable?
The Hot N Juicy seasoned King crab legs. They're steamed in a plastic bag, nothing fancy here but good seasoning, good amount of spice and big chunks of crab meat.
The caviar flatbread at Rose.Rabbit.Lie. is probably one of the best things that I have eaten in a long time. It's a crispy flatbread pizza topped with caviar, strips of bacon and Alfredo sauce (I think). It's awesome.
Shibuya at MGM's Wagyu foie gras gyoza is five crispy Wagyu beef and foie gras gyoza potstickers, garlic oil and Ponzu sauce. Sometimes I order two and eat them while I'm working at Crush.
Why do you enjoy going there?
Hot N Juicy's great because it's simple with a plastic table cloth, a plastic bib, a roll of paper towels and that's it. There's no forks or knives, you're just eating with your bare hands and throwing the shells on the table, that's the fun of it. Just don't wear a good shirt, it does get messy.
Rose.Rabbit.Lie. has a small plate concept going on that I love. I love being able to try multiple items without feeling stuffed and the prices are pretty reasonable for a Strip restaurant. There's not one thing on this menu that I tried that I didn't like and the free shows that they have while you eat are a nice bonus too.
Shibuya is kind of my go-to restaurant if I'm on that side of The Strip. You can't go wrong with anything on the menu, the sushi and sake is all good and it's a pretty cool looking restaurant too.
· All Coverage of Crush [~ELV~]
· All Coverage of La Cave [~ELV~]
· All Dining Confidentials [~ELV~]
