Eater Award winner Scotch 80 Prime has a new chef

Perhaps one of the nicest steakhouses off the Strip debuted in 2018 when the Palms revealed Scotch 80 Prime, part of the resort’s extravagant $690 million renovation that just wrapped up with Tim Ho Wan opening in September. Last year, it won best Off-Strip Restaurant of the Year in the Eater Awards.

Since opening, Barry Dakake, the chef who opened the restaurant and ran its predecessor N9NE Steakhouse, departed, leaving the steakhouse in a state of flux, until now. Here’s a look at what diners need to know about the restaurant, some of the things that changed, and what’s happening there right now.

A chef poses in a white jacket — Daniel Ontiveros takes over the kitchen at Scotch 80 Prime.

Daniel Ontiveros just came on board as executive chef. The veteran worked at Joël Robuchon at the MGM Grand, Comme Ca at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, and most recently, Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro at the Venetian.

2. Ontiveros added a new lineup of dishes including beef carpaccio with bone marrow, truffle aioli, arugula, crispy capers, and parmesan; Colorado lamb chops with sweet potato duchesse and tarragon lamb jus; Faroe Island salmon tartare with cucumber, harissa crème fraîche smoked salmon roe, and guafrette potatoes; and big eye tuna with black garlic shoyu, wasabi tobiko, green apple, and sesame lavash.

3. Ontiveros gave other dishes such as the seared scallops, Faroe Island salmon, and organic Mary’s chicken a makeover.

Shot glasses on ice with hamachi — Hamachi shots at Scotch 80 Prime

4. Scotch 80 Prime calls the hamachi shots with yellowtail hamachi, ponzu, Fresno chili, and micro shiso served in shot glasses over ice, “A soon to be favorite.”

5. Scotch 80 Prime still carries certified Japanese Kobe beef, joining a small roster of Las Vegas restaurants serving this delicacy. Strip loins of the perfectly marbled meat are available at $49 per ounce with a four-ounce minimum.

A seafood platter — The Mesquite-fired seafood tower at Scotch 80 Prime

6. The restaurant also serves some over-the top creations — a mesquite-fired crustacean tower, dazzling the dining room when it arrives with Maine lobster, white Mexican shrimp, New Bedford sea scallops, Spanish octopus, Alaskan king crab, and steamed New England little neck clams on a circular custom flame lit vessel, or the Russian Baller caviar tower with vodka shots.

A chocolate dessert — The Scotch & Cigar at Scotch 80 Prime

7. Scotch 80 Prime’s interactive dessert menu gets a bump from executive pastry chef Tammy Purdy. She created the Scotch & Cigar with smoked semifreddo, espresso panna cotta, orange cream, toasted hazelnuts, and coffee cake; a chocolate layer cake with chocolate cake, dark chocolate icing, and vanilla bean milk; and blueberry lemon cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, lemon curd, and blueberry leather. Of course, the restaurant has a banana split served table-side.

A wall of scotch — The whiskey collection at Scotch 80 Prime

8. The restaurant, known for its $3 million whiskey and scotch selection overseen by Cody Fredrickson, also rolled out a new whiskey-based cocktail collection, which includes the Utopia with rye whiskey, Redemption Rye, St. George spiced pear, and vanilla bean walnut bitters, and the O-Ren Ishii with Japanese whiskey, Suntory Toki, St. George raspberry, and yuzu.

A whiskey cocktail — I’m Bringing Pickle Back at Scotch 80 Prime

9. An Old Fashioned Globetrotter menu brings a roster of new whiskey styles through classic old fashioned cocktail variations. Menu highlights include the Elvis Has Left the Building, a nod to the King of Rock and Roll’s favorite snack, which uses Ambros Banana Whiskey and peanut butter-vanilla syrup, and the I’m Bringing Pickle Back, a playful twist on the pickle back shot made with Conor McGregor’s Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey and a house made potato-pickle syrup.

Whiskeys on a cart — The whiskey cart at Scotch 80 Prime

10. Diners can also order the Century of Dalmore flight, celebrating 100 years of The Dalmore Scotch with 25-, 35- and 40-year flights.

11. The restaurant takes its name from Las Vegas’ Scotch 80s neighborhood, an 80-acre plot of land north of the resort that was purchased in the early 1900s by the city’s first mayor, Peter Buol. Scottish investors funded the land buy that became home to Las Vegas icons such as Howard Hughes, Jerry Lewis, and former Mayor Oscar Goodman and his wife, current Mayor Carolyn Goodman.

The entrance to Scotch 80 Prime — The entrance of Scotch 80 Prime features an eight-foot statue by Kaws.

12. The steakhouse includes an over-the-top artwork collection with works from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Kaws, Damien Hirst, and Scott Hove. The entrance features an eight-foot statue by Kaws. Graffiti artist John Matos spray painted a wall opposite the bar. Hirst’s Believe with thousands of butterflies arranged in geometric patterns hangs on another wall. Damien Hirst’s N-Methylhydroxylamine, Andy Warhol’s Repent and Sin No More, and Damien Hirst’s Beautiful, Black and White, Good and Bad, Laurel and hardy, Keystone Cops, The Beatles, David Bailey Made the 60’s hang together.

A private dining room — The private dining room at Scotch 80 Prime

13. The two private dining rooms have their own artwork. Photographs by Jenny Boot decorate one while the other features original works by Jean-Michel Basquiat.

A very pink bathroom — The cake-inspired bathroom from Scott Hove at Scotch 80 Prime

14. Scotch 80 Prime has its own Instagram-worthy bathroom. Artist Scott Hove is known for creating cake-inspired art with a jolt of punk-rock edge. Diners at Scotch 80 Prime at the Palms can experience the pink, razor-sharp dichotomy of his world by visiting an unmarked stall in the restaurant’s bathroom. The stall features pastel pink walls with a white icing design, plus mirrors and a chandelier.

• All Coverage of Scotch 80 Prime [ELV]

• Eater Awards 2018: Announcing the Las Vegas Winners [ELV]

14 Things to Know About Eater Award Winner Scotch 80 Prime

Tim Ho Wan

Joël Robuchon

Scotch 80 Prime

A Henderson Steakhouse Known for Dry-Aging Has Closed

Everything You Need to Know About the New Durango Casino — November 2023

Bruno Mars Is Opening a Jazz Lounge on the Las Vegas Strip

14 Things to Know About Eater Award Winner Scotch 80 Prime

Share this story

Share All sharing options for: 14 Things to Know About Eater Award Winner Scotch 80 Prime