What Chef Barry Dakake Plans to Serve at His New Vintage Steakhouse at Circa

Barry’s Downtown Prime, the new steakhouse opening at Circa in October from chef Barry Dakake, hypes up its menu filled with staples and table-side presentations. Dakake, formerly at Scotch 80 Prime and N9NE Steakhouse at the Palms, teams up with Yassine Lyoubi, Marco Cicione, and Donnie Rihn for this steakhouse filled with vintage glamour and classic dishes with a modern twist.

Perhaps the highlight of the menu involves table-side presentations. A lobster flambé, brings a decadent entire Maine lobster sautéed with rigatoni noodles and a pink vodka sauce. Steak Diane marries center cut rib-eye steak and a Worcestershire-brandy mushroom sauce that is prepared and sliced at the table. Dessert is just as over the top with a baked Alaska flambé served with strawberry ice cream and Italian meringue and the Campfire S’mores, roasted at the table and finished with homemade vanilla ice cream.

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Steaks of course form the centerpiece of the restaurant. A 12-ounce rib cab, the signature cut of the restaurant, is roasted over fruitwood and 900-degree coals. Tomahawk rib-eye steak and Japanese wagyu beef also land on the menu.

Dakake plans to serve organic chicken topped with mushrooms sautéed in sage butter and prosciutto crisp and steakhouse staple surf and turf dinner with an 8-ounce filet mignon paired with Maine lobster and served with a homemade roasted garlic aioli and a red wine sauce.

On the seafood side of the menu, sea scallops sautéed with a Fresno chili-miso glaze and served with steamed bok choy, Napa cabbage, and asparagus; a surf and turf sushi roll made with Maine lobster, peppered beef tenderloin, toasted sesame seeds, and fire tartar sauce; and a chilled shellfish platter stocked with Maine lobster, king crab legs, East and West Coast oysters, shrimp cocktail bites, and an octopus and calamari salad.

Dakake plans to offer vegan dishes as well, such as a Romanesco broccoli steak with grilled Moroccan olives, roasted peppers, toasted pine nuts, and white raisins, and vegetable truffle meatloaf with roasted root vegetables and topped with a rye whiskey mushroom gravy and fresh truffles.

Aside from those table-side desserts, the steakhouse has a classic crème brûlée, topped with berries and an orange pistachio biscotti; Barry’s flourless chocolate cake, served with blood-orange sorbet; and seasonal, homemade ice creams and sorbets.

Dakake brought on chef de cuisine Patrick Hodge III, who has a degree from the Pennsylvania Institute of Culinary Arts. Hodge began his career cooking alongside chef Charlie Palmer, and then went to work with Dakake in 2001 at N9NE Steakhouse.

The steakhouse plans to be open nightly from 5 to 11 p.m. The restaurant opens October 28.

• First Look Inside the New Vintage Steakhouse from Chef Barry Dakake Opening in October [ELV]

• All Coverage of Barry’s Downtown Prime [ELV]

• Everything to Know About Downtown’s New Circa Resort Opening in October [ELV]