Chef Roy Choi’s Stellar Best Friend Korean Barbecue Reopens at the Park MGM This Weekend

Best Friend, the Korean barbecue from chef Roy Choi, returns to the dining scene on Friday, March 19. The former Eater 38 restaurant from the star of The Chef Show with Jon Favreau on Netflix temporarily closed his restaurant a year ago when the state ordered all nonessential businesses — including restaurants, bars, and casinos — to shutter to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Park MGM reopened its hotel daily on March 5.

Choi opened his Las Vegas restaurant at the Park MGM in 2018 as a self-described Korean barbecue joint that merges Mexican influences, with a menu developed with Diego Echavarria, executive chef at Choi’s former dining outlets at the Line Hotel in Los Angeles. Diners enter the restaurant through the Liquor Store bar and retail outlet, then enter what Choi calls a “barbecue restaurant or a dim sum parlor on a Sunday afternoon,” where “all your manners go to the wind and you’re licking your fingers and reaching across the table and talking with your mouth full.”

Also reopening on Thursday, another member of the Eater 38, Costa Di Mare at Wynn Las Vegas, which temporarily closed on January 4. Here, chef Mark LoRusso brings fresh Mediterranean seafood and Italian cuisine with a pricey menu and über romantic vibe on the patio. Pastas made daily and more than 40 fish flown in from the coast of Italy highlight the menu here. Patrons should splurge on the langoustines in a private cabana, especially if they have an expense account or deep wallet. Patio dining available.

Also reopened, Beerhaus, the beer garden at the Park.

• 38 Standout Dining Destinations in Las Vegas [ELV]

• How Coronavirus Is Affecting Las Vegas Food and Restaurants [ELV]

• Las Vegas Casino Reopenings: All the Updates [ELV]