In a modern restaurant with an al fresco rooftop and a rock and roll sensibility reminiscent of its founder, the late celebrity chef Kerry Simon, this downtown restaurant shakes up the menu seasonally, exploring new ways to play with comfort foods. Reliable mainstays include a cast iron skillet filled with sweet and smoky bacon jam and a slice of melted Havarti, ready to be scooped onto toasted slices of baguette. Perfectly cubed bites of pork belly are standouts in a pool of ocher buffalo sauce. And you can’t go wrong with the signature appetizer of crispy chicken skins with smoky honey.

Honey Salt on the west side could pass for the dining room at restaurateur Elizabeth Blau and chef Kim Canteenwalla’s home with its comfort foods and relaxing decor. Known for its farm-to-table-inspired cooking, favorites here include the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich and bacon grilled cheese for lunch and banana foster french toast with almond granola and chocolate pearls for brunch. Stop in during happy hour, when the chicken sandwich is available as a slider for $6. 

If the lines outside Tacos El Gordo are any indication, the wildly popular tacos are still one of the can’t-miss experiences in Las Vegas. What the cafeteria-style restaurant lacks in ambiance, it more than makes up for in flavor. Each of the Tijuana-style tacos here is bursting with spice and texture. Arrive hungry and sample a few varieties, each about $3.50, by queueing separately for each kind of meat. In one line, order carne asada. In another, ask for extra pineapple to go with the al pastor. Mulas, with cheese melted between the taco’s two corn tortillas are also worth ordering. Bring cash for tipping both at the counter when orders are placed and when paying.

With barely-there lighting, red and black damask wallpaper, and a bar stocked with a veritable century’s worth of cocktail fixins, Nectaly Mendoza’s off-Strip steakhouse and bar feels at once like both a romantic date spot and 1920s speakeasy. Whether dining at a table or at the bar, the move here is to order steak. Happy hour runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and after midnight — though sometimes it’s all-day, which means your steaks, pork chops, and spicy mussels are likely to be half-priced no matter when you stop in. The cocktail menu here is broken up by decade so you can start with something like a gin-based Martinez from the Gothic Age, follow up with a Hemingway daiquiri from the Prohibition era, and enjoy a painkiller from the tiki boom with dessert. 

José Andrés went all out with his steakhouse at Sahara Las Vegas with Candace Ochoa at the helm of the kitchen. A raw bar with ceviches and carpaccios and a fire stage with wood grills and rotisseries make Bazaar Meat more than a standard steakhouse. Fan-favorite dishes include the cotton candy foie gras, caviar flights, and Kobe beef (Bazaar is one of a handful of spots in Vegas that serve the real deal), which can be grilled on an ishiyaki stone at the table or served in a miniature airbread “sandwich” on the specials menu.

Nicole Brisson, a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef Southwest, teamed up with Jason Rocheleau, an alum of Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, to open Brezza at Resorts World, an Eater Vegas 2022 Eater Award winner for Restaurant of the Year for its hand-made pasta, breezy dining room and fragrant pockets of cappellacci “oreganata.” The coastal Italian restaurant sits in the District, the 70,000-square-foot shopping center at the front of the resort facing Las Vegas Boulevard. The menu spans antipasti, fresh crudo, handmade pastas, and a Tuscan-style wood-fired grill, where sustainable seafood, dry-aged steaks, and  seasonal produce are all charred over white oak and olive branches.

Every city needs a good diner, and the Peppermill with its neighboring Fireside Lounge, all wrapped in neon nostalgia on the north Strip, fulfills that need. The 14-page menu runs the gamut from omelets and French toast to burgers and steaks. And atmosphere is available in spades — from the mirrored walls to the indoor artificial trees to the shakers of pretty rainbow sprinkles available at every table. No trip here is complete without a trip to the Fireside Lounge with its kitschy fire pit, enormous cocktails with equally proportioned bendy straws, and electric pink, blue, and violet decor.

Tucked behind a nondescript storefront in a Chinatown strip mall, Edo Tapas & Wine serves savory dishes inside a moody, chandelier-illumined dining room. Chef Oscar Amador Edo grew up in Barcelona, Spain and brings his own approach to tapas with hot and cold dishes, charcuterie, and a rotating tasting menu. Order a bikini, a pressed sandwich with sobrasada and Mahon cheese, as well as a 30-day dry-aged striploin carpaccio with puri bread, and “textures of artichokes,” an exploration of the vegetable done three ways. 

The long-awaited Delilah, the breathtaking supper club from H.Wood Group at Wynn Las Vegas, features a two-level space with lavish chandeliers, a fireplace, and entertainers dancing alongside a live jazz band. Executive chef Josh Smith’s take on refined American fare includes Wagyu beef Wellington, a reinvented — and high-end — chicken TV dinner, and Dover sole fish and chips with pommes soufflé. The decadence extends to the desserts, where a strawberry shortcake baked Alaska leads the way.

One of the most impressive sushi experiences in Chinatown starts at Yui Edomae. The edomae sushi restaurant from Chef Gen Mizoguchi, who changed the sushi game in Vegas when he opened his lauded Kabuto, features three sophisticated high-end omakase menus, ranging from $180 to $290. The omakase is prepared and served in a simple, intimate dining room where dishes of nigiri and sashimi — unburdened by sauces or heavy flavors — are the star. Standouts include uni nigiri with a dab of hand-grated wasabi, buttery bites of salmon and very very fatty tuna.

Every chef in town stops by Mitsuo Endo’s tiny restaurant in Chinatown for small-portioned Japanese robata dishes cooked over a charcoal grill. Diners can order a variety of items since most start at $3, or try the omakase with a flight of food chosen by the chef for $75 to $100. Inside the moody restaurant with sleek metallic details, order the agedashi tofu with salmon roe and a vinegary dipping sauce. The green tea soba noodles with poached egg and bonito flakes are texturally satisfying and the hot skewered yellowtail is seasoned in all the right ways.

Colin Fukunaga’s Japanese-influenced burgers, which gained something of a cult following when only available by food truck, now have a permanent home in Chinatown and in the southwest. Located in what used to be a Taco Bell (the 90s-style kind with the three archways), the counter-service restaurant has been retrofitted with a red and gray color palette and graphic stickers. Visitors should try the namesake FukuBurger, aka the “Lucky” burger, with an all-beef patty with American cheese topped with lettuce, tomato, onions, wasabi mayo, and fuku sauce.

Tiny Kabuto in Chinatown serves sushi that blurs the lines between food and art. Inside the 22-seat restaurant, Chef Gen Mizoguchi made Edomae sushi, a style that highlights high-quality seafood served by the piece over vinegar-seasoned rice. Before leaving the restaurant in 2014, Mizoguchi built a reputation for Kabuto as one of the best sushi restaurants in the country. Both the omakase, and the venue, are modest — with the short interval between when a chef prepares a piece of nigiri and a guest eats it at the forefront. Reservations are a must to make sure you can grab a seat at the sushi bar and enjoy bites of fish, flown in daily from Tokyo Bay, still lightly warmed by your chef’s hands.

Showstopping Cantonese, Shanghainese, and Sichuan dishes from chef Ming Yu pair with the elegant gold, white, and jade dining room inspired by a classic Chinese jewel box at Wing Lei at Wynn Las Vegas. Wing Lei, the first Chinese restaurant in North America to earn a Michelin star, features views of century-old pomegranate trees and serves must-order dishes such as Imperial Peking duck carved table side, mu shu pork, and wok-fried Maine lobster. 

Stepping into this recent addition to Spring Mountain Road is like taking a step back in time to 1980s Korea, where neon lights reflect off the tiled tables, walls are covered in striped awnings and neon signs, and disco balls cast bright little reflections on shareable plates of bulgogi and pork belly. Inspired by small pubs and vintage Korean convenience stores, the lively atmosphere best accommodates larger groups looking for good food and a late-night atmosphere. For the table, start with the tteokbokki, rice cakes served in a fiery gochujang sauce with noodles and dumplings; add an order of the cheese dak galbi with stir-fried chicken and sweet potato. If you’re sticking around until the DJ comes on, go with flavored soju or canned Terra beer. On July 14, the name switches over to Napal Baji BBQ and will include an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue option.

Chef Gina Marinelli’s Eater Award-winning restaurant in Summerlin, La Strega, brings an ever-changing menu of dishes from across Italy. Marinelli draws on traditions she learned from her grandparents, who hail from Lake Como and Sicily. The Peruvian Bay scallops are deftly seared and plated with smoky pearls of trout roe while the bucatini is perfectly balanced with spicy jalapeno pesto and sweet kernels of corn. Complete with a dining room and lounge decked in sage and clay color tones and mid-century modern-style lamps, it’s the ideal spot to dine out in Summerlin.

A killer raw bar and innovative cocktails greet diners at Other Mama on the west side across from Desert Breeze Park. The tight menu includes oyster specials, ceviches and sushi, and larger options like Japanese fried chicken, miso ribs, and kimchi fried rice, all served in a low-key setting with a bar overlooking the cooking action. The industry favorite restaurant offers a fairly modest interior, but the deviled eggs topped with crispy oysters and French toast caviar do all the heavy lifting.

Costas Spiliadis’ Greek restaurant re-emerged on the Las Vegas Strip last year, opening with its signature fish market display, open kitchen, and yogurt room at the Venetian Resort. Estiatorio Milos flies in its fish daily from the Mediterranean and presents them on ice for patrons to choose from. Selections are usually prepared one of three ways: baked whole in sea salt, charcoal-grilled with olive oil, lemon juice, and capers, or served sashimi-style. The result is a practice in simplicity, with flaky, tender pieces of fish intermingled with salt and citrus.

The Gold Coast’s Ping Pang Pong is the gold standard for dim sum by day and Cantonese dishes by night. More than 80 dim sum dishes — spanning from a mango lobster and scallop roll to an aromatic bun with southern Canton five-spice duck — wheel through the dining room steamed, fried, or grilled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. By night, smoked orange rib-eye steak cubes seared with peppercorn and toasted garlic and a Macanese crustacean claypot with a ginger laksa curry broth make the menu until 3 a.m. A Chinese pergola, Chinese lanterns overhead, and a host stand made from a Chinese apothecary cabinet add to the ambiance. Expect a wait or make a reservation in advance.

Revered Lotus of Siam serves chef and owner Saipan Chutima’s northern Thai cuisine, including a menu of Thai-style stews and coconut-less curries, all served with a spice level of 1 to 10. Diners should start with nam-prik-ong, a red chili dip, then try a roasted duck curry, garlic prawns, or thum-ka-noon with its mix of pork, jackfruit, tomato, and spices. The exceptional wine menu of sweet Gewürztraminers and Rieslings cut the heat. 

Following a two-year hiatus, chef Marc Vetri’s Vetri Cucina is again open atop the Palms Casino. It’s hard to rival the view that looks out over the Las Vegas Strip from the main dining room, but Vetri does so with just-made pastas like a silky chestnut fettuccine with boar ragu and cocoa, and entrees like supple roasted hen married with prosciutto and foie gras. The restaurant is small — just 75 seats — but charming and sunfilled, just right for dining on rustic Italian while live music plays.

Spago originally opened in 1992 and ushered in a new era of dining in Las Vegas with celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck at the helm. This revamped version at the Bellagio features California fare with views that practically touch the Fountains at Bellagio. Housemade campanelle with pork ragout join miso-marinated salmon with yuzu butter on the menu. While diners at every seat in the house have their own views of the fountains, request a seat on the covered patio for a front-row show.

While José Andrés finally brought his divine tapas and paellas to Vegas, it’s é by José Andrés inside Jaleo at the Cosmopolitan that stands out for its creative tasting menu set before a vibrant red backdrop. Diners must make reservations far in advance to nab one of the eight seats for this exclusive multi-course meal. The menu, assembled in front of customers with tweezers and dry ice, changes constantly; one night may include scallop with black truffle, the next a literal bag of wild mushrooms, and another may feature foie gras encased in a cotton candy dumpling, a sprinkle doughnut or a slice of Wonder Bread.

Michael Mina’s French bistro inside Aria serves comfort food including loup de mer and black cod bouillabaisse in a handsome room with subway tiles and rich woods. Even the cocktails here tout the eccentricities of Paris, paying homage to the classics such as the Sidecar from Harry’s Bar and Serendipity from Bar Hemingway, all with their own twists. Brunch here — with dishes like garlicky escargot and croque madame — is also a must.

The Aria location of the decadent Italian-American restaurant Carbone features captains serving dishes tableside and seductive red velvet booths set in a circle so everyone has a view of the dining room drama. Lobster fra diavolo, chicken scarpariello, veal Parmesan, and spicy rigatoni are just some of the folkloric dishes here, but octopus pizzaiolo and pickled cauliflower are worth considering. Daring diners can put themselves in the captain’s hands ​​— that is, if money is no object.