The Pepper Club opened in February inside the new English Hotel, a project that promises to make chef Todd English an international hotelier. The menu combines mediterranean influenced with Japanese ingredients for dishes like a burger that piles a tangle of soba noodles on the bun as well a sushi, fried rice, and a sizable bar where guests can drink through a menu of custom cocktails. The dessert menu suggests that guests add a night at the hotel, where they can wake up and enjoy brunch at the restaurant or next to the small but sunny pool.

Based on 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, this over two-hour, 16-course dinner that just debuted at Lost Spirits Distillery begins in a space that looks like a submarine before moving into an opulent dining room where dinner takes place in four parts. Dishes include an octopus served on a sword, a pig’s head brought out in the dark, and caviar-topped eggs serves in a Faberge egg. The dining room only seats 12, and diners can book any number of those seats (or all of them for a private dinner). Tickets are $240 per person and include a distillery tour.

Pho Ga Tony Tony opened in February in Chinatown, bringing it’s chicken pho, which it claims is “so good you’ll cry” to the Vegas masses. The order is obviously chicken pho, though they also serve beef noodles and a few other types of soup. Add on a quarter, half, or whole of their incredibly silky poached chicken to your order and enjoy in the restaurants comfortable dining room.

After a two-year hiatus, the Palms made its long-anticipated return in late April 2022, bringing with it the much-missed Mabel’s. Chef Michael Symon’s beer, barbecue, and Bourbon joint dishes smoked brisket and pork belly by the half-pound, along with sandwiches and sides. Located in a nearly 10,000-square-foot space at the Palms, a large patio beer garden makes it even better with games and frozen cocktails.

Another hit restaurant just back from the Palm’s two-year hiatus, Scotch 80 Prime made a name with tableside carts, a $3 million dollar whiskey collection, and an art collection that includes pieces from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, KAWS, Damien Hirst, and Scott Hove. The menu includes steaks, seafood, and sides like “millionaire’s maccheroni” with prosciutto, black truffle, poached egg, parmesan cream, and gold leaf. Opening hours are Sunday, Monday, and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday until 11 p.m. Scotch 80 is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Celebrity restaurants continue to dominate the Strip, and Lisa Vanderpump’s extremely weird new restaurant is a long-anticipated arrival. It’s designed to feel like traveling to Paris, but in a dark, gothic kind of way. A high-tech image behind the main bar shows a rain-soaked Paris to set the mood, and the drinks are broadly French with lots of Vanderpump branded liquor and wine. The food is designed for sharing and nibbling while drinking, and some of it arrives to the table in birdcages, which is original, if not particularly appealing.

keep Salt Bae, aka Nusret Gokce, the Turkish butcher turned social media star known for his unique technique of sprinkling salt off his elbow and onto large hunks of bloody meat, opened a Vegas outpost of his steakhouse in February. It’s a dark, sexy space with a menu of extremely expensive cuts of meat that can be made more expensive (though, notably, not more delicious) by having them covered in gold leaf. The focus is on the meat here, but desserts are inspired by Gokce’s Turkish background, with dishes like an Ottoman salad and baklava (also available wrapped in gold leaf.)

Chef and owner Rob Moore’s Italian American restaurant debuted on April 27 in the space that was formerly Blume Kitchen and Cocktails. The menu, which tips a cap to Moore’s New Jersey upbringing, includes cheese-laced risotto fritters, linguini with clam sauce, steaks, pizzas, and salads. Opening hours are 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.