Bazaar Meat – Las Vegas

The partnership between chef José Andrés and luxury boutique hotel brand SLS was legendary, first spawning Beverly Hills’ iconic original Bazaar restaurant in 2009 before an equally impressive South Beach, Florida sequel opened with its own menu in 2012. Rather than duplicating either experience for the SLS Las Vegas, Andrés created a third menu for the notoriously steakhouse-loving city in 2014, and called that version “Bazaar Meat.”

Bazaar Meat preserves perhaps one-third to one-half of the original Bazaar Menu while adding a significant collection of steaks and steak-friendly side dishes, including some borrowed from other luxe dining rooms (such as Joël Robuchon mashed butter… err, potatoes). A dark but sophisticated dining room lined with cozy sofa-like group seating and trophy taxidermy unapologetically aimed for the scotch and cigar crowd, promising superb service with the option to sample modernist small plates, rather than an obligation. (Another Bazaar Meat location in Chicago has since opened, with the same basic formula.)

Along with the recently opened Bazaar Mar – the seafood flip side of Bazaar Meat – this is now the closest one can get to Andrés’s famous tasting menu experiences (minibar and é) without securing one of their notoriously challenging reservations. You can and should order famous little plates such as the cotton candy foie gras, served like lollipops, and spherified olives originally served at Spain’s el Bulli, as well as José’s Tacos made with nori paper, famous Spanish jamón ibérico ham, Ossetra caviar, and gold leaf. Smoked oysters arrive with actual smoke; tartares and carpaccios with some of the most intensely flavored tomatoes, beef, or bison ever served.

Even cocktails get special treatment here. The Floral Cloud, Foggy Hill, and Cedar and Agave dramatically make use of smoke, fog, and aromatics, while the Salt Air Margarita uses an Andrés-developed salt foam, and the Magic Mojito arrives with cotton candy on top. A Nitro-Caiparinha presents the classic Brazilian drink as a frozen sorbet by using liquid nitrogen tableside, an especially great presentation that has been used for one cocktail at every Bazaar location.