Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Carnevino

Carnevino
3325 Las Vegas Blvd,South  ( Palazzo Hotel & Casino)
Las Vegas, Nevada
(701) 789-4141

When I was in Las Vegas this past February a few friends wanted to go for a good steak. In a city filled with great steak houses two options immediately came to mind; the Steak House at Circus Circus and Carnevino. Being a fairly regular visitor to Las Vegas I tend to eat around at as many different restaurants as possible and when it comes to steak these two are my favorites. My friends wanted to go to a top tier dinner, so the choice was clear dinner would be at Carnevino.

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Prior to the trip I had contacted the restaurant for reservations and put in a request for one of the super long dry aged 'riserva' steaks. Due to quality control they can not guarantee that one will be available, which is a shame, however I will side with the chef for not putting the best quality food on the table. Unfortunately I learned on arrival that I would not be dining on the rare delicacy that so few restaurants offer.

After browsing the menu and deciding that we were all rather hungry, we all took a 4 course approach to dinner knowing that food would be coming home with us at the end of the night. For myself I started with jamon Ibericao di bellota, a delicious spanish ham. For the pasta course I opted for the Spago, with lamb ragu it was surprisingly good, to the point that I would come back and order just the pasta for dinner in the future. The steak I decided on was the "La Fiorentina" a rather large porterhouse for two that has been dry aged for about 60 days. Knowing we had an enormous amount of food coming the table decided to take our sides as a table, the bacon & garlic mashed potatoes were creamy and delicious (and even came with a baconless side dish for our non-pork eating friend *a supurb job by Braydon the waiter on picking up on this) the vegetables were there to supplement the dinner.
My steak arrived table side on a chopping block, our wonderful waiter cut the amazing piece of beef and suggested that a light drizzle of olive oil and touch of salt are all that is recommended as seasoning. I dove right in and started with the filet side of the steak, it was tender, juicy and delicious. I caught myself and decided that the strip side needed to be eaten as well, although it was a little tougher this would have made one of the best strip steaks I have eaten in recent years.  Overall the steak was superb, if your interested in a high end steak and have someone to share it with I highly recommend trying this little monster. 
The wine was a Shiraz, not the best choice but an interesting and delicious dry but still super flavorful option.

The service at Carnevino is what sets it above so many other top end steak houses in Las Vegas. The careful attention to details and attention to diner experience is why I chose to take my friends for an unforgettable dinner.

Maybe next time I will be lucky and get to try a 'riserva'.