Searsucker, Las Vegas NV

There are countless dining options in Las Vegas. Make sure that Searsucker, in Caesar’s Palace, is one of your stops. Fabulous food, wonderful service.

It is extremely rare that I leave Oklahoma once August hits, because I’m so busy getting ready for football season. But I will occasionally make an exception…of course a trip to Vegas to celebrate Reilly’s birthday is reason enough!

Michele, Reilly and I flew to Vegas on Saturday afternoon, and Reilly’s cousin Barbara flew in from NYC. We stayed at the Tropicana. I heard mixed reviews, but it is pretty nice, due to a complete renovation about 10 years ago. Besides, in Vegas all you really need is a place to lay your head. The 18th floor is the smoking floor, and the smoke seeps down to the 17th floor, where my room was. Reilly and Michele were on the 19th floor and had no issues; that is the suite level, so the hotel ensures there is no smoke odor. I get that suite guests pay a lot more, but 17th floor guests shouldn’t have to deal with smoky rooms. Maybe the smoking floor should be above the suite level…or don’t have any smoking rooms at all. Anyways, I moved to the 14th floor and it was perfect.

Last year we went to dinner at Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace. It’s one of the best buffets I’ve ever been to, and the food is amazing. But we had a big group, so I didn’t take any pictures. We tried to go to Bacchanal Saturday evening, but it was a really long wait. Next we tried Bobby Flay’s restaurant, but they don’t allow men to wear ballcaps, and Reilly was wearing one. We kept walking, and came across Searsucker. There was no wait, so we went in.

Searsucker’s 4 locations are in San Diego (flagship location), Del Mar, Austin, and Las Vegas. The Las Vegas location seats about 100, and the seating is a combination of tables and half-booths. The tabletops look marble, and the chairs are a mix of materials. There is a good-sized bar on the right, a large open kitchen at the back, and the dining tables take up the rest of the space. We sat at a table right next to the kitchen. My initial thought was I wasn’t a fan, but that quickly changed as I watched the staff at work. The head chef was on our side of the kitchen, checking dishes before the servers picked them up. It looked like controlled chaos, but it works and they have it down to a science.

The Searsucker menu is slightly different in each location. The Las Vegas location does not offer brunch or lunch menus, but all locations offer happy hour, dinner, sweets and drinks. Searsucker offers happy hour food and drink prices from 5-7pm daily. The Searsucker dinner menu features Jars & Sliced (appetizers), greens, shared plates, from the grill, signature dishes, and sides.

One of the perks of sitting next to the kitchen is seeing what other guests order, and that is how we made a couple of our decisions. We all got entrees, plus asparagus and macaroni & cheese to share.

The asparagus was huge, and perfectly cooked. I didn’t try any of the sauce, but to me it really didn’t need any. The flavor from the char was plenty. Michele did say that the sauce was outstanding.

How fun that they use pinwheel macaroni! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that in a restaurant before. Wow, this mac & cheese is amazing. They use Vermont cheddar cheese, and they are very generous with the cheese. I love that they prepare it in the small skillets, so it comes to the table screaming hot and stays that way. Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, because we ordered 2 of them. I really wanted to take it to go, but we were too far from our hotel, and our next stop was downtown. I spent about 10 minutes trying to craft a way around that, and Michele even asked our waiter if he would deliver it to the room later. It’s Vegas, so you just never know. Sadly, he said he could not. But that leftover mac & cheese would be fantastic as a late-night treat.

Reilly got the fish & chips, and the fish is branzino

Yes, that is an entire fish! Branzino is a small European sea bass. By the time I tried a bite it was just warm, but the fish is delicious. Sweet potato fries are a very interesting twist on the traditional fish & chips, but a whole fish is unique as well. I tried the fries immediately, and they were scorching hot and very good.

Barbara got the salmon

I didn’t try any, but she said it was delicious.

Michele got the braised short ribs

Wow, the short ribs were fantastic. They are fork-tender, and have such a wonderful rich flavor. The mashed potatoes are very creamy, and it completely soaks up the delicious sauce.

I got the Searsucker burger, with duck fat fries

This burger is outstanding. The meat is ground in-house, has incredible flavor, and was cooked to a perfect medium. It is so juicy I eventually gave up and ate it with a knife and fork. The crispy onions add such a wonderful crunch and bite to the burger. The pickles are thick cut and have a nice, tart bite.

I am a huge french fry snob, and these duck fat fries will change your life. I really can’t even describe how good they are. Even after I was stuffed, I couldn’t stop eating them. I finally had our server just take them away.

Will I go back to Searsucker? Well of course. This was the best meal of our trip. It’s hard to justify going back to the same restaurants in Vegas because there are so many to choose from, but this may have to be an exception. My friend Mary lives in Austin, and I texted her while we ate and told her I need to come visit so we can go to Searsucker.

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