The Mesa Grill

Tasting LA went to Las Vegas this weekend to check out the local sites and restaurants. We didn't really plan out our trip except that we (aka my friend since I'm scared of the phone) made reservations at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill for Saturday night.

Ever since his first appearances on Boy Meets Grill, Bobby's cooking has intrigued both my husband and I. This is the first chef we saw that cooked basic meats using spices and specifically different types of chili to make things interesting.

It's a good thing we had reservations, when we arrived 15 minutes early for our reservation, we were surprised to find the restaurant completely packed already with a wait!

The atmosphere at the Mesa Grill is pretty nice considering it is right in the middle of a casino. I was a little disappointed that some of the smokey smell from the casino was coming in through the cracks between the glass, however that didn't really deter me from enjoying the meal.

The food really lived up to my expectations. The menu isn't that large but you can tell that each dish is prepared with expert care to detail. My husband and I decided to order at least one thing from every course as we knew we wouldn't be racking up the bill on alcohol.

At the suggestion of other reviews, I started with the Blue Corn Duck Pancake. This is more like a blue corn crepe stuffed with bbq'd duck in a sweet sauce and then topped with a little chili sauce and some unidentifiable greens. This dish was incredibly rich! The pancake was cooked to perfection and not at all dry, the duck was rich and delicious and the flavor could only be cut by the greens on top and a dip in the chili sauce.

While we waited for our next courses to come, we savored the bread basket on our table. I was disappointed to find a hard cold round of butter in the small dish served alongside. Tell me, friends of the world, how do you spread cold butter on fresh bread? The highlight bread for us was the jalepeno bread that seemed to have some sort of cheesy crust. There was also a raisin bread that I actually enjoyed despite my dislike of raisins; and the famous blue & yellow corn muffin studded with jalepenos. I thought this muffin was a bit dry for my taste--I bet it would be good with butter...but without a small plate or warm butter the crumbs got all over the place instead.

Our main courses came, Joey had the ribeye with a chili spice rub and a side of mashed potatoes with a creamy cheese sauce. I had the pork tenderloin rubbed on the outside in different chilis and topped with a chili sauce similar to the one that came with the duck pancake. The tenderloin also came with a sweet potato tamale with pecan butter. While the dish at first didn't seem like a very big portion, I was nearly busting at the seems trying to finish it and half the potatoes. The pork was cooked as I have never had it before, succulently tender with a melt in your mouth feel. The outside of the pork was covered in a chili spice rub that was actually a bit firery for my taste, but still very flavorful. The sweet potato tamale was delicious but filling and I could barely eat half of it, despite it's small size. Joey's ribeye was flavorful especially where the fat marbled accentuating the flavors. I've never thought of adding cheese sauce to mashed potatoes--but let me tell you, it's a great idea! The potatoes were creamy and slightly cheesy--hard to differentiate from melted butter.

Even though we were completely stuffed by the end of the main course, we decided we had to order dessert. The menu had some tempting options--like churros with dark chocolate dipping sauce. I was kind of leaning towards those even though I'd heard that they weren't particularly amazing--but I was so full, could I really eat a bunch of deep fried dough? I guessed not so we ordered the blueberry lime tart with blueberry marshmallow swirl ice cream. Midway through eating the shortbread-like crusted delight, we learned from our informative waiter that there was actually no marshmallow in the ice cream, it was just meant to taste like the texture of marshmallows. No matter, it was totally delicious with a cascade of cooked blueberries on the side, this dish was a perfect end to a delicious dinner.

The Mesa Grill

Caesar's Palace, in the Forum Shops Casino

Las Vegas, NV

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