Nine

Thursday, May 22, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Eat: Recommended Restaurants

Where the boys & girls are

By James P. Reza

If you are one of those professional diners who rates a restaurant based strictly on the successof its menu and kitchen, you may as well move along. While most of these restaurants offer varying examples of quality food, attentive service and inspiring decor, this list is more concerned with who's doing the ordering. When raging hormones strike, teens go to the mall, college students hit the coffeehouse, and us...well, we just sit back, order large and hope to impress the table to the left.

Ah Sin

3655 Las Vegas Blvd. South ; 967-7999

$$-$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

Following the lead of the famed Buddha Bar in Paris (the city), this new eatery in Paris (the resort) combines an energetic restaurant and sexy lounge (Risqué) into a nightlife draw that already attracts the young and breathless. Ah Sin has multiple rooms showcasing delicious Pacific Rim/Asian cuisine (sushi, noodles, Korean barbecue), and an expansive dining patio with great views of the Bellagio fountains.

AJ's Steakhouse

4455 Paradise Road; 693-5000

$$$$; Trendy/Jacket

A throwback to the heyday of Vegas steakhouses, AJ's comes across as a Rat Pack-era hangout for boys and the broads that love 'em. A very Hollywood crowd jams the bar, while diners sample delicious steaks and seafood as a piano player entertains. Still an honest scene after eight years.

Bertolini's Authentic Trattoria

3500 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 735-4663

9500 W. Sahara Ave.; 869-1540

$$; Smart Casual

This mid-range eatery exemplifies what a good chain restaurant should be by offering a consistent, high-value dining experience. Light, northern Italian pasta and risotto are complemented by tasty salads, wood-fired pizza and signature desserts. Both locations have a bustling bar scene as well, though we prefer the Euro-hotties on holiday at the Forum Shops locale to to the clock-ticking thirtysomethings in the 'burbs.

Coffee Pub

2800 W. Sahara Blvd.; 367-1913

$; Casual

Delicious early-day meals served by a staff that knows when to keep quiet about what they hear and see--how Vegas can you get? "The Pub" was among the first off-Strip breakfast/lunch joints for the power players and young, stylish professionals. Outdoor seating makes walking in during the day a catwalk experience, so you better work it.

Gordon Biersch Brewing Company

3987 Paradise Road; 312-5247

$; Casual/Trendy

There are places where everyone knows your name, and there are places where you have to ask yourself the next morning, "What was his name?" This microbrew chain falls squarely into the latter category. There is a menu of tasty pastas, meats and salads, but the real draw are the premises-brewed beers and what the well-heeled and horny crowd does after imbibing them.

Hamada of Japan

365 E. Flamingo Road; 733-3005

$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

Dating to an era when Japanese teppan-yaki was a trendy fave, Hamada offers the perfect combination of kitsch and style. There's standard table service here, but the fun (and the parade of beautiful people) can be found at the sushi bar or getting rowdy in the teppan room, where food is sliced, diced and sizzled before your eyes.

House of Blues

3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 632-7607

$$; Casual/Trendy

On the premise of Louisiana food served in a voodoo-driven atmosphere, HOB combines a restaurant, bar and concert hall into a vortex of cool. The attractive young staff seems handpicked to perfection, regardless if your tastes are girl/boy next door or pierced and playful, and the dining crowd, particularly before a concert, is eye candy centrale.

Little Buddha

4321 W. Flamingo Road; 942-7778

$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

Elevating the concept of scene restaurant to its apex, the Vegas version of Paris' notorious Buddha Bar is at once a cocktail lounge, sushi bar and restaurant. Groovy electronic lounge music pulses in the foreground (Buddha sells its own soundtrack CDs) while the fashion-capable nosh tasty French-Asian fusion cuisine.

Nine

4321 W. Flamingo Road; 942-7777

$$-$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

Any restaurant from the N9ne Group (Rain & Ghostbar) had better deliver The Scene right to the dinner table, and Nine does so with aplomb. Upscale modern in decor and futuristic in accouterments (check out those plasma screens), Nine's sexy lounge, where the beautiful thirtysomethings meet, eats a third of the space, while steak and seafood tables surround a round center bar. Music, hotties, liquor...you get the idea.

P.F. Chang's China Bistro

4165 Paradise Road; 792-2207

1095 S. Rampart Blvd.; 968-8885

$-$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

Yes, you can get noodles here. And rice. But the honest draw is the people parade: The hostesses are beautiful, the wait staff quick and quirky and the bar slammed with beautiful people. If you still want to eat, try the tofu lettuce wraps, the garlic noodles and the Szechwan long beans--but beware: What sounds vegetarian often is not. In Summerlin, suits and trendy entrepreneurs sip Sapphire side by side.

Paymon's Mediterranean Café

4147 S. Maryland Pkwy.; 731-6030

$-$$; Casual/Smart Casual

One of the few restaurants in town where shorts and suits dine together, this university district classic is a meeting place for a cross-section of urban sophisticates, a crowd that would look at home near NYU. The flirting here is less obtuse--unless you are in the lounge, where it seems anything goes over hookahs and hummus.

Pink Taco

4455 Paradise Road; 693-5000

$; Casual/Trendy

This is the Ÿber-sexy beachside taqueria in the Cabo of your dreams. Everyone--staff, sexpots, satyrs--look to have been plucked from MTV's Spring Break, and the music volume boosts conversation to strip club levels. Unexpectedly, the Mexican menu (by chef Tacho Kneeland) is equally as appealing as the people, with unusual items like chilaquiles emerging properly tasteful.

Simon

4455 Paradise Road; 693-5000

$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

The hot new spot for the underdressed and overtressed, Kerry Simon's Palm Springs-styled eatery is where beautiful design feeds the eye while good food satiates the palate. The bar and lounge area is packed with pretty people on the weekends, while the comfort food trend launched years ago in New York and London makes old Vegas new again. Meanwhile, signature desserts like freshly spun cotton candy melt in your wet, lip gloss-covered mouth.

Z'Tejas

3824 S. Paradise Road; 732-1660

9560 W. Sahara Ave.; 638-0610

$-$$; Smart Casual

Deliberately designed to foster a thriving bar scene, Z'Tejas encourages people to meet, drink and be merry. Locals put off by the carpetbagger vibe of the central location will love the ambiance of the westside, where weekends and happy hours are populated by neighbors enjoying a gin and the game. Delicious wild mushroom enchiladas and spicy grilled chicken pasta are choice selections from the southwestern/cajun-inspired menu.