Eat: Recommended Restaurants

What can I getcha?

By James P. Reza

Much like Las Vegas itself, the casino coffee shop has endured alternating periods of adoration and alienation. Thanks, in part, to the hipster crowd's fascination with classic Sin City style, the Hard Rock Hotel's mid-1990s stylish reinvention of the ubiquitous "house restaurant," and Las Vegas's ever-present need for hangover grub, the casino coffee shop has survived and evolved. The basics, however, remain the same: Twenty-four hour table service and breakfast anytime. A good Monte Cristo doesn't hurt, either.

Bay City Diner

1 Fremont St.; 385-1906

$; Casual

Casino coffee shops were once a refuge where bleary-eyed losers found solace at 3 a.m., slowly swallowing a prime rib special or a shrimp cocktail while wearing a thousand-yard stare and fondly recalling a time when they had money. Few iconic coffee shops remain, so it's appropriate that this one, in Las Vegas' first hotel (the Golden Gate, opened 1906), stands like something from a noir Western where politicians and power brokers still lunch.

Café Bellagio

3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 693-7356

$-$$$; Smart Casual

Interesting fact: Even the highfalutin' Bellagio stocks keno cards in its pricey version of the standard casino coffee shop. Located near the resort's highly touted "botanical gardens" (nee Conservatory), this 24/7 serves the expected brekkie and California-style cuisine, but the food and service are often outshined by the atmosphere and prices.

Carson Street Cafe

129 E. Fremont St.; 385-7111

$-$$; Casual/Smart Casual

Much like its neighbor the Golden Gate, the Golden Nugget is old Vegas to the core, and not in any kitschy sort of way. After its recent takeover by fresh-minded entrepreneurs, the Nugget is both experiencing and leading a welcome downtown renaissance. The Carson Street Cafe, a longtime fave of judges, attorneys and other suited types, offers comfort, value and a trip back in time--all for the price of a tuna salad on croissant.

Grand Lux Café

3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 414-3888

$-$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

The Venetian's casino coffee shop by default only, this cavernous, cartoonish 550-seat Italianate "cafe" is a one-off operated by the Cheesecake Factory folks (the menus are unique). Set aside the pitfalls of this approach and what you have is the widest-ranging 24-hour menu in town (150 items) served with a corporate predictability that even those who eschew such things welcome them at 3 a.m. Yes, you can get Factory cheesecake.

Mr. Lucky's 24/7

4455 Paradise Rd.; 693-5592

$-$$; Casual/Trendy

Mr. Lucky's modernizes the coffee shop and makes us wonder why it ever disappeared. You can order pasta and pizza here, but why? With breakfast served 24 hours, the tastiest veggie burger in Vegas and the unlisted steak-and-shrimp special (ask for it), there's nothing left but dessert and eye candy. When the line is long, go straight back to the counter, where multiple televisions blare out music, sports and news.

The Cafe

3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 632-7777

$$-$$$; Casual/Smart Casual

If you find yourself in the Mandalay Bay at an ungodly hour, skip the resort's poorly fitting Raffles Cafe, instead jaunting over to The Cafe, the 24-hour eatery of THEhotel. This joint has "W" written all over it, as the black wood, velvet curtains and acid jazz soundtrack suggest. Order something tasty from the eclectic, uniquely executed comfort food menu and imagine yourself in Manhattan.

Victorian Room

3595 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 737-7111

$-$$; Casual/Smart Casual

Few places still exist in Sin City that evoke pre-Puck memories of casino dining, but the Barbary Coast's coffee shop does so with aplomb. Hardly Victorian, the name is a mere conceit of the hotel's loose turn-of-the-century theme; it's more post-binge Hunter Thompson, thanks to it's old Vegas, uh, charm. Go for the steak and eggs, stay for the Chinese-American specialties.

James P. Reza is the dining editor of the 2004 Zagat Survey: Las Vegas. Haven't seen your fave nosh joint listed? Tip him off at jpreza@cox.net.