Eat: Recommended Restaurants

Protein from the sea

By James P. Reza

The Mojave Desert is among the last places coastal folks would search for seafood, and anyone who has savored a daily catch understands why. But with attention to quality and storage control and hourly flights from Southern California, seafood can be had that ranges from good to godly (witness the fabulous cold case at Whole Foods). With the recent openings of the upscale SeaBlue and Aquaknox, seafood is the Vegas cuisine du jour. Our list includes restaurants that serve fresh, fresh frozen and flown-in-daily seafood, at prices ranging from affordable to impossible.

Aquaknox

3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 414-3772

$$$-$$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

Chef Tom Moloney remade Stephen Pyles' Star Canyon in the Venetian into a contemporary showcase for his California-inspired seafood. Fresh fish is jet-setted in daily to feed the fanciful feasting at the raw bar or savoring a house special two-pound lobster. A waterfall conceals a walk-in wine cellar, adding atmosphere to a trendy place already fat with the stuff.

Cozymel's Coastal Mexican Grill

355 Hughes Center Drive; 732-4833

$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

With 15 locations, nine of them in the South and Midwest, you might think Cozymel's specializes in bland approximations of Mexican food. But since this is a coastal Mexican grill, and everyone loves seafood, if you focus on the specialties (Yucatan Especial, Chilean Sea Bass), you'll be happy. Even the fajitas are pretty good, and the location makes the bar scene a sexy one.

Crustacean

3663 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 650-0507

$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

A hedonistic feast for the senses in an elaborately designed room festooned with semi-private opium beds as booths, elegant hardwoods, and more than a hint of French colonial Vietnamese decadence. Such impressive design usually threatens to overwhelm the menu, but not at outpost of the Beverly Hills original, where the Euro-Asian food (delightful crab puffs, sake marinated halibut) meshes nicely with the atmosphere.

Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab

3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 792-9222

$$$-$$$$; Trendy/Jacket

The era of the nightclub is passing, and the once and future approach to the wallets of Vegas visitors is through their palates. Rather than follow the established protocol of faux and try to bring the beach to Las Vegas, Joe's, an outpost of what has been called "Miami Beach's only continuous authentic link with the old days," successfully elicits the glamour of Rat Pack Vegas, signifying the full upscale co-opting of a trend that began with the kids in the mid-1990s. Sophisticated and sexy, the restaurant comprises an elegant mahogany bar, a more casual "sidewalk" cafe that extends into the Forum Shops, a separate main dining room and round speakeasy semi-hidden upstairs; this overlooks the Strip in a way that so strongly invokes a 1940s Manhattan vibe one half-expects "Take the A-Train" to begin swinging live. Thankfully, the surf and turf selections live up to the numerous promises, with signature fresh stone crab, regional seafood specialties flown in daily (salmon, scallops, mahi mahi, king crab), and bone-in steaks that rival the city's best. The a la carte menu offers some of the best sides we've tasted, and the desserts are nearly perfect.

Joyful House

4601 Spring Mountain Road; 889-8881

$$; Casual

This locals fave for Chinese food gets the nod from plenty of Asian tourists and locals, and serves a delicious, seafood-heavy Hong Kong menu from lunch through 9 p.m. Afterward, and until 3 a.m. every night, sample the food shabu-shabu style, where you cook your selections yourself, right at the table.

La Barca

953 E. Sahara Ave.; 657-9700

$$; Casual

Southwestern, nouvelle, fusion, blah blah blah...La Barca puts on no airs about being anything other than a traditional Baja Californian eatery, where ceviche is the stuff meals are made of and ice-cold beer makes it all go down. Don't stop in thinking you'll settle down with a plate of rice/bean/tortilla something. Here's it is all--all--about the seafood.

Michael Mina's

3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 693-7223

$$$$; Trendy/Jacket

Seafood in the desert should not be this impressive. Formerly a branch of San Francisco's famed Aqua, Chef Mina split off and kept this his own. Sequestered in the Bellagio is the city's best (and priciest) fish joint, an almost conceited room where a lobster truffle gnocchi is really no big deal.

Nobu

4455 Paradise Road; 693-5090

$$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

Among global foodie cognoscenti, sex and sushi are symbiotic, so it makes perfect sense that Chef Nobu Matsuhisa would locate Nobu in the Hard Rock Hotel, the Vegas epicenter of the sexy and stylish. The food is a fusion of Asian and South American, the decor implies an updated clichéd Japanese village. Uninitiated? Go for the pricey omakase chef's tasting menu. Hey, is that De Niro?

SeaBlue

3799 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 891-3486

$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy

Located in the heavily remodeled spot once occupied by the trendy Mideast venue Neyla, Chef Michael Mina's new seafooder in the MGM is but a few weeks old but already hooking the glitterati with its swirling aquarium, impressive water walls and fresh-daily seafood. Ocean specialties are grilled (over wood), baked (in clay) or simply served raw--much like the crowd of A-listers and hangers-on who feed at the joint.

Native Las Vegan 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.