Pat and I have been trying to visit some of the different casinos we haven't been in on the strip yet. So yesterday we went to dinner at The Steakhouse in Circus Circus.
Circus Circus is one of the older casinos in town. When you walk into The Steakhouse you go down a short hallway that takes you into the restuarant and away from the noise of the casino. It's nice and often rare to get away from the humming, buzzing, and ringing of the slot machines so we appreciated how quiet the restaurant was.
The Steakhouse is 32 years old this year. Inside it's lights are dimmed and there are big booths and tables, which are nicely spread out unlike so many of the newer restaurants where I often find myself listening to the people next to us(don't judge there are some really interesting conversations and when your table is literally 12 inches away from theirs it's hard not to). Sitting in The Steakhouse it was easy to imagine the old days of Vegas and people sitting in booths and making deals in hushed whispers. It was definitely cool and a side of Vegas I often don't think about.
As I mentioned The Steakhouse turns 32 this month and for the month of June they have a special going on: their petite filet mignon dinner for only $32. The dinner includes a salad or their black bean soup(Pat and I both choose the salad), their petite filet mignon, choice of potato, vegetable of the day.
As I said Pat and I both started with a salad. It was a very large salad and was sorta deconstructed. They had the lettuce and then all around the outside the various components clumped together: croutons, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes, onions, ect. I got the ranch dressing but Pat made the better choice with the blue cheese as not only did the salad have blue cheese dressing on it, it also had a huge handful of chunks of blue cheese.
The petite filet was delicious. They dry age their beef. You actually get to pass by their aging room as you sit down in the restaurant. On the way to the table we also passed by the grill, which is located in the center of the restaurant and not out in the back kitchen. The filet had the perfect charred crust on the outside but was still perfectly medium rare on the inside. And it just melted in your mouth. Not a single piece was tough at all. It was so good. It had been a while since Pat and I had had steaks and these did not disappoint. Paired with the steak we both choose the garlic mashed potatoes. They were good. A little lumpy giving them that great body. They had a nice garlic flavor and I was happy I had choose them over the baked potato. The vegetable of the day was asparagus. It really was the only thing throughout the meal that Pat and I thought could have been a little better. They were slightly on the limp side but it didn't really bother us as the steaks were so good.
We also got dessert. They wheel a dessert cart over to go over the selections. We couldn't decide between the creme brulee and the cheesecake so we got both to share. The cheesecake was by far the better choice. The creme brulee was sold as a real vanilla bean creme brulee but when it arrived it was missing that real vanilla flavor. It was there but it was subtle and didn't pack the punch Pat and I were expecting. The caramelized sugar on top seemed a bit grainy too. I couldn't decide if they just didn't burn it enough or of they didn't put enough sugar on in the first place. I also wasn't a huge fan of the consistency of the custard. It was smooth but really thick. It also seemed to me to have an almost egg-y flavor to it. Everything the creme brulee lacked the cheesecake more than made up for. It was rich and dense and had that spot on traditional cheesecake taste and consistency. Pat and I remarked how so often restaurants try to doctor up their cheesecakes. They make them different flavors. They put fancy combinations and toppings. You can get any kind of cheesecake today(we even have restaurants devoted to cheesecakes) but it seems hard to find a cheesecake that is simple but so delicious. This cheesecake did was that. It did have a cherry sauce on top of it. Usually those types of sauces taste fake to me but this one didn't. So in the future I would skip the creme brulee and just go for the cheesecake.
A couple other notes about The Steakhouse and Circus Circus. The Steakhouse was a really good steakhouse but it's a steakhouse. The menu had steak, lobster, steak, a fish fillet, steak, a chicken breast, and steak(get my drift). It's not new fusion type food. It's an old school steakhouse. Delicious but if steak isn't your thing I might think twice before going. Pat and I were also definitely overdressed. We could have went in jeans. We didn't. I wore a skirt and nice shoes and felt a little too fancy for both the restaurant and Circus Circus in general. Circus Circus is attached to the Adventuredome and thus has a large draw of families with kids. If you go to Circus Circus be sure to go up to the Midway on the second level. I've never been to a circus so I can't say if it's just like a circus midway but it was very reminiscent of the boardwalk to this Jersey girl. In the center of the midway is a stage with seating on one side where you can sit and watch free Circus acts. Pat and I saw the Flying Angels. There were four trapeze artists and they were amazing. I'm not sure you could pay me enough to do the tricks they were doing while flying through the air....especially over top of a safety net that looked only slightly more secure than being jiffy rigged. But it held all four when they bounced down on it at the end of their act. So I guess looks can be deceiving.
All in all we liked The Steakhouse and Circus Circus(and I left $2 up from when we started....how much more of a win can you get!) and we both agreed we would happily go back if we were in a steak mood in the future.
sounds goods !
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