Tender Steak & Seafood
White, Wheat, Parmesan Cheese Bread with Olive Oil and Pesto
Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras – Pistachio Risotto Dirty Rice Cake with Hibiscus Port Wine Reduction and Red Currant Sauce
Oxtail & Onion Soup Gratinee – Oxtail Beef Broth, Caramelized Onions, Rosemary Focaccia, Gruyere
Deep Fried Potatoes – Pancetta, Parmesan, Smoked Sea Salt, Rosemary
Lobster Risotto – Steamed Maine Lobster with Mascarpone and Parmesan Cheeses in Risotto Rice
Smoked Hudson Valley Duck Bacon
Roasted Beef Bone Marrow
20 Oz Dry-Aged Black Angus Beef Ribeye from Double R Ranch Washington with Port Wine Jus
Game Tasting Trio – Venison Osso Buco, Rocky Mountain Elk Medallion, Wild Boar Rack Chop with Farro, Fig Chutney, and Red Currant Venison Reduction
Seafood Tasting Platter – Sea Scallop & Quinoa, Hawaiian Blue Prawns & Sea Asparagus, Whitefish & Wild Rice, Salmon and Farro Pilaf
Bananas Foster’s Bread Pudding – Cinnamon Banana Brioche Bread Pudding, Bourbon Pecan Ice Cream and Banana Rum Sauce
Campfire “more-than-a” s’more – Fire roasted homemade marshmallows on a warm chocolate fudge cake with Graham Cracker Cookie and Peanut butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Milk Chocolate and Coconut Soufflé with Mango Compote
Republic Of Tea Service with lemon juice, candied orange, candied lemon
Double Espresso on ice with dark and milk chocolate shavings
Located in Luxor with nearly three-hundred seats and the sort of pandering service that describes everything as ‘beautiful’ or ‘amazing,’ despite evidencing zero knowledge of the province or preparation technique involved in the cuisine, it was finally on Saturday that myself and two friends sat down at Tender – the combination of a gift certificate and one of the few menus in Las Vegas to offer wild game making up for everything service and the humid, stagnant space lacked.
Heralded by some as a hidden gem, while others find the entire Luxor property almost entirely irrelevant to Sin City’s culinary landscape, it was just after 5:30 that our trio sat down in one of several dining rooms and with heavy wood speckled with rustic décor beneath low lighting the upsale specials were largely ignored, a focus on the cheese menu showing far less unique options than those suggested online (and described, oddly, as only available ‘at the bar’,) leading to a three course menu – one friend’s Oysters Rockefeller completely forgotten when the waiter tried to push ‘outstanding’ tuna tartare while the rest of the order trickled out slowly with minimal description, but excellent execution from the men and women behind the grills.
Having reached out through social media in order to understand how the wild game menu had come to be in such an unexpected space it was not long after warm bread and aromatic pesto arrived that GM James Clare stopped by to say hello and subsequently fetching Chef K.C. Fazel, a gracious man with obvious passion for his products and preparation, the story of Tender’s relationship with farmers up north as well as the Chef’s Midwestern upbringing soon had me all the more interested in what was to come – not even the frequently empty water glasses, 80F+ temperature, or ongoing “beautiful,” “wonderful,” “excellent” verbiage being fed to each and every table around enough to bring me down.
With the aforementioned oysters forgotten, course one began with two appetizers, and as one friend was treated to a rich broth teaming with tender oxtail, caramelized onions, grilled bread, and cheese that ranks amongst the best I have ever tasted my $19 slice of duck liver a true first glimpse of things to come – the foie gras’ sapor more intense than generally seen amongst steakhouse fare with the crispy rice cake providing a texture-rich base more than amicable to sopping up both the offal’s residual oils and a drizzle of port wine and juicy red fruit.
Moving on to mains and sides, it was after some delay that seven plates arrived tableside and although presentations were sorely lacking, save for the young man who described the seafood tasting, it would be nearly impossible to find fault in anything save for mundane potatoes – the smoky bone marrow portion exceedingly generous given the $6 tab while both the crispy duck bacon and thick, cheese-imbued rice were equally well prepared, all of them dishes best shared.
Speaking to entrees, for myself the beef was a bit humdrum, though the sear and center were both on-point medium rare, while both tastings were every bit as good as the quality of sourcing, the whitefish admittedly a touch fishy thus allowing both salmon and scallops to steal the spotlight while each constituent of the wild game trio was peerless, the Osso Buco tender and full of funk while both elk and boar delivered on the chef’s promise that even his leaner cuts were bound to impress, the latter particularly impressive as smoky saline notes met a perfect foil in housemade chutney.At this point feeling the effects of a full stomach combined with the restaurant’s toasty temperature it was in an elegant iced coffee presentation that I indulged while my tablemate fancied tea and genuinely unable to resist dessert the team at Tender had me at the words “Bread Pudding,” the sizable round swimming in a pool of boozed up bananas beneath slowly melting ice cream – an excellent dish its own right but certainly no match for the torched s’mores cake, an absolute stunner that was neither too sweet nor too heavy, something I only wish could have been said for a fallen-on-arrival soufflé that was worth neither the twenty minute preparation nor the calories involved.
THREE AND A HALF STARS: Flying well below the radar given its gaming-floor adjacent location in Luxor, Tender is at once the sort of ‘big meat’ place that many envision when thinking of the typical Vegas steakhouse AND the sort of place where a largely unheralded chef has been allowed to carve out a niche that few would expect – if only the front of house could be brought up to speed with the team in the kitchen there is little doubt that this diamond in the rough could shine amongst the city’s best.
RECOMMENDED: Wild Game, Onion Soup, Lobster Risotto, S’mores.
AVOID: Deep Fried Potatoes, Souffle, Wearing Warm Clothing, Asking Questions That Require An Educated Response.
TIP: Occasionally offering $75-off-$150 deals via MyVegas to Out-of-Towners, those looking for a deal would be well advised to read the fine print – like most deals on the popular application locals are excluded and not even able to see the deal when browsing offers in the 702.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor
http://www.luxor.com/restaurants/tender.aspx
