COLUMN: Appetizers

KEN WHITE

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A chandelier fashioned like clouds dominates the decor in the main dining room at Nevada Nick's, a new steakhouse at the Resort at Summerlin.
Photo by Ralph Fountain.

      Known for his seafood restaurants, restaurateur Nicholas Nickolas has gone in a slightly different direction with his new venue at the Resort at Summerlin.
      Nevada Nick's -- An Original Steakhouse is Nickolas' latest creation, serving some seafood items but with an emphasis on steaks.
      "It would be like cutting my throat with a dull knife not to have fish on the menu," says Nickolas, who opened his first Nick's Fishmarket restaurant in Honolulu in 1968.
      Chef Kevin Graham and Nickolas put together a menu with a wider range of dishes than a traditional chop house.
      "Both of our goals was to not be a traditional steakhouse," Nickolas says.
      To that end, there's a vegetarian dish -- Napoleon of vegetables, with grilled zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, risotto, yellow squash and tomato with a balsamic syrup ($18) -- and chicken and duck as well.
      Graham, originally from Cheshire, England, has worked at the Savoy in London and the Hotel Negresco in Nice, France. He was executive chef at the Grill Room of the Windsor Court Hotel and Graham's, both in New Orleans.
      He was named one of Food & Wine magazine's Top 10 New Chefs in 1991.
      His restaurant, Graham's, was named Best New Restaurant in Louisiana by Esquire magazine and one of the best new restaurants in America by Gourmet magazine.
      "The object of the kitchen," Graham says, "will be to bring out all the natural flavors of the food without over-masking them with heavy sauces, so as to produce a product that is full of flavor with the exquisite taste of open-flame. Open-flame cooking is probably the oldest form of cooking known to man. And what intrigues me about this new position with Nevada Nick's is that I will be able to explore the tremendous possibilities of the art of cooking over an open flame and wood-burning ovens."
      Designed by Nickolas with the help of Jordan Mozer of Jordan Mozer Associates, a Chicago-based restaurant design firm, Nevada Nick's features a cloudlike chandelier in the Canyon, the restaurant's main dining room. A private room, the Red Rock room, is dominated by a large mural of the Grand Canyon. There's also a patio for special functions.
      The bar and lounge features about 40 varieties of premium tequilas.
      Perhaps Nevada Nick's most unusual features are the aluminum sconces patterned after the forms of spurs that help divide the 10,000-square-foot restaurant into separate dining areas.
      Seating up to 320 people, the restaurant serves a variety of appetizers, including sunset oysters served on toasted croutons with mushroom duxelle and a bell pepper hollandaise glaze ($12); black and blue ahi, seared Hawaiian tuna with soba noodles and wasabi ($9.50); and cold smoked salmon, house smoked with oak and applewood and served with a light dill dressing ($12).
      And you also can order Black Gold Beluga caviar, served with chilled vodka, sieved egg yolk, parsley and onions ($110).
      Other appetizers include duck pizza ($10); rosemary skewered shrimp ($11); and blue crab cakes ($11).
      Two soups are served -- Red Rock soup, a combination of mushroom and tomato bisque; and Western steak soup, with beef vegetables and barley in a spicy beef broth (both $5 each).
      Salads include jumbo lump crab Caesar with hearts of romaine, crab meat and traditional dressing ($10.50, $6.50 without crab); mozzarella salad with hand-made mozzarella cheese, vine-ripened tomatoes and shredded basil drizzled with basil-infused olive oil ($7.50); and Nevada Nick's special salad, featuring chiffonade of romaine, diced avocados, tomatoes, bacon, eggs, Stilton cheese with a shallot and chili dressing ($6).
      Among the entrees are grilled salmon tequila with a mango sauce ($22); spit-roasted chicken stuffed with lemon, herbs, spinach, feta cheese and pine nuts ($21); whole roasted catfish with warm potato salad ($23); lobster roasted and stuffed with spicy crab meat ($52) or poached and served with sauce mousseline and butter fondue ($49); smoked pork chop stuffed with jalapeño cornbread and a smoked apple sauce ($25); and grilled Hawaiian fish served with a tropical chutney ($28).
      Steak items include the cowboy steak, a grilled bone-in prime rib of beef served with five-bean chili ($28); smoked filet mignon with a leek and lobster bordelaise sauce ($30); roasted prime rib of beef served with a Cajun popover and red wine jus roti (18 ounce, $28; 12 ounce, $23); porterhouse grilled and brushed with a glace de viande ($34); New York steak grilled and served with a spiced butter sauce made of 20 blended ingredients ($32); and grilled filet mignon with a jalapeño and tomato-infused bˇarnaise sauce ($30).
      Nevada Nick's is open from 5:30 to 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 5:30 to 11:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The lounge is open from 4:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Entertainment starts at 9 p.m. The Resort at Summerlin is at 221 N. Rampart Blvd.
     
      "Appetizers" is a weekly informational column about new developments on the Las Vegas dining scene. Items should not be considered reviews or recommendations and none is a paid advertisement.