Neros at Caesars Palace offers a variety of steaks and seafood, under the direction of award-winning chef Sean Griffin, who will cook at the James Beard Foundation's Beard House in New York City Feb. 28. Photo by Craig L. Moran. Options at Neros Steak & Seafood at Caesars Palace include, from left, crab cake, red snapper and Black Angus short ribs. Photo by Craig L. Moran.

When Neros Steak & Seafood chef Sean Griffin travels to New York later this month to cook at the James Beard Foundation's Beard House, his theme will be "modern steakhouse."

He'll be right at home.

Griffin, who in 2005 won the Rising Star Award from the online magazine StarChefs, has been working on that theme at Neros inside Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

"Modern steakhouse means we try to take the food to the highest level we can, as far as ingredients go," Griffin says. "We use products at the peak of the season. And we try to be inventive. We take a classic dish and switch it around."

The 34-year-old former chef de cuisine at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, Calif., came to Caesars Palace three years ago to work at Neros. He brought a couple of members of the Four Seasons staff with him.

"I surround myself with like-minded people," Griffin says. "This is what I love to do. ... To be a successful chef you have to be passionate about the job."

Griffin began working in his father's restaurants in Southern California when he was 12, and that experience seems to be paying off with the honor of an invitation to cook at the James Beard House.

"I got a call from the James Beard people in the fall of last year," Griffin says. "They asked if I wanted to cook. I said yes, I think I can manage the days (off)."

Neros is open from 5 to 11 p.m. daily. Reservations are recommended by calling 731-7731.

Starters: Yellowfin tuna tartar with avocado, radish, ginger, bottarga aioli and gaufrette potatoes ($19); chilled jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce ($17); crab cake with hearts of palm, blood orange, endive and cracked coriander aioli ($17); escargot with hon shimenji mushrooms, garlic butter and parsley toast ($15); and roasted bone marrow with parsley crust, caper frisee salad and rustic bread ($14).

Soups and salads: Onion soup with sherry and gruyere cheese gratinee ($10); Maine lobster bisque with vanilla bean foam and chives ($12); beef and lentil soup with foie gras, matsutake mushrooms and black truffle ($15); hearts of romaine Caesar salad with Spanish anchovy and kalamata olive croutons ($12); and mixed field greens with grapes, persimmon, pecans, triple cream brie and aged balsamic vinegar ($14).

Entrees: Neros prime 28-day dry aged steak offerings include 24-ounce bone-in rib-eye ($48); 10-ounce filet mignon ($44); 16-ounce prime rib ($36); 16-ounce New York strip ($40); and milk-fed veal chop ($42).

Toppings ($3 each) include blue cheese, bone marrow, mustard herb, onion and bacon, and roasted garlic. Sauces ($2 each) include bearnaise, chimichuri, red wine balsamic and three-peppercorn brandy. Liquid foie gras is an additional $3.

All Neros prime selections come with roasted shallot butter and Neros signature steak sauce.

Other entrees include wild salmon with haricot verts, beets, orange, celery root puree and horseradish vinaigrette ($34); free-range chicken with turbin squash, fregola pasta, brussels sprouts leaves and pomegranate jus ($35); red snapper with cauliflower, blood orange, chanterelle mushrooms and Marcona almond brown butter ($35); and 2-pound Maine lobster, steamed or roasted, with tarragon butter ($70).

Extras: The range of side items includes creamed spinach, shaved onion rings with smoked paprika, roasted asparagus with farro and apple bacon, baked russet potato, sweet potato gratin with cinnamon cream and roasted autumn vegetables with herb butter ($8 each).

Desserts: Mascarpone cheesecake with seasonal fruit compote and almonde tuile, creme brulee with black mission fig and cherry chocolate biscotti, and chocolate fondue with baby banana, seasonal fruit and marble poundcake ($9 each).

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. Contact Ken White at 383-0256 or e-mail him at kwhite@ reviewjournal.com.