Flamingo in Las Vegas to open steakhouse next year

Bugsy is returning to the Flamingo — and not just as the ghost that’s been rumored to have hung around all these years.

Caesars Entertainment has invested more than $10 million in Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse, expected to open at the resort early next year.

The name, as you might guess, is an homage to Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and business partner Meyer Lansky, who opened the resort, the first of its kind on the fledgling Strip, in 1946. Bugsy was famously killed in Beverly Hills the following year — reportedly because of problems with the Flamingo — so maybe it’s a little ironic that this is the second Las Vegas restaurant named for him. The other is Siegel’s 1942 at the El Cortez, another of the places Bugsy ran.

The Lansky family is involved in the project and will assist in creating some of its merchandise.

Flamingo representatives say the new spot is designed to be a destination dining experience with a decidedly retro feel. Furthering the speakeasy furor that’s overtaken Las Vegas, it will be entered “the back way,” through a faux bakery, with guests passing the kitchen and a cooler showing off the restaurant’s extensive selection of dry-aged meat. Bugsy & Meyer’s also will have a dedicated speakeasy, The Count Room, guaranteed not to instill the same anxiety as in the days when count room procedures were a little loosey-goosey.

Besides dry-aged beef cuts aged 45 to 60 days, including a 60-day Chicago cut bone-in rib-eye and imported wagyu, it’ll serve lamb saddle, short ribs, Steak Diane and such throwback desserts as Baked Alaska, Strawberries Romanoff and the many-layered mille-feuille with bourbon mousseline. Guests seated at the raw bar in the main dining room will get an up-close-and-personal look at cooks shucking oysters and building seafood towers.

As for cocktails, there will be a tableside Old Fashioned cart, and rum will be heavily featured.

The decor will be in light and dark woods, with pops of color, and flamingo images and black-and-white vintage photographs will be featured throughout.

Located across from the main entrance to the Flamingo’s famous Wildlife Habitat, Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse will take the place of the resort’s Center Cut, Cafe To Go and Laurel Lounge.

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.