Many Las Vegas restaurants have ‘secret’ dishes just for the asking

The Gambler’s Special at Mr. Lucky’s at the Hard Rock Hotel has been available since 1999, but it’s never been on the menu at the 24/7 cafe. Yet the special is one of the top sellers at Mr. Lucky’s, with the restaurant serving 2,500 a month.

It’s known as a secret or off-the-menu item, and it’s far from unusual in Las Vegas. But if it’s a secret, how do so many people find out about it?

“I think people tell people,” said Marcus O’Brien, executive chef at the Hard Rock. “You’ll hear some servers leak it. You’ll hear the table next to them go, ‘What is that?’ Or someone goes, ‘Hey, I heard about this special.’ ”

O’Brien said he thinks the “secret” cachet is part of the appeal, but so is the pricing. The Gambler’s Special is a sirloin steak, three grilled shrimp, mashed potatoes and a salad for $7.77.

Le Cirque at Bellagio has a secret dish, too, but it isn’t likely that the value is the draw there. The Ultimate Surf and Turf starts with Japanese wagyu steak piled with truffles and foie gras and served with a 2-pound Maine lobster tail with caviar and gold leaf and a marrow bone with a fried potato fondant balanced on top. Pricing depends on how much wagyu beef and what kind of caviar the customer wants, but it starts at about $325.

Wilfried Bergerhausen, executive chef of Le Cirque, said he came up with the Ultimate Surf and Turf in answer to customer requests.

“When we get special requests, we try to make it up,” Bergerhausen said. “We always talked about surf and turf on the menu, but if we were going to do a surf and turf, we were just going to go all out and do something over the top, take the most prestigious items that are on the menu.”

He said the dish is available only on request and that the restaurant usually sells five to 10 a month, although 23 to 25 people ordered it during one week last year.

Like these two, the other secret dishes served in Las Vegas restaurants seem to be driven by one of two things: value or popular request. Rao’s at Caesars Palace, for example, prepares off-the-menu dishes including such Italian classics as pasta aglio olio, chicken cacciatore, veal Marsala and sausage with peppers and onions. Center Cut at the Flamingo offers a $35 special of a 12-ounce salt-crusted prime rib with a Caesar salad or onion soup. It’s available only Sundays through Thursdays, and known primarily by word of mouth, although there is a small sign in front of the restaurant.

Charlie Palmer Steak at the Four Seasons has for several years offered its Cut of the Week, three courses with shared sides and unlimited wine pairings for $58, but customers have to know to ask for it when they’re seated.

Rivea at the Delano has a secret grilled lobster with house-made mustard butter. Downstairs at Della’s Kitchen, those in the know know to ask for a ramen bowl with cooked pork shank, smoked pork bone, vegetables, house-fermented cabbage and a poached egg.

Those who remember the dishes of old Vegas can ask for the lobster Milanese at Portofino at The Mirage and will be served the dish of fried lobster tail with a sauce of white wine, lemon and butter, served with sauteed garlic spinach.

At Aria’s Carbone, meatballs based on Mario Carbone’s mother’s recipe aren’t on the menu, although one of the captains may mention them to a customer from time to time.

Beef-eaters who aren’t satisfied with the 12-ounce New York strip or 18-ounce bone-in rib-eye at Jean Georges Steakhouse can go with the 26-ounce Wagyu Tomahawk Chop, which is not only cooked over a wood-burning grill but served over smoking coals.

But there’s a secret dish for everyone, it appears: At Tom Colicchio’s Heritage Steak at The Mirage — which specializes in, you know, steaks — savvy vegetarians can get marinated eggplant chargrilled and topped with house-made chimichurri and a popcorn and roasted-cashew glaze.

And The Steakhouse at Camelot at the Excalibur serves an off-the-menu side dish of creamed summer corn with applewood-smoked bacon.

O’Brien said he thinks the exclusivity of such dishes fuels their popularity.

“I think sometimes with the greatest special, you move it to the menu and it doesn’t sell as well,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s because it’s something you can have and you think you’re the only one getting it.”

But how do you know if a secret dish is available at a restaurant? Well, you can read pieces like this, or you can ask if there are any off-the-menu dishes available. But O’Brien said if you’re looking for something you don’t see on the menu, simply ask for it.

“I think every restaurant has something special,” he said. “You can probably go to Pink Taco (at the Hard Rock) and ask for a sampler platter. We’ll always make something for the guest, because that’s our industry.”

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.