An avid fan of all things Food Network, and a personal fan of Bobby Flay, it was a special time at Mesa Grill. My girlfriend took me here for lunch on my birthday and it was special. I don’t know if I ever ate at a famous chef’s restaurant before. Located at Caesars Palace, the walk from our hotel at the Bellagio was a bit of a drag — the Vegas heat was not kind.
The decor and furniture in the whole restaurant was amazing. It seems like everything in Vegas has be to decorated so perfectly, and Mesa Grill was no exception. Cow hide lined chars, dark wood table tops, and an open kitchen, was just a few of the accents this restaurant had.
We were given some bread to eat before our meal. This was the best array of breads we ever had at a restaurant. Most places give the normal sourdough or french bread and butter. Don’t get me wrong, that is great stuff. But at Mesa Grill, they gave some jalapeno bread, corn bread, and muffins. Not only was it a variety, all of them were really good. My favorite was the jalapeno bread — it just woke up my taste buds.
For our start, we had the tiger shrimp tamale. It had roasted garlic and tamale sauce with bits of corn on top to form a creamy sauce. The shrimp inside was amazingly seasoned, and the masa was perfectly fluffy and moist, something I don’t see a lot in other tamales. I didn’t get the garlic flavor a lot, but this tamale was tasty either way.
We shared the New Mexico spiced pork tenderloin sandwich. It had grilled peppers, arugula, and ancho chili mayonnaise. The sandwich was good, and the pork flavor was really clean and pleasant. Not one of the best sandwiches I had, but it did pack a lot of flavor. The south western fries were kind of soggy, and the seasonings were kind of over powering.
I like sausage and pork, so we ordered the side of chorizo. It was smokey and flavorful. Interestingly, it was quite lean for chorizo, which is a good thing. The best part was the spices inside and the smoke flavor from the chilies.
We ended our meal with the blue corn buttermilk waffle. It had blackberry bourbon syrup and was topped with vanilla creme fraiche. This was probably the best waffle I have ever had. The blue corn and bourbon syrup really made the flavors so complex and interesting. It wasn’t just a simple waffle with sweet syrup, fruit, and whipped cream. Every aspect was different, and the creme fraiche just topped everything off.
This was definitely a treat for my birthday. Not only was I at Vegas, I got to eat at one of my favorite star chefs’ restaurants. This is definitely a good spot to be for lunch or dinner. It keeps you in the Vegas spirit, but also takes you away from it all. My girlfriend topped it all off and bought me one of his books — It has a bunch grilling recipes and is full of great food. I hope to get Bobby Flay to sign it one day.
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