Restaurants to Try This Weekend in Las Vegas — May 9

Lobster En Croute at Carversteak. | Matthew Kang Your handy guide on where to eat this weekend It’s the most pressing question of the weekend: “Where should I eat?” Here, Eater editors issue tried and true recommendations for places to check out this weekend. For cocktails with Mom’s favorite reality star: Pinky’s by Vanderpump Janna Karel Pinky’s by Vanderpump. The most recent addition to Lisa Vanderpump’s Las Vegas cocktail empire is Pinky’s at the Flamingo — a glam, Art Deco-inspired lounge that leans into vintage flair with unmistakable Vanderpump charm. The Real Housewives brunch is a pinkies-up affair: cheese boards arrive on tiered birdcage stands, complete with brie wheels crowned with berries and nestled with green olives and tiny jars of honey. Deviled eggs and crispy rice sushi are served as flights, for mixing and matching toppings. Dessert brings dainty fruit tarts filled with color-coordinated cream and fresh fruit. The true star, however, is the cocktail menu. Drinks are served in elegant stemware and topped with whimsical garnishes — from flamingo-shaped swizzle sticks to brownie bites — begging to be photographed before the first sip. Whether brunching or stopping in after dinner for drinks and dessert, opt for signature drinks like the Daddy Issues peach spritz with a cotton candy puff, the Pink Me Up strawberry martini, or the Less Depresso, More Espresso martini garnished with a chocolate cookie and a miniature tiramisu brownie. 3555 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV 89109. — Janna Karel, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest For a journey under the sea: Bazaar Mar Janna Karel Sashimi at Bazaar Mar. At Bazaar Mar, chef José Andrés celebrates all things briny, beachy, and seafaring. Tucked inside the Shops at Crystals, chef Manuel Echeverri — chef and partner for José Andrés Group — blends bold Spanish flavors with whimsical flourishes to craft a sweeping menu of under-the-sea dishes. A market-style display showcases a rotating selection of whole fish, such as branzino, snapper, and sea bream, all available grilled over wood fire, baked in salt, fried, or served as sashimi. The sashimi presentation is especially striking: delicate, glistening slices of fish arranged on ice and served alongside the elegantly posed body — head and fins intact. For small bites, don’t miss Neptune’s Pillow: two lengths of hollow bread generously filled with spicy tuna sashimi, layered with raw tuna slices and dotted with fiery rocoto mayo. A playful take on popcorn shrimp uses crisp baby squid instead, while the Ora King salmon carpaccio arrives sliced, alongside salmon-shaped crackers for scooping. Save room for dessert — especially the Key lime pie, where ice cream is molded into seashells and starfish, and lime foam, cream, and graham cracker crumble mimic sea foam and sand. Take a lap to admire the restaurant’s dreamy artwork and intricately carved mural. And if you’re not ready to head out, the adjacent Bar Centro offers elegant cocktails and coffee drinks perfect for a nightcap. (Bonus: Valet is free with dining.) 3720 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89158. — Janna Karel, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest For a solid Mother’s Day weekend steakhouse: Carversteak Matthew Kang Carversteak. Las Vegas is blessed with one of the best — and most competitive — steakhouse scenes in the entire country and probably the world. Frankly, the number of places to experience salad, steak, and sides is astounding, enough that this Angeleno arrives every trip and walks away mostly amazed. So it might have been nitpicky to look at a place like Carversteak, which is one of Vegas’s most popular steakhouses, and point out flaws. But we’ll start with the positive, which is the service and decor. The staff here bend over backwards to please diners, which makes any dinner here memorable. The decor has a fresh, modern approach to the steakhouse genre, leaning away from brawny to something stylish and artful. I dig it, and I believe mothers will, too, during one of the year’s busiest dining weekends. As for food, the steaks are pretty solid, especially Australian wagyu, and the whole lobster tail en croute is a showstopper. Qualms can be had with some of the appetizers, like the too-rich French onion soup or the under-portioned wedge salad, whose iceberg mound is about as big as half a grapefruit (instead of like half a mini basketball). The baked “Nevada” looks great, but it’s almost too much raspberry on raspberry. Go with the more reliable tuxedo chocolate cake or the trio of cookies. 3000 S. Las Vegas Boulevard, NV, 89109. — Matthew Kang, Eater Southern California/Southwest