The 7 Best Dishes Eater Las Vegas Ate This Month

Eater Vegas’s favorite dishes and sleeper hits from Las Vegas restaurant menus in February 2025

Eater Vegas’s Editor dines out several times a week — if not per day, which means frequent encounters with standout dishes and sleeper hits from Las Vegas restaurant menus. Here’s the very best of everything Eater Vegas ate this month.

Pan-Roasted Barramundi at Stubborn Seed

Janna Karel

My most anticipated restaurant opening for 2024 had been chef Jeremy Ford’s Vegas location of his Michelin-starred Stubborn Seed. The December opening at Resorts World was delayed until February 10 — a wait made all the harder as Ford teased out the big ideas he planned to carry over from his tasting menu at his Miami restaurant. Those ideas include fanciful applications of ingredients, plating that is elevated into avant-garde territory, and dishes that thread the needle of refined and playful. A palate cleanser of uni panna cotta perhaps best illustrates that ethos — the custard bears all the creaminess one would expect from a dessert. Still, here it gives way to the piquant brininess and delicately metallic taste of uni, suspended in a yuzu gelee with an orange icy granita. Both citruses lend a tartness that only emphasizes the restraint exercised in scaling back the sweetness that the form suggests.

But a dish of pan-roasted barramundi had me shamelessly scraping the bowl with my spoon in an attempt to spare any remaining drop of fragrant gingery galangal curry. The green sauce is intense in a way that works beautifully with rich sea bass, poured over a crisp and seasoned skin. It all swirls with bites of tender leeks and meaty shiitake mushrooms. It’s the kind of dish that helps to elucidate Ford’s accolades — the Michelin star, James Beard semifinalist nomination, and a Top Chef win — while also inspiring excitement for a return visit when he soon debuts the spring menu. 3000 South Las Vegas Boulevard. — Janna Karel, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest

Galbijjim at Daeho Kalbijjim

Matthew Kang

As I continue to explore Vegas’s Korean restaurants, I’m beginning to feel that the city’s overall commitment to quality ingredients and spot-on cooking has made it a bona fide destination for the cuisine. Consider Daeho, which is celebrated in San Francisco but never made it to LA. Instead, it skips over to a massive new plaza with an incoming H Mart serving huge stone pots of braised short ribs. The format, popularized by Sun Nong Dan in Los Angeles in the 2010s, has now become a national expectation for galbijjim, a royal banquet dish that was previously served in more modest portions. Daeho’s version excels in balancing the sweetness with the soy and profound beef flavors emanating from the short rib. The beef is tender to the bite, easy enough for even toddler teeth to chomp on. Instead of more old-school kabocha squash, you get melt-in-your-mouth slivers of Korean mu radish that better soaks up the sauce. We didn’t opt for any spice or cheese, but if those flavorings are down your alley, go buck wild. 2580 S. Decatur Boulevard, Suite 5 — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest

Omakase at Kabuto-Edomae Sushi

Janna Karel

Celebrating the end of my birthday month felt like a special enough occasion to scoop up a last-minute reservation for one at Kabuto’s sushi counter. This is easily a best bet for solo dining in Las Vegas — my book (Brandon Sanderson’s Wind and Truth) stayed neatly tucked in my bag while the nine courses of meticulously prepared sushi monopolized my full attention. The ritual of slicing just-flown-in-from-Japan fish, pressing it onto a formed ball of rice, and brushing it with a wash of soy sauce is transfixing when done up close, intimate in its immediacy. At Kabuto, sushi chefs prepare small bites across the counter from you, timed with precision to land on your plate just in time to be eaten. The cooked courses were exquisite — like one of yellowtail collar with spiced and citrusy glaze. But the progression of nigiri was mesmerizing. A bite of salmon belly was fatty and buttery, luxurious with the subtle cut of vinegar. And a torch imparted a light smokiness and almost caramelization to an impossibly fresh skipback, while a piece of richly pink snapper was sweet and almost nutty in its lightness. When at its best, omakase is a poignant reminder that food is art — made all the more intimate because you put it in your body. 5040 West Spring Mountain Road. — Janna Karel, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest

Samosa Chaat at Tamba

Janna Karel

The new Indian restaurant at Town Square offers an excellent vibe — decorated warmly with cozy seating and attentive service. The kitchen employs several appliances for cooking Indian classics, sometimes with a Japanese twist. A Josper charcoal oven roasts octopus until soft with a delicate char — sparing any of the chew that the meat is sometimes prone to — and complemented with cauliflower puree, orange glaze, and sticky amaranto eel sauce. A bowl of samosa chaat, though, was a standout. Baked rather than fried, prisms of puff pastry are filled with masala potatoes and green peas and served in a bowl of curried chickpeas, pops of pomegranate arils, and crunchy chickpea noodles. It was at once savory and spicy — with all the complexity that Indian food demands — with the welcome pops of sweetness. 6671 Las Vegas Blvd South Suite A117. — Janna Karel, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest

Red Snapper Pescado Zarandeado at Viva! by Ray Garcia

Matthew Kang

Ray Garcia’s Viva! needs some love these days. On Friday night, a DJ was spinning cumbia and reggaeton wearing an LA Dodger hat with just over half the tables filled. Whatever the reason, more Las Vegans should know Garcia’s name as he plots a reopening of his B.S. Taqueria somewhere else in town. Garcia’s mainly parachuting into Resorts World like many a well-known chef in Vegas, but the food is still fantastic. On my third visit here, we tried the red snapper zarandeado, a juicy, well-grilled piece hunk of fish that came covered with peppers and onions. The sauce underneath, which isn’t quite common on traditional zarandeado preparations, spoke more like a French or even Portuguese-style preparation. But that sauce was phenomenal, spooned over Mexican rice, and worthy of mopping up to the last bite. 3000 South Las Vegas Boulevard. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest

Onaga With Yuzu Miso Dulse Beurre Blanc at Kusa Nori

Matthew Kang

A well-seared fish is always going to stand out on a tasting menu over beef to me, and this long tail red snapper, which iconic and Hawaiian-based chef Roy Yamaguchi calls onaga, was served as part of a collaborative menu last week at Kusa Nori inside Resorts World. Sporting a beautiful golden brown crust on top, the tender, flakey fish was served over a tangy yuzu miso beurre blanc. Pops of salty salmon roe, finger lime, and fresh chives brought contrast, while a lineup of heirloom beets and fennel rounded out the soft, comforting flavors. Yamaguchi’s once vast empire of upscale Hawaiian-inflected restaurants has now dwindled to three, but the salt-and-pepper-haired chef was in good spirits, shaking hands and giving thumbs up around Kusa Nori’s dining room. Dishes like this are reminders that old-school principles and quality ingredients always result in tasty food. 3000 South Las Vegas Boulevard. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest

Lobster Roll at Flanker Kitchen + Sports Bar

Janna Karel

February marked the second time I’ve visited Mandalay Bay for dinner (this time, Caramá) and stopped for an after-dinner snack of lobster rolls at Flanker Kitchen on the way out the door. The rolls here are made with the same ones that sister restaurant Carversteak uses in its wagyu cheesesteak bites – super buttery thick-cut slices of toast that hold up beautifully to a generous scoop of lobster with everything spice, herbs, and tangy lemon mayo. While the main draw of Flanker is its sports bar appeal — with several large-screen TVs and drinks made for ferrying out the door en route to Allegiant Stadium — it takes its food seriously, and the lobster rolls are among the best in the city. 3950 South Las Vegas Boulevard. — Janna Karel, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest