steak @ Carnevino
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Carnevino (Las Vegas, NV) [2]

Carnevino has been a steakhouse favorite in Las Vegas since opening over ten years ago. Along with Bazaar Meat, I’ve regarded these two steakhouses as some of the best I’ve been to. This was my third visit to the restaurant, and second for my parents.

Subsequent to this meal, it was announced that Carnevino (and Batali & Bastianich’s two other restaurants in Las Vegas) would be closing at the end of July. While the restaurant tried to distance itself from Mario Batali, it couldn’t escape the fact that he was one its primary co-creators/co-owners. As such, this ended up likely being my last meal here.

bazaar meat steak
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Bazaar Meat (Las Vegas, NV) [3]

This was my third visit to Jose Andres’ Bazaar Meat with my last visit being over two years ago (when the restaurant first opened). I’ve been able to try a pretty wide variety of food items in my first two visits, from a couple different cuts of steaks to the lamb chops to the suckling pig. I was part of some larger party sizes for those meals, which really allowed us to try quite a bit of the menu. Some of the meats here tend to be very large portions, so it can be challenging to try a lot with a party of two. Given that, we decided to go with a tasting menu. The restaurant offers three tiers of tasting menus ($125, $185, $225) – we went with the middle tier for this meal.

wagyu alexanders
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Alexander’s Steakhouse (Pasadena, CA) [2]

I’ve been to Alexander’s Steakhouse in San Francisco and Pasadena a few times and have had a few good meals here. This latest visit was prompted by DineLA restaurant week, in which the restaurant was offering six courses for $115. One of those courses, the steak course, offered an option of an 18oz dry aged New York strip or 3oz of Kagoshima wagyu. This tasting menu provided quite a bit of value (compared to regular pricing) and an opportunity to try a little bit more of the menu here.

bateau steak
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Bateau (Seattle, WA)

Bateau is chef Renee Erickson’s first restaurant foray out of seafood. Erickson has made a name for herself by serving sea creatures (The Walrus and the Carpenter, The Whale Wins, General Porpoise), but this restaurant is something a little different – a steakhouse.

Beef is aged on-site in a huge meat locker in full display. Right next to it is the day’s sections broken down into farm, cut, and portion. Everything is of limited supply; as they’re ordered, items are crossed off the chalkboard. This day’s beef selections were from three different farms, all grass-fed, aged 21-35 days. La Ferme des Anes is Erickson’s own farm.

itoh by nobu
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Itoh Dining by NOBU (Hakone, Japan)

Hakone is a very scenic and quiet place in the Japanese countryside known for its onsen hot springs. It’s so quiet and quaint that there aren’t a whole lot of dining options in the area. We wanted to avoid the hotel restaurant and ending up opting for this place. It had high potential for being a tourist trap given its association with Nobu Matsuhisa and its ranking as the #1 restaurant in the area per TripAdvisor but we chose it nonetheless. And we were glad we did.

The restaurant is a teppanyaki spot, where chefs cook up the food right in front of you on the flattop. The specialty here is wagyu beef, of course, and the restaurant offers a couple of different varieties in both set menu form and a la carte. We opted for two set menus offering A4 beef, plus an a la carte dish of the top shelf Kobe beef.

alexander's steak pasadena
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Alexander’s Steakhouse (Pasadena, CA)

Alexander’s Steakhouse opened in Pasadena last year, the first SoCal location for the Bay Area-based chain. It’s a highly regarded steakhouse; the original Cupertino location garnered a Michelin star for three years (2011-2013). I’ve been to the San Francisco location once to celebrate a birthday, but this would be my first two visits to the Pasadena location.

boa ribeye
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BOA Steakhouse (West Hollywood, CA)

Boa Steakhouse is part of the Innovative Dining Group, the Socal-based group that includes concepts like Sushi Roku and Katana. There’s three locations of Boa including this one in West Hollywood, Santa Monica and, of all places, Abu Dhabi. I’ve been to this location of Boa once before for a birthday party and had a good meal. Since it was a large party during that visit, everyone had to order off a set menu. This time, we had free reign to order whatever we wanted off the full menu.

ad hoc
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Ad Hoc (Yountville, CA) [2]

There’s plenty of good restaurants in the Napa Valley, but for me a trip just doesn’t feel complete without a stop at a Thomas Keller establishment. There would be no French Laundry on this brief trip, but a stop here at the more casual Ad Hoc was in order. The restaurant serves a 4-course fixed menu for $52, although there’s regularly a supplemental dish offered as well. Since the menu isn’t published until the morning of the meal, it’s a little bit of a crapshoot depending on what you’re looking for. We lucked out this time as this evening’s menu featured steak – a ribeye to be exact.