Photo by: Courtesy of Caesars Entertainment

Steakhouses have been popular in Las Vegas since before the town was a town, when rough and tumble was the order of the day. Paying homage to Vegas’ great history is Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse at Flamingo Las Vegas, where the movers and shakers behind the Vegas resort’s mobster past get a nod. Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse has a gorgeous exterior based off a ’40s-era bakery; you’ll enter through a hall on one side to the back, where the lush dining room invites you to take your time.

You might want to start with a Kentucky Old Fashioned to get yourself in the mood for the evening. It’s a simple but delicious concoction of Bulleit bourbon, house-made demerara syrup and Angostura bitters. (For fans, there is even an Old Fashioned tableside cart.) Once sipping, turn your attention to the appetizers for sweet and smoky bacon with maple-bourbon candied glaze; coconut shrimp; a jumbo lump crab cake with Meyer lemon emulsion, plus pickled carrots and a small frisée salad. Other great options include Nonna’s meatball, with marinara and pesto burrata, and the truffle beef carpaccio with shaved Parmesan, truffle oil and anchovy aioli.

If you’ve got a group, order the grand seafood tower, which is tier on tier of seafood, from East and West Coast oysters, poached shrimp, Alaskan king crab, Maine lobster and accompaniments such as champagne mignonette, cocktail sauce and dijonnaise. It’s a showstopping presentation.

A good soup or salad introduces the entrée, and both the beet salad and the 17th century onion soup fill that role. The beet salad, with arugula, radicchio and cheese, is gently dressed with a light vinaigrette while the onion soup has deep flavors, a Gruyère gratin and toasted sourdough to dip.

Photo by: Courtesy of Caesars Entertainment

When you are contemplating the mains, you’ll find difficult decisions ahead. Classic steakhouse dishes like diver scallops, here with basil-fennel purée and blood orange, fight it out with apple-brined pork chops with spiced sweet potato purée and Brussels sprouts. Chicken Parmesan, short rib pappardelle with truffle Mornay sauce, Chilean sea bass and pan-seared Scottish salmon round out your choices.

For steak, will you choose a 20-ounce bone-in ribeye? Accent it with truffle butter, hollandaise sauce, béarnaise sauce and more, or add on a lobster tail or Alaskan king crab leg, and be sure to get sides like Yukon Gold potato purée, maple-bourbon glazed carrots or tender asparagus. If you need a little more meat, the tomahawk ribeye is an impressive 32 ounces.

Dessert is never a bad idea—the banana split cake is very banana-y, with banana cake, banana mousse and torched bananas, plus vanilla bean and cherry mousse, namelaka pastry cream and chocolate sauce. The berry cheesecake is simply gorgeous, with glazed mixed berries and micro flowers. Sweet!

Flamingo. 702.733.3111 or caesars.com

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