Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, Las Vegas

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Filed Under Las Vegas, Travel 

Siv and I are major Iron Chef fans - one of the very few TV programs we watch together.  One of the Iron chefs we really love to watch is Bobby Flay, the main reason being his love towards using bold flavors. He is not afraid to experiment with a little heat, his favorite cooking ingredients being different varieties of chili peppers! So we were looking forward to trying out Mesa Grill, the Las Vegas version of Bobby Flay’s flagship restaurant in NYC. We only got to have lunch there, so we had just three dishes to form our opinion, keep that in mind while reading the review.

We started with some drinks, I got a hefe-weizen from Germany- light, smooth and refreshing - exactly what I needed after the 5 minutes walk in the 100F sun from Bellagio to Caesar’s Palace. Siv had the Black Widow Mojito, an excellent drink. Normally I ignore the bread baskets, since that is just wasting valuable stomach space, but I couldn’t do that after the waiter told us about the jalapeno bread! It was just out of this world, I could just make a meal out of it!

We were both not all that hungry, but we decided to share an appetizer and get individual entrees. For the appetizer we got the Blue Corn Pancake with Barbecued Duck and Habanero Chile - Star Anise sauce ($13). You can see why we went for this one, since it had all of Bobby’s favorite ingredients. The waiter warned us that the Habanero sauce is really hot and be careful with it, but little did he know how much heat tolerance we have! It wasn’t overly hot at all, the duck was soft and smoky, the blue corn pancake not only looked brilliant, but had great taste and texture, and all the different sauces went so well with it, that extra kick of habanero was just wonderful! MesaGrill3JPG

For his entree, Siv got the Yucatan Chicken Tacos with Grilled Onions and Peanut Smoked Chile Barbecue Sauce ($15). This came with two corn tortillas. Chicken was tender and flavorful, the sauce was perfectly smoky and spicy, only complaint was the size of the dish. It was really small for an entree, but Siv was not that hungry, so he was fine. MesaGrill4

I got the Mesa Burger ($16), even though I didn’t have the stomach for it. But how can you not taste the signature burger at the grill master’s own restaurant? I have to say I was a bit disappointed, while it was a perfectly good burger, I really expected much more from Bobby Flay! The Southwestern fries were amazing though, didn’t like the horseradish mustard dip it came with, but the fries were perfectly seasoned, I didn’t need any dips.

MesaGrill5

All in all, it was a perfectly nice lunch, but other than the blue corn duck pancake, I can’t say that any of the dishes were out of this world. It is definitely worth a visit if you are Bobby Flay fan, and you’d enjoy the bragging rights of having eaten at an Iron Chef restaurant. I am sure you won’t have a bad meal, but I wouldn’t put it in the exceptional category, based on this meal. But as I mentioned before, I can’t really put such a great chef down after trying just three dishes, I would go back there just for the pancakes next trip though! It’s also got one Michelin star, which is not easy to come by, so I am sure there are other dishes in the menu in the same rank of those pancakes!

Mesa Grill (Caesars Palace) on Urbanspoon 



Comments

25 Responses to “Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, Las Vegas”

  1. Siri on June 29th, 2008 11:29 pm

    Sig - I like Bobby Flay for the same reason - ‘bold flavors’. He is the ‘Grilling Guru’ on FN! :smile: I feel sad when he looses every single time, I watched ‘Throwdown with Bobby Flay’.. I have NEVER seen him win..Unlucky Me! :cry: gotta try his restaurant now! did they have any veggie entrees? :drool: just curious!. Nice post!

    Siri

    Throwdown with Bobby is completely fake and fixed I think :) But on Iron Chef, I’ve seen him win…. :)
    Re: Veggie entries, I just looked at the menu again, and yes, there is one etnree “CORNMEAL CRUSTED CHILE RELLENO filled with Roasted Eggplant + Manchego Cheese Sweet Red Pepper Sauce + Balsamic Vinegar” and a bunch of veg appetizers for lunch, and I am sure there will be more for dinner. Check the menu here

  2. James on June 30th, 2008 12:18 am

    That’s too bad. I’m not a huge Bobby Flay fan (prefer AB or Gordon Ramsay). Still, like you, I would have expected more.

    Oh, those fries do look incredible. What was on them? How were they seasoned?

    The fries were great, they were Southwestern fries and I think the seasoning had cumin and some chile powder, probably ancho if I know Bobby Flay :)

  3. arundathi on June 30th, 2008 12:55 am

    the pancake and the fries look delicious! i’d love to know too how the fries were seasoned.
    i, too, like siri, have never seen flay win!

    As I mentioned before, I think cumin and ancho chile powder… They were delicious! :)

  4. Ruchira on June 30th, 2008 1:01 am

    meals like this make me want to *chomp* *chomp*! can’t wait to waste away a vegas evening gambling and then eating with flay! grilling master for sure!! :(Yes):

    :) I wouldn’t call it wasting away….

  5. Jyothsna on June 30th, 2008 5:55 am

    Gimme the fries, gimme the fries….

    :) yeah, those were great!

  6. sra on June 30th, 2008 7:35 am

    I love the blue corn pancake - I am v curious about exotic foods and ingredients. Sig, you don’t mention the prices in your restaurant reviews? Just curious, I was wondering how much this meal cost and I couldn’t find that info. Considering they’re celebrated chefs and all …

    I just updated the post with the prizes for the individual dishes. The whole check came to about $75 including tip, one of the cheapest meals we had in Vegas this tme… Yeah, it was lunch, but still prizes were pretty affordable for a celebrity chef… :)

  7. Asha on June 30th, 2008 8:01 am

    I love Bobby Flay, one genuine chef amongst all those “bam!” people!:D

    Those are for lunch? Too much girl! ;D

    Looks great though, hope they didn’t put a big hole in your pocket!:)

    :) I “love” Emeril…. The “bam” is entertaining…. :) The portions were pretty small, so it was not a too filling lunch… :)

  8. Rajitha on June 30th, 2008 8:40 am

    had to ask u…th few times i watched IC..the iron chefs always won..does that happen mojority of the times :neutral:

    actually Flay is one of the few ppl. i like on FN…i like his to-the-point..no nonsense style ..he does not talk about food as if he were having a freakin O!..i am fed up with those guys there who roll their eyes when they are eating food cooked by them :mrgreen:

    Nooo, I don’t think its rigged, I have seen the challengers winning many times too, but obviously iron chefs win the majority of times…

    And lol at the “O” part …. :)

  9. Rajitha on June 30th, 2008 8:41 am

    dontcha loooove my slpelos :mad:

    that is your trademark my sweets… :)

  10. Swati Jain:Sugarcraft India on June 30th, 2008 9:45 am

    I loved the pancakes picture and the fries look too yummy…

    Thanks Swati! :)

  11. JZ @ Tasty treats on June 30th, 2008 10:04 am

    wow!! the pics look awesome…ur write-up makes me feel as if i tasted all of them..yumm yumm!!

    theres something for u on my blog, Sig!

    (PS: I missed u when I posted a pork recipe!) :-)

    Thanks JZ! I will be over to pick it up soon, and to drool at the pork too… Been really busy lately to bloghop….

  12. Shantanu on June 30th, 2008 10:23 am

    Great review. One thing to remember though is while all the celebrity chefs have restaurants in Vegas, usually they are not as good as their orignals elsewhere. The food looks good though; great photography as usual!

    That is true, but given the fact that these celebrity chefs don’t really cook anymore even in their original restaurants, I would hope that their assistants can follow the original recipes … :)

  13. revathi on June 30th, 2008 12:02 pm

    i loved all the dishes u tried. great pics.. wondering how much did the total meal costed you ?

    Thanks Revathi! As I mentioned before the grand total came only to about $75… pretty cheap for a celebrity chef, huh? :)

  14. Laavanya on June 30th, 2008 12:11 pm

    Interesting dishes there Sig but I’m more excited about the jalapeno bread… Yum!

    That was a yummy bread! :)

  15. Rajitha on June 30th, 2008 1:36 pm

    boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo :mad:
    booooooooooooooooooooo :mrgreen:

    Hah, someone learned how to spell.. finally… though I think you missed a couple of o’s in the second one… :)

  16. musy on June 30th, 2008 2:09 pm

    Ooh la la, that’s really quite a pancake! Love the idea! And you are so right, for a “celebrity chef” its quite a reasonably priced lunch!

    He he, and i just can’t stop laughing at Rajitha’s comment :grin: Btw, here’s one more: never ever watched FN :mrgreen:

    :) watching FN won’t hurt your geek image musy… :) It is officially a geek network ;)

  17. musy on June 30th, 2008 2:10 pm

    btw, those are some DROOL WORTHY fries!!

    :) those sure were… :)

  18. Kalai on June 30th, 2008 4:26 pm

    Those are definitely delicious pics!! I love Flay, too. He’s got a great style and seems like the guy next door. Thanks for the info! :)

    Thanks Kalai! :)

  19. viji on July 1st, 2008 4:40 am

    wow..
    you also have a very good taste in photography also. if you take some proffessional help, you can be a very good table top photgrapher

  20. swati raman on July 1st, 2008 5:50 am

    perfect pics haan …. love d pancake buddy…writing a post for jfi now

  21. srilekha on July 1st, 2008 7:02 am

    u have a surprise in my blog! hurry up to my blog!

  22. richa on July 1st, 2008 8:35 am

    u sure had a great time in vegas :wink:
    jalapeno bread…mmmmmmmm :grin:

  23. Susan from Food Blogga on July 1st, 2008 7:23 pm

    Ooh, you’re a lucky girl! My husband and I enjoy Bobby’s innovative recipes too and would love to go to his restaurant. Great pics!

  24. Cynthia on July 1st, 2008 10:18 pm

    I wonder what dinner would have been like.

  25. ranji on July 21st, 2008 2:45 pm

    nice post sig….bobby flays my fav iron hef too..i have tried couple of his recipes….u r right abt him using bold flavors,chillies and spices…the blue corn pancakes sounds amazing with that spicy sauce…i hope to visit one of his restaurants soon :)…

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