text: There comes a time when you just go all out Whether you are in the right mindset or not you just go for it You do not think about cost or consequences thereafter You just close your eyes and hope for the best With Tom Colicchios Craftsteak at the MGM I did just that I knew it was way over my budget but I just went with it Maybe it was the Vegas air and wanted to live the Vegas dream of fine dining It is not like I won big at the craps tables I just wanted to do Vegas right and dine like I never do It is not everyday you get a meal with all of the fixings and trimmings maybe when Christmas or Thanksgiving rolls around but even then nothing like this nothing like having dish after dish after dish all laid out in front of you This indeed was something special Expensive but specialnnLas Vegas is all about grandeur Excess of everything with a splash of flashiness is what everyone expects in Vegas Craftsteak with the interior design and cuisine is a bit dialed down Some may see that as something negative but this was executed with excellence The food and the design exuded a sense of humble refinement A kind of my food does not have to be extravagant to be Las Vegas enough kind of attitude Tom Colicchios menu is simple and does it elegantlynnThe bread and butter was served in a not so normal cast iron pan The bread was soft and warm the butter was delicious as it shouldnnAppetizer The Lobster Bisque was near perfection The way they did it was unique and interesting The soup bowl had nothing inside expect spices and chunks of lobster The waiter then poured in the hot bisque inside the bowl The taste was amazingly delicious Lobster chucks filled every spoonful The bisque was rich and creamy and full of seafood flavor The Lobster Bisque itself was well worth the experiencennAppetizer The Itallian buffalo mozzarella with hazelnuts was mellow Not robust in flavors the taste was a bit subtle The tomatoes and balsamic helped round out the flavors The mozzarella was fresh as can bennAppetizer The Warm Frisee salad had some intense flavors going on a great thing It had a farm egg smoked bacon mustard seed and blue cheese The bacon and blue cheese were rich and fatty and the mustard seed helped cleanse the palate Intense tastes and bitter greens made this dish amazingnnAppetizer Their Caesar salad was a bit bland I dug the pickled anchovy thoughnnThe Ribeye is one of my favorite cuts of steak Mine was oz bone in cooked to a medium rare Perfectly cooked I could not ask for a better piece of meat Each bite was perfect texturally but I felt it lacked seasoning Maybe the rich flavors of the appetizers killed my taste buds but the Ribeye could have used some salt Heck this might be cheating but I would have loved some blue cheese on the side Translation I love blue cheesennInterestingly the oz T Bone had a better flavor for me it must be the dry aging process It had a rich beef flavor that was missing from the Ribeye Still cooked perfectly the meat was succulent and tendernnSide The yukon potato puree was amazing It was such a simple dish It was rich with a lot of butter and cream The taste was like no other It was smooth and delicious and the chives on top gave it enough zest to keep me coming back for morennSide The assorted mushrooms were a perfect accompaniment to the meat What is better that meat and potatoes than adding mushrooms in the mix They each had a different bite to itnnSide Another potato other than the puree was the potatoes gratin The potato slices were mixed in with a roasted garlic cream The taste was perfect with the meatnnDessert I thought monkey bread pudding was a funny name for a dessert but the taste was addicting The bread was sweet and dense kind of like a cinnamon bun The rich caramel sauce with the bread pudding and ice cream all mixed well perfectlynnDessert I always see cactus pear sorbet on TV and always wanted to try it I was pleasantly surprised and I fell in love with it The taste was very mellow and not too sweet The color of the sorbet was vibrant as was the flavors The fruit slices candied dates and dragon fruit were mediocre My favorite fruit is the Asian pear I like it because it has a nice bite to it with a lot of juice The pear sliced wafer thin gave it no bite and not a lot a moisture The dragon fruit was exotic and taste was mild None of this fruit mess I am in Vegas more Monkey Bread Pudding PleasennDessert The most decadent dessert was the chocolate moose The chocolate in this was super chocolatey and dense The vanilla ice cream was as pure as can be but the peaches on the side did not excite mennTom Colicchios steakhouse was in the end worth it Plate after plate dish after dish the food seamed endless The impeccable service and comfortable seating arrangements made this long endeavor a treat I will never forget