Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse Lands at Wynn Las Vegas With Caviar Cannolis and Colossal Cuts
Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse will have its grand opening at Wynn Las Vegas on Wednesday, March 4, and Bond Hospitality founder Scott Sartiano knows that this is a high-stakes endeavor. The Las Vegas restaurant is a meatier and more over-the-top version of the original Sartiano’s at The Mercer in New York.
Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse will be adjacent to members’ club Zero Bond, where Sartiano will host an exclusive grand opening party on Saturday, March 7. There will be much more to reveal soon about Zero Bond, including an astonishing art collection, extensive food-and-beverage menus and a private casino, but Sartiano is taking things moment by moment as he sets the highest of expectations for himself and his team.
“We want this to be the best thing that people have ever seen,” Sartiano tells Observer. “We’re not just trying to open a restaurant or a members’ club. I really want to make every single place a masterpiece.”
At Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse, culinary director Alfred Portale and chef Michael Rubinstein are showcasing the most showstopping dishes from the New York Sartiano’s while adding luxurious seafood towers and elegant steak carts for colossal cuts that will be sliced tableside.
“We’re in Las Vegas and, in terms of presentation, we wanted to build some theater into the dining experience,” Portale tells Observer.
Many meals at Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse will no doubt begin with the caviar cannolis that Sartiano’s is known for in New York.
“The first time I tasted it, I said, ‘We’re going to sell a thousand of these a night in Las Vegas,’” Rubinstein tells Observer. “It’s the perfect caviar vehicle. It’s adorable, it’s celebratory, and it’s just fun.”
During previews and its soft opening, Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse has indeed seen a huge demand for the caviar cannolis.
“We have tables that will order them for an appetizer and order another round for dessert,” Rubinstein says.
Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse and Zero Bond share a kitchen, and Wynn is procuring top-tier seafood that’s served at both venues. Tuna, for example, might be used for a Sartiano’s seafood plateau and also for sushi at Zero Bond. And Sartiano, Portale and Rubinstein all say that what makes Wynn stand apart from other places is its desire and ability to bring in the finest ingredients from around the world.
“I haven’t had to ask Wynn for anything,” Sartiano says. “They do get the best of everything. It’s enabled us to be more creative. There’s never been a time where I’ve had to ask for more. I think that every day you don’t try to do better, you’re doing worse. We’re always trying to make it better, and Wynn really gives you the best canvas in the world.”
Todd-Avery Lenahan, president and chief creative officer of Wynn Design & Development, collaborated with Tihany Design principal Alessia Genova on mid-century Milanese modernist design for Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse, which includes an arched ceiling and a terrazzo floor. The restaurant’s perch, overlooking the Wynn Golf Club, adds to the allure.
For Sartiano and his team, this restaurant is about legacy and history. The seafood towers are exclusive to Las Vegas, but there’s a key component that nods to Portale’s glorious past. Each plateau has a take on the seafood salad (featuring grilled shrimp, grilled calamari and avocado with greens) that Portale first served at New York’s iconic Gotham Bar & Grill. These seafood towers also include East Coast and West Coast oysters, shrimp cocktail, lobster, king crab, clams Calabrese and caviar-topped toro.
Other new offerings include a tableside presentation of fettuccine Alfredo. This is an elaborate riff on the original version of fettuccine Alfredo from Rome’s Alfredo alla Scrofa. Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse has a custom-built guéridon with a burner underneath. The pasta, which is made with 40 egg yolks for every kilogram of flour, gets tossed with Parmigiano-Reggiano, burro di bufala (Italian buffalo milk butter) and fresh black truffle.
The steak program will also feature dramatic tableside offerings, like a 40-ounce Snake River Farms wagyu porterhouse that’s rubbed with porcini powder and encased in rendered tallow before being aged for two weeks. Each porterhouse is slowly roasted after being crusted with peppercorns, herbs, garlic and dried chiles.
“That comes out on a cart, and it’s sliced tableside and served with an oxtail, porcini and black truffle ragu,” Rubinstein says. “That is a really special steak that is sort of our biggest showpiece in the steak realm here.”
Portale and Rubinstein have also spent a lot of time working on vegetable side dishes as Sartiano’s leans into its new identity as a Las Vegas steakhouse. So guests can order grilled asparagus and creamed Tuscan kale along with butternut squash gnocchi al forno and Yukon Gold potato purée.
This is a total-package Italian steakhouse where you can start with steak tartare and ricotta-laden pork-and-beef meatballs before indulging in Double R Ranch and Schuyler Ranch steaks alongside Dover sole piccata and veal chop Parm.
“I think that the sky is the limit,” Portale says when asked about his long-term ambitions for Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse. “Once we get rolling, we’ll have really expanded tableside presentations and a seasonally changing menu with a series of specials. We’ve got a lot of resources here. We want to have the consistency in quality of food that we’re known for in New York, and then we’ll build on it.”
Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse, located at 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. S, Las Vegas, NV 89109, will be open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday.