This is guest post 2 of 2… As I mentioned in the FIX post, we were in Vegas for 3 nights for a conference and had some gift money to burn up. Since we don’t gamble or drink much, it was wisely spent primarily on food. The first day of the conference, as we walked into the Paris via the Bally’s casino, we passed Le Burger Brasserie, and I thought, “Mmmm. burgers…” I made a mental note to come check out the menu later, but I forgot. That night we went to FIX for dinner. The next day, as we were wrapping up the morning block of presentations, we start talking about lunch, and my husband being the nerd he is, decided to skip lunch (sacrilegio!) to go to some free mini-workshops from 12 to 1. I joined our friend and his wife and we ended up at Le Burger Brasserie.

We were seated right away, and I quickly realized this was more like a sports bar (and well, duh, the full name of the place is Le Burger Brasserie Sports Grille – how did I miss that?). So, you look around and there are flat-screens everywhere. And your waitresses are dressed like French hookers, which I guess can be a selling point for some people. I felt particularly bad for the one flat-chested waitress. Her corset looked like it was sliding down her body, while the other girls’ corsets seemed to be overflowing with pechugera. Anyway, enough about the waitresses. I just found it really strange and forced. Like it’s a sports bar/burger joint, but it’s in a hotel called Paris, so our waitresses should look “French”, but they should also be a little on the slutty side because, well, it’s a sports bar.

I started looking through the menu, I couldn’t make up my mind! There were a lot of things besides burgers on the menu (steak and fries, chowder, salads, wings, and even non-beef burgers (chicken, turkey, salmon, lamb, veggie). But I wanted a beef burger.

All their options/combinations sounded great, and if they hadn’t sounded great, you could mix and match your own toppings, and THAT list was extensive as well… I finally settled on “Le Paris” – 100% black Angus Beef with Brie, smoked bacon and caramelized onions. However I asked them to sub Bleu Cheese for the Brie (not a fan). For the bun I chose the whole wheat and oat bun (they bake all their buns in-house every day).

My dining companions had similar choices. One went with Le Paris as-is, the other went with – I think – a regular cheeseburger. I can’t remember. I was too busy salivating in anticipation. We also ordered a fries sampler: Waffle and Petite Pomme Frites.

These burgers weren’t as pricy as the sliders at Fix, though definitely more than even the priciest typical fast food burger. At $10-11 for a burger, once again, I was sold on the first bite, and wouldn’t have hesitated to pay more than that. The bun was a little dryer than I would have liked, but I think the moisture from the cheese and onions gradually improved the texture and after a few bites, with everything getting pressed together, it became a near-perfect combination of flavor and texture. On this burger, the onions didn’t add much more than moisture, because the flavor of the bacon and the bleu cheese were overpowering, but they didn’t detract either.

The fries… both were very good, but the fries from FIX had set my expectations very high, and these just didn’t hold up in comparison. One of my dining companions apparently didn’t feel the same way. He ate most of the fries. His wife and I had some but this guy was still picking out crumbs from the basket as we were getting ready to walk out.

We didn’t order dessert. BUT…

The four of us returned the next day for lunch. So we ate here twice. This time, the wait was insane. We probably stood around for about 25-30 minutes before getting a table, and some larger groups waited even longer. I got the same thing, as did the other two who went with me the previous day. My husband ordered “Le Bleu” which was topped with bleu cheese, avocado and smoked bacon.

Once again, fantastic burgers. Having been disappointed by the fries the day before, I didn’t care if we got them or not, but we ordered the waffle/petite sampler again, for the boys. This time the Petites had some kind of seasoning on them that made ALL the difference! I think someone forgot to season our fries the first time around. Wow. This was really good. Still not as good as FIX’s fries, but an improvement from the previous day.

This time we ordered desserts, and while they were good, I probably wouldn’t order desserts there again. They were nothing special. Mine was an ice cream/cookie sandwich, with vanilla ice cream between two large chocolate chip cookies (thin and crispy kind, not thick and chewy, which was a plus as I don’t like thick/chewy cookies). My husband had the chocolate brownie with a ball of ice cream on top. It was OK but not very exciting or “amazing” or anything… meh… We’ll stick to the burgers there.

There were some other items on the menu that we considered but didn’t order. There were milk shakes (traditional flavors like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, as well as espresso, peanut butter, banana…). There was also a 100oz. Beer Tower for $30. It comes with its own tap. You can go the classy route with that, or just order a bucket with five or six bottles of beer

By the way, their website claims that their “signature” burger is the $777 Burger – a Kobe beef and maine lobster burger with imported brie, prosciutto, caramelized onions, and 100-year aged balsamic vinegar. It comes with a bottle of Rose Dom Perignon. Yeah, I wonder how many of those they actually sell, and how drunk one has to be to actually order one.

Was it a good burger? Hell yes. Was the service acceptable? Superb. Very attentive staff both times. Would I eat here again? Probably not. Maybe. If I’m stuck at Paris between presentations at another conference in the future most definitely. But I enjoyed my sliders at FIX a lot more, and I loooove the burgers at The Burger Bar (from previous visits to Las Vegas), so there are definitely other places I’d hit up for a burger before coming to Le Burger Brasserie again

Here’s their menu (PDF File).

Le Burger Brasserie Sports Grille
Paris Hotel
3655 Las Vegas Blvd So.
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
702-946-4346

Hours
Dining: 11am – 10pm Sun-Thurs, 11am-1am Fri & Sat
Bar : 11am -12am Sun-Thurs, 11am – 1am Fri & Sat

There are times when you plan to eat a lot and times when it just happens spontaneously, mostly due to circumstances beyond your control such as too many delectable dishes to choose from. I encountered this situation at the Harley Davidson Cafe.  I innocently arrived at this place with some friends. I was told that I must try the Kellogg’s Corn Flake Coated Chicken Fingers (no explanation needed).  As good as I thought the Chicken Fingers were, I believe the Planet Hollywood version made with Cap’n Crunch is better).

As I tell you this, things are coming back to me little by little almost like when you’re trying to remember what you did the morning after a hangover. We ate so much I could say with almost 100% certainty that there were Nachos on the table at some point but I don’t remember how good they were nor why I ordered a bowl of chili for the hell of it. Now, what I remember is the Ultra Classic (2 patties with American and Swiss Cheese, Crisp Onions, Bacon, Chipotle Mayo) that I had, it was definitely the item that put me over the edge. I passed on guacamole and pico de gallo that come with it.

It was great . Did we have dessert? I would guess that we did. What was it? We’d have better luck guessing the amount of licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop.

Harley Davidson Cafe
3725 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV
702-740-4555

My bud Yislin ate at Burger Bar and sent her report:

I was recently in Las Vegas and very anxious to try out a place I had heard about, through the Burger Beast, called Burger Bar. Burger Bar is located in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino (aka Mandolin Bay depending on which drunkard you speak to). Snuggled in between shops and across from LUSH ( a Canadian all natural cosmetics company.Go Canada!) you’ll find burger nirvana. It’s a quaint little place that typically has a line of hungry burger connoisseurs but if you opt for a bar stool, no wait necessary. That’s what we did ( I refer to my fellow travelers Bert and Ernie). Straight to the Bar we went and found, to our amazement, that this burger joint had a wondrous selection of draft and bottled beer as well. Besides the usual domestic blah of beers you will find that they have refreshing Belgian brews such as Duvel and Delirium. They also carry your Stella, Blue Moon, Anchor Steam, Boddington’s, Newcastle and the like. But I digress, let’s move on to the burgers. Let’s first mention that the Burger Bar’s owner and chef is Hubert Keller, which is famous to the people who know him. I mentioned his name to appear a more experienced critic but I have no clue who this fella is.

At Burger Bar you have your choice of almost anything you want, as far as beef is concerned. You may choose amongst farm raised and corn fed beef, black angus, Kobe beef, Colorado lamb, salmon steak, turkey, vegetarian patties or chicken. I think they also have buffalo meat on the menu. You may build-your-own burger ( kinda like build-a bear with more calories) or choose from the already crafted variety. They have many toppings to choose from including lobster and foie gras( the $60 burgers). After adding the toppings, the burger isn’t cheap. My deliciously designed burger ( turkey, jalapeno bacon, provolone cheese and a fried egg along with sweet potato fries) cha-chinged it’s way to about 16 dollars ( in today’s economy that’s like 2 euros for the foreign crowd, lucky you). Needless to say, it was amazing! I would pay that and more for such a delectable dish. I forgot to mention that while the fries (and every single topping) are a la carte, you have a choice of skinny fries, fat fries, sweet potato fries or cajun fries. They are DE-LISH as well. It was a hearty meal and with the couple of tasty Belgian brews I had, it made for very good times at Burger Bar. I would visit time and time again. I wish there was a Burger Bar here in Miami! My only regret is that I did not try the burger desserts. They are donuts topped with delicious things like chocolate and ganache. Maybe next time my burger sweetie, maybe next time.

Burger Bar
3930 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada
702-632-9364
Hours: Sun-Thurs 10:30AM-11PM, Fr/Sat 10:30-3AM