Wynn Las Vegas Magazine by MODERN LUXURY

Wynn - 2015 - Issue 3 - Winter

Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas

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Plac PlaceCaption Hrer plac ecapt ion hereplace captionhere placecaption hHrer plac ecapt ion hereplace captionhere placecaption her eplace eCaption Hrer plac ecapt ion hereplace captionhere placecaption hereplace start and end with Kobe. From domestic hybrids to a breed even more elusive than Kobe, the Wynn beef repertoire is gaining international renown. "At SW and Mizumi, they have real Kobe, which is very rare," says Joseph Elevado, Executive Chef at Andrea's in Encore. From Kusunoki Farm in Kumamoto Prefecture, Andrea's carries high-end Japanese wagyu rated A5, the highest score the country awards. All real Japanese wagyu beef is scarce in the US, but other regional meats are available in far greater supply than Kobe. "We all know a USDA Prime New York strip— that's the benchmark," says David Walzog, Executive Chef at SW Steakhouse, which has a huge variety of beef options. Prime is the highest grade that American beef can receive, awarded to less than 2 percent of all meat pro- duced in this country and typically available only to top-tier steakhouses. All the regular domestic steaks served at SW are Prime. "If you consider that steak to be a 10 in terms of marbling, beef flavor, and 'steakiness,' then something like the Snake River Farms domestic wagyu we offer would be a 13, with more mouth- feel, richness, and layered fat. In comparison, Kobe, Ohmi, or the A5 wagyu would be around 18 to 20." Considering that Prime is already a very high standard, that's a quantum leap—and the reason that dedicated red-meat lovers are making special trips to Wynn and Encore to sample all the myriad offerings. Almost all high-level Japanese beef comes from purebred black wagyu (which means cattle) and has similar taste, texture, and appearance. But like wine, Japanese beef is highly regionalized, with some places more famous for quality, especially Kobe, Ohmi, and Matsusaka. "They are the holy trinity of Japanese beef," says Walzog, "the most presti- gious, and we carry two of the three: Kobe and Ohmi. The Ohmi has the most characteristic beef texture. It's still very silky, soft on the pal- ate, and much richer than American beef, but the Kobe has more fat dominance." SW also carries a third regional Japanese wagyu, from Ideue Farm in Kagoshima Prefecture, with more balanced fat content. Wagyu cattle have been exported for breed- ing in other countries, especially Australia and left: A dry-aged tomahawk chop at SW Steakhouse. below: A Kobe dish at SW, one of the few restaurants in the country licensed to serve authentic Kobe beef. right: Executive Chef David Walzog of SW preparing Kobe. Wynn 49

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