Wynn Las Vegas Magazine by MODERN LUXURY

Wynn - 2015 - Issue 3 - Winter

Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas

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52 WYNN some diners find it too fatty, like eating butter. All the chefs interviewed recommend consum- ing it in much smaller portions, no more than four to six ounces per person. Elevado suggests that wagyu novices try the domestic version first, as a stepping-stone to the intensely fatty Japanese beef. Many visitors try a sampler of Kobe, Ohmi, and Ideue at SW, Kusunoki and Snake River at Andrea's, or Kobe and Hokkaido Snow Beef at Mizumi. The latest addition to the Wynn family of exotic steaks, Snow Beef is even rarer than Kobe. It is produced by just one farmer, on the cold, snowy island of Hokkaido, the northern- most in Japan, known for its skiing and its long winter. "They call this farmer the 'wagyu meis- ter,' and he has devoted his entire life to raising them," says Devin Hashimoto, Executive Chef at Mizumi. "Because it's so cold and they use corn as feed, you get this uniquely sweet taste from the beef. He only slaughters four head a month: One stays on Hokkaido, one goes to a restaurant in Singapore, one gets split between two places in Seattle and San Francisco, and one comes here. During Golden Week, we have a lot of Japanese guests come in, and we had people from Tokyo and Kyoto who don't get up to Hokkaido telling us that they had to come to Las Vegas to finally try it for the first time." Imported and domestic wagyu are not the only choices for beef lovers at Wynn. All the restaurants still do a brisk business in USDA Prime beef, often dry-aged, which concentrates and elevates the flavor, with SW serving classics like a dry-aged tomahawk chop, a 44-ounce por- terhouse for two, and a rare double rib eye. To offer yet another taste profile, Walzog recently added a grass-fed natural domestic steak from a boutique Oregon farm. Slightly leaner than traditional grain-fed domestic beef, with a fat ratio closer to that of wild salmon, grass-fed is the standard in the world's largest beef- consuming nations, Argentina and Uruguay, and is becoming increasingly popular in this country. The Country Club also offers grass-fed steaks alongside grain-fed, but Chef Lenger is more excited about bison. "We try to source more natural ingredients—we use organic fish and we have the grass-fed beef," he says. "We get the bison from Colorado. It's 100 percent natural, and we work with just four or five ranches. It is very good meat, and you can use it for steaks, chops, or burgers, but if you're a little health- conscious, it has less calories and cholesterol. We have the rib eye now, and I want to add ten- derloin and a bison burger to the menu." According to Walzog, a lot of guests who eat at SW are inspired to try more beef dishes at the other restaurants as well. "People love all the choices, and they're going crazy for the dynamic of the varied offerings," he says. "And because we're one of only three registered users of the Kobe Beef Association in the US, they feel comfortable indulging, because here they know what they're getting." ■ Diners sear their own Hokkaido Snow Beef on a hot stone at their table at Mizumi. FOOD SPOTLIGHT

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