Why a flight from Minneapolis to Vegas is worth taking just for the food

I had never tasted a Cronut.

I left my New York City-centric life in 2012, just before Dominique Ansel introduced the hybrid pastry — a combination croissant and doughnut — that would go viral and change the way we eat (with our phones first).

Getting one's hands on this inescapable, Internet-fueled sensation required lining up at dawn outside Ansel's SoHo bakery, sometimes with hundreds of others clamoring for the same limited stock of flaky, jam- or cream-filled wonders. Even though I visited the city a few times a year, I couldn't justify spending hours waiting for a doughnut. It was one of those "only in New York" things to which I no longer had access.

But this year, I finally bit into my first Cronut on the casino floor of Caesars Palace. Ansel opened this Las Vegas outpost of his bakery in 2022, and has another opening at Paris Las Vegas this fall.

That Cronut, with raspberry jam sweetening crackling shards of pastry, was everything I'd imagined. It lived up to the hype, even if the hype was almost a dozen years stale.

While the Twin Cities' food scene is certainly world-class, we're often late to get national franchises or cult international bakeries, and we're almost entirely overlooked when celebrity chefs seek to expand their footprints. And it works both ways: The biggest players in local restaurants typically operate here and here alone, keeping our food world a near-secret from everyone except those who make the effort to visit.

You'll find the opposite in Las Vegas, where a chef practically has to have their own Food Network show to land a restaurant on the Strip.

Sure, some outstanding local chefs are finding their own way in burgeoning neighborhoods like the Arts District; a luxurious Italian brunch at chef James Trees' restaurant Esther's Kitchen was the best meal of my trip. But most Vegas visitors won't make it there. Not when Michelin-bedecked chefs from around the globe are bringing some of the hottest (and in some cases hard-to-get) dishes to one neon-lit thoroughfare, where access to some of the world's buzziest foods is just a flight away.

A culinary who's who list

It's easy to take advantage of the concentration of satellite restaurants in this tourism mecca, which I did on a recent trip.

My journey began with the shiniest object for a foodie, an almost universally beloved celebrity chef. The Spain-born, Washington, D.C.-based restaurateur José Andrés has his name attached to several restaurants on the Strip. He also has a presence in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles — but not Minneapolis. This was my chance to try the Ferran Adrià-inspired molecular gastronomy for which Andrés is known (think liquid olives).

His Bazaar Meat is on the northern end of the Strip, in the Sahara Las Vegas, but it feels miles away from any casino. It's huge and perfumed with the smoke of sizzling meat, with stations for each menu food group running along the entire length of a wall, almost like vendors at a, well, bazaar. We snacked our way through some of Andrés' greatest hits: tiny ice cream cones filled with cream cheese and salmon roe, one-bite cracker puffs topped with bluefin tuna, foie gras wrapped with fine threads of cotton candy.

We opted for a "Tasting Through Japan," with small bites of the restaurant's wagyu beef selections. Suddenly, a fully grown bonsai tree appeared at our table. A server rolled a cart over and cooked each slice of ruby-red wagyu on a hot river stone. Our server explained that Andrés wanted diners to feel the way he did when he was in Japan, alongside a burbling brook with smooth stones and greenery. We took bites of the tender beef, the tree between us, and closed our eyes.

It was a similarly transporting, though untethered, experience at Komodo, a pulsing Asian restaurant from Miami, lush with decor of cherry blossoms and bamboo, its crispy Peking duck and impeccable sashimi some of my favorite dishes. And at HaSalon, a Mediterranean restaurant from chef Eyal Shani that originated in Tel Aviv and has locations in Miami, Paris and New York. The family-style menu is secondary to its late-night party scene; a DJ spinning pop and European tunes, bachelorette parties dancing on chairs, our waiter ripping off his shirt to join the fun.

There was a stronger connection to the replicas of New York businesses I knew well. At Junior's, in Resorts World, I grabbed a black-and-white cookie and soaked up every Old New York reference in the wall-length mural dominated by a Brooklyn Dodger. I sought out Don't Tell Mama on Fremont Street because the Times Square piano bar had been a favorite haunt of mine in my 20s. Here, too, the servers each put down their trays to sing a set of pop or show tunes, backed by a brilliantly versatile pianist. The ceilings were too high and the space too airy to resemble the W. 46th Street brownstone basement of my past, but it was a nice break from the insatiable street party outside.

Lastly, I found California's legendary In-N-Out Burger at the Linq Promenade, an open-air entertainment and dining district behind the Flamingo. The Linq loosely resembles a Brooklyn street, or maybe a London street, if that street were built on a soundstage. Case in point: an outpost of the Brooklyn Bowl music club and a Gordon Ramsay fish and chips shop. There's also a New Jersey-themed restaurant from Buddy "Cake Boss" Valastro, chocolate and ice cream from San Francisco's Ghirardelli, and Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen & Bar, which true to its namesake city's reputation for rootlessness, serves food from Everywhere, USA (wings and burgers, mostly).

By this point, my quest to eat the world's most famous foods started to feel a little unsettling, like I'd been had by a gimmick. Was Vegas giving me a culinary ticket to the rest of the world, or was it just trying to sell another burger?

In-N-Out's double-double still hit the spot, but afterward, I was determined to experience something homegrown instead.

In search of local flavor

I found that local slice of Vegas when I walked the entirety of the Strip, ambling to the far northern end at 2:30 a.m. (not recommended; take a cab). There was the Peppermill, an almost 'round-the-clock diner across the street from a newer hotel complex, Resorts World, and down the block from Vegas' newest resort, the Fontainebleau. Compared with its neighbors, it's squat and barely lit, just a half-burned-out lettered sign beckoning customers. But inside? A wonderland of chrome and neon, fake trees and plush, swirly banquettes. The 52-year-old Peppermill is a hallucination of what an original Vegas restaurant should be, so distinct that it was a James Beard 2024 America's Classics winner.

Every Vegas dweller I spoke to seemed to have a fondness for the Peppermill — and an opinion on what to order, based on their own overnight cravings. The almost unanimous suggestion was fruit salad, of all things. But this $30 fruit salad lives as large as any high roller. It's served on a platter, enough to fill two large takeout boxes with leftovers, and comes with a whole loaf of banana bread and, inexplicably, a side of marshmallow fluff. (It works.)

Sitting in a purple velvet booth under a Tiffany-style chandelier with a flamingo on it, and dipping my honeydew melon into marshmallow sauce in the middle of the night, I finally felt like I couldn't be anywhere but right there, in Las Vegas.

Eat around the world in one stop

In Las Vegas, you can taste foods and visit restaurants that originated in other parts of the country — and other parts of the world. Here are 10 places, mostly on the Strip, where you can dine and drink like you're somewhere else, all in one visit.

Ah Chun Shandong

Famous Foods Street Eats, an Asian food hall on the casino floor, features this Michelin-recognized vendor, among others.

Original location: Hong Kong.

Vegas location: Resorts World.

What to get: Ah Chun Shandong is known for their dumplings; we preferred the juicy pork bao.

While you're there, try: Singapore's Geylang Claypot Rice for Michelin-recognized rice bowls, Junior's for New York-style breakfasts, and crêpe cake from New York's Lady M.

All'Antico Vinaio

The renowned Florentine sandwich shop opened off the Strip this year.

Original location: Florence.

Other locations: New York, Los Angeles.

Vegas location: UnCommons, 8533 Rozita Lee Av., Suite 100.

What to get: La Paradiso (mortadella, stracciatella, pistachio cream, pistachio).

While you're there, try: Salt & Straw, the popular Portland, Ore., ice cream shop.

Bazaar Meat

Star chef and humanitarian José Andrés' upscale, ultra-creative steakhouse.

Original location: Los Angeles.

Other locations: Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C.

Vegas location: The Sahara.

While you're there, try: Bagel and lox cone, foie gras cotton candy.

Carbone Aria Resort & Casino

A glitzy homage to Italian red-sauce joints, it was the now-global Major Food Group's first big hit.

Original location: New York.

Other locations: Miami; Dallas; Hong Kong; Doha, Qatar; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Vegas location: Aria Resort & Casino.

While you're there, try: Spicy vodka rigatoni, veal Parmesan.

Dominique Ansel Bakery

The bakery that kicked off the Cronut craze, drawing long lines for the croissant and doughnut hybrid.

Original location: New York.

Vegas location: Caesar's Palace, coming soon to Paris Las Vegas.

What to get: The Cronut, cookie shot, frozen s'more.

While you're there, try: RPM Italian, a handsome Italian spot from Chicago's Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group.

Don't Tell Mama

Old-school piano bar from New York's Theater District, where the servers all sing, sets up in downtown Las Vegas.

Original location: New York.

Vegas location: Neonopolis, 450 Fremont St., Suite 167.

What to get: A drink and an earful.

HaSalon

Chef Eyal Shani's group-friendly Mediterranean restaurant with a playful menu turns into a late-night disco on weekends.

Original location: Tel Aviv.

Other locations: New York, Miam.i

Vegas location: The Venetian.

What to get: "7 ricotta clouds, not even one more" (a cheese-filled pasta), "Heaven made lamb kebab on a long warm focaccia."

In-N-Out Burger

The West Coast fast-food chain with a cult following.

Original location: California.

Other locations: Many western states.

Vegas location: Linq Promenade, among others.

What to get: Double-double combo and a shake.

Komodo

Gorgeous, enormous restaurant for celebrations and Miami vibes, plus shareable pan-Asian dishes.

Original location: Miami.

Other location: Dallas.

Vegas location: Fontainebleau.

What to get: Surf and turf fried rice, omakase platter, Peking duck.

Also try: Mother Wolf, the Las Vegas outpost of star chef Evan Funke's hit Roman restaurant in Los Angeles.

Whataburger

Texas-based burger chain that hasn't made it to the Midwest yet opened its first Vegas location earlier this year.

Original location: San Antonio.

Other locations: Many throughout the West and South.

Vegas location: Near Waldorf Astoria.

What to get: Dr Pepper shake.

Local bites

Counterpoint: After eating at restaurants famous elsewhere, get a taste of local Vegas.

Bar Zazu

Though Nicole Brisson's dramatic tapas restaurant is steps from the casino in Resorts World, the chef is a product of the local dining scene. After cooking for years with some of Vegas' biggest names, she opened an acclaimed Italian-American restaurant off the Strip and garnered a semifinalist James Beard Award nod. Now, she's back on the Strip, but on her own terms.

Location: Resorts World.

What to get: Roasted beets, fried Broccolini, pistachio mousse, Once and Floral cocktail.

Esther's Kitchen

James Trees grew up cooking on the Strip, opened several successful restaurants under Michael Mina in Southern California, and returned to chart his own course. His Italian spot Esther's Kitchen anchors the food scene in the growing Arts District. It expanded this year to a lofty new space with a tucked-away upstairs cocktail lounge.

Location: 1131 S. Main St.

What to get: Radiatore al limone (pasta with lemon and black garlic), sourdough pizza, Head To-Ma-Toes (cocktail with tomato sage water).

Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge

A recipient of the James Beard 2024 America's Classics Award, this retro-eccentric, see-it-to-believe-it diner at the north end of the Strip has been feeding locals and tourists for more than a half-century.

Location: 2985 Las Vegas Blvd. S.

What to get: Fruit salad, nachos, cocktails, breakfast.

ShangHai Taste

Las Vegas' Chinatown is a dense collection of food-packed strip malls with restaurants representing dozens of cuisines. Start with soup dumplings at this snug Shanghaiese spot from James Beard-nominated chef Jimmy Li.

Location: 4266 W. Spring Mountain Road, Suite 104. (A second location in Plano, Texas, just opened.)

What to get: Sheng jian bao (pan-fried soup pork buns) and xiao long bao (traditional soup dumplings)