Botero is the fine dining steakhouse in the newly opened Steve Wynn casino Encore.
The ambience is based on the Colombian artist Fernando Botero's work.
The art work and sculptures all feature his signature corpulent human form.
Which I guess could either make you feel guilty while eating or you could go with the whole BBW (Big Beautiful Women) school of thought.
We certainly did.
For an appetizer we ordered the lentil soup and the carrot and ginger soup and the crudo.
The lentil soup was smoky flavored and the light carrot soup had a creamy mouth feel without the use of dairy due to its silky pureed texture.
The carrot soup needed just the slightest touch of cracked black pepper on top to help bring out the full flavors and aid with a little crunch.
The crudo had 3 different kinds of fish.
Each were tasty but the fish with the Meyer Lemon was my favorite.
The steaks offered are available with pepper rub, chimichurri style or traditional.
The waiter told us the pepper rub is quite thick.
The we ordered entrees were a rib eye traditional with chimichurri on the side and salmon pinwheels with cauliflower.
The chimichurri sauce was a little like an infused oil, strong oregano flavor.
It was a good thing it was ordered on the side as it might have been overwhelming if it had been all over the steak.
The rib eye was good, not great.
It was a high quality steak but it could have been more tender and had slightly more marbling.
The caramelized onions served with the steak were fabulous.
The salmon was served on an unflattering plate it looked like a pair of salmon boobs.
Again the protein-salmon was good but not great.
The salmon felt to manipulated, cat food resembling for me to truly love it.
The flavors were balanced but uninspired.
I should have gone with Michael, the waiters, recommendation and ordered the halibut.
The sides were amazing.
We ordered Roasted Bone Marrow and broccoli with garlicky tomatoes.
This was the first time I had tried bone marrow.
I loved it.
It went well with the sweet onion and crunchy crostini.
A definite try again dish.
The broccoli was absolutely perfect.
The wine selection was extensive.
Overall, I give Botero an 8 of 10.
The surroundings were beautiful and unique, the wait staff was attentive and informed without being pushy or presumptuous and the food overall was tasty.
However you gotta take off a couple points for not falling in love with the steak at a steakhouse! I wouldn't be opposed to going back but with all of the amazing places to eat in Vegas I would try my luck with another fine dining restaurant.
Check out the menu on Botero's website.