 Staking
Its Claim
When
is a steak more than a steak? Nowadays, it’s no longer enough
to just serve good food. More and more, diners look for a complete
experience that encompasses not only the food, but the ambience,
service and vibe of the place.
I’m
wary of these types of establishments, as most of the time, the
food comes in at a poor second to the glossy interiors. At BOA however,
cuisine and design happily co-exist to dish out what can be called
‘the BOA experience.’ For you will have an experience
and your senses will be heightened the moment you set foot in its
urban, steel and wood designed interiors to the loungy-music played
in the background and definitely to when you take a bite out of
that steak.
I
came for lunch and have to point out that while dinner seems to
be favored, I thoroughly enjoyed spending the better part of my
afternoon at BOA. While the dinner crowd might consist of the pretty,
young things, clubbers and urbanites, the lunch crowd
might very well be for the ‘hip, urban mom’ or family,
giving
them a taste of their life B.C. (before children), for I did see
kids happily feasting on steak and fries.
 At
any rate, the only difference, food-wise, between lunch and dinner
at BOA is that sandwiches are also served at lunch and some of the
dinner items aren’t. From the lunch menu, we sampled the prime
tenderloin sandwich – dry-aged beef tenderloin with oven-roasted
tomatoes, caramelized onions, blue cheese and watercress greens
- was very good – tender, smoky and very filling.
If
you’ve already decided to splurge on a ‘night out on
the town,’ then start with a BOA signature cocktail, for there’s
nothing that screams urbanite than having a pre-dinner cocktail
or aperitif. We  sampled
the BOA Fusion and the BOA 405 - both were light, fruity and refreshing,
with no overpowering alcohol taste.
For
dinner, a market menu (3-course meal) is reasonably priced at $65,
though it will be a mighty shame if you don’t sample some
of the appetizers. The jumbo lump crab cake was exactly that –
large chunks of tender crab meat, held together with the barest
and lightest of coatings, served with a heart of palm salad and
Cajun remoulade. The goat cheese baklava – creamy goat cheese,
sandwiched between layers of phyllo pastry and studded with pistachios
and black truffles - was an inspired treat; the cheese adding a
savory touch to an otherwise traditionally sweet treat. The escargots
were right on the money – garlicky, buttery and a calorie-counter’s
nightmare. We would have liked to sample the foie gras, but it wasn’t
available for lunch. 
On
to the main event – it was a tough choice between the NY strip,
the rib-eye or the bone-in Kansas city filet mignon, though in the
end, the filet mignon won out because it was the least intimidating,
in terms of size. All meats at BOA come with a choice of a rub (tri-peppercorn,
blackened, blue cheese, herbed butter or foie gras butter) or sauce
(Signature J-1, cabernet, béarnaise, chimichurri, creamy
horseradish, peppercorn). Making that selection alone will set you
back a few minutes, though you can do what we did and sample each
of the sauces. There is something for everyone here. I always default
to béarnaise (but it wasn’t available) but the rest
of the selection was just as good – the Signature J-1 sauce
was sweet, and almost tasted like a combination of honey and mesquite
flavors with A-1 sauce; the chimichurri was adequately ‘spicy,’
though not as verdantly green as I would have liked; the rest were
more than adequate, and by that
I mean certain to please the palate.
Diners
have been known to split the steaks because they are huge (ours
was about 14 oz.) and those with daintier appetites opt for the
petite filet mignon. The staff are very well-versed in gauging how
much you can eat and often find themselves (like our server, Isaac)
reigning you in when you end up ordering almost everything on the
menu.
 The
choices don’t end there. There’s turf, but surf can
be ordered too – whether it be jumbo prawns, ahi tuna, salmon
or the fish of the day. What’s more, BOA has beefed-up its
choices of the traditional sides by adding more sophisticated undertones
and flavors such as in the case of the horseradish potato gratin,
truffled mac and cheese or even smoked cheddar and bacon potatoes
with lobster or truffle butter.
And
to complete the dining experience, there’s dessert of course.
Again, the theme seems to be ‘traditional meets modern’
– like S’mores “all grown-up,” peanut butter
tower and dulce de leche flan. Make sure you leave room for any
one of the desserts on the menu.
So,
when is a steak more than a steak? When it’s raised to a level
of sophistication as only BOA Steakhouse can provide.
-Rachel
M. Sugay
BOA
Steakhouse
Forum
Shops at Caesars, Level 3, 3500 Las Vegas Blvd. S., T-14 Open daily,
noon-10 p.m., Sunday – Thursday; noon – 12 a.m., Friday
- Saturday. 733-7373. Dinner reservations recommended. Price point
- $65 per person. 2 summer promotions – locals get 20% off
lunch and dinner and 50% off wines by the bottle on Sundays.
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