With that much competition, it’s hard to stand out. You want to do something original so that you aren’t the same as everyone else but you also need to stay true to the formula so as not to offend the traditionalists who just want a steak and a baked potato, gosh darnit.

Twin Creeks Steakhouse at the Silverton hotel and casino just south of The Strip manages to stand out from the competition in a variety of ways, but whether it’s enough to lure you away from some equally good options in your own hotel and the one next door (and the one next to that) is a question I haven’t quite come up with an answer to yet.

One way that the restaurant distinguishes itself is with the dining room, a sumptuous affair with a modernly retro design of big boxes of soft-lighting above, stacked stone and dark woods surrounding you, and a broad mix of seating options from full leather couches to high bar-style tables and comfy high-backed stools. One entire side of the main room is dominated by a stone wall that is bathed in changing, multi-colored light – one moment it’s cool, undulating blues and greens evoking an undersea reef and the next moment it’s blazing reds and oranges as if the volcano is getting ready to blow. It really is one of the most beautifully decorated restaurants I’ve been in for a long time.

The menu seems to be treading the fine line between originality and traditionality (I know it’s not a word, but it should be). Starters in the latter category including things like oysters, pan-seared scallops, classic Caesar salads, and the like while exceptional items such as foie gras, smoked duck wrap, and American Kobe beef carpaccio carry the flag for the former category.

In the main course section you have your standard steaks (filets, porterhouse, and New York strip) alongside such fresh takes as a chipoltle barbecued bone-in rib eye, roasted monfish, seafood gnocchi, and lamb chops or shank.

We went in several different directions for our dinner selections, although skewed more to the traditional than the original. The butter poached lobster sounded steakhouse traditional but came to the plate as a deconstructed tower of fresh, out-of-the-shell meat and other accompaniments. The roasted monkfish was a large grilled slab with delicate seasonings that didn’t hide the fishy flavor no matter how much the person at the table insisted it did. And the porterhouse was roughly the size of a house, cooked exactly as I had ordered it and yet still a little disappointing because of a little too much veiny toughness and not enough of the tender meat.

Sides include a variety of potato dishes (from puree to baked to fries) and other vegetables plus there are sauces (béarnaise, au poivre, red wine butter) to go along with your meat selections.

Prices are about average for this type of dining experience – starters range from around $8 for a soup of the day to $19 for the foie gras; entrees start in the mid $20 range and go all the way up to nearly $50; sides are $7-14. It ended up with a check for three of us including wine and tax for just under $200.

Taken in a vacuum the meal was a success, overall. The food was fresh, well-prepared, flavorful, and expertly presented but there was nothing at the table that made us jump up and say “wow.” It was as good as many of the steakhouses on The Strip and yet also no better, which brings up that problem I mentioned before about whether or not you will want to venture away from the comforts of your hotel to experience it. I’m still undecided.

Silverton
3333 Blue Diamond Road
702-263-7777
website
Hours: Daily 5pm - 11pm

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Question: Look into your crystal ball and tell me if you see a time in the future when room rates will be cheap again. I know room inventory is tight and that drives rates up. A lack of places on the strip like Stardust and even the Westward Ho has driven prices up. When all the new projects come on line and with all these condos opening and being rented, do you see a glut of rooms not too far off?

Answer: I wish I had a crystal ball – I’d do a lot better at the slot machines.

My gut instinct tells me that the simple answer is no. Rooms in Vegas are more expensive than they’ve ever been – an average of $132 per night in 2007, the fifth highest in the US according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

And if you’re thinking, “$132 a night sounds like a bargain,” remember that’s the average for all hotel rooms for the entire year. If you took The Strip in a vacuum that figure would be much higher.

The city isn’t having any trouble filling those rooms either. Room occupancy was above 90% again in 2007, about 25% higher than the nationwide average.

So they keep building them and keep raising the rents and people keep coming and paying.

Having said that, there are some troubling signs on the horizon – troubling, that is, if you own a hotel in Las Vegas.

If the country slips into the recession that everyone is talking about, Las Vegas will be affected. Leisure travel is one of the first items that get cut from people’s budgets. It’s possible that things are already being affected as several big casino companies have announced layoffs. Granted, they are relatively small in scope (under 100 in most cases) and are at their properties nationwide, not just in Las Vegas, but that’s a pretty rare thing.

This couldn’t come at a worse time for Las Vegas. There are more than 9,000 hotel rooms expected to come online in 2008 and over 40,000 in the next five years. That could lead to a glut and that could drive prices down.

But if it happens, it will be temporary. The last time the economy tanked, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Las Vegas recovered quicker than the country as a whole. People just can’t stay away for too long. So even if things may be a little cheaper this year, they probably won’t be next year.

The only thing that will force prices down is if someone opens a hotel aimed squarely at the middle market and has a huge success with it. That will make others want to follow suit. But as long as they keep building these high-priced units and people keep forking over the bucks to stay in them, prices are going to stay sky high.

Thanks for the question, Tom

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