Now open in The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, PJ Clarke's is trying to recreate that every man vibe in Sin City.

Located on the first floor of the mall near the Strip entrance, the restaurant/bar is not a duplicate of the NYC original but it certainly has a clubby watering hole kind of feeling. Dark woods predominate with bright white tile floors and photos of iconic Vegas people and buildings line the walls. It's warm and intimate, like a good neighborhood bar should be.

Of course there is the full bar, which could be fun for a no-nonsense pint or two, but it's really the restaurant part that I focused on.

The menu is a combination of pub grub and steakhouse fare, ranging from sandwiches and burgers all the way up to steak and lobster. In between you'll find an extensive raw bar (oysters, clams, shrimp, etc.), salads, soups, pot pies, short ribs, and more.

We visited at lunch so the steak and lobster options, while available, didn't seem appropriate so we went for the soup, salad, and sandwich sections.

A sweet French onion soup was successful in its own way, although perhaps a little too sweet for my particular tastes. The New England clam chowder was more soup than chowder but still good for those looking for comfort food.

The corned beef Reuben came piled high on soft bread and loaded with sauerkraut and Swiss cheese - all perfectly prepared with a nice balance of flavors. Meanwhile their famous burgers come in a variety of styles but I went all in with The Cadillac - smoked bacon, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and onion. In a nod to tradition, the latter is served between the burger's bottom bun and the plate - apparently back in the day they served them on paper plates and the onion stopped the burger's juices from seeping through. Regardless, it was a terrific burger with lean Montana Angus beef and, in a rare and welcome treat, sized for normal human consumption instead of those monsters that you get at most places that are bigger than your head and entirely too much food for one person to eat.

Dessert - always a wonderful thing in my book - was the big winner on this particular meal. Real New York cheesecake that would kick the ass of the stuff served at a certain Factory; warm bread pudding with bourbon sauce and cinnamon ice cream; and an apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream that was impossible to stop eating.

Prices are moderate - you could do lunch for less than $25 a person easily although if you go for appetizers, the more expensive dinner entrees, cocktails, and the like you could easily move that figure higher.

Service was perfect - friendly, fast, and full of good natured mirth. It's a rollicking joint and the people who work there seem to embrace that.

The New York version of PJ Clarke's has been in business for more than 125 years. I doubt that anything could last that long in Vegas but places like this have the best shot.