The most expensive New Year’s Eve dinners in Las Vegas

By Delen Goldberg

Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011 | 2 a.m.

New Year’s Eve is often a night of excess, and Las Vegas corners the market on indulgence.

Some people might go overboard with drinks on the Strip. Others will dance the night away in clubs. Foodies will almost certainly ring in 2012 with good eats.

Strip restaurants are rolling out the red carpet to accommodate them with holiday buffets and prix fixe meals.

Here’s a look at some of Las Vegas’ most expensive New Year’s Eve dining options and what $300, $400, $500 or more will buy you:

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  Courtesy

  Picasso at the Bellagio

  For $525 per person, you can munch on a six-course meal of oysters, foie gras, Wagyu beef and chestnut mousse under a canopy of Picasso masterpieces. Chef Julian Serrano is an 11-time recipient of the AAA Five Diamond Award and draws on the regional cuisine of France and Spain for culinary inspiration. For those looking to drink, the restaurant’s wine cellar includes 1,500 selections from top-rated European vineyards.

  If Picasso’s price tag scares you, have no fear. The restaurant also offers an early seating for $150.

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  Le Cirque at the Bellagio

  Send off 2011 with a six-course dinner that includes lobster salad, hazelnut-crusted diver scallops, sea urchin royale and roasted wild turbot. The price: $475.

  Restaurateur Sirio Maccioni’s modern French bistro is Michelin rated and has won AAA Five Diamond Awards nine years running.

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  TVT

  Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace

  Dubbed the Black Truffle Prestige menu, this nine-course meal features Guy Savoy’s famous artichoke and black truffle soup, black truffle risotto and brie black truffle in addition to other mushroom treats. It costs $398 per person.

  The renowned French chef is considered one of the best in the world and has receive countless accolades, including three Michelin stars.

  If $398 is a little rich for your blood, Savoy is offering a second dinner option: a seven-course Menu Elegance meal with caviar and roasted mallard duck for $248 per person.

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  SW Steakhouse at the Wynn

  Classic chophouse fare is the main attraction of this $395 six-course dinner. Appetizers and entrees by chef David Walzog include butter poached Maine lobster, roasted squab breast and a Mashima beef tenderloin. The menu runs $395 per person.

  Sister steak house Botero offers a similar lobster-steak menu, but at a lower price of $275 per person. The upside to both menus: tax and tip are included.

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  Prime Steak House at the Bellagio

  Ring in the new year with a six-course dinner from celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. The menu features a caviar appetizer, lobster entree and chocolate desert and costs $395 per person.

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  Bullfrog & Baum

  e by Jose Andres at the Cosmopolitan

  This “secret” eight-seat restaurant hidden within Jaleo offers two exclusive New Year’s Eve seatings and an extensive 25-item tasting menu. Tapas include crispy chicken skin, Iberico pork with squid, artichoke puree with vanilla and “air” chocolates. The meal costs $350 per person, with drinks an additional $250.

  Jaleo will offer two prix fixe menus: one for $95, the other for $135. The menu options are mostly the same — both feature lobster paella, chicken fritters and scallops with clementines — but the more expensive selection includes a secret dish.

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  Wynn Las Vegas

  Bartolotta at the Wynn

  Seafood is the focus of this $350, seven-course meal offered by two-time James Beard Award-winning chef Paul Bartolotta. He’ll present a series of Italian-inspired family-style seafood dishes, pastas and entrees.

  If the full menu is out of your budget, consider the $175 five-course prix fixe meal or the $125 three-course meal. But beware: Unlike the seven-course option, the lower-priced menus don’t include tax and tip. And alcoholic beverages cost extra at all three price points.

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  Michael Mina at the Bellagio

  Caviar parfait, ahi tuna tartare and lobster pot pie grace the menu of this six-course prix fixe celebration dinner at Michael Mina’s seafood haunt. The meal will set you back $365, and drinks cost more.

  The restaurant is offering diners a sommelier wine pairing for an additional $125 per person. Premium wine pairings also are available upon request. No price is specified for that option.

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  Glenn Pinkerton/Las Vegas News Bureau

  Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant and Lounge at the Bellagio

  Japanese Chef Akira Back presents a seven-course Omakase menu for $350 a person. Dishes include a tuna-truffle pizza, duck prosciutto and Kobe short ribs. If you want some sake to wash down your meal, be prepared to pay an extra $65 per person.

  Not so hungry? Customers can forgo the prix fixe menu and order dishes ala carte, including the $60 surf-n-turf roll or $125 surf-n-turf platter.

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  Leila Navidi

  The Lakeside Grill at the Wynn

  Chef David Walzog of SW Steakhouse offers a second New Year’s Eve menu at his American seafood eatery on Wynn’s Lake of Dreams. This six-course menu features carpaccio of fluke with Spanish caviar and orange yuzu, sea scallops with black truffle and potato gnocchi with mushrooms and Alba truffles. The menu costs $350 per person.