Prime Roast Beef

Prime Roast Beef at The Blind Pig

theblindpiglasvegas.com

A

Two straight French dips on allsandwich? Sure, why not. This classic style of sandwich deserves to be recognized, especially when it's elevated as is the case at the new Blind Pig. Thinly sliced prime rib, still a beautiful medium rare, is layered on this crusty French roll with crunchy fried shallots, melty provolone, and a nostril-tingling horseradish cream. Every bite is beefy as it should be, and the melty-crisp textures are sublime. Then you get the toasty bread in warm, savory jus, too? Yep. That'll do, Pig.

Texas Dip

Texas Dip at Roadrunner Saloon

roadrunnerlasvegas.com

B

A classic French dip doesn't need to be toyed with. As long as the beef is lean and juicy, the roll is fresh, and the little cup of jus is hot, you're good. The Roadrunner may call this a Texas Dip, but it's still just what you're looking for: thinly sliced sirloin—a bit too well done as a perfect dip should be rare to medium rare, but not a big deal, especially in this Vegas video poker bar—is generously layered on this long French roll, dabbed with a bit of creamy horseradish that you can't see but can certainly taste, and covered with melting Jack cheese. It's a big, beefy bite, and yes, that jus is hot. Just right.

Baja Vegetarian

Baja Vegetarian at Sausagefest

sausagefestfoodtruck.com

A

If you're lucky enough to come across the Sausagefest food truck in Las Vegas, attack it. The flavors are magnificently huge, and maybe most impressively, they stay that way if you go the vegetarian route. This is a veggie version of a smoked apple and sage sausage, and every morsel pops with sweet and savory awesomeness. Inside its soft bun, it's topped with the truck's Baja style selections: avocados, tomatoes, onions and smoky chipotle salsa. It's spicy, it's fresh and it's crazy delicious. You'll never know or care that this baby is meatless.

Crunch Burger

Crunch Burger at Bobby's Burger Palace

bobbysburgerpalace.com

B+

In the pantheon of famous chefs doing burger joints, Bobby Flay falls securely into the "not fucking around" category. Note the sesame seed bun, no brioche or ciabatta or other, well, fuckingaroundness. Note the massive amount of American cheese—straight-up, tangy, processed—melted all over this simply seasoned burger patty, which is, by the way, medium rare and super juicy. Of course, he's Flayed it up by adding Lay's potato chips, his own personal touch. It's nice, lending salt and texture to a basic, delicious burger. If you order this instead of one of the creatively topped sandwiches at Bobby's Burger Palace, you're gonna have to sauce it up at the table with jalapeño green stuff, the A-1ish burger sauce, chipotle ketchup or something else. This burger is a bit too basic, but what's there is executed perfectly. We'll be back to the new Vegas location to try the other burgers soon.

Pancake PBJ

Pancake PBJ

homemade

B

This is how we do peanut butter and jelly over here. That's crunchy peanut butter, homemade plum jam from a friend, and the silver dollar buttermilk pancakes are just right. Boom.

Chicken Crinkle

Chicken Crinkle

homemade

B

This homemade sandwich is a byproduct of a recent menu taste testing for Pterodactyl, a project we're very excited about. Anyways, the meat here is grilled chicken thigh that had been marinated in a gochujang-based sauce. The spicy-sour-sweet flavors were not quite strong enough on this attempt, but that's easily remedied. Even so, the chicken is tender and juicy and delicious—thigh meat is so forgiving—even if it's piled a bit sloppily on this potato bun. Those are butter lettuce leaves and crinkle cut French fries, adding some nice, fresh textures. Invisible is a smear of the homemade cognac mustard. So there's plenty of bite here, though the fries muddle things a bit. It could be refined a bit into a killer sandwich … but this is not the creation this particular chicken was made for. Stay tuned.

Italian B.M.T.

Italian B.M.T. at Subway

subway.com

D

Oh, Subway. These guys really are magicians. Their ability to take what should be simple and delicious and transform it into a cardboard-coated, flavorless shitlog is, in a really terrible way, astounding. I figured the Italian sub is the best shot at detecting any taste among Subway's offerings, and augmented the salami, pepperoni and Black Forest ham—wait, Black Forest ham is Italian? Pretty sure it's German—with provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and olives. I told them to get crazy with the oil, vinegar and seasonings. No matter what you add on, it always tastes like Subway. There's no escaping it.

Chicago Dog

Chicago Dog at Al's Beef

alsbeef.com

B

Perhaps it makes sense that the Chicago dog at Al's Beef is almost awesome, because they are more focused here on their namesake Italian beef sandwiches (to be all sandwiched soon). Still, this is a better than solid rendition of the classic, complete with all the necessary components: poppy seed bun, snappy beef frank, yellow mustard, nuclear green relish, onion, tomato, pickle spear and sport pepper. The bun is incredibly soft, steamed to pillowy perfection. The dog itself is delicious. Everything together is just a bit mushy, as the veggies don't have enough crispness to balance everything out. But there's sweet, sour and savory, and it's good enough to have another … after one of those beef sandwiches.

Griled Pub Cheese

Grilled Pub Cheese

homemade

D

Experiments can go awry. I didn't realize this pub cheese in a plastic tub is actually Pub Cheese, as in, the brand is called Pub Cheese. But it is. No matter the brand, trying to make a legit grilled cheese with spreadable cheese product is a challenging endeavor. This is cheddar and horseradish flavored Pub Cheese, so it tastes good. But I'm still not sure if it officially melted. It doesn't look like it melted, but it feels like it did. It's hot. Overall, the results are just odd … the two main reasons this is not a real grilled cheese are the lack of gooey meltiness and the use of whole grain bread. Ah well, back to the drawing board.

I Love Bacon

I Love Bacon Burger at I Love Burgers

iloveburgers.com

B-

Jack in the Box has launched a new burger with a blended patty of beef and bacon. Rather than subject myself to that masterpiece, I thought I'd revisit a bacon patty burger that we Vegas eaters have had all along. This version is available at one of the unsung gourmet burger joints in Las Vegas, I Love Burgers, which has locations at Palazzo at Town Square. The I Love Bacon burger is made with ground brisket and bacon, and of course it's topped with bacon strips and maple-flavored aioli to complete the overindulgence. Lettuce, tomato, crispy onions and smoked gouda round it all out, built on another sweet, puffy bun that all fancy burger joints are using these days. There is substantial smoky, porky flavors in the patty, and it's as juicy as you'd expect, but the best part is the texture. All that extra fat forms a crispy, almost crunchy edge when smashed onto the grill, creating an uncommon bite among burgers. It's definitely greasy, but mostly worth it; if you're ready to feel about yourself, this might be the burger for you.

Turkey Cognac

Turkey Cognac Sandwich

homemade

A-

If you use only the best ingredients, you don't need very many to create a terrifically satisfying sandwich. Start with the bread. These slabs are sliced from a country white loaf baked 12 hours earlier by the wonderful folks at Lulu's Bread & Breakfast, beautifully soft, chewy and delicious inside—just perfect texture—and crusty and crispy around the outside. Anything between two shingles of this stuff is going to be lovely. I plastered them with homemade cognac mustard, loaded with vinegar tang and brown and yellow mustard seeds, and layered on baby greens and lemon-rosemary turkey breast from the local Whole Foods deli case. Nothing beats great fresh bread. Nothing.

Manhattan Burger

Manhattan Burger at Mr. Mamas Cafe

mrmamaslv.com

B-

Is it still a patty melt if there's bacon on it? Let's go with "yes," even though at Mr. Mamas they call it the Manhattan Burger. This greasy spoon serves up some greasy-good grub, including this thick, salty beef patty pressed between incredibly buttery toasted sourdough, lots of melty cheddar (or the cheese of your choke) and thick slabs of bacon. This is the kind of sandwich that's going to stick with you all day, coating your existence in butter and beef grease. I mean that in a good way.

Torta de Pierna

Torta de Pierna at Las Cazuelas

Las Cazuelas at Yelp

A

Tortas are supposed to be blowing up right now. Maybe they are; in recent weeks in Las Vegas, at least two Mexican eateries have popped open with an emphasis on tortas. But at Las Cazuelas, which has been open for four or five months now and serves spectacularly satisfying Poblano food, there are different kinds of sandwiches to choose from. This porky beauty is a great starting point, a puffy sub-ish roll with soft texture and chew and great flavor, packed with adobo-syle marinated and roasted pork which has been cooked down to shreddy, juicy bliss. There's creamy avocado and a smooth bean spread, too, adding to each wonderful bite. Next time we'll have to munch the sauced up, slider-sized creations known as chanclas, but after finishing off this baby, we're full.

Grilled Brie and Cranberry

Grilled Brie and Cranberry at Lulu's Bread & Breakfast

lulusonthemove.com

A

Another sandwich titan from our beloved Lulu's, another seasonal creation you must feast on before winter departs. Thick slabs of creamy, rich Brie are melted fabulously within even thicker slabs of Lulu's house-made country bread, swirling around tart dried cranberries and strips of crispy bacon. That's it. There are only three things on this sandwich, and yet it's packed with decadent flavor, balanced between smoky, salty, sweet and the mouth-enrapturing glory of all that cheese. Amazing.

Billionaire Dog

Billionaire Dog at Haute Doggery

hautedoggerylv.com

A+

A grilled, all-Kobe beef dog. Real-deal torchon of foie gras. Port onion marmalade. Truffle mayo. Boom. So this is the only the first dog we've munched at the brand new Haute Doggery on the Vegas Strip, but already it proves something we already knew: Block 16 Hospitality is the hot dog champion of Las Vegas. These guys brought Pink's to Vegas from LA, and now they bust out their own hot dog concept, a menu loaded with regional favorite American dogs with appropriate toppings as well as their own funky creations, like this over-the-top, flavor-packed, decadent masterpiece. The frank is plump, juicy and savory, grilled to a crispness with a snap in each bite that rivals most natural casing dogs. This frank with just ketchup and mustard would kill, and you can order one that way. But come on, foie on a hot dog? You're not gonna order this? You have to. I crumbled it up and spread it all over the dog for rich liver in every bite, a ridiculously perfect running mate to that creamy mayo and the brightly flavored onions. Even the plain, soft bun was really good. New year, new great hot dog shop.

The Royale With Cheese

The Royale With Cheese at B&B Burger & Beer

venetian.com

B+

The whole point of John Travolta uttering "royale with cheese" in Pulp Fiction is how much more delicious it sounds than a quarter pounder. It sounds like the ultimate burger. Mario Batali's brand new burger joint at the Venetian on the Vegas Strip also seems like it should serve the ultimate burger. Our first taste runs right up to greatness but stops just short, although this creation is certainly deserving of its name. A nicely cooked, medium rare beef patty is absolutely coated in melted robiola cheese, the creaminess factor multiplied exponentially by a slathering of parmigiano and mascarpone cream sauce. Wow. Rich. Caramelized onions add to the indulgence, and slightly bitter, grilled treviso can only hope to offset all this sesame seed-bun based decadence. It's not a balanced bite of burger, and the fantastic cheese and sauce overpower the flavor of the beef. But it's definitely tasty, a welcome addition to the growing pantheon of celebrity chef-created burgers spattered up and down the Strip.

Frenchie

The Frenchie at Aces & Ales

acesandales.com

C-

Everybody loves greasy bar food, and a bar with a special menu section for crazy grilled cheese sandwiches sounds like a wonderful idea. It is. But you still have to execute. A tasty grilled cheese requires thoughtful effort. Adding wacky ingredients is fun but seldom results in delicious success. Such is the case with the Frenchie, which playfully pairs American and cheddar cheeses with bacon and French fries. The rich, buttery toastyness of the bread overwhelms and the only other thing you can taste is the bacon. These cheeses are bland and melt together into a globby, greasy mess, and the fries offer nothing other than more mushy, soggy texture. That's not what you want to add to a grilled cheese. It needs something crunchy and/or crispy, something bright and maybe acidic to cut through the tempting richness of tons of melted cheese. Next time we're feeling cheesy at this otherwise impressive bar, it'll be time to try the Moondog: provolone, salami, pepperoni, olives and jalapeños. 

The Reuben

The Reuben at The Spread

downtowngrand.com

B

Could there be a more fitting first bite of a new Vegas casino than a classic sandwich from its sports book deli? I think not. The Downtown Grand is a true boutique hotel, it couldn't possibly be in a more hip location, and it's got terrific Vegas bones—this joint used to be the Lady Luck. The new operators have squished a whole lotta stuff into a relatively small space, including the sleek, cozy little book with this tiny deli counter connected. It's called The Spread and the menu's got all the basics … except pastrami. How come no pastrami? The Spread almost makes up for that misstep with this meaty, creamy, tangy Reuben. Deli lovers might prefer a more substantial meat pile within these thick, nicely grilled slabs of rye, but the corned beef that is there is solidly savory. Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and sweet Russian dressing and we're good to go. This is a nice first impression of the DTG; now let's go check out the lobster roll and the Cubano at the coffee shop.

Woodfired Chicken Arepa

Woodfired Chicken Arepa at Viva Las Arepas

vivalasarepas.com

A+

There are those who would say a Venezuelan arepa is not a sandwich because its "bread" is not bread but a split cake of corn masa stuffed with delicious ingredients. My response would be that it's simply a different version of bread, flour and water cooked in a different matter, so shut yer yapper. Once you get a bite of this thing, you can call it whatever you want, because it's undeniably fantastic. Viva Las Arepas makes some killer hickory and charcoal roasted chicken, imparting luscious, slightly smoky flavor into your everyday boring bird for lip-smacking results. One of the most popular arepas on the ridiculously cheap menu stuffs this shredded chicken into the crisp, griddled masa with lettuce, tomato and onion, with optional cheese. Blow the flavors into overdrive by squirting on the house hot sauce and/or avocado crema. Is this the best $5 sandwich in all of Las Vegas? Find me a better one.

Denver Po' Boy

Denver Po' Boy at Roadrunner Saloon

roadrunnerlasvegas.com

C-

I feel like I should grade this sandwich on a curve because it's something of a halfway effort: It's on the football game day menu only, a $6 special, so should it count? I'm not sure. It's a pretty hearty meal for $6, but there's not much flavor to speak of. Tender shrimpies fried crisp bring some pretty nice texture, but they're woefully under-seasoned. That's all there is to it. The rest is lettuce, tomato, and a very big, very dry toasted bun. This sandwich is in serious need of moisture. And some salt would be nice.