Tasting Menus & Michelin 🍽️

6 set-course dinners on the road, 2 of them in a starred kitchen — each one with the menu exactly as it came out of the pass, the stars and awards the room holds, and what was in the glass alongside.

1Pappy's Smokehouse — Midtown
2The Capital Grille — Clayton, Clayton
3Yellowtail — Bellagio, Las Vegas
4Le Cirque — Bellagio, Las Vegas
5Kusakabe — San Francisco — 584 Washington St, Jackson Square
6Kusa Nori — Resorts World, Las Vegas

Full slab, and a combo of pulled pork and burnt ends
Pappy's Smokehouse
Midtown · St. Louis
3106 Olive Street, main entrance on Cardinal — dry-rubbed ribs smoked fourteen hours over apple and cherry wood, and they close when the food is gone. Opened 2008 and named for the late Jim 'Pappy' Emerson, uncle and mentor to Mike Emerson, who runs it with John Matthews, Skip Steele, Brian Scoggins and Niki Puto. The smokers sit out on the sidewalk with names painted on them — WAINO 50 for Adam Wainwright, another for Porky La Farge. Adam Richman ate here on Man v. Food in 2009 and the 'Adam Bomb' on the menu is named for him; the framed old menus on the wall are signed by Chris Rock, Hugh Jackman and Steven Jackson.
Price
$$
The menu · 5 courses
1. 1Full slab of ribsThe house specialty and the reason to come — dry-rubbed, slow-smoked over apple and cherry, served with two sides. No sauce needed and none applied before it reaches you.
2. 2Pulled porkHalf of the combo, taken alongside the slab.
3. 3Burnt endsThe other half — the brisket point, cubed and put back in the smoke until the bark hardens. They sell out first.
4. 4Deep fried corn on the cobA side, and the one nobody expects. Whole cob, battered and dropped in the fryer.
5. 5Sweet potato friesThe second side.
My notes
Sunday, so Bogart's was shut and this was the substitution — it turned out to be the better half of the trade. A full slab, plus pulled pork and burnt ends on the side, with deep fried corn on the cob and sweet potato fries. Everything is cooked for the day and when it's gone they lock the door, which is the whole argument for going early.
The course menu
Photos · 19
Official menu →
The Capital Grille
Clayton · Clayton · St. Louis
The Generous Pour is The Capital Grille's summer wine event — one house's portfolio poured six glasses deep alongside dinner rather than by the bottle. The 2026 edition, Flight of Majesty, ran the Duckhorn Portfolio: Goldeneye out of Anderson Valley and the North Coast, Duckhorn out of Napa, ending on a one-time Heritage Cabernet blended from Oak Knoll and Howell Mountain fruit. Poured in the Clayton dining room, eight miles west of the Arch, on the first night of the trip.
Pairing
Flight of Majesty — six Duckhorn Portfolio wines
Price
$38 with a dinner entrée
The menu · 6 courses
1. 1Goldeneye North Coast Brut RoséApricot, honeysuckle, lemon peel and brioche opening into strawberry, cherry and orange — soft, creamy, bright finish.
2. 2Duckhorn North Coast Sauvignon BlancTropical and citrus aromas, refreshing palate, bright acidity, silky texture, dynamic finish.
3. 3Duckhorn Napa Valley ChardonnayCaramelized pineapple, white stone fruit, ripe pear and mango crème brûlée; rich acidic palate with floral and mineral notes.
4. 4Goldeneye Anderson Valley Pinot NoirFresh sage, pennyroyal, fennel and pink peppercorn, polished tannins, cranberry, blood orange and açaí.
5. 5Duckhorn Napa Valley MerlotHeir to the original 1978 Merlot — rhubarb crumble, cardamom and milk chocolate over red currant, black plum and baking spice.
6. 6Napa Valley Heritage Cabernet SauvignonA one-time summer release from Oak Knoll and Howell Mountain — boysenberry and black currant, baking spice and bay leaf, into blueberry, slate and graham cracker, finishing long on cassis and cedar.
The course menu
Omakase tasting menu
Yellowtail
Bellagio · Las Vegas · Las Vegas
Akira Back's room on the Bellagio's fountain side — an omakase that runs from tuna pizza and toro caviar through new-style carpaccio to nigiri, poured against a flight of sake.
Kitchen
Michelin Chef Akira Back
Pairing
Sake tasting flight
The course menu
Photos · 9
Official menu →
Six-course menu dégustation
Le Cirque
Michelin
Bellagio · Las Vegas · Las Vegas
Sirio Maccioni's jewel box under the Bellagio's silk circus-tent ceiling — open since the resort's first night in October 1998 and, three weeks after we ate here, gone.
Kitchen
Executive Chef Jonathan Doukhan
Price
$310 per person
- AAA Five Diamond
- Forbes Five Star
- Travel + Leisure — Top 20 Iconic Las Vegas Restaurants
The menu · 6 courses
1. 1Le Cirque lobster saladPoached lobster, seasonal vegetables
2. 2Le Cirque “Black Tie”Truffle jus, baby spinach
3. 3Seasonal truffle risottoComté and parmesan cheese
4. 4Brittany loup de merCreamy leeks, red wine and verjus sauce
5. 5Grilled wagyu filetGreen peppercorn sauce, pomme purée
6. 6Chocolate ballVanilla ice cream, praline rocks, streusel
The course menu
Photos · 4
★ One Michelin star — held during the Michelin Guide's Las Vegas years
Closing for good after dinner service on August 23, 2026, after 28 years
Official menu →
18-course nightly omakase, Kyoto kaiseki style
Kusakabe
Michelin
San Francisco — 584 Washington St, Jackson Square · San Francisco
Chef Kusakabe's sushi carries his Kyoto training, not the heavier Edomae style of most SF sushi counters — the nigiri is built around a kaiseki sense of balance and seasonality, and the meal runs as a full multi-course tasting rather than a straight nigiri procession. He opened his namesake counter in Jackson Square in May 2014 and it starred the same year.
Kitchen
Mitsunori Kusakabe — born and raised in Kyoto, trained at Jun-tei kaiseki restaurant there before Sushi Ran (Sausalito) and Nobu Miami Beach
The menu · 9 courses
1. 1Edamame SurinagashiSilky edamame-dashi soup with deep-sea red crab and caviar
2. 2OtsumamiSeven kinds of seasonal Japanese appetizers
3. 3Four kinds of sushiSeasonal and signature sushi from Tokyo's Toyosu fish market
4. 4Wanmono — Hamo Shinjo SoupJapanese pike-eel dumpling in a clear umami dashi
5. 5Four kinds of sushiSeasonal and signature sushi from Tokyo's Toyosu fish market
6. 6A5 Oita Wagyu or Watari-gani TempuraShio koji-marinated A5 wagyu with herb salad and yuzu-onion sauce, or soft-shell blue crab tempura with sweet dashi soy
7. 7Four kinds of sushiSeasonal and signature sushi from Tokyo's Toyosu fish market
8. 8Miso SoupKyoto red miso with Aosa-nori seaweed from the Shimanto River
9. 9SweetsChef's choice from the day's dessert selection
The course menu
Photos · 9
★ Michelin star awarded October 23, 2014 — five months after opening, the first San Francisco restaurant to run omakase-only
Chef's omakase
Kusa Nori
Resorts World · Las Vegas · Las Vegas
The Japanese room at Resorts World, up at the north end of the Strip past the STRAT — a sushi bar beside the black octopus wall, robatayaki off the coals, and a long sake list. The omakase runs as a seasonal chef's menu: Hokkaido scallop with uni butter, BlackHawk wagyu, winter truffle when it's in.
Kitchen
Chef Ryan Nuqui
Photos · 10
Official menu →

Pappy's Smokehouse

The Capital Grille

Yellowtail

Le Cirque

Kusakabe

Kusa Nori