Andre's Las Vegas: The Original

03/21/2000 - Las Vegas Review Journal Best of Las Vegas 2000

Best French Restaurant
Readers Pick: Andre's French Restaurant

André Rochat converted the interior of a stately old home downtown into a replica of a restaurant one might find in rural France. That was decades ago, when some scoffed at Las Vegans scarfing down souffles, but Andre's French classical cuisine became a yearly stop for conventioneers and, eventually, a new home for more adventurous locals. Seasonal menus and nightly specials ensure diners are eating food at its peak of flavor. A second branch was opened in the Monte Carlo to expand Andre's influence. Rochat's friend and fellow French cuisine trailblazer, Georges La Forge, again finds himself in second place with his intimate Pamplemousse Restaurant.

Best Gourmet Restaurant
Readers Pick: Andre's French Restaurant

Hmm. Maybe we should place a few other categories in between "French" and "gourmet" as Andre's again comes away as the readers' choice for upscale food in an atmosphere that's more Provence than Pahrump. However, as hotel chefs begin to drift away to go it alone, we're seeing restaurants such as Rosemary's, opened by chef Michael Jordan, who headed the kitchen at breakthrough Emeril's New Orleans Fish House for several years. His first solo venture obviously is doing well as it came within just a few votes of unseating Andre's.

Best Restaurant to Impress a Date
Readers' Pick: Andre's French Restaurant

For more than 20 years, locals and tourists alike have savored the contrasts of burgundy velvet chairs and lace tablecloths in a little house not too far from gambling joints, tattoo parlors and the lockup. The Tillerman finished second.

Staff Pick: Andre's French Restaurant

It's hard to argue with a place that was a local legend long before the invasion of TV chefs and their high-priced joints. Andre's old neighborhood — near a famous tax-dollars-at-work hole in the ground and the new federal courthouse — isn't helping it keep up. But a newer location inside the Monte Carlo shows that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Best Restaurant Outside a Hotel
Readers Pick: Andre's French Restaurant

C'est superb! Andre's French cuisine, gourmet offerings and intimate surroundings have made it a winner with diners. Last year's favorite, Outback Steakhouse (multiple locations), was sent down under to second. P.F. Chang's (1095 S. Rampart Blvd. and 4165 Paradise Road) came in a close third.

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