Emeril Lagasse Opens Meril, His First Off-Strip Spot

The restaurant seats 220 across a contemporary dining room with a wrap around bar and a patio that looks out over the M Resort's pool and concert venue, according to the Review-Journal's walkthrough from last week's preview event. It is named after Lagasse's daughter, and the menu leans on dishes he has picked up filming his travel shows around the world.

Breakfast runs from andouille sausage potato hash to bananas foster French toast and beignets. Dinner covers boudin balls with pepper jack and Creole mustard, barbecued shrimp, a grilled ribeye with chimichurri, tuna bundles, and fried chicken with tzatziki, which tells you this is not a straight New Orleans menu, it is Lagasse pulling from everywhere he has cooked. Dessert has banana cream pie, rocky road bread pudding, tiramisu and a cotton candy option for anyone bringing kids. The bar list includes a frozen drink called the Lushie, a gin and jalapeno cocktail called #20, and a mezcal drink called Hi-Thymes in NOLA.

CDC Gaming's coverage frames this as M Resort using a big name chef to sharpen its food and beverage lineup outside the Strip's gravity, and that is the real story here. The M has always drawn a mostly local, mostly Henderson crowd, and putting a chef with Lagasse's name recognition in the building is a signal that off Strip properties are willing to spend real money competing for the same diners who used to have to drive downtown for a name chef meal.

Meril is open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, so it is built to catch breakfast, dinner and a late night crowd coming off the M's pool deck and concert lawn.

If you are staying on the Strip and wondering whether Henderson is worth the trip, the honest answer depends on what you want. This is not going to out steakhouse Delmonico. But if you want to eat where Lagasse is actually cooking for the neighborhood instead of a convention crowd, and you are already out that way for the M's pool or a show at the concert venue, this is an easy add to the day.