Le Burger Brasserie

May I beg your indulgence and digress before I even get started? Somehow, I can't help it.

Every time I think about Le Burger Brasserie, I shiver. Not shudder -- although there are plenty of places in town that prompt that reaction -- but shiver. It's been awfully cold lately, and the winter chill on the evening of our visit extended into the wing that connects Paris and Bally's, where Le Burger Brasserie is located in the former site of Ortanique. And there those poor young hostesses and servers were, racing around in their go-go boots and short-shorts and sleeveless-to-the-extreme tops. They're fetching outfits, to be sure, but I can't help but think that only their ankles were warm.

But back to the subject at hand, which would be the burgers at Le Burger Brasserie. So you're probably wondering if Le Burger Brasserie was -- ahem -- inspired by Chef Hubert Keller's Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay. Yeah, I think that's probably a good bet. Is that a problem? Well, I'm not sure how Keller feels about it, but considering Las Vegas (and especially Strip) restaurant prices these days, any place that can elevate the underrated burger and not gouge people in the process is a prize, as far as I'm concerned.

Like Burger Bar, Le Burger Brasserie offers a variety of design-it-yourself fixins, listed according to "garden," which is vegetable-type things; "protein," meat and egg; "dairy," which covers cheeses, and so forth, plus "deluxe" toppings that include crabmeat. But it also has a broad selection of they-design-it choices -- most of them, in keeping with the resort's theme, with French-inspired names -- such as the Le Paris ($10.99), which was topped with Brie, caramelized onions and bacon. Ordered medium-rare it was maybe not quite as pink as we would've wanted, but it still was one tasty burger. A choice of bun is part of the program, and the artisan bread we chose for this one was equal to the task of containing all that messy stuff.

Le Ferme ($9.99) was a basic grilled ground-chicken burger, which includes a choice of one topping, and our blue cheese crumbles and Parmesan bun made for a mellow combination.

Potato skins ($7.99) for a starter were lightly crisped and topped with the usual bacon, cheddar, scallions and sour cream, plus a generous amount of tomatoes, which were a plus. A bowl of New England clam chowder ($6.99) was hearty, creamy and warming.

And for dessert, we had Le Beignets ($7.99), not beignets in the traditional sense but more like fritters, and by any name a fitting finish.

If all of this sounds like vaguely French-accented bar food, that's because it is; they even use "sports grille" as a sort of subtitle to the name. The room has a number of plasma screens and is dominated by a screen (somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 by 15 feet) that is a holdover from Ortanique and its predecessor and that now carries sports instead of aquarium scenes. But this soothing room is far more comfortable than your average sports bar, with lots of dark wood, table lamps to provide soft but strategically aimed lighting and muted rock music.

Service through was good; our waitress did forget an order of fries but otherwise was very effective, and in the scheme of things, we would've had way too much food anyway.

Le Burger Brasserie is not representative of the world-class restaurants that are drawing foodies from all over to the Strip, but that's OK; sometimes we just want a burger.

But I hope those poor dears stay warm.

Las Vegas Review-Journal reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or e-mail her at hrinella@ reviewjournal.com.