Larsen’s Grill takes mall dining in a whole new direction

My, how suburban-mall restaurants have changed over the years.

Yes, I'm old enough to have memories (misty ones, but memories nonetheless) of some of the earliest modern enclosed shopping malls to lumber into America in the '60s. The restaurants we were impressed to find in them were largely of the cafeteria genre; we were positively thrilled when fern bars, with their varied menus and full selection of adult beverages, replaced them in the '70s and '80s, and there things pretty much stayed for the next couple of decades.

The shopping center has evolved greatly in the past few years, with enclosed malls increasingly supplanted by open-air, often mixed-use complexes, which in the valley include The District at Green Valley Ranch, Town Square and Downtown Summerlin. Those have restaurants that range from pretty good to fantastic, but that hasn't been the case at the food-court- and fern-bar-heavy enclosed malls that remain.

The Galleria at Sunset, however, has taken note of the zeitgeist and interpreted it with two new restaurants as part of its recent expansion and renovation. I haven't yet been to Bravo! Cucina Italiana, but I have been to Larsen's Grill, and this definitely isn't your parents' mall restaurant.

First, it's reached from outside the mall, via a new escalator that climbs alongside a water wall. Second, it's quite attractive inside, with lots of dark woods in the classic steakhouse tradition. Third, all of the employees we encountered were both personable and professional, in contrast to the high-school kids finding their first jobs in the food court. And this might be a good time for me to mention the prices. I wouldn't say it's overpriced — especially in view of points one through three above, plus point five, which is well-conceived and well-executed food — but be aware that this isn't the sort of middle-class chain we're used to finding at malls, although there are sandwiches, sushi and salads that are more in that range.

We started with the spinach and artichoke dip ($13), which probably sounds counter to everything I've said so far about Larsen's, the dish has become such a cliche. I had expectations, though, that this one would be different, and indeed it was, with generous chunks of artichokes and fresh leaf spinach in just enough of a creamy base to hold it all together, rather than the other way around.

Unlike any but the top tier of steakhouses, Larsen's offers a variety of wet- and dry-aged steaks, the former graded choice and the latter prime, a clue to the meat-cutter background of owner Flemming Larsen. I like the deep, concentrated flavor that comes with dry aging and prime beef, so an 8-ounce dry-aged filet mignon ($49) it was. This isn't inherently the most flavorful of cuts because it has less marbling than others, but as it turned out my perfectly rare steak was right up there with the best.

Similarly excellent was a Kurobota pork chop ($29), a hefty double cut that was well flavored and moist and served with an old-fashioned apple chutney, made in house, which complemented it nicely, pork and apples having the affinity that they do.

Both of our entrees included a side dish, and the creamed spinach and loaded baked potato were very nicely done.

There was a bit of a service glitch, but it was actually sort of a positive one, in that one server came by to introduce herself and take our beverage orders, only to be promptly followed by someone else who said he was our server. They got it ironed out quickly, though, and she even returned to explain that there had been a bit of a mix-up and sort of hand us off to her colleague. Courses were well timed, water refilled promptly and all of that good stuff.

And we liked the decor, which as I said earlier is sort of dark and classic but with lots of wooden accents, including some iron-studded decorative trusses. There's patio dining as well, although on the evening of our visit it was too rainy to be of use.

So yes, as you can tell, I was impressed by Larsen's Grill. If this is the direction mall dining is taking, I can't wait for the next step in the evolution.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Email Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com and bestoflasvegas.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.