The Dillinger’s welcoming atmosphere reflective of Boulder City setting

Boulder City is a charming place out of another era, or at least another part of the country. I remember when a co-worker said his wife announced plans to move there because life was different, and I thought, “Eh?” But try as I might to ignore it, when I drive into the hamlet south of Henderson, almost immediately upon getting out of the car I feel instantly transported. The sidewalks are wide, the streets narrow. People are friendly. You see things like a guy on a bike locking up the little grocery store and, on the evening of our most recent visit, seemingly the entire town, bundled up and on foot, heading to the village Christmas tree lighting.

Ducking into The Dillinger, the cozy feeling stayed with us. This is, essentially, a bar, but one with a warm, welcoming feeling. There was a family birthday party being celebrated at one table, a group of Red Hat Ladies gathering at another. And all through our visit, a guy with a proprietary air moved about the room, shifting chairs and affably arranging seating, and heading to the outdoor dining area to light and arrange propane-powered heaters.

The food, too, transcended the setting. The Dillinger bills itself as a source of “gourmet burgers and craft beers,” but the fire-roasted artichoke ($8.25) we started with seemed more uptownish than that. And it was a fine fire-roasted artichoke, split and cleaned like a fish, grilled just until the leaf bases were soft and served with a smoked-tomato-chipotle aioli which wasn’t terribly smoky or fiery, but just fine nonetheless.

And we’d have to have a burger, wouldn’t we? It would be the Ortega Burger ($10), which our server said came with pepperjack cheese and an Ortega pepper, which sounded pretty conventional but was anything but. When the burger arrived it was topped by a whole pepper, split and grilled, its mild flavor rendered slightly smoky by the grilling. The pepperjack added a little zip, a little creaminess, and since they actually cooked the meat medium rare, as we had ordered it, it was one heck of a burger.

On the side we were offered a choice of fries or Asian slaw, with a $1 uptick for the sweet-potato fries, which we chose. One quibble with this one: I know the menu said, in the appetizers section, that the sweet-potato fries were dusted with cinnamon and brown sugar, and that would have been fine as a stand-alone app. With the burger, though, they seemed too sweet.

Since The Dillinger’s signature burger is topped with barbecued brisket, a brisket sandwich ($9) seemed like a good choice and indeed it was, the brisket fork-flaking tender, the sauce slightly smoky, slightly sweet, with a nice deep flavor. With a jot of horseradish sauce and a roll substantial enough to handle it all, it was a very good sandwich. We had onion rings with this one (a $2 uptick) and they were nice and crisp, not too sweet.

Service throughout was very good. The place got crazy busy at a few points, and still the young waitresses kept both their heads and their good humor, zipping around, in and out of the restaurant, serving wherever there was a need and working as a team. They were well-trained, too; when one failed to pick up our glass of wine from the bar, another grabbed it, and our primary server asked us if we wanted dessert instead of just closing out our check.

Would I want to live in Boulder City? Probably not; I think you’d have to really like small towns. But it’s a great place to visit, and now that we’ve discovered The Dillinger, that feeling is even stronger.

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