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Stay Wide Awake For Late-Night Dining

Everyone knows that Las Vegas is a 24-hour city, but most of us associate late-night action and dining with the major casinos on the Strip. In terms of dining, at least, that is no longer a necessity.

It's true that the major casinos have round-the-clock room service, American-themed coffee shops and, lately, even Asian noodle joints that stay open into the wee hours.

Now along comes a rash of places open late that are specifically targeted to locals, an agreeable new phenomenon that makes late- night dining a more diverse and interesting proposition than ever before.

Here are five after-midnight options: Black Mountain Grill

This 24-hour restaurant resembles a mountain chalet. The dining area has rustic wooden ceiling beams and spacious booths, spaced around an open kitchen.

There is a huge brick fireplace, and also the Safari Room, an intimate lounge with wooden furniture, a TV and backgammon table.

After a hard evening this is one of the most comforting spots in the valley.

The grill belongs to the charming and gracious Donna Rocker, who is married to well-known local musician Tommy Rocker.

Chef Jay Yamaguchi is a native of Hawaii, which explains why his menu -- basic American comfort fare -- has tinges of the Pacific Rim.

One eats very well here. After 11 p.m. the regular dinner menu is available, as is the regular breakfast menu, but one would be well advised to order from the restaurant's late-night menu instead.

This menu is served until 6 a.m., and everything on it is half-price, a real bargain.

That means you get baked spinach and portabella mushroom dip for $3.50, wonderful cilantro lime buffalo chicken wings for $5, and the best deal of all, the cowboy steak, a 22-ounce Porterhouse brushed with the house barbecue sauce and served with homemade mashed potatoes, for under $10. The walnut-crusted apple pie, by the way, a full price item, is just fabulous.

Details: 11021 S. Eastern Ave., Henderson. 990-0990.

Jazzed Cafe and Vinoteca.

This splashy, colorful cafe belongs to the talented American chef Kirk Offerle, who is capable of turning out some of the best Italian cooking in the city.

The only caveat is that he can be uncompromising. Friends recently complained to me that he refused to tweak one of his dishes to their taste. Perhaps he hasn't yet learned that the customer is always king.

Offerle serves until 3 a.m., and if you come after midnight, there is often a group of local chefs dining. They come for the terrific selection of risotti, an excellent wine list and any number of this chef's delicious creations.

Offerle's frittatas, round, puffy Italian omelettes, are superb, especially the one with prosciutto. His penne al forno is an oven-baked dish consisting of pasta tubes combined with a light Bolognese meat sauce, a touch of white sauce and a sprinkling of imported Parmesan.

One of the best meat dishes here is tagliata gorgonzola, a seared New York steak topped with crumbled Gorgonzola cheese and a flurry of warmed arugula.

For dessert, there is torta al cioccolato gianduja, flourless chocolate cake laced with crushed hazelnuts. Magnifico.

Details: 8615 W. Sahara Ave. 233-2859.

Joyful House

This popular Chinese restaurant caters to a largely Asian clientele. It also offers one of our most beguiling, and eccentric, late-night dining experiences.

If you've heard rumors about this restaurant serving a late-night seafood buffet, the rumor is true, after an explanation.

Joyful House does serve a buffet from 10:30 p.m. until 2:30 p.m., for $12.95 a person. And seafood is a major component of what you get.

But this isn't a steam table buffet where you partake of cooked dishes. Rather, it is a plastic wrap-covered extravaganza of raw materials ready to be plunged into a Chinese style hot pot, and then boiled to doneness at the table over a burner-style stove.

This is quite a spread. You'll see wontons, tofu, fresh shrimps, New Zealand mussels, sliced Chilean sea bass, octopus balls, chicken balls, beef ball, pork liver, kidneys and around a dozen other things, all you can eat, like a typical Vegas buffet.

Once seated, you'll get a huge metal pot, with two compartments. One contains a spicy red broth, the other a clear broth laced with cooked turnips. The idea is to grab a selection of ingredients from the buffet table and cook them in the hot soup.

It's all very tasty, but also very Chinese, and about as far as the Yellow River is from a mainstream Chinese buffet in this town.

Details: 4601 Spring Mountain Rd. 889-8881.

Sean Patrick's

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Sean Patrick, a bona fide Irishman who has built himself quite an impressive pub up on West Sahara that opened just this spring.

There is lots of dark wood in here, as well as moss-green walls, throne-like wooden chairs to sit in and shelves stocked with ancient-looking crockery and books.

This is also a 24-hour restaurant, and one in which the entire menu is available at all times. While you dine -- or imbibe -- Celtic music characterized by accordion and pennywhistle plays softly in the background.

All in all, the food is quite good as well.

The best dishes here are Irish, and we won't quibble that practically all the dishes have corny Irish subheadings and nothing to do with the Emerald Isle. (A case in point: "Limerick City," a grilled chicken sandwich.)

So instead, go for the excellent, tender and moist corned beef and cabbage, which is served with champ (a delicious bacon-laced cabbage), light, flaky battered fish served in a basket with first-rate chips, a hearty, filling potato cheese soup and a fine Bailey's Irish Cream cheesecake, made with a cookie crust and a chocolate sour cream topping.

Just make sure you don't see too many leprechauns in here after hours.

Details: 8255 W. Flamingo Road. 227-9793.

Gold Rush Casino

OK, so you don't want risotto, hot pots or Irish stew at 3 a.m.

This slightly down-at-the-heels casino serves a 90-cent bacon-and-egg breakfast, a six-ounce New York steak-and-egg breakfast for an unbeatable $1.99, and 24-hour specials such as a 16-ounce Porterhouse, with salad, dinner roll and baked potato, and everything is quite palatable.

Sometimes, at 4 a.m., the basics are about all anyone can face.

Details: 1195 W. Sunset Road., Henderson. 454-0544.

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