Bodog Beat

When in Vegas for the WSOP, give the Chilean Sea Bass at Red 8 Asian Bistro in the Wynn a try. (Bodog Beat Image)

We've been on kind of an Asian kick recently, the best example of that being our hour-long trek to find that one Thai place that we still can't remember the f&%$!ng name of. Ugh. Anyway, in an attempt to quench every craving at one time, we headed out to a restaurant that we definitely know the location of since it's one of our favorite spots in Vegas, Red 8 Asian Bistro at the Wynn.

Red 8 doesn't focus in on any one particular Asian cuisine, preferring to settle for a pan-Asian menu that features the best of Chinese, Thai, Korean and Vietnamese foods. From Dim Sum to Korean ribs and Mongolian Beef to Pad Thai, the menu really has a little something for everyone or, in our case, a little everything for someone. (There's another food coma coming, can you feel it?)

We started out with some vegetable spring rolls, shrimp wonton and Korean ribs with our new favorite Korean lager, Singha, but really these things just postponed the main goal of the trip. So, in our previous visits to this restaurant we've only ever ordered one thing and being creatures of habit and tradition, we ordered the exact same thing again. The Chilean Sea Bass come either steamed in a ginger soy sauce or deep fried with salt and pepper and, with all thoughts of eating healthily out of the window, we went with the fried version.

The unassuming dish comes out in simple white bowl with a large spoon and just looks like a bunch of fried fish pieces thrown in a bowl. Once tasted though, it is melt in your mouth tender with just an edge of salt and spice. The key is to make sure that you mix the bowl up thoroughly and get the sea salt hanging out at the bottom to coat the pieces of fish and then make sure that each bite you take has a piece of fresh jalapeño with it. Some people like to use soy sauce to up the flavor, but we really enjoy it just as it comes.

After every bite of that was savored and washed down with another Singha, you guessed it, we were on the verge of yet another food coma. The good thing is that we now walk back and forth from the Rio hotel rooms to the Amazon Room like 14 times a day, so that should burn off at least one piece of fish. Feel…fatter….daily.

With great power comes great responsibility, or something like that.

Stay tuned for more WSOP dining guides from the Bodog Beat and come enjoy some of these Vegas restaurants as part of a $12,000 WSOP VIP Prize Package. WSOP online satellites are going on daily in teh Bodog Poker room for as little as $1.50.