Sugar Shock: The Haute 5 Desserts in Las Vegas

When you live in a place like Sin City, you get to know all the Seven Deadly Sins. Practice sloth at the pools, greed in the poker rooms, lust at the nightclubs, envy at the boutiques, pride at the spas and wrath at McCarran International Airport when you’re leaving Vegas. But save gluttony for dessert, because Las Vegas certainly serves up some fine dishes when it comes to this course. Here’s a look at the best desserts in Las Vegas. You can do your penance back home.

Aureole
Megan Romano at Aureole may just be Dante in the world of desserts, making you want to eat more, more, more. This pastry chef vixen captured the eye of chef Charlie Palmer, who has her help open all of his restaurants in the Palmer empire. “She can take a traditional dessert concept and present it in a way that’s completely unexpected, stunning — and full of flavor, too,” Palmer says of Romano. Look for concoctions such as a chocolate peanut butter souffle with a toasted marshmallow lollipop and peanut brittle, huckleberry lemon tart with sour cream ice cream and, naturally, devil’s food cake with toasted meringue raspberries. Told you she’s the devil.

Aureole is located at Mandalay Bay, 702.632.7401, www.aureolelv.com.

Jean Philippe Patisserie
While Vegas didn’t get its nickname because of chef Jean-Philippe Maury, the desserts here are certainly sinful. The French just know how to do dessert right, and this European-style pastry shop is no exception. Chocolates, cookies, cakes and crepes, the four Cs of the French dessert world, will find their way into pretty boxes that won’t make it home because you’ll be devouring them. At the Bellagio, look for the floor-to-ceiling chocolate fountain, an exercise in decadence at its finest.

Jean Philippe Patisserie is located at the Bellagio and Aria at CityCenter, www.jpchocolates.com.

Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro
Remember when you were a kid and your mom said you couldn’t eat just dessert? Well, she was wrong. This Parisian cafe from chef Francois Payard features a crepe station, chocolate shop and pastries. You must have the George V, a chocolate and vanilla mousse with carmelized peanuts and a biscuit. It’s a double dose of gluttony. Dine at the cafe or the restaurant.

Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro is located a Caesars Palace, 702.731.7110, www.payard.com.

Bradley Ogden
Bananas Foster is one thing. But do it up Bradley Ogden-style and you have one of most devilish dishes ever. Chef Jeff Henderson recently featured the Bananas Foster Cake on the Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.” Instead of just serving sautéed bananas over some vanilla bean ice cream, Ogden twists the traditional dessert with a banana cake and cream cheese ice cream. The cake is like a soft, fluffy banana bread that’s topped with rum, butter, banana liqueur, cinnamon and the star, bananas. As if you need more, it comes with chocolates clusters. Sinfully good isn’t even an accurate description.

Bradley Ogden is located at Caesars Palace, 702.731.7110, www.larkcreek.com.

BOA Steakhouse
It’s like a return to the comfort foods of your childhood at BOA Steakhouse, but don’t think that won’t prevent you from indulging. Look for S’mores made with warm chocolate brownies, warm blackberry cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream, BOA’s classic chocolate chip cookies and cream and the signature chocolate hazelnut cake. It’s hard to believe we need a place called hell.

BOA Steakhouse is located at the Forum Shops at Caesars, 702.733.7373, www.innovativedining.com.