New steakhouse, Carlos’n Charlie’s franchise coming to Flamingo

By Ron Sylvester

Thursday, March 1, 2012 | 2 a.m.

The Flamingo hopes a return to its martini-and-steak roots, updated with a few hipster twists, will win over customers at a restaurant site where two eateries have closed over the past three years.

Center Cut Steakhouse, featuring mid-range prices on organic steaks, is set to open this month at the site of the former Burger Joint and Italian restaurant Voga. The Flamingo developed Center Cut as a response to popular demand and will run it as an in-house operation.

“People come to Vegas, and they want to have at least one nice dinner while they’re here,” said Shawn Ritchie, vice president of food and beverage for the Flamingo. “Our customer feedback kept telling us, ‘We really want a steakhouse.'”

Center Cut is one of two new restaurants expected to open in the next two months at the Flamingo. Mexico-based chain Carlos’n Charlie’s is set to open a 13,000-square-foot spread in April.

“It’s got a massive footprint,” Ritchie said of Carlos’n Charlie’s.

Ritchie is banking that Center Cut and Carlos’n Charlie’s will add some festive features to the Flamingo, which also offers the Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville Restaurant and Casino.

Ritchie plans to open the steakhouse by mid-March.

Center Cut will have an old-school feel powered by new technology. Black interior with pink accents will give a hint of the Flamingo vibe, while flat video screens will show photo montages from the 66 years the resort has graced the Strip.

Of course, the meat of the place will be in the natural cuts from Colorado.

“It will be 100 percent hormone-free, steroid-free, farm-raised beef,” Ritchie said.

The CC Bar will feature five large booths at the front, a martini happy hour and a tapas menu.

Center Cut will seat 170, including a private dining space for 35.

Ritchie hopes the steakhouse will succeed in attracting Flamingo visitors where the other concepts have not. The Burger Joint, which replaced Voga in July 2009, closed Feb. 19.

“People have to pass by this every day on the way to the elevators, so it’s a great location,” he said. “But with Italian, well, people have to be in the mood for Italian. It’s the same for a gourmet burger. Steakhouses just seem to be a part of Vegas.”

Carlos’n Charlie’s, meanwhile, will offer hot salsa — both the kind you eat and the kind you dance. The restaurant will seat about 150 people inside, adjacent to the race and sports book, and just as many in a patio overlooking the pool. The bar seats another 40.

“And that doesn’t count standing and dancing room,” said Genaro Dispa, Carlos’n Charlie’s general manager.

Dispa moved from Cancun to Las Vegas last summer to work on opening the restaurant and said he liked what he’d seen so far at his new place of business.

“The kind of people who are at the Flamingo are casual and relaxed,” he said, “and that’s our kind of people.”

Carlos’n Charlie’s is part of the same company that operates Señor Frogs, which serves up fajitas and burgers at Treasure Island.