Society Café is unique among Las Vegas three-meal restaurants. It’s the mainstay restaurant for guests at the Wynn Encore, and boasts a celebrity chef. One could argue that Simon at Palms Place has similar attributes, but there is something that sets Society Café apart, namely a menu that changes seasonally. It leaves most casino coffee shops in the dust.

The chef is globetrotter Kim Canteenwalla, Montreal-born and bred but trained around the world, in places like Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore. Canteenwalla has some resume. He was Executive Chef at MGM Grand before leaving his post to assume duties as President of Elizabeth Blau & Associates, his wife’s consulting firm. The two met at Beaurivage, in Mississippi, where the chef also held an executive post.

So Canteenwalla is a busy man. He’s involved in developing restaurant operations around the world, and travels when he can. But he’s always at the restaurant whenever I show up, and cooking is still his first love.

Now, Society Café, which was singled out by John Mariani in Esquire as one of the “10 Best New Restaurants of 2009”, has a new fall menu. A few friends and I experienced it last week, and it was spectacular. If there is a more eclectic, creative and experienced chef on the Strip I’d like to meet him.

A couple of months ago, Canteenwalla called me. “You’ve got to come for this new thing I’m doing”, he told me. “What thing?”, I asked He had a ready answer. “I just started doing Reuben stuffed pot stickers.” You must be joking, I thought.

But the pot stickers stuck, and now, the chef is doing ones with pulled pork and slaw, and Philly cheese steak fillings. A Chinese purist might shake his head in disbelief, but I bet he’d enjoy every bite. They have a crisp outer shell, and burst juicy meat and spices when pierced. I am a believer, in spite of the caloric consequences.

Canteenwalla’s fall dinner menu is a doozy. The deceivingly simple split pea soup is impossible to resist. And it’s far from simple, thanks to smoky tasso ham from New Orleans, and green bean pickle, which adds a stunningly complex dimension. One bowlful won’t be enough. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Grilled artichoke sounds simple, too, but this is the best version of the dish I’ve ever tasted. It’s marinated before grilling in garlic, lemon and thyme, then served with an unctuous chipotle dipping sauce. One more dish not to miss is roasted young beets & poached pears. It’s plated in colorful fashion, like a still life, with crumbled blue cheese and Minus 8 Vinegar, made from Canada’s Iniskillin Winery, from their ice wine.

Buttermilk fried chicken oysters, by contrast, are simpler than they sound. These are not oysters from the sea. A chicken oyster is tender meat from a chicken’s back. Here, they are breaded like fried chicken normally is, and paired with black truffle grits and pickled okra. Called oysters because they resemble fried oysters, this dish is a true gift.

I guess I’m fairly raving, because one doesn’t expect to find this type of quality or innovation in a casino three-meal restaurant. We then had what was, for two of us, our favorite dish of the tasting, an orecchiette pasta with foraged mushrooms, shaved Brussel sprout, roasted tomato and asparagus. On the menu, it also gets Pecorino cheese. But leave it off, and you’ve got one of the restaurant’s new vegan dishes.

(For those of you living in a tent, Steve Wynn has gone vegan, so each of his resort restaurants have a vegan menu available. It’s the gospel according to St. Steve. When you own your own place, you can preach anyplace you want.)

We also had cracker crisp on the outside black bass, which magically remained moist under the skin, Berkshire pork two ways (three stars), and a workmanlike, but tender, braised beef short rib. I really loved the accompaniment for the fish; fingerling potato hash, bacon braised kale and preserved lemon. But everyone at my table is short ribbed out. The dish has become a cliché, even though the chef does a credible job.

Canteenwalla wasn’t finished. Everyone said “you’re kidding,” when the giant, multi-layered chocolate cake came to the table. Eighteen inches high at least, the cake had a chocolate ganache between each layer, and we picked at it in desultory fashion.

But we all ate the deconstructed banana split with renewed purpose. (See photo.) OK, two types of chocolate covered bananas, homemade ice creams in a tuile cookie topped with whipped cream and fruit, and three dipping sauces in separate vessels. Even Dr. Atkins would have eaten it.

Sometime in the future, I’m going to tell you what they do at breakfast.

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