Alex Prime Quietly Opens at Downtown’s El Cortez Casino
Downtown Las Vegas has a new steakhouse, Alex Prime, at El Cortez.
El Cortez invested $8.5 million renovating its former Siegel’s 1941. Now, the two concepts co-exist in the same space. It’s Siegel’s 1941 for breakfast and lunch and Alex Prime for dinner (from 5:00 p.m. on), an idea so crazy it just might work.
The fine folks at El Cortez hosted our visit during their soft opening, and we were relieved to discover it’s great. It’s weird when somebody treats you to dinner and it sucks, because then you say it sucks publicly and you can’t make eye contact with them ever again. Thankfully, in this case, we can genuinely say it was outstanding and we can’t wait to visit again and it won’t be awkward and everyone will live in peace and harmony until they start using paper straws and we are forced to torch them on Twitter.
We’re happy to report Alex Prime’s straws aren’t paper!
We’re also thrilled to share they have chicken parm on the menu and it’s stellar.
We chatted with the chef and he said El Cortez owner Kenny Epstein was the driving force behind having chicken parm on the menu. Not all heroes wear capes.
On a bittersweet note, Epstein named Alex Prime after his daughter, Alexandra “Alex” Epstein-Gudai. She worked at El Cortez for 15 years. She passed away in Feb. 2026 at 41. You can tell Alex Prime has heart, and we suspect Epstein’s involvement made it that way as a tribute to his daughter.
We love that photo so much. There’s another one in the restroom at El Cortez. We used a photo of that one to make the following animation which we love with all our heart.
Lost footage of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, noted dead guy. pic.twitter.com/RAoOMjWwWr
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) August 20, 2026
The restaurant has a number of personal touches. There’s Steak Diane on the menu, partly because Epstein’s wife’s name is Diane, and the cocktail program includes an Alex martini.
Alex Prime feels upscale, but without pretense. The service is fantastic, and all the folks we spoke to have extensive experience at other restaurants around town.
The room seats more than 150 and leans into 1940s glamour with green banquettes, cognac leather, wood paneling and gold accents.
There’s also a sweet bar.
Epstein brought in longtime Wolfgang Puck executive David Robins as consultant and Joe Swan as executive chef for Alex Prime.
The menu is meant to bridge old and new El Cortez: USDA Prime steaks, seafood and pasta, but also the slow-roasted prime rib long associated with Siegel’s 1941.
Mansplaining alert! The Siegel in Siegel’s 1941 refers to Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, noted asshat and crook. Why casinos glamorize murderers, we may never know. Don’t get us started. Bugsy (he hated that nickname) was part of the group that bought El Cortez in 1945. The “1941” refers to the year El Cortez originally opened.
Siegel’s 1941 originally opened in 2015, replacing The Flame Steakhouse.
The Alex Prime menu covers all the bases. It’s familiar, but with a few surprises as well.
You’ve got all the usual suspects, including New York strip, filet mignon, ribeye, porterhouse, tomahawk, flatiron, plus Steak Diane and a signature prime rib.
Beyond the steak roster, there’s oysters Rockefeller, shrimp cocktail, escargot, crab cake, French onion soup, wedge salad, Caesar salad, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese (photo below), mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, bearnaise, bordelaise, peppercorn sauce and truffle butter.
Some things are simply non-negotiable at a Las Vegas steakhouse.
Alex Prime mixes things up with things like the heritage breed bacon appetizer, the aforementioned Sunday gravy meatballs, the Alex Prime bisque (which we hear Epstein ordered during his first visit to the restaurant as a diner), along with rigatoni alla vodka and casarecce Bolognese, giving the restaurant an Italian steakhouse vibe.
The pork chop schnitzel is another curveball. Ditto the Parisian mushrooms and root beer float.
We opted for the Chocolate Chip Brownie Sundae for dessert. Approved.
The price points seem reasonable, and the value is undeniable, especially if you compare Alex Prime to Strip steakhouses. Which is an unfair comparison, but it’s our blog, so we can do whatever we want, zero accountability. Whoo-hoo!
Here’s the first half of the menu.
Here’s the second half.
On the menu, but not on the sign: Root Beer Float, $12; Warm Apple Pie, $13; Chocolate Chip Brownie Sundae, $14.
While we are not a wine person, we have put together an incredible overview of the Alex Prime wine program with the assistance of ChatGPT, and by that we mean ChatGPT wrote the following section because if people are skimming, we will appear to be a noted wine expert.
Alex Prime has put together a surprisingly serious wine program. The list has about roughly 80 bottles, with the expected steakhouse emphasis on Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-style reds, but there’s enough Burgundy, Rhone, Piedmont, Tuscany, Champagne and domestic Pinot Noir to keep wine people interested.
The strongest section is Cabernet. There’s a nice progression from approachable bottles such as My Favorite Neighbor Paso Robles at $60 and Niner Cabernet at $80 through Jordan, Silver Oak, Joseph Phelps, Nickel & Nickel, Chappellet and Heitz, then into trophy territory with Scarecrow M. Etain at $388 and Opus One at $680. The list also gives diners some less-obvious ways to attack a steak: Two Hands Shiraz at $60, Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape at $164, Gaja’s Ca’ Marcanda Promis at $150, Tignanello at $280 and several Nebbiolo selections.
There are some especially friendly price points near the bottom of the list. Poggio Bonelli Chianti is $55, Pio Cesare Barbera d’Alba is $57, Fox Farm Pinot Noir and Two Hands Shiraz are $60, Louis Latour Macon-Lugny is $62 and Les Cadrans de Lassegue Saint-Emilion Grand Cru is $67.
The by-the-glass program is another strength. There are six-ounce and nine-ounce pours, with eight reds ranging from $12 to $24 for six ounces, along with five whites, a rose, sparkling wines and dessert wines. The selections are respectable: Dr. Hermann Riesling, Louis Latour Macon-Lugny, Fox Farm Pinot Noir, Two Hands Shiraz, Les Cadrans Saint-Emilion and Hourglass Cabernet.
The sparkling selection is compact but well chosen. Veuve Clicquot sits at the familiar luxury entry point at $187, with Dom Perignon 2015 at $645, while Ruinart, Perrier-Jouet, Laurent-Perrier and Henriot provide alternatives for people who actually care about Champagne. There’s also a $50 Spellbound Prosecco and a $63 Lucien Albrecht Cremant d’Alsace, so one can enjoy some bubbles without having to rob the cage first.
This is a broad list rather than a deep one. Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne enthusiasts won’t find page after page of producers, vineyards and mature vintages. Most of the wines are quite young, generally 2021-2025, so there’s little sense of a cellar that has been accumulating bottles for years. White wine is also comparatively limited, although the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc selections are solid. That may matter less at a steakhouse, where Cabernet is going to pay most of the rent.
The other thing wine obsessives will notice is that the list mixes serious wine with recognizable steakhouse brands. Jordan, Silver Oak, Duckhorn, Far Niente and Opus One are on the list because people know them and order them. Alex Prime didn’t stop there. There’s enough Guigal, Beaucastel, Vietti, Gaja, Tignanello, Turley, Biale and smaller California producers to suggest somebody involved in the program actually likes wine.
Overall, this looks less like a casino steakhouse wine list designed to impress people with prices and more like one designed to give people choices. It has splurge bottles, familiar labels and enough genuinely interesting wines in the $50-$100 range that a wine fan can have some fun without breaking the bank.
This concludes our incredibly incisive look at the Alex Prime wine program based upon our decades of finding ways of avoiding things that are in any way difficult, like research or writing or whatever.
If you have qualms with anything ChatGPT said about the wine program, you should submit your concerns directly to ChatGPT, who will also tell you to get a life.
Moving on!
Yes, there’s a cocktail list. The cocktail list leans classic with a Vegas-history twist. There are familiar favorites like a dirty martini, Manhattan, margarita and tropical-style gin drink, but several are named for El Cortez figures and lore, including Kenny’s Old Fashioned, Ike’s 1941 and Alex’s Classic (pictured below). Most cocktails are priced at a very reasonable $12, with a couple of zero-proof options and a short after-dinner section featuring drinks like a Grasshopper and cognac-based Alexander.
El Cortez is one of our go-to downtown casinos, and the addition of a steakhouse will ensure it stays that way.
All due respect, but the previous Siegel’s 1941 wasn’t very good. When playing at El Cortez, we would often have to slog to other offerings on Fremont Street. The closest offering is Eureka, which is fine but meh. Le Thai is nearby, so that’s usually our dining destination when the El Cortez hot dog stand is closed. El Cortez also has Hot Noods, but we are not a person who voluntarily ingests hot liquids in a town that frequently has temperatures higher than your typical blast furnace.
Alex Prime meets some business needs of El Cortez, especially now that it has become a hot spot for a younger crowd thanks to several influencers who have touted the place for the last couple of years. Like all the casinos in town, El Cortez would like to appeal to more high-end players, and those customers need somewhere more serious to eat.
Alex Prime is welcoming and everything is shiny and new. We went into the kitchen before the restaurant opened and everything was pristine.
Gamblers need somewhere to spend their players club points. Casinos need restaurants that keep players in the building.
Alex Prime is a win-win for everybody. Especially lovers of chicken parm, Nature’s perfect food. Unless you’re a chicken. Don’t make it awkward.
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