Ryan Clark rolled out a new menu this week at PY Steakhouse at Casino del Sol Resort and Casino, three months after becoming chef de cuisine of the casino's flagship restaurant.
The menu builds on Clark's already impressive body of culinary work, amassed from his time as executive chef at Lodge on the Desert and as chef of Agustin Kitchen downtown; he left that restaurant last October.
Clark, a multiple Tucson Iron Chef winner, has a reputation for taking the simple and making it sublime. Examples of this are all over his menu: a seafood chowder baked in puffed pasty is perfumed with saffron; sugar and salt cured pork belly becomes a savory, salty refreshing appetizer with basil compressed watermelon and a plum jus; the classic wedge salad is topped with a four-minute egg and a tart and savory bleu cheese dressing kicked into overdrive with Dragoon IPA.
Entrees include a shelfish sampler (lobster, oysters, shrimp and crab legs) for two that at $59 is among the restaurant's most expensive offerings. It shares top-dollar company with several steaks from $32 to $48; a 22-ounce cowboy ribeye for $55; and a 24-ounce porterhouse that tips the bill scale at $88.
In addition to steaks, Clark's menu includes jumbo diver scallops kissed with bacon made in-house; a half-rack of lamb drizzled with a braised lamb madeira reduction; and a Top Knot Farms roasted duck breast served with duck leg sausage. (Top Knot Farms is located just west of Benson.)
PY Steakhouse, 5655 W. Valencia Road, is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and from 4 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdasy. It's closed Sundays and Mondays.
