Golden Steer and the Mob Museum: Two Great Vegas Joints

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A Tommy gun like the ones used in the famous St Valentine's Day massacre in 1928, on display with the actual wall from Chicago, at the Mob Museum.
A Tommy gun like the ones used in the famous St Valentine’s Day massacre in 1928, on display with the actual wall from Chicago, at the Mob Museum.
The bullet holes show in red on the St Valentines Massacre wall.
The bullet holes show in red on the St Valentines Massacre wall.

Yesterday we had a true mob double header here in fabulous Las Vegas.  First we spent two hours discovering more than anyone could ever possibly need to know about organized crime, those who did the deeds and those who spent their careers capturing the bad guys.  A true smorgasbord of grisly facts about life as a mobster and as a g-man.

At the Mob Museum, or National Museum of Organized Crime & Law Enforcement, located in a former courthouse and post office building, the tour takes you through room after room with both videos, floor to ceiling photos, and a look at both sides of the crime.  The building was once the setting for the Senate’s Las Vegas Kefauver hearings in 1950, where mafia boss Frank Costello famously told the senators he was done and walked out on the hearings after too many questions.

At the Mob Museum, an employee shows us an attache case that held two one-gallon flasks used during Prohibition.
At the Mob Museum, an employee shows us an attache case that held two one-gallon flasks used during Prohibition.

There are sections that detail the influence of the mob in Vegas, a hall of shame with mug shots of famous or not-so-famous mobsters, and a new

A scale model at the Mob Museum shows the Mexican prison where associates of El Chapo dug a tunnel and helped him escape earlier this year.
A scale model at the Mob Museum shows the Mexican prison where associates of El Chapo dug a tunnel and helped him escape earlier this year.

room devoted to Mexico’s most famous criminal, El Chapo, with a model of the tunnel his henchmen built to help him escape his captors.  For anyone with an interest in crime, this is a fabulous museum, it goes on and on and provides a huge amount of fascinating artifacts.

The Golden Steer is the oldest restaurant on the strip, serving perfectly done steaks since 1958 to stars and made men.
The Golden Steer is the oldest restaurant on the strip, serving perfectly done steaks since 1958 to stars and made men.
Scot, one of the waiters at the 58-year-old Golden Steer steak house on N. Las Vegas Boulevard: An Institution!
Scot, one of the waiters at the 58-year-old Golden Steer steak house on N. Las Vegas Boulevard: An Institution!

So where did many of Vegas’ Rat Pack and movie stars like to enjoy a steak?  For 58 years, that’s been the Golden Steer, and there we met Mark Steele who runs the place with his family. With comfy round leather booths designated for celebrities who claim them when they’re in town, like MarioAndretti, Nicholas Cage and Bette Midler, we dined the way the famous do….big shared caesar salad, petit filet mignons (as perfectly cooked as I’ve ever had!) and their signature cocktails.  The staff, in black tuxes and ties, were gracious and eager to share the stories that 58 years on the strip provide. At about $120 per person it’s not cheap–but either are the clients who come back to this famous steak house whenever they’re in town.