When you order the banana split for dessert at Scotch 80 Prime at the Palms Casino Resort, the dish arrives disassembled.
There's a long curve of banana, sliced in two and caramelized, an artist's palette of toppings in a rainbow of tiny bowls and a KitchenAid mixer, shining in a warm copper hue.
"Tell me when you're ready," the server says, holding a silver pitcher of liquid nitrogen over the mixer's bowl. Then, when our iPhone videos are prepped and rolling, he pours, a cloud of the substance rising into the dining room as the ice cream churns before our eyes.
It's dessert and a show.
Food is often entertainment in Las Vegas, where chefs' tables offer front-row views from inside the kitchen (Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace), dishes are finished in the dining room (Zuma) and cocktails come served in glass songbirds or poured over puffs of cotton candy (Juniper Cocktail Lounge at the Park MGM).
At Zuma, toro tartare is a decadent dish finished before diners' eyes.
At Zuma inside the Cosmopolitan, toro tartare is prepared tableside, a miniature carafe of dashi soy whisked into a quail egg yolk then stirred into caviar-topped tuna. The indulgent bite is finished with a flurry of black truffle and served with petite miso buns.
At the SLS's Bazaar Meat by Jose Andres, the "supergiant pork-skin chicharron" arrives as one massive crisp, smashed before diners' eyes then offered with Greek yogurt and za'atar spices.
At Tom Colicchio's Heritage Steak in the Mirage, where the open kitchen showcases slabs of meat cooked over charcoal grills and in wood-burning ovens, it's a frosty sweet that puts on the best show. The ice cream social is a nostalgic delight, a pair of vanilla bars customized with dunks in chocolate sauces then drenched in your toppings of choice.
Like Scotch 80's epic banana split, it's the kind of interactive presentation that draws attention across the dining room — and often results in additional orders.
In some restaurants, showmanship is delivered via cart, a mobile display catching eyes as it zips from table to table.
At Mr. Chow at Caesars Palace, a gleaming Champagne trolley spins around the dining room, its bubbly wares showcased in a wide, silver bowl with flutes hanging below.
At the Bellagio, Harvest by Roy Ellamar puts the pop-up concept on wheels, inviting guest chefs to design enticing bites for a Snack Wagon that rolls the restaurant floor. The next roving takeover is Sept. 7, when Della's Kitchen executive chef Jay Calimlim drops in.
There's a special energy that infuses the room when the wagon is plying Harvest diners with some one-night-only treat or the Champagne trolley is flying to and fro or the Scotch 80 mixer is engulfed in a cloud of liquid nitrogen smoke. It's a jolt of excitement that spreads through a space, causing camera phones to rise in its wake, and it might make you wave over a waiter and say, "You know what? I'll have what she's having."