“This isn’t your father’s Vegas,” Sherman Frederick tells me. As publisher of the city’s largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Frederick, 56, has watched a town known for gambling and mega-buffets transform into one of the most sophisticated dining destinations on the planet. A steady stream of celebrity chefs has poured in over the past two decades with top-notch staff in tow. Joined by a surprisingly refined base of homegrown wine experts, they’ve earned the city praise from the Michelin and Zagat guides, among others. And best of all, Las Vegas is just a one-hour flight or five-hour drive from Los Angeles – a perfect stop for Rotarians en route to the RI Convention next month.

Dining is now the premier reason that leisure travelers visit Vegas, even edging out the local gaming industry, which rakes in over $10.5 billion per year. And gone are the days when the latest hotel was inspired by pirates, wizards, or oversized lions. Today’s casino resorts are as upscale as the restaurants they harbor. In addition to once-in-a-lifetime dining experiences, all offer extensive spa facilities and internationally acclaimed shows.

Some hotels even boast world-class culture. The Bellagio gallery is currently showcasing the works of Georgia O’Keefe and other American modernists in an exhibit organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “Everything is at your fingertips: great accommodations, great restaurants, great entertainment,” Frederick says.  

“Dining used to revolve around the shrimp cocktail or the $5.99 buffet,” he notes. Now prices are much, much steeper at the Strip restaurants. It’s possible, he cautions, to drop $1,500 on dinner.

But for Rotarians who want to savor cutting-edge cuisine in spectacular settings without breaking the bank, the Rotary Club of Las Vegas Southwest member has a few tips. “I am less and less embarrassed to share plates,” Frederick says, admitting that he no longer really enjoys large meals anyway. “Instead of ordering entrees, my wife and I have a nice glass of wine, salad, soup, and maybe an appetizer.” That way, the check at top-name Strip restaurants can come in at just $25-$50 a person.

Another cost-saver is to eat a late lunch at a place like Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak, and Stone Crab, based on the original restaurant in Miami Beach, Fla. “You cannot beat the seafood, and it is a great place to sit and have an appetizer and a glass of wine and watch the people walk by,” Frederick says.

Rotarians willing to get off the Strip will see prices drop, even when the quality of the food is comparable. Rosemary’s, located downtown, is a white-tablecloth favorite. The tiny restaurant is run by a husband-and-wife team. Chef Michael Jordan “is the Michael Jordan of food,” he says. “Their fixed-price lunch, at $20, is a tremendous deal.”

Frederick invites fellow Rotarians to join his club’s lunch meeting (Mondays at 12:15) at another off-Strip restaurant, Lawry’s The Prime Rib, which harks back to the 1950s fashion of tableside service and hushed elegance.

But his all-time favorite is on the Strip: Craftsteak at the MGM Grand, known for its purity. “When you get a carrot, it is probably 12 hours from the dirt,” he says.

The options at the larger resorts are astounding, he continues. MGM alone has eight fine-dining restaurants, including two by Joël Robuchon (“dubbed, in France, chef of the century, and arguably one of the best chefs in the world,” Frederick notes), along with  two by San Francisco chef Michael Mina, not to mention Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House, the celebrity chef’s first foray into the city.

To work up an appetite, we’ve planned a walk, Las Vegas-style. “No one should come to Vegas without visiting the Forum Shops,” he says. Next to Caesars Palace, the shops are meant to re-create ancient Rome, with cobblestone streets and storefronts that look like Mediterranean buildings. Every hour or so, the “sky” in the enclosed mall cycles from colorful sunrise to sunrise.

We sneak into the mall by valeting our car at the Mirage, walking through the new Forum addition, riding up three stories on a grand circular escalator, then ducking down a staircase that leads to the back of the original mall.

As we head down the stairs, Frederick points out his favorite cigar shop, Casa Fuente. “You can get cigars you can find nowhere else, and it is just fun to sit out on the ‘outdoor’ patio, smoking a cigar and watching the people go by.” The family-owned venue also serves the best mojito in town, he says, indicating that we’ll do a taste test on the way back.

Frederick basks in the people-watching opportunities afforded by wandering among high-end jewelers and clothing stores. “It’s a world marketplace – lots of international shops and good window shopping,” he observes. “And I can’t even count how many languages you can hear spoken.”

We have an 11:30 lunch reservation at the Palm, a famed steakhouse with walls covered by caricatures of local celebrities, including a more youthful Frederick on the lower right side.

At Vegas prices, food isn’t something to be shoveled in, so we enjoy a leisurely meal. Frederick gets an impressive chopped salad, with lean ribbons of beef, chunks of blue cheese, crispy fried onion rings, boiled eggs, and crunchy lettuce filling the bowl. My seafood special is a generous halibut fillet on a bed of seared greens with fresh red and yellow peppers. We don’t indulge in wine, although the wine landscape may be even more noteworthy than the culinary scene here. One-quarter of the country’s master sommeliers work in Las Vegas and love to engage guests in lively discussions. Visitors can sample rare bottles from tiny, boutique vineyards; savor wines paired with each course of a meal; or work with the sommelier to select a wine, then with the chef to create a meal around it.

But the first-rate food and wine are indicative of a more subtle phenomenon. Service is the real product offered in today’s Vegas, turning even the afternoon lunch customer into a king, and this desert city into an irresistible destination.