Clubhouse Eats: We’re all-in on the Encore’s crispy buttermilk chicken sandwich

With the tee sheet fully booked at Shadow Creek this week, we turn our sights to another high-roller Las Vegas layout, one that doesn’t require that you arrive by limo. We’re speaking of Wynn Golf Club, the only resort course in the city that sits smack dab in the heart of the action, its first tee walking distance from the Strip.

Like Shadow Creek, the Wynn was designed by Tom Fazio (in collaboration with his son, Logan), and like Shadow, it features gurgling streams and waterfalls on grounds as green and pure as Eden. But because of its centralized location, it also boasts a larger bounty of culinary options. Aside from club selection, the toughest choice you face is where to eat.

Food

In our self-appointed role as culinary caddie, we suggest a post-round meal at Jardin, an airy, easy-going restaurant inside Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, where the menu is a showcase of farm-fresh American comfort food.

Emblematic of the casually refined cooking is the crispy buttermilk chicken sandwich, an item as approachable as it is indulgent. Its preparation starts with organic chicken breast, marinated in a buttermilk brine to tenderize the meat and deepen its flavors. Next comes a dredging in house-made, herb-flecked breadcrumbs, followed by deep-frying that turns the coating a Cleopatra bronze.

The chicken is then bedded on a house-baked challah roll and topped with a ranch-and-mustard slaw, a bright counterpoint amid the richness. As a complement to this satisfying sandwich, we recommend an ice cold beer, like, say, Singing Frog, a golden lager brewed exclusively for the Wynn. And since what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, what the heck — you might as well add a heaping side of fries.