[Photographs: Katie Robbins]

Part burger, part Filet-o-Fish, with a bagel and lox thrown in for good measure, the Captain Hook ($15.50) at Holsteins in Las Vegas is one hulking hybrid of a sandwich. Grilled Atlantic salmon (best ordered medium rare for ultimate buttery richness), dressed with crisp frisée, tangy pickled shallots, and a creamy caper-herb mayonnaise that's just this side of tartar sauce, in all the right ways.

In Vegas, more is always better, so the salmon fillet is then topped with a really generous slab of house-cured gravlax, which is briny, salty, and perfectly unctuous.

Though it takes its name from a cranky pirate, there's nothing stingy about this sandwich, which gives both in quantity (plus a small bucket of fries) and in warm, comforting flavors. They're snazzed up, but the components feel familiar—the frisée takes on a slaw-like quality when coupled with the mayo and the spongy wheat bun offers a temperate base for the potent lox.

At this upscale burger joint, this Captain is an elevated answer to the fast food fish sandwich: fresh, filling, and clever.

Holsteins

3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV 89109 (map); 323-663-4441; holsteinslv.com/