Mac Shack
Posted on | June 30, 2010 | No Comments
A new restaurant recently opened from the owners of one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Las Vegas, Nora’s. It’s a new concept for them. Think of it like the ‘Pei-Wei’ to PF Chang’s. In other words, Nora’s, only more casual.
I saw a few familiar items on the menu, including the crazy alfredo, as well as a selection of mac and cheese dishes, salads, soups, and a create-your-own pasta selection.
We were there for lunch, and decided to split the red rigatoni. The dish consisted of rigatoni with red peppers, sausage, and sliced meatballs in a red sauce. The pasta was fresh tasting and perfectly al dente. The sauce was rich, tart, and quite flavorful. All of the toppings were fresh and delicious. But I expected nothing less, coming from these guys.
Good food, reasonable prices, fast service… If it were just a bit closer to me, I think I’d be a regular here…
Cost: $
8680 West Warm Springs Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89148
(702) 463-2433
www.macaronishack.com/aboutus.html
Monta Ramen
Posted on | June 29, 2010 | No Comments
I was pretty excited to hear that a new ramen-ya (ramen shop) had opened in Vegas, a few doors down from one of my favorite Japanese restaurants, Raku, no less! As far as I know, there have only been two true ramen-yas in Vegas. One is still open, but on the opposite side of town from me. The other closed last year. Unfortunately, I didn’t find either to be particularly good. My favorite ramen in town has been at Shuseki, and it’s about comparable to what you can get at a slightly below average place in Los Angeles’ southbay area. Then again, that’s probably an unfair comparison, as the Gardena/Torrance area of LA have arguably the best ramen outside of Japan.
A friend brought Monta to our attention, coincidentally right before we were leaving on a brief weekend trip to LA. As is my usual habit, I went to one of my favorite little ramen-yas in LA, and as usual, it was delicious. This was fresh in my mind as we returned to Vegas two days later, and stopped in at Monta.
First, some good things to report. It is a dedicated ramen-ya, with a limited menu (a good thing). It’s clean, contemporary, and quite small (another good thing). And they are the only place I know of in Vegas serving Hakata style ramen- my personal favorite.
As for the ramen? We both had the tonkatsu ramen, and it was good. Not great, not anywhere near as good as the best in LA, but good, and probably the best I’ve had in Vegas.
The reasons I don’t think it’s great? Here’s where I get nit picky, and risk sounding like a food snob- which I’m not, I swear! I just love, LOVE ramen, and I happen to have eaten a ton of it in my lifetime.
The broth was warm, not hot. Even though it was 100+ degrees outside, this is a big negative for me. Also, the noodles were not as al dente as I like.
The broth, however, was milky, smooth, with plenty of pork flavor. Likely it had been simmering for hours, if not days. In fact, it was a bit too ‘porky’ for me, but this is how tonkatsu broth is supposed to taste. The chashu (pork slices) were quite tasty, very tender, and had just about the right amount of fat layered in them. The additional seasoned egg we both ordered was good, although a bit cold in the middle.
We also shared an order of potstickers, which were okay, but a tad overpriced at $4.50.
All in all? A good experience, and short of driving 4 hours to LA, I’ll be going back when my next ramen craving hits. I’m glad to finally have decent ramen available here in Vegas. My true hope? That the small negatives will be worked out once this restaurant has time to establish itself a bit, and Monta will be able to stand up to my perception of truly great ramen. We’ll see…
Cost: $
5030 Spring Mountain Road, Suite 6, Las Vegas, NV 89146
702 367-4600
RM Seafood: Top Chef Masters’ Dinner
Posted on | June 28, 2010 | 4 Comments
Two of my favorite cooking shows are Top Chef and Top Chef Masters. A couple of weeks ago, I’d heard that Rick Moonen was hosting a charity dinner at RM Seafood, along with this season’s TCM winner, Marcus Samuelsson. All proceeds were to benefit a wonderful local charity, Three Square, which serves to fight hunger in Las Vegas. I called my husband to tell him, then immediately booked our reservation. A once in a lifetime chance to taste the food of two masters… all for charity… we were so there!
Now, I have a confession to make. I’ve been out of town a lot the past few weeks, and had the TCM final episode on DVR, but didn’t plan to watch it. I was rooting for Susur Lee or Rick Moonen to win. When I heard Marcus Samuelsson won, I was disappointed and decided I didn’t want to see it. Yes, I’m a bit of a sore loser!
Thankfully I didn’t delete the episode, and we watched it the night before the event. It was SO close!
The night of the event we arrived at RM a bit early and waited in line behind a few other couples. First up for the night was a cooking demonstration by Chef Samuelsson, and since we were towards the front of the line, we secured seats in the second row. Chefs Moonen and Samuelsson engaged the group, told a few stories, and demonstrated how to cook two dishes. One was served during the cocktail reception, a very tasty tuna/avocado taco. The other was a curry noodle dish with grilled shrimp, which smelled wonderful. Chef Samuelsson cooked it up, then dished out a few bowls… and reached over & handed one to me! I was awestruck- and yes, it was delicious.
After cocktails, hor d’oeuvres , photo ops and book signings, we were asked to be seated at our assigned tables, 12 per table. Here we were fed 5 courses of some pretty incredible food. Here’s what we had:
I believe the first dish was Chef Moonen’s. It was buratta mozzarella with chilled Maine lobster. The lobster was incredibly fresh and flavorful. The cheese was perfect- smooth, and soft and melty in the middle. The tomatoes were seasoned in a wonderful, slightly tart watermelon sauce. Accompanying this dish was a glass of 2009 Cune Rioja Rosado. A very nice start.
Next, the star dish of the night, the likely reason Chef Samuelsson is now called ‘Top Chef Master’, and one of the best things I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating… Chef Samuelsson’s ‘outrageous’ (a quote from an executive chef seated across from me) foie gras ganache. Words can’t do this dish justice, but let me try.
Imagine foie gras, blended until it’s silky, perhaps with a bit of sweet cream to make it even richer than it started, then served like a chocolate lava cake. The outside is soft and savory. Then, you cut into it, and this heavenly, savory, saucy foie gras comes oozing out onto your plate like liquid gold. We were all one step away from licking our plates clean. Yes, it was as good, if not better, than it looked on the TCM finale. I wish everyone could taste this! In that first moment of tasting the dish, I became an instant fan of Chef Samuelsson, and felt like an idiot for not rooting for him to win. Oh, and not to be overlooked was an incredible piece of tender, coffee cured duck. I’m not a huge duck fan, but I’d order this in a restaurant any day. Finishing the dish was a dollop of balsamic ice cream. This dish was accompanied by a 2008 Maramiero “Anima” Trebbiano D’Abruzzo. In a word: incredible.
After course two, we were all awestruck, but there was more goodness to come. Course three was another Moonen dish; an orrichette pasta with shredded rabbit, with a sweet English pea sauce. The pasta was perfect. The rabbit was mild, tender, and delectable. The pea sauce was the perfect accompaniment to both. A glass of 2009 Two Hands “Brilliant Disguise” Moscato was served with this dish, which was one of my favorite drinks of the night. Sweet, but quite good.
Course four was Chef Samuelsson’s smoked arctic char, with apple horseradish broth, and sliced jicama. The fish literally melted in my mouth, and was infused with a wonderful smoky flavor. This came with a glass of quite bitter Sierra Nevada “Torpedo” Extra IPA.
The final dish was a strawberry shortcake ‘ice cream bar’ with nitro dipping dots. It reminded me of a strawberry good humor bar on crack. A very nice ending to one incredible meal.
After dinner, Robin Leach emceed a charity auction, again with all proceeds going to Three Square. I wish I could have bid on the dinner, cooked at your home by both chefs, but $25,000 was a tad too steep for me..
Overall, a night I will never forget. We met and chatted with both chefs, who were incredibly warm, friendly, and appeared genuinely happy to be there in support of Three Square. Not to mention, we also got to consume some amazing food. A winning night for everyone!
For more information on Three Square: http://www.threesquare.org/
RM Seafood is located at 3950 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 632-7777
Valley of Fire State Park
Posted on | June 18, 2010 | 5 Comments
Life has left me a bit swamped for the past few weeks, and I have more unwritten blog entries in my queue than I care to think about! I hope to catch up in a week or so. In the meantime, here’s some photos I took a few weeks ago at the Valley of Fire State Park, which is less than an hour NE of Las Vegas. The park is gorgeous, so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves:
Taste of the Nation, Las Vegas 2010
Posted on | June 13, 2010 | No Comments
This was the first year I attended Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation event, and it certainly won’t be the last! It was held at the Palm’s Rain Nightclub on June 2, and it was the perfect evening for the event. We walked to the pool area, the sun was still out, and there was a beautiful spread of restaurant booths and food. Little did we realize most of the restaurants were actually inside the club, as well as auctions and live entertainment.
Anyway, the point of the entire event is charity. Mainly, Share Our Strength’s efforts to fight childhood hunger through their “No Kid Hungry” program. In addition, there were several local beneficiaries; the ticket sales were 100% dedicated to charitable efforts. The restaurants, chefs, mixologists, event planners, corporate sponsors, etc. all volunteer their time to help benefit this worthy cause.
So how was the food? Excellent! Following are a few of what we felt were the highlights:
The first booth we came across was RM Seafood. Although they didn’t have a savory offering, they did have these tasty little strawberry creme brulee puffs:
Yes! Rick Moonen was there, shortly before he had to leave for the viewing of Top Chef Masters. He was kind enough to explain to Adam the proper way to eat the creme brulee puffs. “Stick the entire thing in your mouth, otherwise you’ll get creme everywhere.” Who were we to argue with him? Looks like I got a shot of him doing just as he instructed. Sorry for the weird pic, Ric…
One of my favorite bites of the night was American Fish’s foie gras and bing cherry popper. What an explosion of flavors and textures! At the Vegas Uncork’d Grand Tasting, they had one of my favorite offerings with an incredible crabcake. American Fish is officially now on the top of my list of new restaurants to try…
In addition, American Fish had this ruby red shrimp salad, with a tomato aioli and pickled jalapeno. Again, a nice blend of flavors, and it was quite light and refreshing.
A Ellensburg lamb tandoori with a cucumber raita, wrapped in garlic chili naan, was the offering at Sensi. I was impressed to see one of the chefs with a tandoori oven right there cooking! The lamb was tender and flavorful, with a bit of a kick to it. The raita was cool, creamy, and a nice complement to the spices in the dish. And how can you ever go wrong with a garlic chili naan? Quite possibly one of my favorite ‘breads’.
Bouchon offered a light citrus salad, plus ginger beer, and an incredible version of caramel corn. My favorite was obviously the caramel corn. I had it the next day (yes, I snuck two packages into my bag!) and it was fresh, sweet, yet a bit savory with bits of salt infused. Yum.
B and B opted for a charcuterie and cheese selection. While I can’t remember exactly what everything was, I can tell you that many were quite exceptional…
Circo had a wonderful offering with this panzanella salad with burrata cheese, cucumber, basil, arugula, tomato, and red onion. The burrata cheese was chewy, creamy, and quite delicious with the refreshing assortment of veggies and croutons. A nice (and quite large) plate.
Island Sushi and Grill was one of the restaurants I wasn’t familiar with. They had several offerings, including this spicy beef and strawberry lettuce wrap, which was quite tasty.
In addition, Island Sushi and Grill had a nice selection of desserts, including mini ‘coco puffs’, and passion fruit custard Portuguese donuts, plain and chocolate dipped. Of course, I opted for chocolate dipped, and have no regrets!
T-Bones had perhaps the most interesting drink offering of the night, with a meat and potatoes martini. And yes, that is really meat and potatoes in there.
Vietnamese crispy softshell crab, with pickles and a tamarind glaze, was offered by Silk Road. Tender, with a bit of crunch, and a nice blend of flavors infused in this dish.
Silk Road also had these frozen honey nougat and pistachio sundaes, with a cherry gelee. A suprisingly large offering, and unfortunately, I could only eat a few bites.
Valentino had these shrimp crostinis, which were quite good. The shrimp was tender and flavorful, and the crostini was nice and crunchy.
Megan Romano was there, dishing out her fantastic handmade chocolates. I can’t remember exactly which I had.. but I did have at least three. Or was it four?!
Mini Kobe meatball sliders were the offering at Lavo. As expected, they were quite tender, and had a nice, tomatoey sauce.
Border Grill offered a carnitas taco. True to Susan Feniger’s reputation for liking all things spicy, the taco had a nice kick to it!
Sliders seemed to be a popular item; these were veal, with red wine jus and pickled shallots on brioche, from Union.
Sushi Roku had these cute cones of salmon tartate, which were infused with plenty of sesame oil, making for a wonderful flavor. Quite nice.
I love shabu shabu, and Stripsteak had a kobe version in a mushroom consomme. Pretty bold to offer shabu shabu at a tasting event. Although I’m not quite sure the effect worked, the beef was quite tender.
Quite a wonderful evening, and I’d definitely recommend everyone attend this event the next time it’s here in Las Vegas. In addition, they’re also being held all around the country; check out the website at http://taste.strength.org/site/PageServer?pagename=TOTN_homepage for an event near you!
North End Pizza
Posted on | June 5, 2010 | No Comments
A new pizzeria in the NW area of Vegas, North End is a family run restaurants specializing in East Coast style pizzas. And they’re really good! In fact, I think they’re the best pizzas on this side of town. The crust is thin, a bit crispy on the bottom, yet chewy inside. The sauce is nice and tangy, and not overly sweet. The cheese and toppings are all fresh and quite flavorful.
The two times we’ve been here, we’ve split a small supreme, and a small pepperoni and mushroom pizza. Certainly more than enough food for two, especially if you throw in a side salad. Of the two, I preferred the pepperoni mushroom, but I’ve never been a huge fan of supreme pizzas. I like things simple, I guess! Our only complaint is that they aren’t overly generous on the toppings, but I actually don’t have a huge problem with that. Heck, I could just eat a plain cheese pizza and be perfectly happy.
The place is small, and the service is quite friendly. Oh, and they deliver.
We’ve yet to try their other items, but I’ve heard the calzones are good. It’s hard for us, though, to go to a pizzeria and not order pizza! This place is definitely a regular on our restaurant rotation now…
Cost: $
6440 N. Durango, Las Vegas, NV 89149
(702) 645-9006
Summer’s finally here!
Posted on | June 4, 2010 | No Comments
Firefly
Posted on | May 31, 2010 | No Comments
I hadn’t been to Firefly up until recently. I’d almost gone a handful of times, but never made it for various reasons. I almost didn’t make it this night either- we went to the downtown location, only to find they were booked for the night! I called the Paradise location while leaving, and they had tables available. Whew!
After navigating through Saturday night traffic, AND a Shriner parade (the first I’d ever heard of them!), we made it to Firefly. This is obviously a bit of a hip hangout, as the place was packed, with a dozen or so people waiting when we left. The interior is a bit dark, but modern… And extremely noisy. Definitely not the place for a quiet, romantic date.
The service, however, was outstanding. Minutes after we started ordering, our dishes started arriving.
Here’s what we had:
Artichoke toast with artichoke hearts, basil, pepper, and aioli:
Probably my favorite item of the night. Simple, but really well executed. It doesn’t hurt that I love artichokes, either! Next time I might get two orders of this (For myself!)
Tuna tartare with mango, avocado, and taro chips:
I wanted to get a ceviche, but surprisingly the only one on the menu was shrimp. Well, Adam is allergic to shrimp, so that wasn’t gonna happen. Instead I ordered the tartare, which was quite fresh, and very flavorful. And I love taro chips. I only wish there’d been a few more on the plate.
Warm spinach salad with artichokes, red peppers, pine nuts, and feta:
I thought this was a good salad, but as Adam mentioned, it was a bit too much like something I could throw together at home…
Chicken and chorizo stuffed mushrooms:
These were quite good, although not overly flavorful. A nice, meaty bite, with the combination of chicken, sausage and mushrooms!
Empanadas with pork and red pepper, plus salad and aioli:
Probably my least favorite item of the night. They weren’t bad… Just not very unique, interesting or flavorful.
Banana nutella sandwiches with nutella dipping sauce:
One word: yum. How can you go wrong with bananas, nutella, and bread?!
I’ll likely try the downtown location again next time, as it’s closer for me. Hopefully I’ll go there on a night when it’s not completely booked…
Cost: $$
3900 Paradise Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89169
(702) 369-3971
www.fireflylv.com
Congratulations!
Posted on | May 25, 2010 | No Comments
The winner of the Share our Strength/Taste of the Nation ticket raffle is Amanda Berg. Many congrats!
I hope to see a good turnout at the event; it really is for a good cause… For more info, see: http://strength.org/lasvegas/
Via Brasil
Posted on | May 24, 2010 | No Comments
I’ve never been a huge fan of Churascarias, mainly because I never feel I can eat enough to justify the cost, yet I still leave feeling uncomfortably full! Recently, however, we were both starving, and had a coupon in hand for Via Brasil and figured… Why not?
The place is nice inside, modern, clean, with plenty of seating. The food came around at regular intervals, although I swear, the sausage guy must’ve come over at least four times!
As for the food? I thought it was okay. The garlic picanha was perfectly cooked, and incredibly tasty. Unfortunately, most of the other dishes weren’t as good. I thought the parmesan pork loin was tasty, but incredibly dry. Same with the salmon. And the sausage had a very strange flavor to me; I couldn’t take more than one bite.
Some of the sides were pretty good, however. I liked the cheesy rolls, fried bananas, and asparagus risotto. But I don’t feel justified paying $40 for these!
I left full, but underwhelmed with the quality of the meat. Maybe we were there on an off night?
Cost: around $40, all you can eat
1225 S Fort Apache Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89117
Phone: 702 804-1400
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