stevez wrote:The nice(?) Thing about eating at the bar in Vegas is that you can eat and gamble at the same time.

Steve,

Love the picture of Salt Lick BBQ and video poker. Actually, I like the next picture, of the BBQ, even better, the meat looks delicious. I've been to the Salt Lick in Driftwood and I must say the Vegas recreation looks in tune with the original.

What did you think of the cole slaw? Ellen loves it, more so than any she has ever eaten, including my homemade. The founder of the Salt Lick, a Texan, married a Japanese woman and her influence is subtly evident throughout the menu. I should note I have never, and believe me I've tried, come close to duplicating the Salt Lick slaw.

Enjoy,
Gary

Steve,

Thanks so much for your great posts about Las Vegas. And the photos are fabulous. I can't wait to try Salt Lick. I'm not as much of a fan of Memphis as you are, and besides -- I'm eager to see the Red Rock property for the first time.

The spicy wings you tried at LOS are actually one of my least favorite items on the whole menu. But I'm drawn to the garlic and black pepper fried wings that are next to them on the menu, and along with the daily soup, usually the only thing I'm envious about not eating on the buffet. (O.K., I confess I've stolen a wing or two on occasion).

I'm in town visiting newly transplanted Buffalo Grovians; they live about 10 minutes north of Red Rock, so we did carry out from Salt Lick last night. The locals move in odd packs: apparently the place is mobbed at around 5PM, but we were able to get an order in 15 minutes at 8PM. The casino is--and this is not a word to be lightly tossed around with such an environment--almost classy architecturally.

Re: the food, as a Chicagoan chasing some bbq holy grail since my youth, I realized last night while eating Salt lick BBQ that if this was the greatest barbecue of my life I wouldn't even know it anymore; i'd always be thinking there was some place--in my past, in my future--that was better. Mythic quest aside, this was pretty darn good bbq for the eastern edge of Las Vegas; I think most of us in Chicago would kill to have a place around like it. I tried most of everything, and while the chicken and ribs are good, it's the brisket and links that comprise the real reasons to go here--both were even better the next morning for breakfast.

I found the sides totally lacking and are eminently skippable; i'd suggest going to the Tides, knocking back some oysters or mussels and then moving straight to the beef.

Going to hit Bartoletta, LoS, and Mikano before I leave here...will let you know how those turn out.

stevez wrote:I did eat one meal in a hotel that was worth talking about. I stopped in to The Noodle Shop in the Mandalay Bay Hotel for a quick snack.

Thanks for recommending this place. I never would have noticed it. I stopped in with a few friends. I had the roast duck & bbq pork noodles--they were excellent. Everyone else enjoyed their meal too. This will become a regular stop.

stevez ...

did you happen to see if the restaurant being "given away" on "Hell's Kitchen" was done yet ? Not that I'd eat there ... all 4 of the chuckleheads left on that show are awful. (no spoilers, please )

tem wrote:stevez ...

did you happen to see if the restaurant being "given away" on "Hell's Kitchen" was done yet ? Not that I'd eat there ... all 4 of the chuckleheads left on that show are awful. (no spoilers, please )

No. I didn't notice and also am not really familiar with the details of that show (I don't watch). Considering that I was there the week after the resort opened, chances are that it was not done yet, assuming that the place in question is in the Red Rocks Casino.

A few thoughts on dining in vegas...

LoS. Excellent. Went twice and loved it.

Memphis Championship is firing on all cylinders. I'd say it's superior to Salt Lick, though it's a little premature to be making comparisons. Great pulled pork and chicken at memphis, along with excellent hush puppies and sweet potatoes; I actually preferred the beef ribs to the pork ribs, but both are excellent.

Bartolotta. Knockout pasta and fish, and wait till you try the vegetables that come with the whole fish. The whole gram thing is a bit deceptive and adds up; service is not as bad as some reviews suggest, but it's certainly below what you'd expect and want from a restaurant of this caliber (and expense). I'd go here on a splurge experience, but I'm not sure it's a must eat sort of place.

Commander's Palace...is good; it's worth a visit if you've never been to the New Orleans original. Their lunch deal is something of a bargain: 3 courses for $18.80 and martinis are $0.25. Great Bananas foster, obviously.

Rosemary. A husband and wife team runs this place; I think they're ex-Emeril's chefs. In any event, the food is contemporary American with a southern spin and reminded me of Zinfandel (a compliment). They've got a 3 course pre-fixe lunch deal for $20.06; I felt the food was better than CP.

Mikono. Ex-Todai founder has started up another all-you-can-eat concept. I've never done this before, so it was novel though not particularly good; I did like a few of the rolls, and they have some excellent salads. Dessert, like a condensed milk sno-cone, is fun.

I slipped in and out of LV one day recently for business and ate at Bartolotta. I had high hopes for the food and the place given the chef's work at Spiaggia here and the setting at the Wynn. Lovely place, good but not nearly up to Spiaggia food, and really, I hate to pile on, horrid service. 1/2 hour to have someone ask us if we wanted a drink; rude and blatant upselling ("I think the lady should have three courses"); arrogant and culinarily stupid -- e.g., I asked the head waiter whether the kitchen had any bottarga at this Italian seafood place and was sent the sommelier, who assured me in a snooty way that there was no such wine.

Very pleasant garden setting and the pastas were good.

PS, nice to here about Memphis. I'm a big fan of the original place in Murphysboro, IL. (17th St. Bar and Grill)

Question - Does Memphis BBQ serve beer/cocktails?

edit: same question for Lotus?

thanks

ab wrote:Question - Does Memphis BBQ serve beer/cocktails?

edit: same question for Lotus?

thanks

Yes and yes. LOS has a particularly nice wine program, too.

stevez wrote:
Yes and yes. LOS has a particularly nice wine program, too.

Gracias

Setting up a bachelor party weekend dinner, pushed hard for these two, but looks like Burger Bar is going to win the vote handily. Not that I'm upset, I can just hit LoS seperately.

ab wrote:

stevez wrote:
Yes and yes. LOS has a particularly nice wine program, too.

Gracias

Setting up a bachelor party weekend dinner, pushed hard for these two, but looks like Burger Bar is going to win the vote handily. Not that I'm upset, I can just hit LoS seperately.

Have you been to Burger Bar? I was not that impressed on my sole visit.

I would fully recommend Craftsteak.

Vital Information wrote:

ab wrote:

stevez wrote:
Yes and yes. LOS has a particularly nice wine program, too.

Gracias

Setting up a bachelor party weekend dinner, pushed hard for these two, but looks like Burger Bar is going to win the vote handily. Not that I'm upset, I can just hit LoS seperately.

Have you been to Burger Bar? I was not that impressed on my sole visit.

I would fully recommend Craftsteak.

I haven't been - I honestly was thinkin the group would enjoy it soley because we could get good drinks and the range of cost per person is so flexible for the motley crowd. But I'll search Craftsteak on here and will gladly switch over if the burger bar is more concept than substance. I was mesmerized by the Rossini burger basically.

thanks, any further craftsteak info is appreciated (or alternate burger bar experiences)

Craftsteak

Hey, I've never eaten at Red Square, but I have very much enjoyed the bar.

I'm going to be in Las Vegas next week and hope to eat barbecue at least once. Do any LTH'ers have any comments about which Memphis BBQ location is best?

I'm going to be eating at Lotus of Siam many times. If anyone reading this might be interested in joining me (and others), let me know here or via email.

Dave Feldman wrote:I'm going to be in Las Vegas next week and hope to eat barbecue at least once. Do any LTH'ers have any comments about which Memphis BBQ location is best?

Trix and I have tried the North Las Vegas Blvd. and Warm Springs Rd locations ONCE and have to give the slight nod to the North LV restaurant. It was at this location that we had some of the best babyback ribs we've eaten anywhere. I was pretty surprised since I always thought I'd be having to make the trek down to Murphysboro, IL for a visit to "the Legends" (Owner Mike Mills, that's what his business says on it! I guess he feels entitled to use that given title since he did win Memphis in May THREE times.) original operation there, the 17th Street Bar & Grill for his best example of BBQ.
We have since made that trek and I can safely say that the stuff in Vegas was more enjoyable.


I remember being in the NLV Blvd parking lot, with toothpick in hand going on and on about how great their BBQ was.

But, again, this was a single try.



Memphis Championship Barbeque
4379 North Las Vegas Blvd
(702) 644-0000

and

2250 E.Warm Springs Road
(702) 260-6909

Rob,

As we've discussed, I have eaten at 17th Street scores of times over the years, and during one long stretch, while essentially living in Marion/Carbondale, I dined there at least 3 times a week. I can vouch for 17th Street as one of the great BBQ places in America. But because it is BBQ, it is variable. I have only eaten once at a LV outpost. Very good, of course, but a Vegas parking lot is not nearly the main street of a tiny old river town in Little Egypt where the attraction is so great that a Memphis in May qulifier takes place in the adjacent park. The colorful regulars, the SIU servers, the location, and the distinction of being a great restaurant in a place where even mediocre places are hard to find, make 17th Street unique.

PS, I realize that nothing above is inconsistent with what Rob wrote about his experiences. I just wanted to get the info out there.

Yea, my opinion is only based on one visit to each of his outposts. And giving an opinion about BBQ based on a single visit, while not totally useless, presents a rather weak case (positive or negative review is no matter).

Generally I don't like to give my opinions without trying a place at least a few times. But in the case of 17th St and her sister stores, I feel I can say that if you visit any of them, you have a pretty good shot at some damn good BBQ. However, I overstepped when I said one location is better than the other. And I agree, the original 17th St Bar and Grill has way more personality and charm than any of his other shiny (slightly cornball) BBQ emporiums.

In a minor coup, I managed to tilt the bachelor party dinner vote to Lotus of Siam. Looking forward to adding a little class to the trip. I'll report back...

I'm in Las Vegas now and freaking out about all the good food I've had. And although I could prattle on about Lotus of Siam, I won't. A few of my best bites:

1. Penang Malaysian Cuisine, at an important mall -- 5115 Spring Mountain, a little west of the main Chinatown area. I had a great meal there last night, with three absolute standout dishes.
Roti Telur, an "Indian pancake" filled with egg, red onion and green chilies, and served with the same dipping sauce as the good but not outstanding roti canai.
Pankan Ikan --- barbecued sea bass wrapped in banana leaf and served with chopped green chilies. The sauce was light and astringent. This place isn't afraid to play the "sour card," to good effect.
Curry fish with okra -- also a sea bass, with tomato, peppers, and beautifully cooked okra in a coconut-milk based creamy sauce.

Our char kway teow was a little disappointing, and actually needed a little more salt (via soy sauce, I guess). The soup, Asam Laksa, was appropriately sour and funky-smelling from fish flakes, but just couldn't compete with the Thai soups we'd had at Lotus.

In the same mall, the very popular Hue Thai Sandwiches (despite its name, it serves primarily Vietnamese food)serves great bahn mi and fruit drinks. It has a full menu, too, and at dinner, turns into less of a fast food place and more of a restaurant. Very impressive place.

We stopped in at Champion Food, which is a Taiwanese store with a small restaurant. The food looked outstanding and the patrons were waving at us to come in and giving us a thumbs-up sign. It also has a steam table with different dishes every night.

*************

I've passed by Mariana's Supermarket on Sahara and Valley View many times, but I had no idea that their "snack bar" might serve the best tacos in Las Vegas. The tortas looked equally as fine, and they have many other specialties. Superb hot, homemade tortilla chips are at the salsa bar. Great stuff.

I've had some other cool stuff, but the above are definitely the highlights other than Lotus.

I didn't end up going to either Memphis or Salt Lick. Thanks to a tip on Chowhound, I stopped at K's BBQ, in a minimall on South Las Vegas Blvd. and El Silverado (catercorner to the South Coast Hotel). K's serves authentic Texas barbecue (the meat's the thing -- the sauce is nothing special). Excellent brisket (best I've ever had in LV) and decent sliced pork. Huge portions, gentle prices, and extremely friendly service (from the wife of the cooker). The husband is a Texan whose parents taught him how to barbecue just a few years ago.

It's just about a year since my last post in this thread and once again, I find myself in Las Vegas for an industry trade show.

Welcome to Las Vegas


Before heading out to explore more off-the-strip eating opportunities, I found myself at Paris for a meeting. Feeling a bit peckish, I stopped at the crepe stand that they have in the lobby.

Crepe, Anyone?


I started out dreaming of nutilla and chocolate, but I ended up getting a back-by-popular-demand crepe d'anjou, which was a crepe filled with pears, almond creme and candied walnuts. Of course, it was topped with fresh whipped cream, which could have easily passed the Cathy2 whipped cream suitability test, and caramel sauce.

Eat Me Now


Paris Crepe D'Anjou


This was not a bad rendition at all and if you find yourself in (the) Paris, it's an easy and quick snack.

La Creperie
Hotel Paris
Las Vegas
Lobby Level

On Day 2 of my most recent Las Vegas trip, lunch at Lotus of Siam was in order.

Lotus of Siam


I wasn't all that hungry, so I just ordered an appetizer of LOS great chicken wings. Extra spicy!

LOS Spicy Chicken Wings


I followed up my blistering hot lunch with some frozen custard from Luv-It custard, a frozen in amber stand just off the strip. Luv-It has been operating since 1973, which makes it ancient by Vegas standards. They serve up some mighty fine custard that they continuously make all day long right behind the counter. This is a much smaller operation that Kopps, for example. Not being from Milwaukee, I haven't had Kopps enough to declare which one is better and I've never been to Ted Drewes in St. Louis, but there's no doubt that Luv-It can hold its own against any other custard stand that I have ever visited.

Luv-It Frozen Custard



Lotus of Siam
953 E. Sahara Ave
Las Vegas, NV
702-735-3033

Luv-It Frozen Custard
505 E. Oakey Blvd
Las Vegas, NV
702-384-6452

More to come...

In Memoriam Evan Garfinkel aka hungryrabbi

The New York Times wrote:Bagel Mania in downtown Las Vegas, a favored spot among power brokers, is in the running. But is it a good place to spot likely Democratic voters? “Absolutely not,” said Evan Garfinkel, the restaurant’s assistant manager, noting the clientèle’s conservative leanings. But Mr. Garfinkel anticipates serving the candidates scores of corned beef sandwiches nonetheless.

As a tribute to the late, great hungryrabbi, on Day 3 of my visit I made a pilgrimage to his last known place of employment, Harrie's Bagel Mania. The New York Times has it a little wrong. Bagel Mania is not in downtown Las Vegas, but is instead on Twain, just east of Swenson; very close to many of the hotels on The Strip.

Harrie's Bagel Mania Menu


Harrie's reminded me very much of a place you might see in Suburban Chicago or Florida, located as it is in a strip mall storefront that just as easily could be a dry cleaners or a hair salon.

Harrie's from the Inside


Despite the somewhat generic interior, Harrie's turns out some really good bagels. They've got a nice crispy crust with just the right amount of soft chew on the inside. I opted for a lox platter for one and they brought out this beauty.

Harrie's Bagel Mania Lox Platter for One


This platter, along with a couple slices of muenster cheese that I had them bring on the side, made for a very good sandwich and was the perfect start to the day. The only thing that could have been better was if Evan was there to serve it to me himself. Bagel Mania has earned itself a place next to The Peppermill for my breakfast venue of choice in Vegas.

Hungryrabbi R.I.P.

Harrie's Bagel Mania
855 E. Twain
Las Vegas, NV
702-369-3322

After my breakfast at Harrie's Bagel Mania, I took the day to drive around and explore some areas outside of the main Strip area. I decided on a "grand circle" of the Vegas area starting with a trip out to Lake Mead. It was a very windy day and a bit on the cool side, so I found myself with the lake all to myself. I was able to drive right down to the shore.



From Lake Mead, I headed North on the back roads through North Las Vegas where I came across this very promising looking Mexican outpost on the corner of Lake Mead Blvd and Christy Lane.

Hacienda Mexican Restaurant


Besides touting tortillas hecas a mano, they seemed to have a pretty broad range of authentic sounding items. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stop in because it had only been an hour or two since my lox & bagels breakfast and I was on my way to The Salt Lick. I'll be back to check out this place on my next Vegas visit for sure.

Speaking of The Salt Lick, this was my second visit and a year later, the place is holding up quite nicely! I started with an appetizer of brisket stuffed mushrooms which left a bit to be desired in the texture department (they were a bit mushy and could have used something crunchy as a counterpoint), but taste wise they were very good. I could easily imagine the brisket filling being served on a bun as a high end sloppy joe.

Salt Lick Brisket Stuffed Mushrooms


I followed that up with the same combo platter I had on my first visit. Both the brisket and the sausage were the stars, although the ribs weren't anything to laugh at, either.

Salt Lick Combo Platter


I also had a side of mac & cheese that was very good, however a bit on the gloppy side once it cooled down a bit.

Salt Lick Mack & Cheese


I'll say again that a visit to Vegas without heading out to the Red Rock Casino for a visit to The Salt Lick is a wasted trip for any true BBQ lover! That's not to slight Memphis Championship BBQ which also turns out a really good product. Who would have thought that Las Vegas would have such an embarrassment of riches when it comes to BBQ.

In closing, for those who thought the days of the cheap prime rib dinner were gone, I'll leave you with this:

Terrible's Hotel & Casino Prime Rib Dinner


Hacienda Restaurant
Lake Mead Blvd and Christy Lane
North Las Vegas, NV

The Salt Lick BBQ
Red Rock Casino
11011 W Charleston Blvd
Las Vegas, NV
702-797-7777

Terrible's Hotel & Casino
4100 Paradise Rd
Las Vegas, NV
702-733-7000

Thanks for the recent posts, Steve, and especially for your report about Harrie's. I've yet to find a good bagel in LV, although I admit I haven't looked very hard.

It's funny that you like the chicken wings at Lotus; it's one of my least favorite dishes there. But I love the dry wings with garlic, mint and pepper.

I'll be in LV in a few weeks and will report back.

Dave Feldman wrote:It's funny that you like the chicken wings at Lotus; it's one of my least favorite dishes there.

The great thing about Vegas is that no one is holding a gun to your head making you order them. LOS has quite a few great dishes on the menu. If there are one or two you don't like, there are plenty of others to choose from. The only advice I'll give you is to always skip the buffet. Have fun on your trip!

Just got back from a Vegas trip, one for which I'd had low culinary expectations, and was happy to see them exceeded on average.

Had a nice In-N-Out lunch (single cheeseburger Animal-style, fries well-done) with my parents before getting dropped off at the Aria high-roller-style (in a white, base-model Camry...baller! ). No other good meals on Friday, just a quick slice for dinner at the Monte Carlo food court, from my arch-nemesis Sbarro.

On Saturday, we woke up in rough shape and considered strapping on the feedbag at the Aria buffet, but after 5 minutes in a giant line, decided to check out Lemongrass instead. This ended up being exactly what the doctor ordered: serene atmosphere, attentive service, some of the better Thai iced tea I've ever had, and food that really hit the spot.

We started with a couple orders of crispy chicken wings, which had the perfect balance of crispy skin, hangover-soothing grease, and moist meat. We then ordered a crab omelette, pad thai with chicken, and grilled pork neck and had a nice little family-style lunch. All of the dishes were very good, but the pork neck really stood out - I thought it was on-par with TAC Quick, in fact.

Saturday evening, we decided to splurge with a nice dinner at Jean Georges steakhouse, and unanimously considered it the best return on investment of the whole trip. We started with a bottle of Tobin James 2007 "Dusi Vineyard" Zinfandel (a killer recommendation from the sommelier) and tempura calamari, which was perfectly fried, topped with pea shoots, and accompanied by some light-as-a-cloud aioli.

For our main courses, we all ordered 8oz filets (wet-aged 17 weeks, we were told), medium rare, and shared two sides of mashed potatoes and asparagus. The steaks were just fantastic, over 2 inches thick, cooked to a tee, tender as all get-out, with perfect charred crust, and were accompanied by a really tasty, but totally unnecessary, cilantro-serrano butter that had some nice kick (we all tried a little on our steaks, but mostly ended it shmearing it on bread). The mashed potatoes were very nice, with just the slightest touch of garlic and parmesan, and a polenta-like texture. However, the asparagus blew the potatoes away...fork-tender, tasting like they had resided in a garden somewhere until very recently. A second bottle of the Tobin James washed our steaks & sides down nicely.

Finally, for dessert we split a New York-style cheesecake with sour cherry sorbet & sour cherry compote, and a yuzu/white chocolate pavlova, and each had a glass of Taylor Fladgate 10-year tawny port. The cheesecake was, well, cheesecake. It was really good, and both the sorbet & the compote were nice, but in the end it wasn't super memorable. The pavlova, on the other hand, was very unique & memorable. The tartness went nicely with the port, and it was topped with chopped pieces of meringue, slivers of white chocolate, and Thai basil sauce, so it had all kinds of textures and herb-y flavors going on.

The quiet, understated atmosphere was perfect - we spent a few hours there, enjoying our meals, and B.S.ing over some nice wine. It was definitely one of the best steakhouse experiences I've had in recent memory.

On Sunday morning, we finally hit the Aria buffet before checking out. The only thing I can really say is that it was a buffet. The Alaskan king crab legs were nice, and I'm glad I ate a giant, heaping plate of them, because the rest of the offerings ranged from "meh" to awful (I'm looking at you, disgusting "Hungarian sausage" that was so gross that one bite killed my appetite before I could try anything from the decent-looking dessert spread). I tried the Wynn buffet last time, and thought it landed firmly in the "mediocre" category. The Aria buffet officially joins Bally's, Paris, and Red Rock in the "avoid" category.

Thanks to Stevez's original post in this thread, I made it to Memphis Championship BBQ for lunch on Monday, and was glad I did. My dad was in the mood for ribs, and kept saying he wanted to go to Famous Dave's, which struck me as crazy talk because they live 5 minutes away from Red Rock Casino and its highly-regarded Salt Lick BBQ. Sadly, Salt Lick doesn't open until 4pm on weekdays, so we went to the conveniently airport-adjacent Memphis Championship BBQ location instead.

Great baby back ribs, excellent sides (between the two of us, we tried cole slaw, mashed potatoes & gravy, collard greens and mac & cheese), good sweet tea, and decent prices. I need to try Salt Lick next time, but I wouldn't mind going back to Memphis Championship BBQ either.

All in all, there were some hits & some misses, but the hits were so good that I'll go ahead and call the trip a success, food-wise

Lemongrass
Aria Resort & Casino (Casino level, just past the "Carta Privada" high-limit card room)
3730 Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(877) 230-2742

Jean Georges Steakhouse
Aria Resort & Casino (Promenade level, right between Sirio and American Fish)
3730 Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(877) 230-2742

Memphis Championship BBQ
2250 E. Warm Springs Rd. (plus two other locations around town)
Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 260-6909

Salt Lick BBQ
Red Rock Casino Resort Spa
11011 W. Charleston
Las Vegas, NV 89135
(702) 797-7517

The Memphis Championship BBQ location on Rainbow served me the absolute worst brisket sandwich I've ever had the misfortune to bite into. It was tougher than your old Florsheims and tasteless. Every restaurant has a bad day, but the guy slicing this should have known this beef was still resisting. I've eaten at all three locations in Vegas and not had any problems at the others.

Also, there were a few comments in this thread about the In-N-Out burgers, but I like Fat Burger better. You get to watch the grillman cook your order, not pick it off a warming rack.

little500 wrote:Also, there were a few comments in this thread about the In-N-Out burgers, but I like Fat Burger better. You get to watch the grillman cook your order, not pick it off a warming rack.

Keeping a pre-cooked burger on a warming rack violates In-N-Out's company policy of only cooking to-order...if I saw that, I would've loudly called them out on it. In my (bordering on excessive, probably, for someone who doesn't live in In-N-Out territory) experience, I've never seen a warming rack at an In-N-Out restaurant (burgers are cooked, assembled, wrapped, then put in a cardboard serving tray where they await pickup), and have always seen my burger cooked from a raw state before being served to me.

While I prefer In-N-Out, I do enjoy Fat Burger.