Few silly quick notes:
Just got back from a long weekend.
We went to the Lola's in Summerlin. It's in a much fancier space, tho still casual. For whatever reason, the food was far saltier than our last trip. Still good. I had to get that bronzed catfish again. It was just as spicy, and awesome, but about twice as salty. I finished it all, but the salty taste really started annoying me. Same with their cajun wings - aggressively spiced, nicely spicy, but way too salty for no reason at all.

The fig cake, tho. just freekin awesome. Listen, I'm a bread pudding-a-holic. And Lola's bread pudding is great. But that stupid fig cake. And the whole table agreed - as good as the bread pudding is, that fig cake beats it.

Wife 1.0 and I agreed - Lola's will be an every trip meal, but we'd rate the Charleston location a notch above the Summerlin location. The one on Charleston was a little more gritty, less fancy. It felt more like Chicago neighborhood gem, instead of a suburban, newly constructed PJ McTGIFuntimes. The food at Summerlin was about the same, but just on this day, WAY saltier. We'd choose the Charleston location if at all possible. That fig cake tho...I guarantee you, that at the very least, grilled oysters, bronzed catfish, and fig cake will be on our table every time.

Amongst our other meals, we were steered back to Hash House A Go-Go. My parents like the place, and we brought my sister along and she had never been, so....
We had a much better experience this time. Wife 1.0 got talked into the pot pie, partially because so many tables have it, and it's spectacle when the servers dash through the room delivering it (the top crust is plated standing UP on the huge bowl, and most of the dishes are just massive - think Cheesecake Factory / Dr. Seuss.) So last time I said it was just massive plates of fair to middlin food, but this time, it kinda worked for me with what we ordered. The pot pie was REALLY good. Well, the innards were good, the crust was...yeah, they bake a bunch of crusts, and just throw them on the top. Our crust was noticeably stale, but the guts of the pot pie was easily the best I ever had. Think really good chicken chowder, and I mean RELLY good. I ordered the "New" chilaquiles with chipotle sauce and carnitas, and I ate the entire comically massive portion - all the while stealing spoonfuls of pot pie guts from cross the table.

We didn't even come close to finishing HALF of the pot pie, even though there were literally 6 ppl liberally grabbing spoonfuls of the pot pie, and saying how good it was.

We also hit Osaka in Summerlin - teppanyaki, or hibachi? (Whatever Benihana does - that type of place) Really enjoyed it. Busy place (Everyone around us had the groupon like we did.) Standard Benihana experience, our chef was hilarious, older, bordering on messy. He had sttuff flying alll over the place, but didn't care. He laughed it off. Part of his schtick was his blatant overuse of butter. He made sure we all saw how much butter he was using, and then made sure we all knew how good the food was because of the butter when we tasted it.

Nothing else too notable, except wife 1.0 is now an "animal style" convert.

Lola's: http://www.lolaslasvegas.com/

Hash House A Go-Go: https://www.hashhouseagogo.com/
(we may have had one here in Chicago, perhaps?)

Osaka: http://www.osakalasvegas.com/

Forget Hash House A Go-Go. Go to the Peppermill just north of Encore. Only been going strong 24 hours a day since 1972.

No pictures but -
Spent a week in Vegas. Stayed in Summerlin with the folks. Ate like kings. Hadn't been in over a year. Siblings came along and we all had food agendas.

House of Dutch Pot.
You will want the meat patties, oxtails, and jerk chicken here. The Jerk chicken was smoked. They asked how spicy we wanted it, and for the entire group we opted for "mild" but it still had a GOOD kick. Next time, I'll try as spicy as they recommend along with "mild" for the others. Their "ground provisions" was new to me. Never heard of it before. It was basically a side of random starches: Boiled plantain, pumpkin, and other hard squash. Pretty plain, but very interesting. The "fried bammy" side was small triangles of fried cassava. Crunchy outside, chewy-ish inside - not much flavor, but interesting enough. Curried Chicken was decent, nothing mind blowing, not bad at all. Just tasted like boring British curry powder. Jerk Chicken and oxtails, and either flavor of meat patties were stellar tho. The Jerk was a little sweeter than I like, but still great.

Sushi Koma.
AYCE sushi lunch. I had my list of places to hit for sushi. Koma didn't disappoint at all. Everything we had was good. First time trying salmon belly, it was not what I expected. A tad sturdier compared to the normal buttery texture of regular salmon. Live and learn. We ate ourselves silly. Nothing was bad.

Captain 6 Korean BBQ.
AYCE sushi, and AYCE KBBQ are big hits in Vegas, and there are plenty of places to choose from. After my days of youtube research of drooling on my laptop while working from home, I settled on Captain 6 as being one of the locals' faves for the price. It did not disappoint at ALL. It's not Wagyu beef or anything, but for the price, I can guarantee you that you'll be happy. Their selling point is that along with the standard AYCE options, you get a special "BBQ Platter" which includes several upgraded cuts like a Tomohawk, some filet, and a ribeye. You can order more than one of these special platters depending on the size of your table. EVERYThING we ordered here was damn fine, and tasty, but it was not premium stuff. For the price, however, it was a fantastic choice. Kalbi, Bulgogi, brisket, chicken, spicy soup with ramen, tofu, spam, veggies, chicken kara age - other hot plates that came from the kitchen - this place was great. We had a table big enough for two grills, and two soup burners. We feasted. My parents were shocked they hadn't been to one of these KBBQ places before, and loved every second of it. They sent vids and pictures to the entire fam. It was a hoot.

Sushi Neko.
Another AYCE sushi joint. This time, we were able to talk my less adventurous food eatin' parents to come with. Dad will try anything, but mom told us long ago she would never step foot in a sushi bar. My guess is that she was so happy we all came to visit, she was just glad to spend as much time as possible with us. Sushi Neko was another one on my list, and it was better than Koma. Big slabs of fish on tiny pads of rice, and everything was fantastic. Everything hot from the kitchen was fantastic as well. Their game is table turnover and volume, and the quality is there. EVERYTHING was great. Both AYCE places we tried were not skimping on fish size, quality, or adding extra rice. AYCE sushi is obviously pretty competitive in Vegas. Sushi Neko was fantastic. We stuffed ourselves silly. Mom tried a tempura shrimp roll and loved it. Dad didn't hesitate to grab a piece of yellowtail, and said "this is like butter!" They took a "to-go" menu and asked me to circle all the stuff they liked because they definitely want to go back and try more.

House Of Dutch Pot:
https://houseofdutchpotlasvegas.com/

Captain 6:
https://www.dragonfactories.com/captain6

Sushi Koma:
https://www.sushikomalv.com/

Sushi Neko:
https://www.dragonfactories.com/neko

I still have yet to try Tacos El Gordo which was one of my "Must Do's" for this trip. Instead, we hit the "Great Las Vegas Taco Fest" which was held in a huge park. We tried a bunch of tacos, tamales, birria ramen, and more. 25 food vendors, live music, lucha libre in an outdoor ring, chihuahua costume contest. How could we not? Big outdoor fest, 80 and sunny. Crowded, but we ate VERY well, and had a good time.

Don't sleep on the AYCE sushi and AYCE KBBQ. It might be way better than you think due to the competition.

One of the best chicken sandwiches that I have had is at Shaquile O'Neal's new chicken restaurant. There are seven different chicken sandwiches. Personally, my favorite was the Shaq Attack with pepper jack cheese, jalapeño slaw, spicy chipotle bbq sauce.

They offer a cobb salad that is easily enough for two people.

Their french fries are similar to steak fries but are only half as thick. They come out as some of the crunchiest fries around.

They have a wide variety of craft sodas with some creative herbal flavors.



Big Chicken
4480 Paradise Road, Suite 1200
Las Vegas, NV 89169
https://www.bigchicken.com/las-vegas-menu

stevez wrote:
This, and if you're a fan of old school pinball machines, the Pinball Hall of Fame is great. They have hundreds of machines from all eras, and the best part is that they all work and you can play them. It's a mecca for pinball wizards of all ages and levels of expertise.

Pinball Hall of Fame
1610 E Tropicana Ave
Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 597-2627

The museum has relocated as of 04/21 to:

4925 Las Vegas Blvd South
Las Vegas NV 89119.

Hope when they moved they evened the pinball machines out. I was at the old location maybe 15 years ago and many of the old machines were tilted and/or drained down the center. And I was a good player back in the day.

A few months ago, I was watching Mikey Chen's YouTube on Big Dan's Shanxi Choice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAmIbkE ... =MikeyChen

This restaurant is located in the corner of an Asian supermarket. The menu is limited to about 25 items focusing on dishes from northern China. Many of the dishes are very heavy and very spicy which was ideal for a day where the high was 50F.

We tried three dishes.

The lamb cumin burger was a mixture of shredded pork with chopped jalapenos, cilantro, and cumin. It was served on a bread similar to a small pita and was homemade.

The lamb cumin noodles was a stir fry of very thick noodles (hand pulled and relatively thick). The noodles were very doughy and were irregular which would indicate that they were handmade. The noodles sat on a bed of pepper oil and were stir fried with cumin, jalapenos, tomatoes and thinly sliced lamb.

The final dish was a concession to Mrs jlawrence. She wanted a chicken wonton soup with a variety of greens. The chicken broth was quite excellent.

It was an excellent find. You need to pay cash OR pay a 4% upcharge.


Big Dan's Shanxi Taste
(inside of SF Supermarket)
5115 Spring Mountain Rd.
https://chinatownvegas.com/listing/big- ... nxi-taste/


YEN Viet Kichen
3575 South Decatur

This is restaurant with a drab exterior and a very drab interior. However, the food is quite excellent. They offer some of the usual Vietnamese dishes but most of the noodle dishes are not pho dishes. There are far more ingredients and far less broth. There are a lot of creative ingredients including quail eggs and far more peanuts. Service is excellent and very friendly.

=======================================

If you are looking for an effort to recreate a Singapore style hawker center, you might want to look at the newest Las Vegas property - Resort World. The food looks phenomenal and there is a good variety of Asian cuisines represented. These is one very significant difference between these places and their counterparts in Singapore - COST. Expect most dishes in the $15-20 range.

The other problem with Resort World is the distances involved. The wlk between the hotel and the self park is about 1/4 mile.

jlawrence01 wrote: If you are looking for an effort to recreate a Singapore style hawker center, you might want to look at the newest Las Vegas property - Resort World. The food looks phenomenal and there is a good variety of Asian cuisines represented. These is one very significant difference between these places and their counterparts in Singapore - COST. Expect most dishes in the $15-20 range.

The other problem with Resort World is the distances involved. The wlk between the hotel and the self park is about 1/4 mile.

I can't speak to the exact distance between parking lot and food court, but I can say it is certainly no greater than that required of any hotel on the Strip, and certainly a lot less than, say The Venetian. On an August visit, it took no more than 3-4 minutes to get from car to court.

As for the food, the variety is certainly unparalleled and the quality excellent; it is also, like you noted, expensive: plan to spend $40-50 a person if you want to taste around the stalls. Probably best to go with a group of 4-6, so you can get a bite of much and share the cost.

If you've been to an actual hawker center, you're likely to find the concept and setup as corporate and soulless as I did--but hard to expect otherwise in a billion-dollar casino hotel. A good change of pace from clubstaurants but not much of a simulacra, if that's your jam.

Spent another week in Vegas.
We hit Captain 6 again, and had a great time with damn tasty KBBQ. We branched out and ate a bunch of seafood: Squid, Baby Octopus, Shrimp, and Jalapeno Mussels. I'd order all of them again, except the scrimps. They were head on, and not easy peel. Lots of work (I have a shrimp allergy, but I peeled a few for the kids.) I'd happily get a ton of those jalapeno mussels again tho. Just a mussel on the half shell, with some sort of jalapeno puree on top. They were far better than I thought they'd be. The squid and octo were kind of one-note. Same marinade, but not bad. The rest of the meats were as good as last time. The big "Special BBQ Platter" is definitely the way to go to make this place worth it. Still recommend this place as a decent "off strip" AYCE KBBQ bargain.

We tried hitting the buffet at South Point which has been touted as very decent for the price, but the line was crazy on a Tuesday just after 1pm. Too crazy for us to wait. The casino itself was nuts. Parents said it looked more like a weekend with a convention than a standard Tuesday afternoon. I pulled an audible out of my rolodex, and we drove to Imperial Sushi Seafood Buffet. It's known as an off-strip discount Asian buffet and they are known for having lobster for dinner and weekends. Since it was Tuesday lunch, we weren't expecting much, but it was one of the places a few of their neighbors raved about, and one of the places my Youtube research said I should try. It exceeded expectations. Lots of seafood, and only a few non-seafood options, so if you go with folks that are not seafood friendly, they are probably not going to fare too well. The sushi was fresh, small quantities restocked as needed, and actually, now that I think of it, everything was out in the steam trays and cold trays in small batches. For the 24ish dollar price tag, I ate far more than I paid for in fried oysters, oysters rock, and nigiri. Pro Tip: Fried oysters with chili oil slaps. No regrets. I wonder if it'll wind up in my parents' rotation. They can do some damage on the crab legs/lobster dept.

We also hit up Lucille's Smokehouse for bbq in Red Rocks Resort.
They live close to Red Rocks, so they know about all of the restaurants there. I mentioned a bbq place that I heard about (John Mulls Road Kill Grill,) but it was a little bit of a hike from them, so the countered with Lucille's. Decent place, nothing really great, think like the PF Chang's of Chinese Food in a big shopping area. Out of everything we tried, I REALLY thought the rib tips were the best thing on the table. I would easily return for the rib tips. Everything else was just ok. I also thought the collard greens were great. I'm limiting carbs, but the entire table LOVED the biscuits, and they all said the fries were abysmal. I'd easily return for the rib tips and greens. After looking at their website, it looks like a small chain based out of Ca. It definitely has a corporate PJ Mcfuntimes vibe.

Captain 6:
https://www.dragonfactories.com/captain6

Imperial Sushi and Seafood:
https://www.imperialbuffet.vegas/

Lucille's Smokehouse:
https://www.redrockresort.com/eat-and-drink/lucilles-smokehouse/

Still haven't gotten to Tacos El Gordo.

The buffet at the South Point is acceptable but not great. The lines for the buffet are tremendously long (even as early as 3 pm midweek) as it is one of the few locals casino buffets have reopened.

=================================

I will be heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. There are two places that I will be trying.

First, in Seafood City, which is near the corner of Maryland Parkway and Flamingo Rd. In addition to Jollibee's, Chowking, and Red Robin Bakery, there is a Grill City which features a lot of Filipino dishes as well as a Crispy Town which features deep fried Filipino specialties.

Second, I will be trying Garionban, a Korean restaurant located in Greenland Supermarket which is at Spring Mountain Rd at Rainbow. They are known for their meat platters and sides.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIFd68v ... gasEats702

While I always stay on the Strip, it has been five or six trips since I have eaten on the Strip (other than In n Out Burger) as the prices are out of this world.

jlawrence01 wrote:A few months ago, I was watching Mikey Chen's YouTube on Big Dan's Shanxi Choice...

I'm guessing we watch some of the same Youtubers for LV? Wondering if you have any I can add to my mix.

All You Can Vegas (Derek's facial expressions crack me up. Cartoonish)

Dan Vs World (I Like him because he has no idea what he's doing, and his vocab is limited, but he's learning and getting better and better. I applaud him.)

Las Vegas Eats (You linked one of their vids above. Too slow paced for me, but, they are descriptive, and tell it like it is, good or bad.)

Turn It Up World (Think: Helen and Tom from "The Jeffersons.")

Vegas Must Try (Mexican Dan Vs World, but more geared towards the hip "scene" vs DanVWorld concentrating on the food scene.)

Norma Geli (Cute as a button, and does a decent focus on local spots)

Vegas Elite TV (If you've ever wondered what Ice T would sound like doing Vegas food reviews, this will satisfy you.)

Bob Dingo (An Australian with a red bandana around his neck and a cowboy hat and his dear old "mum" try restaurants all over Vegas. Hilarity ensues.)

seebee wrote:

jlawrence01 wrote:A few months ago, I was watching Mikey Chen's YouTube on Big Dan's Shanxi Choice...

I'm guessing we watch some of the same Youtubers for LV? Wondering if you have any I can add to my mix.

I think that Mikey Chen is one of the best. A lot of his videos are demonetized as he is a practitioner of the Fulan Gong. He has done some collaborations with Chinese American and Chinese Malaysian content creators only to have them pull out after filming. He has some a recent series on Las vegas mega-hotel in-room service that is really interesting.

Las Vegas 702 has had some interesting videos including the one that I have linked.

Honestly, many of my Las Vegas recommendations come from my November 2019 Las Vegas bus trip from Tucson. The DW was recovering from a knee replacement and I found a $20 fare from Tucson - Las Vegas on Flixbus (similar to Megabus). For the first time, I visited Las Vegas without a car and had to utilize their transit system which is not bad. I spend one day walking from the corner of Spring Mountain Rd and Decatur, all the way out to Rainbow Ave, a total of three miles OW and then back checking out Chinatown and all the Asian communities in that area.

That evening, one of my lenses fell out of my glasses and I had to find an optical store that I could get to via bus. I rode down to Maryland Parkway and found an enclave of mostly Filipino restaurants that I have been trying to sample in recent trips.

Don't get me wrong, I like some of the Las Vegas food bloggers. However, I think that I am tired by the 400th video on Caesar's Palace Bacchanal buffet. I will say that the buffet is quite excellent, especially when you have a Caesar's Diamond card and get seated immediately and a $100 F&B credit.

What I like about the Las Vegas off-Strip scene is that many of the restaurants are being opened by younger chefs and owners who are more willing to discuss their cuisines and make a lot of solid recommendations.

Last month, through a series of circumstances beyond our control, we had to drive from Ventura north of LA to fly out of McCarran in Las Vegas. And the one stop we made in Vegas before heading to the airport was at Pho Kim Long in Chinatown. Not quite a 24/7 place--I think they close from 4-8 AM--but it's one of the very best Vietnamese restaurants, certainly my favorite in Vegas. Food comes fast, very fresh, and to me very authentic.

https://phokimlong.has.restaurant/

The positive about Las Vegas's Chinatown is the one place these days where restaurants are staying open well into the evening.

I would strongly suggest calling some of these places before heading out to dinner. Even a good number of the Strip restaurants are closed.

I had a unique experience at one of the Chinatown restaurants in Las Vegas last night.

We were attending the WAC Conference Basketball Tournament st the Orleans Arena and decided to head down to the Chinatown Mall for ramen.

We entered the restaurant at 4:55 pm thinking that the restaurant was "Open until 1 am" as the sign said.

We opened the door, walked in. One lady told us that they were not open yet. As we were about to ask her when they did open, another came out of the kitchen screaming at the top of her lungs to "GET OUT."

We obliged. What was unbelievable was that the restaurant opened at 5:00 pm.

I am really glad we did leave as there is a new dumpling place down the sidewalk which I will write about tomorrow.

=======================

Two old-time classic Las Vegas Chinatown restaurants have closed in the past two years.

First, Harbor Palace Seafood restaurant has closed. I always thought the food was solid but the place had seen better days. It has been replaced by Xiao Long Dumplings.

Second, Sam Woo BBQ closed after the conviction of their owners tax evasion and insurance fraud in California. We had a long discussion with some of the Chinese waitstaff at another restaurant on this subject. Their general impression was what took the IRS so long as it was always "cash only."

seebee wrote:I'm guessing we watch some of the same Youtubers for LV? Wondering if you have any I can add to my mix.

I enjoy a lot of these Vegas YouTubers too! One I recently discovered is So-Channel ソーチャンネル - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dZJHKmhPdMyZIhquKG3DA. He only has 574 subscribers right now, but he does more in depth interviews with Japanese restauranteurs and hits up a lot of the popular places like Aburiya Raku, Sweets Raku, Zen Curry, and more. His videos are mostly in Japanese with English subtitles.

Jaycation is San Diego based, but he does a ton of Vegas food content as well. https://www.youtube.com/c/Jaycation

I'm visiting Vegas in April and looking forward to my usual Spring Mountain Road excursion! I'm also trying to convince my friend to try out Garlic Yuzu https://www.garlicyuzu.com/, which has some very reasonably priced and interesting looking tasting menus right now. My restaurant itinerary is already bursting, eek...

I went to Las Vegas this week for yet another NCAA Conference Basketball Tournament (WAC). As usual, all my meals were off-Strip at local independents.

Hofbrauhaus - We left home at 5:30 am so that we could get here for Sunday lunch. I was looking for their large pork shank. Unfortunately, that is only served on Friday and Saturday nights. We ended up ordering the Zigeuner Schweinbraten which was roast pork topped with a tomato and red pepper sauce. We also had the cherry crepes served with chocolate ice cream. the only let down was the potato pancakes which mediocre at best. They offer excellent service in a festive atmosphere.

Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas
4510 Paradise Rd.
https://www.hofbrauhauslasvegas.com/men ... las-vegas/

The next day, we went hiking north of Las Vegas in a game reserve. It was NOT my choice as the idea of walking in a 30 Mph wind in the middle of the Mojave Desert at 48F was stupid. And it lasted about 20 minutes.

We were out on Lake Mead Blvd, NW of town and we stopped at Cafe Zupa for lunch. This is a place that offers "made to order" salads and sandwiches with a variety of homemade soups. As my DW put it, similar to Panera if they cared about quality. While the food was excellent, there was inadequate staff to carry it out resulting in long lines. Everything was nice and fresh. Also, you get a chocolate covered dtrawberry with each meal.

Cafe Zupa
7521 West Lake Mead Blvd.

As I mentioned before, Seafood City is a large Filipino supermarket with several restaurants including a Jollibee, Chowking, Grill City and Fried Heaven restaurant. This time, I tried Grill City. I had teh grilles whole squid and two sides. I really wanted to like the place but the squid was pretty close to rubber band status and the noodles had been on the steamtable far too long. I think that the grilled fish would have been a smarter choice.

Grill City (inside Seafood City)
3890 S. Maryland Parkway

The next evening, we did a pho restaurant on Spring Mountain Road. We had a light meal and tried several appetizers and a noodle dish The food was very good but very pricey for the menu.

Pho So 1
4745 Spring Mountain Rd

The next morning, we decided to do Dim Sum. Normally, we head to New Asia BBQ which is solid but there is always a language gap. This time, we went to Orchid Garden. the food was excellent, well prepared, and fresh. they had the carts circling the dining room and there was a good variety of dishes offered. In addition, they had a pictoral menu of all the dishes that were available as well as a regular menu. The staff was very easy to understand which honestly, made the experience a lot better. Highl;y recommended. Dim Sum is served all day.

Orchids Garden
5485 W Sahara Ave
http://www.orchidsgardenrestaurant.com/

We wanted to try something different. On our wasy into town on tropicana, we noted several Cuban and Sicilian restaurants. We tried Havana Express which served a variety of Cuban foods on a steamtable as well as a variety of sandwiches and baked goods. The food was excellent and the staff knowledgeable. We had the ropa viejas and the cuban sandwich. Both were excellent. I would say that the high point was the selection of desserts in their bakery.

Havana Express
2590 E Tropicana Ave
https://havanaexpress.net/

We stopped at IHOP for breakfast as the place that we intended to dgo was closed. After a mediocre meal, we noticed there was a large commercial bakery bedind the restaurant that had a sign "OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC." This was the find of the trip. They sell to a lot of the restaurants in town. They offer excellent breads as well as artisan breads for under $4 a loaf. They have any kind of dinner roll you could imagine. they have excellent pastries. Honestly, if you can bake it, it is probably in that store.

Great Buns Bakery
https://greatbunsbakery.net/
3270 East Tropicana


After we were thrown out of the ramen restaurant, we decided to try Xiao Long Dumplings which was is located in the former storefront of Harbor Palace Seafood. We tried the soup dumplings, the mushroom and vegetable dumplings and several others. They were all fresh and tasted great. This place is worth a stop.

Xiao Long Dumplings
https://www.xiaolongdumplings.com/our-menu
4275 Spring Mountain Road, Las Vegas

Went to Vegas three weeks ago to visit family and eat a ton. Here are some of the places I visited, all off Strip and independent. Most pics are from this trip, although I included a few older pics.

Esther's Kitchen
1130 S Casino Center Blvd #110
Las Vegas, NV 89104
https://www.estherslv.com/

Popular downtown Italian restaurant. Reservations pretty much required. We always get the fresh baked sourdough bread and whatever toppings/dips sound good. This time, my mom had the spaghetti (her go-to), I had the carrot agnolotti (braised rabbit, roasted carrot, carrot top pesto - very well balanced together), and we shared the bread and little gem salad. A great place to go before catching a show at the Smith Center.



Saga Pastry + Sandwich
10345 S Eastern Ave #100
Henderson, NV 89052
https://sagapastry.com/

Light, refreshing Swedish waffles, sandwiches, and more. I had the Fra'Mani rosemary ham and Jarlsberg cheese waffle (ham, cheese, tomato, cucumber, sprouts, lingonberry jam), while mom had the Danish dog (topped with ketchup, mustard, Danish curry, remoulade, raw onions, fried Onions, and pickled cucumbers). The sweet waffles are also good.




Suzuya Patisserie
7365 S Buffalo Dr Suite 115
Las Vegas, NV 89113
https://suzuyapatisserie.com/

First time visiting. Got the smaller chocolate cake, smaller strawberry shortcake, and yuzu lemon green tea. I ordered an ichigo daifuku too, but they sadly forgot to pack it, so I had to return a different day for a refund. Strawberry shortcake was spot on. Would go again, but I'd check my order before leaving!





Cured and Whey
6265 S Valley View Blvd Suite K
Las Vegas, NV 89118
https://curedandwhey.com/

First time visiting. Cheese and charcuterie shop attached to a food distribution business, Michael's Gourmet Pantry. They make sandwiches, soups, and various specials like AYCE fondue. I got a special, the romesco sandwich (romesco sauce, smoked duck breast, goat cheese) and some lavender thyme cheese to go. Friendly, knowledgeable staff. It's in an industrial area, off the beaten path. Stopped here because it was close to Allegiant Stadium before attending a concert.



Sweet Talk
5130 Spring Mountain Rd #107
Las Vegas, NV 89146
https://sweettalklv.business.site/

Huge drink menu and tons of desserts. They have the boba pig desserts featured in Mikey Chen's YouTube videos. Wasn't impressed with the ube cheesecake, but I liked the corn shaped passionfruit mango mousse and the cactus shaped tiramisu. The boba pigs are fun, but I probably wouldn't get them again. I've liked the 5 or so drinks I've tried there. This is my go-to boba place in Chinatown.






Garlic Yuzu
7250 S Durango Dr
Las Vegas, NV 89113
https://www.garlicyuzu.com/

First time here. They do three Asian fusion tasting menus at $60, $70, and $90, no a la carte options. My friend did the $60 A course and I did the $70 B course. Enjoyable meal, servings were generous (very full afterward), and the chef came out multiple times to check on diners. Would go back again for a nicer dinner.












Chuchote Thai Bistro & Dessert
4105 W Sahara Ave
Las Vegas, NV 89102
https://www.chuchotethailv.com/

I like their large beverage menu, and they offer a decent sized Thai dessert menu. This time I got the khua kling, and they don't kid around on the spice levels.



Izakaya Go
3775 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89102
https://izakayago.com/

First time here. Tasty izakaya in a small space with a huge menu. I think Hachi and Aburiya Raku are a little bigger (but none of them are huge). Got various yakitori, beef tataki, agedashi tofu, enoki butter, and pork kimchi. Would probably order all of these again!







Bobanter wrote:Went to Vegas three weeks ago to visit family and eat a ton. Here are some of the places I visited, all off Strip and independent. Most pics are from this trip, although I included a few older pics.

Damn! Supremely 'old skool' LTH-style post! I don't know if I'll ever make it back to Vegas (kind of hoping my last time there was my last time there) but I really appreciated your report and the gorgeous images. If I ever do go back, this post will be exceedingly helpful. Thanks, for taking the time.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Damn! Supremely 'old skool' LTH-style post! I don't know if I'll ever make it back to Vegas (kind of hoping my last time there was my last time there) but I really appreciated your report and the gorgeous images. If I ever do go back, this post will be exceedingly helpful. Thanks, for taking the time.

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Thank you! I enjoy the LTH classic mega posts. I lived in Vegas for a bit and generally don't miss it, but the Asian dining scene is wonderful. I wish there were more izakayas in Chicagoland! If you visit Vegas and avoid the Strip, gambling, and the usual touristy stuff, there's still a ton of good eating (always my #1 priority).

Bobanter wrote:Thank you! I enjoy the LTH classic mega posts. I lived in Vegas for a bit and generally don't miss it, but the Asian dining scene is wonderful. I wish there were more izakayas in Chicagoland! If you visit Vegas and avoid the Strip, gambling, and the usual touristy stuff, there's still a ton of good eating (always my #1 priority).

I have posted many times that you can spend an entire week eating ONLY on Spring Mountain Rd and be very satisfied with the great food that you can find. Ditto on Maryland Parkway near Flamingo Rd.

Over the last five years, I have been able to get Caesar's Diamond Status through my status with Wyndham. This basically means no resort fees and no parking charges. We will book five or six trips a year to Las Vegas on weeks were we can find $10-30/ night rates Sunday - Thursday. We like the access to great restaurants that we just don't find in our area of Southern Arizona or Tucson.

By the way, if you do not like driving in Las Vegas, it is actually very easy and affordable to get around MOST of Las Vegas using the bus system and if I remember right, I think that you can get a day pass (24 hours, not a calendar day) for about $8. I did an entire bus trip from my home to Las Vegas without benefit of a car or even a taxi over Thanksgiving week 2019.

jlawrence01 wrote:I have posted many times that you can spend an entire week eating ONLY on Spring Mountain Rd and be very satisfied with the great food that you can find. Ditto on Maryland Parkway near Flamingo Rd.

I love Spring Mountain Rd! It has so many tasty places with new ones popping up frequently. One of my favorite dessert places, Sweets Raku, is along Spring Mountain, but I didn't get a chance to go this time. *cries*

South Rainbow Blvd. also has a growing Asian dining scene. That's where Garlic Yuzu, Suzuya Patisserie, Fukuburger, and other places are located.

Quick notes after a 4 day weekend:

Captain 6 KBBQ was fantastic yet again. Last time we went, the staff seemed to disregard us in a "big group, automatic tip included so who cares" kinda way. The FOOD was still good, but the service truly stunk - like banchan arrived after we started eating, and even then, only after asking for it. This time, however, all the servers were fantastic, super fast and friendly, table was set up before we even sat down. My dad's sister has since moved out to Vegas, so she and her husband joined our table of 7. They absolutely LOVED the place, and ate themselves silly. Highlights were all the same, but they've added a "seafood boil" option to their all you can eat menu, and my aunt ordered it, and loved it. Couple of crab legs, scrimps, corn, taters, and snausage maybe? I didn't try any of it, but she really liked it. We ate our usual suspects of KBBQ, and everything was really good. Skirt Steak, ribeye, and the short ribs were the standouts, but the mussels topped with jalapeno puree were really good, and I'm gonna start ordering more and more of those, and note to self: I need to ask for a bowl of that jalapeno puree as part of our banchan, to see if they can do it. The thing about this place tho? The hot foods that come from the kitchen are all pretty damn good, and there's a pretty big selection, so while you're grilling away at your table, the hot stuff from the kitchen you can order is really decent, and small plates for sharing nibbles while you grill.

We also hit Lola's Summerlin again, and the service there was truly horrible. Food was still excellent. I got the bronzed catfish and grits again, and it was just fantastic. Bread pudding and fig cake, still outstanding. Our server was totally overmatched and spread way too thin. We had to cancel alcohol orders, and dessert orders, which took away from her bottom line of the automatically added 20% gratuity because of our group size. She made out like a BANDIT. Food still stellar tho.

We tried a new (to us) Asian seafood buffet called Makino. Everyone liked it more than Imperial Sushi Seafood buffet, except for me. Makino's sushi was lackluster compared to Imperial, imo. I'd say if you wanted a seafood/sushi buffet, and really wanted better Sushi/Seafood, Imperial is the way to go. But if you wanted more of an Asian food, in general, with less emphasis on seafood/sushi, then Makino is the better choice, even tho Makino bills itself as Sushi/Seafood. No oysters at Makino, either, that kinda chapped my hide. At Imperial, I can eat fried oysters, oysters rock, and really decent sushi, and actually get my money's worth pretty easily. I secretly hope they don't wanna go back to Makino.

We also tried Starburst Parlor which is a gluten free / keto / sugar free bakery / ice cream/ coffee / pizza place. Yes, pizza. I only tried the keto cookies, and they were pretty decent. Everyone happily ate em up. They also had some good looking cinnamon rolls and brownies. I'll try them next time.

No In N Out, or AYCE Sushi this trip, so I'll have to go back soon. I'm a little salty we didn't get any good sushi, but the KBBQ was stellar, so, it's not like I didn't stuff my face.

Starburst Parlor: https://www.starburstparlor.com/
Captain 6: https://www.dragonfactories.com/captain6

No website I can find for Makino, and I'm not particularly interested in searching too hard.

seebee wrote:Quick notes after a 4 day weekend:

We tried a new (to us) Asian seafood buffet called Makino. Everyone liked it more than Imperial Sushi Seafood buffet, except for me. Makino's sushi was lackluster compared to Imperial, imo. I'd say if you wanted a seafood/sushi buffet, and really wanted better Sushi/Seafood, Imperial is the way to go. But if you wanted more of an Asian food, in general, with less emphasis on seafood/sushi, then Makino is the better choice, even tho Makino bills itself as Sushi/Seafood. No oysters at Makino, either, that kinda chapped my hide. At Imperial, I can eat fried oysters, oysters rock, and really decent sushi, and actually get my money's worth pretty easily. I secretly hope they don't wanna go back to Makino.

No website I can find for Makino, and I'm not particularly interested in searching too hard.

Mokino was started by the same people who started up Todai, a similar concept. Todai is closed throughout the US.

Personally, I have eaten at Mokina on Decatur three times and every time, I am less impressed. You can go a lot better Asian food throughout Las Vegas.

Same here. For many years, Makino was tops in the AYCE sushi battle. But last time--maybe 7-8 years ago, it was average and we haven't been back. Too many other choices, especially in the Spring Mountain compound.

Don't know if it's been mentioned, but a regular stop last 3-4 years for us has been Nora's Cuisine out on Flamingo. Getting better. Even though they're known for Italian dishes, last month I had the whole branzino fish infused with thyme and lemon. Tremendous.

http://norascuisine.com/