Sushi House Goyemon

Was delicious.

Sushi is Lauren's and my favorite thing right now.  Seriously, I wish we had more money so that we could go more often.  We decided that we would splurge just a bit because it was our anniversary and we deserved to treat ourselves after sticking this whole thing out for two long years. :-) 

I really loved Sin City Sushi as you'll remember from a few posts ago, but we decided to spread our wings a bit.  We decided this time that we were going to go with the all you can eat option--not for the option of gorging ourselves on the stuff, but hoping to try a little bit of this and a little of that--and Goyemon's AYCE menu includes EVERYTHING on their menu including appetizers, salads, drinks, and even desserts.  Yes, please!

We got into the restaurant on a Wednesday night and there were two spots at the bar calling our names.  We were promptly seated and notified the server that we would be doing the AYCE option.  Tony, the sushi chef working right in front of us quickly asked him what we wanted and we told him that we were amateur sushi eaters and that we would put ourselves into his hands.  He winked and for the next 45 minutes proceeded to offer us small plate after small plate of delectable bites of fish-and-sauce-and-rice-and-seaweed.  It was great.

One of the few things I did order myself was this little beauty.  I had read online about their pork belly appetizer with a mango chutney and had to try it.  It was my first experience with pork belly and I loved it.  It was not too fatty, which I was a little afraid of because I cannot do fat on meat.  Just can't.  But this stuff was grilled to perfection and had great sweet and sour and smoky flavors that I won't soon forget.

A little bit later, this dish magically appeared in front of us.  We did not order it, but next time we DEFINITELY will.  It is a fried rice cracker topped with spicy tuna and two sauces that I'm not sure the names of.  OMG.  Wow.  Crispy, salty, spicy, creamy...YUMMY!

Beyond these two dishes I am pretty useless to give reviews because I couldn't tell you the names of almost anything else Tony offered us.  We had a lot of nigiri sushi, which was a new experience for me.  Nigiri is sushi that is more simple than specialty rolls, it only has a little scoop of rice topped with a piece of raw fish and maybe a hint of sauce.  One of my favorites was the scallop nigiri that he gave us which was topped with a strong citrus sauce which I crave to this day.  In fact it was the only dish where I had to say, still with a mouthful of lemony ocean goodness, "I need one more plate of those."  We really, REALLY loved everything.

We decided to try only one dessert here, the tempura ice cream.  It tasted like good vanilla ice cream, and the tempura fried shell surrounding it was something completely new and unique for me.  I'd definitely order it again... along with a tofu cheesecake (they say you'd never know it had tofu unless they told you), a creme brulee, and maybe some lychee sorbet.

I would definitely recommend this place for some great sushi.  And if you are a novice with chopsticks (like me) they will even give you a set that comes with training wheels, so to speak, that keeps the pair together and allows you to practice the motions without looking like a fool... again, like me.  Speaking of training wheels, classic Modern Family:  Jay to Manny: "What are those?  Training wheels?"  Manny: "You bet.  Custom made.  They usually don't make them for bikes this size." ROFL.  What a great show.

As far as price goes, the AYCE is $27 a person.  I know that seems like a pretty penny, and it sort of is.  But remember, you are getting appetizers, salads, fish, drinks, and desserts for that price.  Honestly, it seems like a pretty good deal to me.  Give it a try.

Click HERE to go to Goyemon's website where you'll find location (Decatur and Hacienda) and hours. 

P.S. I have got to give Tamara and Remington their proper respects for introducing us to our long lost love.  Thanks guys.  You were right.

House Warming Party Appetizers

So we threw our house warming party this past Saturday and it was a huge success.  Thanks to those that came and also to those that brought the sweets.  Below you will find pictures of and recipes for each of the appetizers I made in case you'd like to try them yourselves.  YUM!

Meatballs

Ingredients
- 1 can jellied cranberry sauce
- 1 bottle chili sauce (For the record, I would have liked to use the "Homemade Chili Sauce" that they sell in the short, fat bottles at some stores, but the two that I went to did not carry it, so I had to settle for the Heinz variety)
- 1 tbs brown sugar
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- Tabasco, to taste
- Meatballs (I used the ones from Costco)
Directions
- Cook meatballs as insturcted on packaging.
- Combine all other ingredients in a slow cooker on medium.
- Add meatballs to sauce and stir.

Homemade Onion Dip

Ingredients

- 2 large yellow onions

- 4 tbs unsalted butter

- 1/4 cup vegetable oil

- 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper

- 2 tsp brown sugar

- 1 tsp kosher salt

- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

- 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

- Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8-inch thick half-rounds.

- Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.

- Add the onions, cayenne, brown sugar, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes.

- Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes (or more) until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onions to cool.

- While onions are cooking, place the cream cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise in a bowl and beat until smooth.

- Add the onions and mix well.

- Flavors mix best if you allow the dip to chill overnight... But good luck waiting that long :-) 

- Serve at room temperature!

Chipotle Chicken Mini Tostadas

Ingredients

- 2 boneless/skinless chicken boobs

- 1 chipotle pepper, left whole

- 1 tbs +/- adobo sauce from the can of chipotles

- 1 cup taco sauce (I used Herdez green sauce)

- 3/4 cup chopped onion

- 3 minced cloves garlic

- A couple of shakes taco seasoning

- Juice of 1 lime

- Salt and pepper

- Guacamole (store-bought or homemade... I made mine: avocados, onion, roma tomatoes, lime juice, S&P, cumin)

- Large, sturdy tortilla chips

- Jalapeno pesto (optional, but quite spicy and delicious) (2-3 jalapenos [charred over open flame], 1 bunch cilantro, lime juice, bottled/pickled jalapeno slices [6-8 slices and tbs juices +/-], 2/3 cup parmesean cheese, 1/2 cup cashews +/-, 1/2 cup olive oil +/-.  Combine everything in food processor.)

Directions:

- Combine chicken, chipotle, adobo, taco sauce, onion, garlic, taco seasoning, lime, and S&P in large Ziplock bag and allow to marinate overnight.

- Dump the contents of the bag into slow cooker.

- Cook until done-- 3-4 hours on high.

- Discard chipotle pepper, if desired.

- Shred chicken and mix with sauce.

- Top each chip with a scoop of guacamole, the chipotle chicken, and serve with jalapeno pesto on the side.

Spinach Ricotta Cups

Ingredients:

- Cooking spray
- 24 square wonton wrappers
- 1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 10-ounce frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbs cream
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- Dash cayenne pepper
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

- Lightly spray the cups of a 12-muffin pan with the cooking spray. 

- Gently press one wrapper into reach cup. 

- Bake for 6 minutes. 

- Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.  Repeat with remaining wrappers.

- In a small bowl combine the ricotta, spinach, eggs, cream, garlic, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, cayenne, and Parmesan. 

- Replace 12 of the baked cups into the muffin pan.  Fill each with one tablespoon of filling mixture. 

- Lay a piece of aluminum foil lightly over the pan and return to the oven.

- Bake for 17 minutes (still at 350 degrees). 

- Remove to wire rack to cool.  Repeat with remaining cups and filling.

7-Layer Greek Dip

YUUUMMM!!!

My dish looked like this within minutes... down to one corner

Ingredients:

- 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened

- 1 tsp. Greek seasoning

- 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cup hummus
- 1 1/2 cup seeded, diced cucumbers
- 1 cup seeded, diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped Kalamata olives
- 1/3 cup chopped green onions

- 1/2 c. crumbled Feta cheese
- 1/8-1/4 c. minced fresh parsley

Directions:

- With an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese, seasoning, garlic, and lemon juice until light and fluffy.

- Spread in the bottom of a pie plate or a small, shallow baking dish.

- Spread a layer of hummus.

- In order, create layers by sprinkling the cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, onions, Feta cheese, and parsley.

- Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

- Serve with pita chips

**Note, this is the original recipe.  I used a roasted garlic hummus, so I left out the garlic from the cream cheese mixture and let the hummus carry the garlic taste for the dip.

Pesto Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

- Pizza Crust (I use Boboli, but certainly a good homemade thin crust would be great)

- Pesto, mine uses:

-- Fresh Basil (handful)

-- Thawed frozen peas (handful)

-- Cashews (you guessed it... a handful)

-- Parmesan cheese

-- 3 cloves garlic

-- Dash hot sauce

-- Olive Oil

-- Salt and Pepper

- Grated pepper jack cheese

- Cooked Chicken pieces

- Chopped marinated artichoke hearts

- Chopped Cashews

Directions:

Come on, people.  This isn't rocket science.  Just make the pizza using the pesto as the sauce instead of a red sauce.

Yum, Yum, Yum.

Confession...

We went to Strip House Steak House...  Let's just say that it is aptly named.  Let me explain before you call my bishop.

We had seen a 24-layer chocolate cake from this restaurant featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate.  I wanted to try it so bad.  So Lauren got on to the restaurant's website and discovered that the Strip House Steak House is decorated with many old school burlesque-style photos.  We decided that it was probably best that we didn't spend a whole meal in the restaurant.

For Lauren's birthday we went to the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood and ended up buying her a super cute white Fossil watch.  Time rolled around for dessert and we considered going to see if we could get the colossal piece of chocolate cake to go.  Lauren went inside the restaurant and ordered from the bar (if you sit facing the bar, you face a wall of alcohol as opposed to the dining room full of nudies) and we got our chocolate cake.

Let me make a quick note here.  The restaurant was not decorated to be like a seducing, Hugh-Hefner style room.  I don't know Europe very well (never been there) but it seems like it is like European-we-could-go-to-the-grocery-store-naked sort of design.  Or to put it another way, it was almost like how society is okay (for the most part) with nudity in fine art, but not so much photographs... well here, they were photographs.

So anyways... we took our cake and enjoyed back in the safety of our house... with tall glasses of ice-cold milk.  The cake looks something like this:

It was pure, rich, chocolaty goodness.  It was interesting because usually a great cake has to be SUPER moist.  This one wasn't even THAT moist (it definitely wasn't dry either) but the fantastic chocolate flavor really made it a hit.  Seriously, I don't think it would be possible to eat it without the milk on the side, but with it... YUM.

This dessert is not cheap, but for a birthday celebration, it was right on target.

Mormons, get it at your own risk... But I am telling you that the to-go cake was money.

P.S.  Can I say that I am really disappointed that I can't eat at this place.  I have read excellent reviews from many people.  And I'd really like to try their beef jerky appetizer.  Drool...

Cheers!

Sin City Sushi

This Saturday, Sin City Eats went to Sin City Sushi.  It was a match made in heaven.  Our group of four (including me and my wife, my sister-in-law and her husband) had a fantastic experience.

For the record, I was a sushi virgin until Saturday so I cannot compare this joint to other places around town.  However, the other couple gets sushi every now and then and they said that it stacks up well with other places they have tried.

We had a seat in a booth, but ended up taking four spots at the bar after we placed our order.  As we took our new seats, we got to interact with the chefs as they made our rolls, and they got to know us by name.  I really enjoyed sitting at the bar and would recommend it to anyone going to this place, especially if you aren't quite sure of what you are doing or ordering; the chefs helped us change our order a little bit to make sure that we had a great experience.  They told us that one of the rolls we ordered used baked fish and that it would be a little dry, so they suggested something else, and we were blessed for our flexibility.

The rolls we ordered were as follows: the Starburst, the Vampire, the Garlic Tuna, the Happy, the Birthday, and the Stacie.  I won't go into all of the details of each roll, but let me say that they were all really, REALLY, REALLY good.  One of the highlights for me was the Happy, with tempura calamari, salmon, and avocado inside, and then they tempura fry the whole roll leaving a crispy outer layer around the creamy rice.  YUM.  Another favorite for all of us was the Stacie.  It had shrimp tempura, yum sauce, and cucumber inside with a crab salad, tempura crispy flakes, and unagi sauce on the outside.  It was delicious and looked something like this:

The food was great and the interactions with the sushi rollers was fun as well.  Listen, if you are scared to try sushi you gotta come try this place and let these chefs hold your hand through the experience.  My wife was VERY iffy about trying sushi (she has texture issues with some foods...and raw fish sounded weird too) but she loved the stuff; there wasn't a roll that she did not like.  Go eat sushi!

Oh, I almost forgot... as we were about to leave, one of the chefs handed us a plate of baby tako just to try as we left.  It is smoked, marinated octopus that was not rubbery and had a nice smokey, soy-y zing.  It was a nice note on which to end our feast.

Sin City Sushi was a great place.  Great food, great service.  What more can you ask for?

One more suggestion:  go with a group of four.  That way, you can order a variety of rolls, and each person can get two pieces of each roll (each roll was cut into 8 bites of sushi bliss).



I understand that sushi is not the cheapest thing, but every once in a while you gotta splurge a little.  This place is located just south of the 215 at Eastern, in the first shopping center on the west side of Eastern as you get off the freeway.  Check out their website, including menu and prices HERE.

I am just thinking about when I can go back.

BFG Chicken Strips

Before you read this, please know that I have never eaten at Cane's Chicken, so I am unable to make a comparison.  With that said...

Wow!  I really, really liked BFG: Baked Fried Grilled Chicken Strips.  The menu is not big or flashy, but the food really hit the spot today.

I ordered their current weekly special: the BiBimBap.  It looks something like this:

It was spicy and very flavorful.  The box read: "Stir it all up & eat!"  I am a good instruction follower, and my actions were rewarded.  The chicken was marinated in a Korean sauce, and the yolk from the egg really added some nice creaminess. 

This item is not on the menu, but two of my co-workers tried things that were and they both loved what they had.  Here is what you're gonna get at BFG:

-4 chicken strips baked, fried, or grilled, whatever you choose

-A side: baked mac and cheese (I have heard great things, but no one tried it today... darn), fries, or grilled veggies.

-A piece of garlic bread

-A fountain drink

-And most importantly: two dipping sauces.  More on that in a moment.

Best of all, you get all of that for $5.75.  Not bad if you ask me.

One of the ladies today ordered a salad with the fried strips.  She went crazy over it and the piece of chicken I tried was REALLY good--very juicy inside and super crunchy outside.

(This pic is straight from their website...I guess you can see here that the salad is combo #5)

The other lady had the baked strips with veggies on the side.  She was very pleased, but I didn't taste her chicken.  Both of them loved their piece of garlic bread.

The sauces.  Here are your choices: BFG sauce, BBQ, Ranch, Buffalo, Honey Mustard, Sweet Chili, Cheese, Teriyaki, or Wasabi Cream.  Both ladies got the wasabi cream and the ranch. OH, MY, GOSH.  Wasabi Cream... where have you been all of my life?  It was fantastic.  It had a little of the spicy wasabi kick, but was still plenty mild for those who don't go for spicy food.  So creamy and unique.  Yum. 

I didn't have a ton of the fried chicken strips, but I will say that the little that I had was enough to convince me that they were the best chicken strips I have ever had.  I mean it.

Listen, this was my first time trying this place, but I have a feeling I'll be back soon.  And the owner will probably remember my name... not cuz I am anything special, but because the owner is that kind of guy.  He called me out on it being my first time, and with others in line around me, he was practically calling out their order before they placed it.  Super nice guy.  I think guys like him work hard for and deserve my/our business.

Check out their website HERE for more info.  Or just drop by sometime.  They are located on Charleston and Rainbow, right next to Home Depot on the south side.

Go get some! 

Hash House A Go Go

So this Monday my wifey completed her 24th year.  Happy Birthday, Lauren!  Her parents were nice enough to take us out to eat after Landon went down for the night.  Her dad made us reservations at Hash House A Go Go at the M Resort in SOUTH--and when I say south, I REALLY mean south--Las Vegas.  I had never been to the M Resort or to any of the several Hash House locations, so I was excited for both the restaurant and the location.

First of all, the location...  The hotel was beautiful.  It was all very clean and open, and we also noticed that the whole place had a pleasant floral aroma wafting throughout the resort.  If you feel like taking a drive, I would definitely recommend checking out the M.

The restaurant was similarly pleasant on the eyes.  One of the restaurant's walls is a huge window that gives a great view of the city; and we just happened to have a reservation at a table right next to that window, so the view was great.  The room had high ceilings allowing for plenty of light for reading menus and conversation without being harsh.  All in all, the atmosphere was great.  Throw in a friendly-but-not-overbearing waiter and we had the makings for a good night of grub.

Now onto the food.  We ordered four dishes: the cobb salad, fried chicken with bacon waffles, sage fried chicken benedict, and their meatloaf sandwich they call The Kokomo.  They also start you off with hot butter drenched biscuits--can't be bad--and we also ordered one kiwi-watermelon lemonade--fantastic.

The cobb salad was one of our favorites.  They use a bleu cheese dressing, but also top it off with a little BBQ sauce that really rounds out the flavors well.  It was a really tasty salad, but let's be honest, it takes some effort to mess up a cobb.

The chicken and waffles had good flavor but were heavy and difficult to eat.  I guess you should sort of expect chicken and waffles to be on the heavy side, but these were very heavy.  Again... all of the flavors were good, but it was almost more of a hassle than it was worth.  If everything on the plate was fantastic, it would have been worth it, but when it is just good... you have to think that maybe you should have ordered something different.  One really nice touch was the fried leeks that were scattered across the plate.  They had a slight oniony flavor and added a nice contrast of flavor and texture against the sweet and savory plate of food.

The meatloaf sandwich was quite good.  The meatloaf is made with a mixture of beef, pork, and sausage and comes out very moist.  They use toasted amish milk bread for the sandwich, which came out like yummy white Texas Toast bread with a little more body.  However, I had to get rid of one of the pieces of bread because it was simply too much bread for a sandwich.  It was good, but just too thick for my liking.  With the sandwich comes a choice of side.  I went with the pesto coated house potatoes with bacon.  That side dish was probably the highlight of the meal for me.  The flavor was bold and the crispy-chewy texture of the bacon and potatoes together hit all the right notes on my palate.

The last dish was the fried chicken eggs benedict.  The dish was composed thusly, from bottom to top: mashed potatoes, split biscuit, bacon, spinach, sliced tomato, scrambled egg, fried chicken breast pieces, chipotle cream sauce.  If you could somehow manage to get a little bit of everything in one bite, it all worked together very well.  That's not to say that the elements were not good on their own, but the combination is what made the dish really work.  The only request from the birthday girl was that it could have used more of the chipotle sauce.

This is not my picture, and the benedict we got did not have this much sauce...

Here's my overall assessment, great atmosphere, great service, HUGE portions, good food.  Good, not great.  There were some great elements, but it just seemed like they were relying heavily on their portions and presentation, both of which were over the top, as opposed to having fantastic food.  If you go, TRUST ME, split an entree with at least one other person.  We left so much food on our plates it was ridiculous.  And the plates aren't cheap either, so get your money's worth and split a meal and maybe you'll come close to finishing it.

One more note: this location is the newest of 4 or 5 locations here in town.  I am sure that there are some variations from restaurant to restaurant as far as size, taste, and even selection.  Check out the Hash House A Go Go website HERE and give it a try some time when you are REALLY hungry.

I'm still full.  Cheers!

Two chain favorites: Carrabba's and Red Robin

I haven't had a chance to try any little local joints for the past little while, so I thought I would throw these two little gems out there for you.

Go to Carrabba's, don't even look at the menu, order the Italian Chicken Pizza, enjoy.  I am telling you, this is probably my favorite pizza in the world.  I don't think that is an exaggeration, either.  It just works together perfectly.  The key is the sauce; it is a sweet and sour tomato sauce with so much more punch than a typical marinara.  Top that sauce with juicy chicken, just enough melty cheese, scallions, fresh romano, and pine nuts.....  Divine.  Oh, and I left off the other awesome element: the super thin crust that is slightly charred from the blazing hot wood fire pizza.  Just try it if you haven't already.  You, like my cousin Ryan, will thank me later.

Who doesn't like Red Robin?  I mean honestly... Good selection of burgers with endless steak fries.  Pretty simple.  Some people, however, don't know that if you have not enjoyed Red Robin's honey mustard dipping sauce as you devour your fries, then you really are not grasping your full Red Robin experience potential.  The stuff is so good.  Some people love ranch, others like fry sauce, and others just go with old-school ketchup, but do your stomach a favor and ask for a side of honey mustard for your fries next time you stop in.  You'll be glad you did.

(I was looking for a picture... but c'mon, we all know what honey mustard looks like.  Just imagine your usual honey mustard with lots of poppy seeds mixed in.  But don't try and imagine the taste.  Unless you've had Red Robin's you wouldn't get it right.)

I hope to have a new restaurant review on the way soon.  I tried to get a Snow Ono shaved ice on Saturday at a food truck event held at Costco this past weekend, but the wait was ridiculous.  Sometime soon.

Eat up!

Metro Pizza

OK, OK... Many of you may already be well acquainted with Metro Pizza, but I had never tried it til this past weekend so LAY OFF!

I have to admit, I wasn't completely sold on going to this place.  I have created a list of places I want to try (it is organized by price range, genre, location, etc.... yeah, I take my food pretty seriously), and Metro was not on the list.  But we had an Entertainment Book coupon for the place and it was getting kinda late that I would have eaten anything; I WAS STARVING (picture explanation now complete, click here if you still don't get it).

I'll keep this short.  I loved the place.  I figured I would once the aroma of the baking breads and pizza filled my nostrils as I stepped into the restaurant.  Let's start with the bread basket: fresh, warm Italian bread that had a great crust with lots of sesame seeds on top and corn meal on the bottom.  The inside was nice and soft but still had great texture.  It was a great start to the feast.

Lauren and I were out with another couple and we decided to split an order of garlic knots between the four of us.  I think the picture says it all, and the taste backed it up.  One thing that I REALLY liked about these is that the tops of the knots were really well toasted, giving a nice texture addition when I expected fluffiness throughout.

Then on to the pizza.  First of all, let's talk size.  My wife and I split an "individual" pizza and we still took 1/3 of it home in a box.  We went with the Gotham pizza (pepperoni, sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and onions) on their Metro (thicker) crust.  The veggies were fresh, there was plenty of meat, and the crust was still crispy even though it was thick.  Very well done.  

This is the Gotham, but it's a large.  Not my pic.  Thanks Teri C. from Yelp



 So for my overall assessment: I would definitely recommend this place to grab some great pizza.  Sometimes the Review Journal's "Best of Las Vegas" is way off base, but I think they got this one right.  Oh, and if you have an Entertainment Book, you can walk away with a sweet steal.  The four of us bought two individual pizzas--enough pizza to leave you with leftovers plenty--and the garlic knots and spent $25 total, including tip.

The company was nice, too, by the way.

Check out the website and menu HERE.  Leave me a comment below with your experiences/recommendations.

Eat up!

Time for Thai: Lao Thai Kitchen

I love Thai food.  My family is starting to come around, too.  Those nights where we used to order out from Panda, now we choose to pass on the orange chicken (so hard to do) and go for some curry, pad thai, and, in this case, Thai beef jerky.

The restaurant of choice for my family had been Thai Cuisine (on Charleston and Lamb) when we went with Thai takeout, but a friend had suggested Lao Thai Kitchen, so I broke tradition and went down to the restaurant to buy some grub for the family.  This restaurant is located on Nellis just north of Harris.  It's in the strip mall that is famous in our family for housing Game Repair for so many years.  Game Repair was the shiz, let's just put it that way.  You could buy used Nintendo games for cheap, and you could also turn to them for help when blowing violently through the game cartridge, slamming it multiple times into the system, or even using a Q-Tip with alcohol couldn't get Contra or RBI Baseball to work.

Even though we didn't eat at the restaurant, I liked what we saw during the 10 minutes of waiting for our food to be prepared.  The two ladies working as cashiers/waitresses were very friendly and pointed out some of their specialties.  They were going crazy over Landon (my 8-month old son), but then again, who doesn't?  They even scored us a free small order of chicken wings "because you ordered so much."  It was pretty funny.  I hope they knew that the four entrees and appetizer were not just for me and the wifey...

Another great thing about the restaurant is the buffet.  It is open for lunch and VERY reasonably priced (under $10).  I'm definitely going to have to try it sometime because even though I have loved the Thai food I have tried, I sometimes lack the courage to buy a whole order of something new in case it is too spicy or not my taste.  A buffet allows you to try new things without commitment issues.

As far as the food goes, I thought it was all solid.  I am not gonna say that it blew me away compared to other places I've tried (in Vegas as well as in Provo/SLC), but I think that it was up to that level.  Add in the fact that it was probably the cheapest of any Thai restaurant I have tried, and I am sure that I'll be back at the Lao Thai Kitchen sometime soon.

The Panang Curry: I have never met a curry that I didn't love, but this one had whole peanuts included in the mix, which was something new for me.  It had the sweet, savory, coconutty, basilly flavor that I crave with just enough spice right as it goes down.

 Pad Thai and Drunk Man Noodles:  These were our two noodle dishes we selected.  Of course pad thai is a must, and for me it is a good marker with which to judge any Thai restaurant.  The Lao Thai Kitchen's version was nothing spectacular, but it did not disappoint by any means.  The drunk man noodles were fabulous.  I had seen "drunken" noodles once on The Best Thing I Ever Ate and knew I had to try them.  The ones featured on the show were not from this restaurant, but I thought we would give the "drunk man" noodles a try--my guess is that they are pretty similar.  The dish was very different from pad thai, with wide, flat noodles, lots of peppers and mushrooms and plenty of spice.  I thought the dish had a very strong mushroom flavor which was unique but delicious.  If you aren't big into spicy food, make sure to order this one VERY mild, cuz we ordered it as a 3 (on a scale of 1-10) and it was too much for some to handle.  I would love to have this dish in front of me right now (Drool on keyboard).

Appetizers: Thai Beef Jerky and Chicken Wings.  I thought that both of these were great.  It was the first time that I had tried either from a Thai place.  The chicken wings were perfectly fried and juicy on the inside.  There seemed to be a little special spice on the wing itself, but the sweet/sour dipping sauce that came with them made them quite delectable.  The beef jerky was very unique.  The dish includes lots of strips of marinated beef which is fried just right so that it's still tender.  The spicy cilantro dipping sauce was my dad's favorite item from the whole meal, and it went great with the jerky or almost anything else we ordered.

My overall assessment is this: if you are looking for Thai food--especially on the northeast side of town--this is the place to go.  I am sure that you could find better stuff at some pricier, bigger name places in the city, but you will not be disappointed by this place.  At the same time, I don't think you'll find better bang for your buck anywhere else, especially if you go for the buffet.

Check them out.  Lao Thai Kitchen on Nellis between Harris and Washington.  HERE is a map if you need it.  I also found a GoogleDoc of the menu.  Take a look.

Leave me a comment with your experience.

Cheers!

Recipe: Moistestest Cake (from a box)

My brother, Trent, is famous for his Sandy Cake.  It starts from a boxed yellow cake mix but ends up as a thick, moist, cinnamon-sugary, crispy glazed cake that makes the crowd go wild.  Here is the recipe:

Sandy Cake
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 tsp. cinnamon (or a little more if you like)

-1 yellow cake mix
-1 large package instant vanilla pudding
-4 eggs
-1/2 cup oil
-1 8 oz. package cream cheese (at room temp will be easiest)
-1 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix cinnamon and sugar.  Grease and "flour" a bundt pan with the cinnamon-sugar mix.  Use only what you need of the mix to coat the pan, the rest will be used later.  Mix the eggs, oil, cream cheese, and water together.  Add the pudding and cake mix.  Pour half of the batter (it will be thick) into the bundt pan.  Add remaining cinnamon-sugar mix.  Swirl into cake with a knife.  Add remaining batter to cake.

Bake for approx. 55 minutes.  Do the toothpick test to check for doneness.

Glaze the cake with a simple powdered sugar glaze (powdered sugar, water, and vanilla).

So I use this basic pudding, cream cheese, etc. addition any time I want to really make a delicious cake.  You can make them into rounds, as a sheet, cupcakes, whatever you want.  The only thing to remember is to add a little bit of baking time to the box's indicated time.  We've done funfetti cakes this way, plain yellow cakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting, just experiment.

Last night I made a cookies and cream cake.  I used a devil's food cake mix, chocolate pudding, dusted the pan with a sugar/cocoa mix, and crumbled Oreo cookies in between the two batter layers.  I topped it with a cream cheese frosting to which I added a cup of food-processored Oreos.  It was really tasty.  I think I overbaked it a bit so it wasn't AS moist as it could have been, but it was still solid.  Here are the pictures:

Not bad, right?  I'm telling you, the extra ingredients make any boxed cake so delicious...worse for you, obviously, but scrumptious.

Bake away!

Splurge: Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man

For the most part, I want to focus my posts on hidden gems in Vegas that people may have never heard of before or have never had the courage to try them for themselves.  Usually these places are small joints that have great food for a small price.  However, Vegas also has some world-class restaurants that can compete with some of the best places in New York and L.A.  Every now and then, you've gotta splurge and spend a few extra bucks for something magnificent. 

Last weekend my wife and I ventured down to the Forum Shops at Caesars and stopped in at this restaurant: Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man.  I had seen it before on The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Pizza where they highlighted this restaurant's chocolate dessert pizza.  I'm not gonna lie, the pizza itself looked just OK to me as I watched--they use a real pizza dough and it looks a little too bready for my liking.  However, in the short clip they called this guy the modern Willy Wonka, and being not only a chocolate lover but also a huge Roald Dahl fan, I knew that I had to go.

Landon went down for bed, and we were out (Thanks grandma and grandpa B. for babysitting...although really we make it pretty easy on them.  We usually only leave once he is down for the night and our only instructions are "Make sure and grab him if the house is on fire."  Is that bad?  I mean, when a baby is sleeping, there isn't much more to it than that.)  I didn't tell Lauren where we were going.  She loves surprises.  We wandered around the shops for a while, and then made our way to the restaurant.  I think that Lauren knew my plan as soon as she saw the store.

As soon as you step in, you feel like eating.  The warm lighting, dark--dare I say chocolatey--wood, and cozy tables all help set the mood for a good dining experience.  We told our hostess that we were only there for dessert, so she handed us two thick dessert menus and also a normal menu "in case we changed our minds."  I have no experience with the savory foods they have to offer, but they were reasonably priced ($12-$20 per entree) and the fish tacos belonging to the guy at the table next to me were calling my name.  I would definitely consider going back to try some of their main dishes. 

We probably looked at the dessert menu for 10 minutes straight before we made our decisions.  What a sweet, chocolatey nightmare that was trying to decide between so many delicious options.  In the end, we decided to go with The Spectacular Melting Chocolate S'mores Sundae.  Here is the description straight from the menu:  "decadent dark chocolate gelato, pure vanilla ice cream, milk chocolate fondue, pure chocolate chunks, marshmallow fluff, and whipped cream. garnished with a toasted marshmallow. served with crispy crepe flakes & white chocolate cream."  It is not listed in the ingredients list, but there is also a homemade peanut butter sauce lightly drizzled in between the scoops of ice cream.  Top it off with two chocolate covered graham crackers and you have this:

It was great.  Pure chocolate indulgence.  A sundae with these components couldn't be bad, but the quality of each ingredient--especially the chocolate--made the dish spectacular.  One of our favorite parts was the white chocolate cream that was served on the side.  I am not a big white chocolate guy, but that stuff was so good it made me re-think my stance; so creamy and light it was wonderful.  Also, the whipped cream was fresh and hardly sweet--a nice touch, too sweet on the cream would have been overkill.  In fact, I was shocked that the sundae was not just a sugar overload, but each element added something different that made it all work together perfectly.

My overall assessment:  This seems like a nice place to go for a nice night out.  The food that I saw looked good and was not too overpriced for being on the strip.  Our waitress was very nice and very helpful, in fact we decided on our sundae based on her recommendation.  Our water glasses were always full, and we did not feel rushed out of the place when we were done.  Make sure you get a dessert when you go.  They are not cheap, but every now and then you've gotta pay a little extra for an unforgettable chocolate fantasy.  You'll be glad you did.

Click HERE for Brenner's complete website.  Go to the MENU section to see what you've been missing out on your whole life.

Cheers!

Fat Boy

Come on now... That's mean.  You thought this was an autobiographical post. Haha.

So a few weeks back, my wife and I put the boy down for bed and wanted to grab a late dinner.  We were both sorta tired and decided that we didn't want to drive far to get our meal, at the same time, though, we didn't want a let down; we had been looking forward to a dinner out for the past few days.  We decided to go out on a limb, and boy oh boy did this one pay off big for us.

Several times as I had driven down Charleston I had noticed an ad at the bus stop on Charleston and Lamb.  Of course, you have time to notice ads at Charleston and Lamb bus stops because you are almost always waiting at that light for one if not two light rotations as you head to the freeway.  So I had noticed an ad for a restaurant called "Fat Boy."  The add was rather unassuming: it had only the name of the restaurant, a picture of a basket with a burger and steak fries, and "Stewart and Lamb" beneath the photo.

So that night as we drove, debating where to eat, I started my way to Stewart and Lamb, pulled into the strip mall parking lot, and parked in one of the many open spaces.  It was the moment of truth: "You wanna try it?" "I dunno, whaddya think?" "Oh gosh, Cam, don't make me make these decisions, you know I can't handle it." "Let's just try it." "Yeah, we'll never know if we don't try it."  And we walked in.

The first thing you notice as you open the door is the distinct smell of pizza in the oven.  It turns out that the Fat Boy has more to offer than burgers and fries, but also pizza, wings, burritos, philly's, etc.  We grabbed a couple menus and sat down to decide.  When I went to the counter to order, I asked the guy what he recommended and he had a puzzled look on his face when he said, "What? You've never been here before?"  I don't think he was assuming that a ton of people go there, rather that those who did come were regulars and knew exactly what they wanted.  For me, that is a good sign.

In the end, we each got a cheeseburger (I added a fried egg to mine...thank you Red Robin for the introduction), an order of chencho fries to split, and a chocolate milkshake to wash it down.

The burgers:  what's the right word?....  PERFECT.  Honestly, I use that word carefully, but it is fitting here.  The meat was juicy.  The mayo is a chipotle mayo that gives just a little extra zing.  The veggies were crisp and fresh and were each cut down to the perfect size.  Relish comes standard on the burger, which I appreciated; it adds a little sweet undertone to each bite.  And then, the bun...Oh, the bun.  It was fabulous.  It is toasted better than any bun I have ever had.  It was crunchy for EVERY bite.  Seriously, even my last, savory bite offered that crisp on the outside as well as pillowy soft bread on the inside.  It was simply a perfect cheeseburger.

Not my pic.  Didn't have this blog in mind at the time.  Thank you, Urbanspoon.  See the toasted bun?  YUM

The chencho fries: I was a big fan, Lauren, not as much.  The chencho fries are covered in green sauce (almost Cafe Rio style), a little shredded chicken, onion, and lots of stringy cheese.  I thought the flavors were great and something new aside from normal fries or (chili) cheese fries.  Lauren's complaint, which is completely legit, was that the sauce made the fries a little on the soggy side.  She doesn't do any kind of soggy (one of the reasons she LOVED the bun, like me) so the fries were just "meh" to her.  If you don't like wet fries, stay away from these.  We sorta wish that we would have tried the normal fries to give them a fair review.  But still, I am a fan.

The shake: it was a simple, quality chocolate shake.  For me though, I am not sure I have ever had an AMAZING chocolate shake, you know.  As long as you don't completely screw it up... I mean it is ice cream, chocolate, and milk.  How could it be bad.  One thing I did appreciate is that it wasn't so thick that you can't use a straw.  It wasn't overly priced and it came with some good whipped cream on top.  A good way to finish the meal in my book.

Overall: let's put it this way, if I could choose any burger in town it would be this one.  In-n-Out??? Puhlease. 

I am excited to try this place again to try some of their other menu items.  It is gonna be hard for me to pass on a perfect burger though.  Maybe I can take my younger bro and sis and bait them into experimenting.  I always find a way to score a bite.  Win, win... win!

Give this place a try.  Leave me a comment with your experience.

I'm at it again

For those of you who know me well, you probably saw my old food blog This is the...FOOD which I started for a class at BYU.  Even though that was an assignment, I had a good time trying the places and writing about them made the experience even better.  For me, there is a sort of rush that comes from not only tasting great food, but also talking and writing about it.  I guess you could say it is a passion of mine.

Some people told me that I should continue my restaurant reviews after I left Happyville, UT.  So here I am now.

I was born and raised in Las Vegas, but I am sad to say that if I went out to eat with my family or friends, we usually stuck to the nationwide chains that we all know so well: the Olive Gardens, the Red Robins, and the Chili's's of the world--not that there is anything wrong with that (a la Jerry Seinfeld).  There is something to be said for playing it safe, especially when you are taking 5 kids to the restaurant like my parents had to do.  Thanks, by the way.

But now that I am a little older, I like to try those not-so-big-named places.  The ones where you go out on a limb and you hope that you don't waste your time or money on bland food or poor service.  When you find a hidden gem, however, that offers something spectacular when you had no idea what to expect--it is a fabulous experience.  I want to help you find some of these hidden gems, and, if needs be, I'll take one for the team and tell you where you might walk away from with nothing more than a bad taste in your mouth or a bad feeling in your stomach.

Let me say: there is a good chance that from time to time I will stray from this focus--I may want to share a recipe, review a big name restaurant, or even talk sports.  But hey, it's my blog and I can do what I want.

No more talking.  Let's get our grub on.

Cheers.