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!