GREEK VILLAGE CAFE

GREEK VILLAGE CAFE

Last weekend I went to Greek Village Cafe with my friend Emily.  It's never very crowded everytime my friends and I go, which is disappointing because in this economy I don't know how they will end up staying open much longer.  So if you live in Henderson and want some excellent Greek food, you should go!!  

My friend and I started with a hookah and the trio of dips.  We mixed mint and mixed fruit together and it was sweet and refreshing.  You pick any three dips you want.  We picked hummus, a spicy cheese dip and babaganoush (the eggplant spread).  They were all really good and served with warm, fresh tasting pita (unlimited).  My friend ordered the meat balls.  They are lamb and beef meatballs, I've had them before they are very good.  I had the gyro salad which was a Greek Salad topped with schwarma meat (lamb) and tzatziki sauce.  It was really good.  

9550 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89123
(702) 463-7300

LINDO MICHOACAN

LINDO MICHOACAN

I went to Lindo Michoacan Sunday night with a friend.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect lazy sunday of frozen yogurt and movies.  I saw I LOVE YOU MAN.  It was so funny!  So then we went to Lindo Michoacan on Desert (there are 3 locations in Las Vegas and then Viva Michoacan which is awful in Henderson).  We both got margaritas.  I got mine with patron silver and grand marnier on the rocks with salt.  It was a huge serving!!!  Most authentic Mexican places servce a big margarita!!  They also serve warm chips with a salsa that is hot hot hot and a bean dip to neutralize the salsa. It was so great.  

We also started off with an order of the guacamole which they make fresh in front of you.  It's one of the best guacamoles I've ever eaten and they give you a large portion.

Our meal came with a traditional tomato soup with skinny noodles.  It was a really solid and delicious tomato soup.  Beats the hell out of campells!!!

My dinner date wanted to try something traditionally Mexican so we started with the grilled cactus appetizer topped with grilled meat.  It looks like green peppers but was a lot thicker and has a weird flavor.  I didn't like it at all.  My friend thought that it just tasted like green peppers. I disagreed.

Our served recommended our entree called pollo sarandeado estilo tia ester which is grilled chicken basted in a sarandeado sauce (tomato and spices) with dried chilis, Mexican spices and mayo.  It was really great.  It packed a ton of flavor and wasn't too spicy.  It was served with refreid pinto beans and Mexican rice, as is every entree.

They have a huge menu and a lot to choose from.  I would definitely go back!

www.lindomichoacan.com

KAIZEN SUSHI: FEATURED ROLL

AVOCADO TRAIN ROLL:

I don't need to write much about the places I've already been to, unless I have something really good and unique that I feel I just have to tell you about.  Which is why I am featuring the avocado train roll which had soft shell crab, lobster salad, white fish, crab and spicy mayo then drizzled with eel sauce and topped with avocado.  Then at the end of the roll is a little ball of avocado stufed with the same ingredients without any rice or seaweed.   It's a very cool presentation and and has great flavors and textures.

HASH HOUSE A GO GO

HASH HOUSE A GO GO

I went to Hash House a Go Go this weekend with a friend.  I had to try the famous fried chicken and waffles!!  We shared a farm scramble, the you pick 3 mix in options, so it was scrambled eggs, chicken, avocado and cheddar.  It was WAY too buttery and had a cheddar overload.  It came with a biscuit and home made strawberry jam that was fabulous and soooo yummy.  The potatoes were amazing, I don't even like plain potatoes and I thought these were SO GOOD!!!!

My favorite pick was the sage fried chicken and waffles platter, which is pictured above.  The fried chicken had an excellen taste, but wasn't really crispy enough for my taste.  It was served over a BACON waffles.  Yes, they bake the bacon right into the waffle, how brilliant is that?  It was served with fried leeks which were outstanding and then drizzled with a maple caramel reduction that had a little kick to it. I think the sauce would go well in one of my stir frys.  This was a unique and delicious meal.  I'm in no rush to go back though.  They give you portion overload and this isn't the kind of food I would typically recommend anyone eat more than a few times a year.  It's bikini season, I think I'll eat my waffles without bacon from now on.

http://www.hashhouseagogo.com

BOTERO

BOTERO

I went to Botero at the Encore (part of the Wynn in Las Vegas) for the second time this past weekend.  It wasn't as great as I remember, but my dinner date was also not as into the restaurant and food as I was so that could have ruined it slightly for me.  We both agreed that the service was PHENOMENAL!!  I started off with the Orange Blossom cocktail which was really light, refreshing and not too sweet.  I'm not exactly sure what was in it, but it did have a lychee.  I love those lil Asian pears.  

They bread was warm and tasted fresh.  I like the olive loaf, my guest prefered the french bread.  We started off with two appetizers.  The first was the crudo tasting with tuna in avocado and soy, halibut in spicy tomato, salmon in a lemon sea salt, and hamachi in tangerine puree.  I really like the dish.  I love the fresh, slinly sliced raw fish in a light viniagrette.  My dining partner hated the leafy green stuff on top and thought everything just tasted bland and like it was in oil.  It doesn't pack a ton of flavor, but it is a nice contrast to the huge steak you will devour in your second or third course.

We both LOVED the other appetizer which was fried frog legs in a lemon butter with a fennel salad.  I thought the frog logs were delicious and the lemon butter was really great.  The fennel salad tasted like cole slaw gone bad.  My guest liked it, but not me!!  We had both never had frog legs before.  Yes, they do kind of taste like chicken.  They were really good.  I would order these again.

We both ordered steaks for dinner.  My friend got a New York Strip cooked medium rare with the peppercorn seasoning.  He didn't like that you had to dip the steak into the sauces.  I of course ordered the petite filet.  I'm too tiny to order a different cut of meat unless someone wants to share with me.  I ordered it chimmichurri style and rare.  It was served to me medium rare.  It was pretty disappointing.  Still a great cut of meat, but it wasn't what I ordered and I didn't feel like waiting for a new steak.  It was pretty surprising that for $38 for a steak and they couldn't seem to cook it properly.  I still kind of enjoyed it, but filets, in my opinion should ALWAYS be RARE.  

We skipped dessert. We were going out to some clubs that night and didn't want to make ourselves sickly full.

The thing I love most about Botero is the way it is cleverly decorated and designed around the artwork of Fernando Botero, who is famous for painting these adorable short fat people.

I've been to Botero twice now and I won't feel a need to go back for a while.  There are a lot of great restaurants in Las Vegas I still haven't tried yet and I am moving to Los Angeles.  Anyone have any recommendation in LA?

CARNE VINO

CARNE VINO

www.carnevino.com

Carne Vino, by Chef Mario Batali is the newest Italian restaurant in the Palazzo Hotel (Las Vegas Strip).  It is absolutely amazing!!  A PERFECT meal!!  I enjoyed (almost) every bite.  I went with a friend and we sat at that bar.  I had a really great drink with some kind of bourbon amd home made ginger ale off their cocktail list and then I had a dirty martini with three olives.  They used real olives.  None of that pimonto bullshit.  Why do other places do that?  It is SO GROSS.  They didn't give me a plate for the olives though.  We started with two appetizers and then we ordered two pasta dishes.  We ordered one dessert and were given another one on the house.  The bread was delicious and served with two kinds of butter.  I try not to eat it because I want to enjoy the other food, but I just couldn't help myself.

The first appetizer we ordered was the grilled octopus with with potatoes, puntarelle and chiles.  It had great flavors, was good perfectly and really delicious!!  It was rich, yet a little light at the same time.  This was our favorite appetizer.  The other one was the tuna crudo, it was sliced from the leanest to the fattiest tuna over a home made pesta sauce which was really light and flavorful and would be great on a pasta, but it didn't add too much excitement to the tuna. It was extremely fresh fish with a great flavor all on it's own though.  

Our favorite pasta dish and overall dish of the evening was the cannelloni with guinea hen and leeks.  Cannelloni is a delicate rolled pasta.  Some cheese was baked on top and it was in a really light sauce.  It was amazing!  We didn't enjoy the ravioli di stracotto.  It was basically a duck liver ravioli with acero balsamico.  The pasta tasted undercooked.  It was hard and had an grainy texture.  Since this was a fine dining Italian restaurant, we felt weird complaining because we weren't sure if that's how it was supposed to be served.  Most of the time Ravioli is soft and kind of breaks apart easily with a fork.  I also thought the sauce tasted a little bit like dirt.  It didn't have a nice flavor.

For dessert we ordered the honey glazed carrot cake.  OH MY GOD!!!!  The cake was served with walnut mascarpone gelato.  It was so dense, moist and had great flavors.  This was hands down the best carrot cake I've ever had.  It was drizzled with honey and was just simply fabulous.  The extra dessert they brought us was their most traditional Italian dessert, the chocolate bamboloni.  These are little balls of fried dough with candied pecans and bourbon caramel dipped in a rich chocolate sauce.  They were pretty good, but I liked the cake a lot more.

I would go back to this restautant again.  They also have a pre-theater menu that will get you in and out in time for Jersey Boys, which I saw on Broadway and is a terrific show (by the way)!!

COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH

COCKTAIL OF THE MONTH:

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, the cocktail of the month is the

IRISH CARBOMB

a deadly mixture of Jameson and Guiness then you drop the shot of Baily's into the mixture and drink fast (before if curdles!!)

Please drink responsibly tonight and NEVER drink and drive.

I will be celebrating @ Fado's on Eastern tonight in Henderon.  See ya there!!!

DAILY GRILL

I went to Daily Grill with my cousins in Studio City.  We went around 6:00-6:30 on a Saturday and the place was packed!  The hostess was a little frazzled.  She gave me a children's menu.  I was offended.  We started off the meal with a shrimp cocktail and some bread.  The bread was really good and fresh and the shrimp were anything but.  They were giant!!  My two toddler cousins ordered the chicken pot pies off the children's menu.  I thought it was kind of a weird thing to have on the children's menu.  I never ate that as a child, but they really liked it.  I had a bite.  It was really creamy and had a lot of flavor, but I thought that the button mushrooms had NO PLACE being there and of course ate around it. EW!  I ordered the oven roasted garlic chicken.  It was a half roasted chicken marinated in garlic honey jus and it was really good, but the portion was HUGE.  I was able to pick my two sides.  I got steamed spinach which was bland and broccoli which was even blander.  It was more than enough food for me. There are multiple locations across the US.  The restaurant has a really varied menu which is good for picky eaters and large parties.

ttp://www.dailygrill.com

OVERLAND CAFE

OVERLAND CAFE

www.overlandcafe.com

I went to overland cafe for a nice Satuday Brunch with my friend.  I ordered the Norwegian Smoked Salmon platter off the cafe specialties menu aka THE ULTIMATE JEWISH BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS.  The platter was around $11 and I got so much food!!  It was a very hungry hypoglacemic girls dream.  The platter came with sliced tomatoes, toasted bagel, cream cheese, red onion and scrambled eggs with smoked lox mixed it.  It was delicious!  I love bagel and lox and the eggs are always a great addition and a nice way to add protein to keep you fuller longer.  I'm not crazy abou the area though is there was nothing particularly special about this platter.  You can get it anywhere that has a decent breakfast/brunch menu to be perfectly honest.  However, if you are in the area and are hungry it is worth checking out.  The place was pretty crowded.  One thing I will say is that I was VERY disapointed that they didn't have wheat bagels.  Only onion and plain.  Wheat toast just would not have been the same so I got an onion one.  The cakes in the counter looked amazing.  I rarely order a slice and this day was no exception.  They looked awesome though so if you have a party to go to and are asked to bring dessert you may want to stop by and pick up the carrot cake.  Unless it decievingly looks great and is really dry on the inside.  Isn't that always soooo disappointing?  Has anyone gotten it?

SADDLE RANCH

SADDLE RANCH

I went to Saddle Ranch late on a Saturday night with a few friends.  Saddle Ranch in not your typical western bar, for starters it's in Los Angeles!  It was really fun and the food looked great, so I will have to go back and eat.  They have an extensive menu (brunch, lunch, dinner and COTTON CANDY!!).  Some nights they have line dancing, live music, and can be rented out for parties.  I went on a typical night with nothing going on.  The place is decorated in a western theme and is really cute.  It's not a cheesy theme restaurant.  Saddle Ranch even has a mechanical bull that you can ride (after you sign an insurance waiver of course) and of course I rode it and no you will not see pictures posted anywhere thank you!!  It's a fun place to go and I will definetly be going back to eat.  The brunch menu looks out of this world.

http://www.srrestaurants.com/

GODDESS SALAD

To make my

GODDESS SALAD

you will need:

1 cup of spinach

1 cup of finely chopped romaine lettuce

1 packet of white albacore tuna

1 half diced vine tomato

salt and pepper to taste

3 tablepoons of seeds of change brand seven grain mix

GODDESS dressing like Annie's or any generic brand

**goddess dressing is a tahini dressing (a bit sour) with lemon, herbs and spices)**

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy a quick and healthy lunch!!

BOTTLE POP AT BOTTLE ROCK

I went to Bottle Rock in Culver City with my friend for happy hour.  We enjoyed a reduced price cheese plate, caprese salad and a glass of the malbec and Cline red zinfindel off their happy hour menu.  We were served a selection of 3 cheese (chef's selection) with some bread.  It was really good.  I particularly enjoyed the brie.  The blue cheese we were given ( I am not sure of its variety) was a little dry but had a nice flavor.  The salad was amazing.  The mozzerella melted in your mouth.  My friend did not like this.  She said it was too soft.  She is probably used to less fresh and fine mozzeralla, but everyones taste buds are different. I would like to go back and try more substantial dishes next time!

www.bottlerock.net

MARRAKECH MORROCAN

MARRAKECH- LAS VEGAS

I went to Marrakech Morrocan restaurant in Las Vegas Nevada a couple of weeks ago with a group of 7.  It is located just off the strip in a shopping center on 3900 Paradise Road.  The alcohol is pretty cheap relative to other restaurants I've been to in the area, there is live belly dancing and a delicious 6 course family style meal.  They also provide substitutes for no extra charge if you are a vegetarian which is really nice!  It was a great meal and a really fun atmosphere.  We ate with our hands for most of the meal which was kind of weird at first.  They started off the meal by asking us to wash our hands tableside with this rose water stuff.  It smelled really fragrant and good.

For the first course we had shrimp scampi in lemon, wine and garlic sauce.  Our veggie friend had the same dish with mushrooms (EW).  It was really good.  They served it with "traditional Morrocan bread" which was just like the Traditional Jewish Challah bread.  

Our next course was a delicious lentil soup with rice, lemon and spices which we drank right of our of the bowl!!

After our soups, we enjoyed a hummus course that was accompanied by beets, olives, carrots, cucumbers...etc.  It was soooo good.  First of all I have never enjoyed beets so much, but the hummus was REALLY great as well.  I wish more places served a plate just like this.  I'm tired of the traditional pita and hummus pairing.

The next course we had was the beef kabob which was marinated in 7 Morrocan spices and it was poking out of a pineapple with a birthday candle one it.  It was cooked and seasond perfectly, but I don't understand why it came with a birthday candle in it.  My friends and I all thought that was soooo odd.  Oh well.  It was really tasty. 

The main course was a cous cous platter with cornish game hen in a raisin and vegetable sauce.  The hen was tender and juicy and the vegetable melted in your mouth.  It was just the right amount of sweet and it was really delicious.  I enjoyed this course a lot too!!  We were given forks for this course.  

The dessert was served with Morrocan mint sweet tea.  It was fabulous.  I loved it.  The dessert was just ok.  I was hoping for something a little more refreshing and light.  The dessert was a phyllo pastry dough stuffed with nuts, fruit and sugar.  It was topped with more powdered sugar than should ever be legal and cinnamon.  It was okay.  It would have been nice to get some fresh fruit with some home made whipped cream on the side or topped with honey and nuts.  The sugar was so over powering that it made me totally dehyrated. 

I really couldn't pick a favorite course but you can probably tell which one I liked the least.  I would definetly go back and I think it's a great place if you are going with a large party.  You shouldn't being a picky eater here because there will not be very many alterntives for them to choose from.  Below is the website for more information.  There is another location in Los Angeles and apparently a few across the US.  They must be owned by different families because they are not advertised on the Las Vegas location's website.

http://www.marrakechvegas.com