Living the Eating Life of Las Vegas

As I am back from a short 4 day excursion to Las Vegas, I already have friends asking me "So, what did you eat!". Well I am not going to write my usual in-depth review given that many of you might not travel so far to simply get a bite.  I am always willing to go in to greater detail off-line if you want more details on the food and venues. This was my first time going to Vegas, so all was new. 

I must admit I knew strange things were only coming as on my flight out there  a gentleman a couple rows up reading an adult magazine on the plane I found that a little shocking, but then when he shared the magazine with another couple, now I really knew I was on a flight to Vegas!

I joined my wife who was already in Vegas for a conference and we were staying at the Cosmopolitan. I knew this had to be a pretty "hip" place given Kim Kardashian was celebrating her birthday at the hotel. Right after check-in, our first stop was the "Wicked Spoon" at the Cosmopolitan. A buffet that was more on the gourmet end of things.

                   

 This pictures is of the oysters that were in a special tomato/onion broth, along with some spicy tuna and California rolls. In the small silver pot is a Korean style spicy chicken mixed in with kim chee. Towards the back of this picture is one of the more unique way of serving 2 chicken wings in a small individual deep frying pan for presentation. I wish I took more pictures of everything I ate and everything that was served, but I will definitely say that this was a very unique gourmet buffet. Definitely one I would recommend for someone that likes buffets but wants something that you can't get at every buffet.

As we looked for something a little more casual for dinner, we stumbled across a place called Cabo Wabo Cantina. It was literally right on Las Vegas Strip across from the Cosmopolitan and Ceasers. The evening view was excellent, given that you could watch the street performers (yes, I really do want a authentic Star Wars Storm Trooper costume) and in the evening you could watch all the water shows of the Bellagio while you eat! A definite plus and given that the view and street entertainment was so good I actually went back the following night!

Here is the picture of the chips and salsa, which their salsa was very good, and my monster beef burrito! I would say the food was very good, but the view is really what did it!

For brunch the next day, we ate at Holstein's in the Cosmo hotel. I read some online reviews and it sounded like a pretty good burger place. Boy, was I in for a shock! As this might have topped it off as one of the best unique flavors I had on the trip.  

In the back of this picture my wife's dish of the "Gold Standard" - a dry-aged beef burger with smoked bacon, aged goat cheese, tomato confetti, baby arugula and garlic-chive aioli, along with a shoestring fries and I had the "Rising Sun" (yes, going with the Asian in me!). It was a Kobe beef burger, teriyaki  glaze, nori furikaki (flakes), shaved crispy yam,  spicy mayo with a slice of fried tempura avocado and steak fries on the side! Both these burgers could definitely win any burger contest and I don't think many could have come up with these unique combinations ! The is a must-do place for burger lovers.  My wife also had a shake which she said was top notch.

We did go out for formal night at SW Steakhouse at the Wynn. Unfortunately, as I did not want to look too inappropriate at the restaurant and I got caught up in the wonderful conversation and friends we were with, I really did not get a chance to take a picture of the meals. But I will say, the one key thing that set this steak house apart from any other steakhouse was the ambiance.

                       

This picture really does not do it's justice at all. But picture yourself eating a peppercorn coated steak cooked perfectly with the outside of the steak having a peppercorn crust and hearing the sounds of a waterfall along with having the feeling of sitting in the North Carolina cool and peaceful wilderness!  Again, many of you might say what the heck, a frog on top of this waterfall surrounded by trees, well I must admit, it was more than just that. It was one of those emotional experience where when these short few minute shows would come out with a choreagraphed shows to music such as It's a Beautiful World (the frog sang along)

Another meal we ate at  for more of casual meal was at Noodles inside the Bellagio. As much as I really couldn't face paying high price for authentic Chinese food, I felt like I was back in a dim sum/won ton shop in San Francisco.

My wife ordered the Signature Chicken Chow Mein Mandarin Noodles, which was cooked on the wok perfectly giving a nice wok flavor and seasoned perfectly, not being too salty or simply having just a soy sauce taste as you get at your local Chinese restaurant. The dish in the front of the picture is actually my father's favorite and I had to order it as I enjoyed it as well. It is a very large noodle bowl that contains beef brisket and tendons, served with the Chinese egg noodles in a spiced herb broth. A very authentic disk, that most of us, or at least those in South Florida will not be able to get of this quality. Even though, the prices were a bit higher, it was for Chinese food that I simply can't get, so it was well worth the price especially for the taste and quality!

All right, well that was just some of my food ventures. I didn't get a chance to take pictures of my 3 hour sitting at the Bellagio Buffet, where I stayed for breakfast, then brunch, then lunch....but I will just say, as a first time visitor to Vegas, it was definitely quite an experience and worth it for anyone to at least experience once in their life!

Hot Diggity Dog @ The Dawg House

As sometimes simple is best, it never hurts to go back to the basics. This past weekend some good friends of mine introduced me to the "Dawg House"! This small establishment is in another strip mall, but at least they have a worker, flinging around a sign outside to draw people's attention in.

The Atmosphere: As soon as I walked in,  I felt like this was definitely a locals hanging out. From the retirees to the landscapers, these people knew where to go for a good old "hot dog".  You simply walk right up and look at a board, and order right off of it. It is one of these type of place with a small enough specialized menu (a variation of hot dogs, burgers, chicken, and beef sandwiches)

The Food: I ordered a "Chicago Style Dawg" with the traditional toppings of mustard, pickle, tomato, onion, neon relish, celery salt and sport peppers on a poppy seed bun for myself and then I order a Chicken Tender Sandwich and plain hot dog for my daughter  not know what she would like to eat today (but at least it would give me more to try!). The food all came out within 4-5 minutes hot and fresh! The Chicago Dawg, was very good and tasty with all the toppings and a very soft bun. The appearance of it was just like you would see in a picture of a perfect Chicago Dog! The fries were hot and perfectly cooked with a nice crisp taste. The Chicken Tender Sandwich which came with lettuce and tomato on french bread was good as well. The 3 large chicken strips that were very lightly breaded and had a good seasoning to it. The chicken was fried perfectly, where the chicken was not overcooked and dry. I would definitely recommend mayo, barbeque or some other sauce on the sandwich. 2 thumbs up for the person in charge of deep frying as both the fries and chicken tenders were cooked to perfection. Given my 3 year old, likes things pretty much plain, she had the traditional dog, which was just the right amount of flavor, not overly salty. The hot dogs are made out of Vienna Beef and you could taste the quality. 

The Service: This fast food joint is pretty simple. You walk in order at the counter, then they serve you at your table. Nothing fancy, just a good old mom and pop type place. Again, I think fast food places like this could do so much better if they just had someone walk around to help pick-up or ask if you want refills.

WOW Factor: There are not too many places around that I consider I would go to specifically for a hot dog. Let alone a traditional Chicago Dog. A couple of things that caught my attention as well was the Italian Beef sandwich. I saw several people order those and I definitely think I will order that next time to try. Again, not too many places where you can get a good Italian beef sandwich with the hot giardiniera.

Nothing gourmet here, but I would say it is a great place for good ole' American food! Hot dog and fries!

Dawg House

1308 N. Federal HIghway

Pompano Beach,  FL 33062

(954) 781-1955

Food Truck Pile Up @ Miami Food Trucks!

So I have heard about this "food truck chasing", seen it on the food channels and now finally got to enjoy it! In the old days, I would never even think that food trucks would be able to offer good food. As we would probably think food trucks prepackage food that is made in the morning and sold the rest of the day, this was the complete opposite. Gourmet food, cooked to order on a large UPS type truck equipped with a full kitchen! Today, the "Miami Food Trucks" held an event at JM Lexus Margate where there were about 25 vendors, ranging from cheese steaks and chinese delights to gelato ice cream floats and cupcakes. Everything looked so good, I basically could only eat three meals! Here are my thoughts on the three I tried, but I definitely am going to be a Miami Food Truck chaser from now on!

 My first stop had to be the Asian fusion Truck, called "Dim Ssam A Gogo" by Sakaya Kitchen. With so many people, I really didn't get a chance to study the menu, so I went with the cooks recommendation of the pork buns stuffed with 8 hour roasted pork with cucumber pickles and , ssamjang sweet chili sauce. 

 Even thought it did not look like a lot of roast pork, the meat was extremely tender, the cumber pickles were completely different than any other pickles I have ever tried and the soft bun with the soaked sweet chili was excellent. Again, a completely shocked experience with "food trucks"

Next on the menu, as we can never go a week without Mexican, was an order of chicken nachos from Nacho Mama's Mexican Grill.

Now, I must admit as I first took a glance of these nachos, it was a good size portion but it didn't wow me. But then...I took a bite and the taste of the freshness of the salsa, guacamole, coolness of the sour cream and mojo seasoned chicken pieces completely changed my mind. I would definitely order these again, but couldn't say that they were too unique. 

Third stop was "Mangia Mia Italian Kitchen". It wasn't even two hours into this event and they were already starting to run out of some of their specialties, such as the Arancini (italian fried rissota rice balls). 

As I waited in line and started hearing the chatter of food truck followers, the meatballs were definitely one of their delights. Now, come on how good can a meatball sandwich be! Well, I ordered up the "Smasher" (2 meatballs smashed between garlic toast) and an order of the "Garlic Fries".

This picture might make the sandwich look small, but it sure was stuffed. The smashed meatballs were extremely moist and seasoned perfectly. I am not sure if I can even explain how good the meatballs tasted as I felt like it was some kind of... hmmm I don't even have words to explain how good it was. The garlic fries had freshly minced sauteed garlic with salt and parmesan sprinkled on. Fried perfect, not oily and the perfect amount of seasoning. 

Now I had passed several trucks that had signs that simply said "fish tacos', so as stuffed as I was, I had to at least try someone's fish tacos. "Nacho Bizness" was one of the smaller trucks with 2 cool guys cooking and a lady taking orders while whipping up their "ginger lemonade".

As I go to the window and saw a closer look at their menu, my tastebuds just started going as I saw the variety of stuff. I asked the lady, which is better the steak or fish taco, she started off saying "well the fish taco has a pineapple slaw" and I just had to stop here say I will take one of those. Who turns down a "pineapple slaw" on a fish taco!

This $4 taco (or 2 for $7) might again look small in the picture, but it certain was well worth every bite. I might be frugal, but this taco was worth every ounce! The grilled mahi mahi was fresh tasting, the pineapple slaw gave it an amazing taste and then the hint of salsa and cilantro made it perfection!

I realize this post did not follow my usual format of atmosphere, food, service, and WOW factor. But all I can say is that you must go to www.miamifoodtrucks.com and then go to the next event closest to you! Each of these vendors have followers that seem to travel to where ever they go. And if these vendors did actually have permanent standard restaurants, then I would expect long lines and gourmet prices as their food is well worth it and completely unique in flavor. If you have an extra moment google the miami food trucks and take a look at the different vendors menus. I didn't go even into all the wild menu items each vendor has. Happy chasing!

Oh, and one last bonus shot as I can never forget about my daughter's food desires! She had to get the special of all special ice creams, the "DORA" ice cream!

Wrestling The Taco @ El Jefe Luchador

Well, I definitely found a new place to get a quick bite for lunch in the Deerfield beach area. El Jefe Luchador (Spanish for the "wrestling boss" ) is another little place in a strip mall that has definitely made a name for itself. It is owned by the same owners of Charm City, which I definitely will do a review on at some point in time for their amazing burgers.

The Atmosphere: If you can imagine a Colorado type personalty, down to earth, happy young individual, that is the type of workers that were there. As soon as you walk in, the place is clean and contemporary with many of the "Luchador" mexican wrestling face masks all over. The lunch crowd was definitely there and there were people both eating in and taking-out

The Food: Right from the start when you look at the menu you are amazed. When I first thought of this taco joint, I was thinking that it was just the usual beef, chicken, or pork tacos...but no, completely different and unique! Yes, they have the chicken, pork, and steak, but think of their pork with spice and pineapple or their citrus garlic pork. So again, completely different then what I thought. Everything is a la carte, so I was able to order 3 different tacos (a lime-chili grilled chicken, a fried chichiron pork belly, and of course the asian taco "Ultimo Dragon") and a side of chips and guacamole. All 3 tacos were extremely tasty. How many of us can say we ate a taco that was a pork taco, with hoisen salsa and kimchee slaw! I love chips and quacamole, but I have to say it was a little bit of a let down. The chips were more of the thicker type made from the tortillas that did have a nice salt and pepper taste, but the guacamole just seemed a little bland. My friend Adam, did have a quesadilla "El Jefe Luchador" that had pork, grilled pineapple and fried sweet potato that looked flavorful and he gave it the thumbs up. 

                    

     

The Service:  Given this is more of a fast food type restaurant, we didn't really have much interaction besides ordering the food. But again, greeted with a smile and down to earth. Yes, it would have been nice if someone came around and asked if you would like a refill, but then again this is a fast food restaurant.

WOW Factor: All the amazing different types of tacos/quesadillas they have. I had never thought of going to a taco joint and having their special of the day "fried pork belly" or an asian taco that had kimchee, but I had to try it today and I was very impressed. The taste, flavor, sauce, moisture of the meats, was perfect. If these same dishes were served at a high-end gourmet restaurant for 3 times the price, you would never know that you could get the same at this "hole in the wall" restaurant.

I definitely will be coming back and spreading the word about this "hardcore Mexican street" food!

El Jefe Luchador

27 S. Federal Highway

Deerfield Beach, FL  33441

www.jefetaco.com (just check out the menu and you will want to go!)

The first "Beast" @ Rock N Roll Ribs

As this is my first true "food" post, I am glad I get to start off with the "Beast". I get a call late last night from a good friend Billy, who says "I just read about Rock N Roll ribs in the latest edition of Maxim magazine and they have a barbeque platter called "The Beast". It definitely perked my interest to think a small local restaurant made Maxim magazine and it was barbeque. So we tried it tonight and was definitely impressed. When I first arrived, it was a 15-30 minute wait which shocked me, given that that it is in a small strip mall and no restaurant has made it longer than 6 months at this location.

The atmosphere was not too bad. One has to realize this is "Rock N Roll Ribs" and is owned by the legendary drummer of Iron Maiden. The restaurant is not that big, maybe sitting 50, and between the music and chatter of all the patrons it was a little hard to communicate at the table.

The Food: It was definitely a hit! To start things off we had an order of their Onion Stack. It was the traditional large onion rings you would get a steak house. Onions were sweet and crunchy, the batter had a good flavor. Not bad, but I think after looking at the table next to us, I would recommend their wings by the look of large wings drenched in their tasty house barbeque. We knew going in there we were going to order "The Beast". It is on a ex-large type pizza tray that has a rack and 1/2 of baby back ribs, 1/2 lb pork and beef, 1/2 chicken, large portion of fries, beans, slaw, corn on the cob, and garlic toast. Ribs were moist, barbequed to perfection with just the right amount of sauce. I definitely would stack up their ribs to the best out there. Everything else on the tray I could say was great as well. Not one thing negative I would say!
The Service: It was excellent. Stephanie our waitress took our order, had our drinks served in no time and the food came out relatively fast given how busy they were. You can see the kitchen and it literally looks like 3 guys running all the hot plates.

WOW Factor: The ribs, a must order for rib lovers! Barbequed to perfection, moist, fall off the bone meat, with a great house sauce. When we spoke with our waitress at the end, besides the praise we gave on the ribs, we asked what else is good and she mentioned the foot long hot long hotdog stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon and fried! That something unique, but worth looking into next time!

Overall, great portions of food, great value for the amount of food, great service! Not sure on my rating system yet, but I would definitely recommend this place and will be coming back again, if not doing take out.

Rock N Roll Ribs
4651 State Road 7
Coral Springs, FL 33073