There’s been a flurry of bullshit swirling around regarding the status of Silk Road at the Vdara hotel, none of it good. I’ve read everything from they will be closing to they are already closed. However, I just took the 30 seconds necessary out of my day to call down to Silk Road and I’m pleased to report they’re not dead yet. Possibly something that should be done before publishing that a place is shuttered…but I’m just the amateur of the bunch…what do I know? The person at the front desk that I spoke to also said there were no plans to close that she knew of, and sounded quite alarmed when I asked her about the rumors swirling around. Now I feel like a dick. All in the name of good journalism.
I...feel....happy!
What is the future of Silk Road? I don’t know. But what I do know is that they are STILL OPEN as of the date of this post and are still ready to serve you the best breakfast in town.
I have spoken.
—–
Silk Road
Vdara Hotel & Spa
2600 W. Harmon Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas.
Speaking of things that are open, voting is still open between now and 09/30/10! You can vote once per day! Thanks!
For those devoted to the existing Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay, time is running out before they shut their doors for a few months and work on a major remodel. Saturday, September 11, Fleur dy Lys will close its doors and come back as something…else. I don’t think they’re even solid on exactly what the new space will be once it comes back in a few months, but this I do know: Expect the “outdoor” patio area to be greatly expanded, a total overhaul of the indoor space and a more open DJ booth where Hubert Keller will be having much more of a presence in Las Vegas with filming his PBS show here. The food, however, is still up in the air as far as the casual / fine dining balance goes. Expect their International Tapas menu to be greatly expanded, but unlike other reports published elsewhere, expect there to still be a “fine dining” element to remain. Word has it that Hubert Keller will be on hand on Saturday to give the room and the staff a proper send off.
Project Dinner Table Logo (courtesy: projectdinnertable.com)
Project Dinner Table returns with one hell of a dinner scheduled for Saturday, September 11. The six-course menu will be prepared by six of the chefs at the MGM Grand; Chef Jennifer Hargisen of banquets, Chef Stefano Chiarugi of Fiamma, Chef Stephen Hopcraft(who I just interviewed) of Seablue, Chef Stephan Chevet of Shibuya, Chef Patrick Schaffer of Studio Café and James Beard Award Nominated Pastry Chef, Kamel Guechida from Joël Robuchon. So far, Project Dinner Table has raised over $11,000 for the places it has benefited. This edition will be at the historic Fifth Street School and will benefit the Vegas Valley Children’s Book Festival. Tickets are $125 and the dinner bell rings at 6pm. For more information, visit http://ProjectDinnerTable.com. You can follow Project Dinner Table on Twitter at @food4good.
Logo of The Best Buffalo Wings in Las Vegas
Home of the best Buffalo Wings in Las Vegas, the Naked City Pizza Shop, will be holding its Grand Opening Party on Thursday, September 9th from 8pm-3am. There will be all sorts of specials, but most importantly….they have the best Buffalo Wings in Las Vegas! Remember, the Naked City Pizza Shop is located INSIDE Moon Doggies bar on the corner of Arville and Desert Inn. They have an arcade game in there where you can shoot zebras. How can you not go?!?
O.G. Bouchon in Yountville, CA. No elevator necessary for this one.
In case you make a habit of reading all-knowing, infallible “professionals” that gain their gold-standard credibility because they shit on the 400 or so words they get tossed from a shithole weekly rag with a vetting process akin to what Old Man McCain did for that dumb bitch that has overstayed her 15 minutes……there’s a fucking elevator in the Venetian’s parking garage in case you wanted to go to Bouchon. That’s all I have to say about that.
Jet Tila - Chef, Guinness World Record Attempter, Lover of Humanity (photo: twitter.com/jettila)
Best wishes to Executive Chef of Wazuzu at the Encore resort, Jet Tila, as he attempts to break a Guinness Book of World Records record by making a 400-foot sushi roll today! He will be doing his attempt at UMass, so don’t run down to Wazuzu to see it. However, run down to Wazuzu because they make some kick ass food there. To get more background story, check out Chef Jet’s very worthwhile blog at this link. No word if Schwan’s will develop a new truck to deliver 400-foot sushi rolls.
You Can Vote Once Per Day From Now Through 09/30/10, or you can masturbate to Judge Judy. The choice is yours! Thanks!
Time is running out and I’m still getting my ass kicked in Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw Challenge! I guess “getting my ass kicked” is relative as your much appreciated votes have put over 1,500 people in my rearview mirror. However, the toughest 60-some remain and voting ends on 09/30/10. I know it’s a pain in the ass, and I know there are fears of the spam fairy loading you up with having to register to vote, but think about the hungry children of the world when you vote. Not that I’m going to give them shit, but maybe a moment of pity will also cause a moment of weakness! I have spoken to many of my most adamant supporters, including The Wife, and no reports of spam with doing the Connect Through Facebook thing.
Remember, if not for me….vote for the epic hang that will be thrown should I actually win this pig. I can’t even begin to tell you how much all of the links yous guys have been putting up on Twitter and Facebook mean to me. It makes me feel special…down there. For a direct link to ‘Cooking Well Is First’ click here – http://bourdainmediumraw.com/essays/view/1409
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas
For the last four years or so, Stephen Hopcraft has served as the Executive Chef of Michael Mina’s Seablue in the MGM Grand. It’s been quite the journey for him, growing up in Ohio, then onto Santa Cruz where he first got into cooking, then up to San Francisco where he honed his craft and eventually made his way to Our Little Twinkle in the Desert. Along the way he picked up a wife, a couple of kids and a little bit of reality show celebrity. Not bad for a kid from Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Executive Chef of Michael Mina's Seablue, Stephen Hopcraft
From Ohio, Hopcraft went to Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz, CA where he was going to be a Sculpture major.(just when I thought there wasn’t anything more useless than my Music degree) Like many college kids, he got a job starting off as a dishwasher at a local restaurant, and like so many in The Life of the culinary industry, life in the kitchen became much more attractive than life in the “real” world. It was at The Dolphin on Santa Cruz’ Municipal Wharf where Stephen first cut his teeth in the kitchen, working his way up from Dishwasher to practically running the restaurant. As The Dolphin was basically a “fish n’ chips” joint, Stephen sought out cooking that was a little more involved, wanting to learn the craft. He looked around town and found Café Bittersweet and Chef Thomas Vinolus.
Hopcraft credits Vinolus with really teaching him how to cook. How to make sauces, how to make soups and the fundamentals of cooking that every chef lives or dies by. After Chef Vinolus felt he taught Hopcraft all he could, he suggested to Stephen to enroll in culinary school and that’s exactly what he did. Stephen enrolled in the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco which not only rounded out Stephen’s education, but placed him in the area where he met the people he needed to meet to get to the place where he is today. While at CCA, Stephen did his externship with Charlie Trotter. When his time there was done, he asked Trotter where to go from there, to which Trotter suggested Aqua. Thus the relationship of Stephen Hopcraft and Michael Mina was born.
Before Michael Mina became the incredibly successful restaurateur we know him to be today, Mina was Executive Chef at Aqua in San Francisco. Starting off as garde-manger(French for Salad Bitch), Hopcraft eventually worked his way up to a Line Cook in his first of what would be several working relationships with Mina. When Mina left Aqua to begin an empire of his own, Hopcraft bounced around a few other restaurants in the San Francisco area until he joined up with Mina once again at Arcadia.
It was at Arcadia where he fancied the Pastry Chef, Catherine, and love blossomed. Catherine wanted to further her career in Las Vegas, so Stephen and Catherine did the long distance thing for a bit until Stephen couldn’t stand being away from his honey so much. Stephen decided to take the Vegas plunge as well and eventually married the baker of his dreams. Stephen started off at Bouchon in the Venetian as Mina had yet to take over Las Vegas. He worked at Bouchon for about 8 or 9 months until he got the call from Michael Mina’s friend and now business partner, Andre Agassi, that he was getting into the restaurant biz and was opening Sedona in Summerlin(a neighborhood of Vegas filled to the brim with the entitled, for those not familiar).
Sedona was Hopcraft’s first real role as Executive Chef, designing the menu and doing all of the fun things that Executive Chefs do. When Sedona was about to change hands, Stephen left to help open Mina’s Stripsteak at Mandalay Bay for about 8 months until the position opened up at Seablue where Hopcraft has been doing his thing as Executive Chef for the last 4 years.
Table setting at Seablue
Across the hall from Seablue in the MGM Grand stands Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak. The geography of this is important because Colicchio and the fine folks at Bravo were holding open auditions for Top Chef at his place. Seeing the sign on his way walking into work, Hopcraft made one of those defining at-the-whim kind of decisions and gave the audition a shot. The producers loved him so it was off to Washington D.C. to tape this latest season of Top Chef.
As fans of the show (although you might not be a fan of this season. Woof.) have seen, Stephen couldn’t quite get in a rhythm on the show. Like Reggie Bush, he spent a lot of time on the bottom. (get it?) Like the good man he is, Stephen owns up to it. Stephen told me about a lot of the Monday Morning Quarterbacking he’s done since the taping and his episodes have aired. He should have studied the show more, he should have gone with the competition more…these are all things he understands should have been done.
One of the big disadvantages Stephen felt he had is that his catering chops weren’t up to snuff. As you may notice, many of the Elimination Challenges up front are buffet-style steam table events. Cooking a la minute and restaurant-style plate the food, send it to the table kind of format is a completely different set of chops than cooking food that will do well under the conditions of a chafing dish. Stephen kicks himself for not studying the show more to realize the more restaurant style challenges don’t come until later in the season, you know…the week after Stephen got eliminated. So close, yet so far.
As Seen On TV: Stephen Hopcraft
Stephen will be the first to tell you that the whole point of Top Chef is to get chefs out of their comfort zone. Stephen told me, “The whole thing is take you out of your comfort zone, put you on your heels and now go cook. That’s the show. Some people adapt to it better than others. For sure.” I was surprised when I asked him about his preparations for the show if he called up any buddies that were previous contestants to get the inside track and he said no that he thought that was cheating. It speaks volumes to the guy’s character, but even I, who I like to think is a fairly stand-up, honest fellow is scratching his head with that one.
Speaking of his character, I asked Stephen if he liked the way he was portrayed on the show, as the editing room can often be a cold-hearted bitch. He seemed pleased and thought he came across as the easy going, fun loving guy that he thinks he is. I definitely agree with that, both that he is and that’s how he came across on the show. While Stephen can stand up tall with how he was as a human being on the show, he obviously has a few regrets with some of the cooking choices he made.
One that stands out in his mind is, of course, the dish he got eliminated on. For those that need a refresher or haven’t seen the show, the challenge was to cook a dish for a bunch of international dignitaries that used the flavor profile of a particular country. Stephen got Brazil, a country whose cuisine he was not particularly familiar with. I can see that. When I think of Brazil I think of two things; nether region waxing and women with tremendously fabulous asses. Stephen opted to use products from Brazil and come up with something on his own; a marinated skirt steak over rice. The flavors were well received, but it was the rice destroyed by yet another chafing dish that cut his Top Chef run short. You don’t cook buffet rice like you do when you plate it in the kitchen and send it out to the table to be served. Oops.
Another tough thing for Stephen to wrap his head around were the difficulties of shopping. “You’ve got $200 to make 150 portions of food. You do the math on that one,” said Stephen. Also what was difficult for him was shopping at the same place, Whole Foods, all of the time. On this Hopcraft says, “They have great products, but shopping at the same place for every challenge made it tough for me to come up with something in a new direction.” Sometimes all you need is a change of scenery to have a change of mindset, something Stephen would be the first to tell you he desperately needed for the competition.
Hopcraft’s advice to future contestants on Top Chef is that, “the person that will always do best on that show is the person that is able to change and grow and really respond to what the judges are looking for and open up. I think there were some contestants, me being one of them, obviously I got eliminated, that kind of just got stuck on their own thing on what they want to do and really just kept on plugging away at that.” He then added, ”I kept on trying to do something that wasn’t there, try to make something that was out of something it wasn’t. I kept trying to do that and make it happen when I should have backed off and let the challenge and the ingredients speak for themselves and do it in that way.”
While Stephen feels that he might have done a few things differently, he has no regrets doing Top Chef. In fact, he has a few moments of pride, his Quickfire Toothpick Challenge entry being one of them, which he thinks he should have won. He said, “I think that a lot of people got to see what I’m all about personality wise. I don’t think it highlighted my cooking abilities, again, just because that’s not the way that I process things and cook.”
Chef Stephen Hopcraft In Front of HIs Home Turf, Seablue
If you want to see how Stephen Hopcraft really cooks, there is no better time than right now as there are still a few days of Restaurant Week remaining (it goes through September 5th). Hopcraft is proud of his Restaurant Week menu by picking some of the more “foodie type things” on Seablue’s menu, one of which is a first course choice of Tandoori Octopus. Also on the menu are choices between Scallop Ceviche and Chicken & Chorizo Empanadas for the first course, Paella, Angus Ribeye and Arctic Char for the main and Bananas Foster Creme Brulee for dessert. The three course meal goes for $50.10 with $6 of that directly benefiting Three Square. That’s 18 meals for some people in need here in Southern Nevada.
While Stephen’s time on Top Chef has come to an end, there’s still a chance for him to bring home a W for the 702, and that is for Fan Favorite. The polls are open now and close on September 8th for us to vote for Stephen as our Fan Favorite. A direct link to vote for Stephen Hopcraft as your Fan Favorite on Top Chef is here http://www.bravotv.com/livevote/top-chef/fan-favorite. Wouldn’t it be nice for his two lovely, fresh out of the oven, twin daughters, Chloe and Madison, to have a Daddy that’s a Fan Favorite? 10 G’s buys a lot of toys for them, so get out the vote and let’s bring one home for the 702! (Oh yeah, and while you’re in the voting spirit, there’s another guy I know looking for votes)
Thanks to Chef Stephen for taking the time out of his day to chat with me for a bit. It was nice getting to meet him and I look forward to testing out his wares in the near future. Don’t forget his Restaurant Week selections, it’s one of the better looking menus of the lot.
—–
Seablue
MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
3799 Las Vegas Blvd. S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas
Want To Be At The Greatest Party Ever Thrown On Earth? Then Vote Everyday From Now Through 09/30/10! Thanks!
Wait staff in barely there bikinis, mermaids swimming in the pool, dancers shaking what their mama (with a little help from their surgeon) gave them, Restaurant Week may be benefiting Three Square, but the Wet Your Appetite At Wet Republic kickoff event last night benefited my Spank Bank. Yowza!
Buy a Key. For Charity.
If nothing else, it made me happy. Not in the “Ooh look at that ass shake with each step” kind of happy, but in the sense that I see it as another step in the merciful dying of fine dining as we know it. In case you were wondering, fine dining is dead. It died a few years ago, but a couple places keep it on life support to appease the few remaining gourmands out there. Finally food is getting down to the most important part of eating; the food. The ivory tower holding the pomp and circumstance of which fine dining sits upon is finally being dismantled and instead of having a different glass for every year and every shade of wine, you can finally relax and enjoy your meal. Eating food is so much more pleasurable when you don’t have a stick up your ass.
But notice I said the “dying of fine dining as we know it.” There will always be “fine dining,” it will just be done in a more casual atmosphere. The food will always be “fine.” That concept will probably never be accepted by the old stodgy gourmands out there, as they’ll yearn for the days of tableside preparation, white tablecloths and a different sized fork for every bite, but who gives a shit. The casualization of fine dining makes good business sense and it makes good cultural sense. We are a people that are rapidly getting the ceremonious bullshit out of our lives, so why should restaurants go against the stream?
Ok…I’ll get off my soapbox now and get on with the event.
It's a party, so dance! For charity.
The Wife With A Tasty Watermelon Mojito. Think Watermelon Jolly Rancher That Makes You Drunk.
The Wet Your Appetite At Wet Republic event was a true celebration. Think of it as a miniature version of the Vegas Uncork’d Grand Tasting with a whole lot more boobs. It was great to see such a big turnout to enjoy the good times and to raise some dough for Three Square. The restaurants represented at this event were a bunch of Restaurant Week participating restaurants that are housed in MGM properties; Olives, Sensi, Circo, Fleur de Lys, Burger Bar, Sage, Jean Georges Steakhouse, Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill, Fiamma, Joël Robuchon and Craftsteak.
Sensi: Makers of Tasty Foods
Pork Belly Steamed Buns from Sensi. Amazing.
Not even I am that much of an asshole to rag on any of the dishes presented. It’s an outdoor catering event and it’s for charity for shit’s sake. Mostly everything there was quite good, but the Pork Belly Steamed Buns offered from Sensi moved all of the aforementioned chicks down a spot in the Spank Bank and took over as CEO. I’ve professed my love for Chef Martin Heierling and his crew’s food many times, and I will continue to do so many times. A perfect choice for the event.
I make a motion to have these as the new uniforms in Burger Bar. Made a motion. Get it?
The Wife’s pick of the evening came via Burger Bar in the Mandalay Bay resort. It was a mini-dessert burger with a donut bun, some kind of chocolatey / Nutella-y thing for a patty, I think passion fruit to look like cheese, maybe kiwi to look like lettuce and a strawberry to look like a tomato. I could be completely wrong about all of that, but that’s what I remember tasting. It was served with a Strawberry Beer which The Wife enjoyed quite a bit. Obviously, I have failed as both a food writer and a husband in my attempts to make her understand that you don’t fruit the beer.
From Sage: Tasty Beer in the Foreground, Delicious Chilled Corn Soup in the Background
Another top choice for me was a Chilled Corn and Saffron Soup with Dungeness Crab from the fine folks at Sage in the Aria resort. You can’t go wrong with good corn and crab, and doing a chilled soup in a plastic shot glass is a smart move for an outdoor mingling event such as this.
And yes, why I’d like to paint this event as nothing more than eating good food amongst the backdrop of finely tanned titties, there was, of course, something much more important going on, and that was raising money for a great cause, Three Square.
Chef Matt Seeber (2nd from Right) with the Craftsteak Crew
I got to chat a bit with Matt Seeber, Executive Chef of Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak at the MGM Grand. I asked him about Craftsteak’s relationship with Three Square outside of Restaurant Week and he said, “we work quite a bit with Three Square both in-house and with the hotel.” He went on talking about different seminars the hotel puts on getting the employees involved with the Las Vegas community. Seeber added about Three Square, “they do great work here in Las Vegas.”
Chef Robert Moore of Jean Georges Steakhouse
Also at the event was Executive Chef of Jean Georges Steakhouse at the Aria resort, Robert Moore. While Jean Georges Steakhouse is a relatively new joint on the scene, Robert recently celebrated his sixth year in Vegas, three of which was spent at Prime in the Bellagio before he got tapped for his current position. Through the time he’s been here he has also developed a good relationship with the charity of the evening. Moore told me, ”Three Square is an amazing charity, everything they do is to help people. How can you not want to help these people out?”
From the Pages of GQ to the Floor of Fleur de Lys, Owen Deignan
While his boss, Chef Hubert Keller, was spinning discs up in the DJ booth, General Manager of Fleur de Lys at the Mandalay Bay resort, Owen Deignan, was on hand looking his GQ self and handing out some lovely Sashimi of Hiramasa with tasty foam. Owen told me that, “Restaurant Week is a great way to celebrate, getting together with other restaurateurs in the valley, but most importantly to help out the community in the passionate way that we find ourselves working in the day-to-day. It’s a nice way to give back.” I couldn’t agree more.
Restaurant Week is indeed a great way to celebrate. Our restaurants in this valley should be a source of pride for our community. These people, our neighbors, work their asses off day in and day out and present some of the best food that’s found on this planet. How lucky are we to live among such talent and be able to sample the things they do? Most importantly, how great is it that we have an organization like Three Square to get behind? Their dedication to helping the less fortunate is inspiring. To be able to help out in some small way makes you feel good inside.
I’d like to thank the good folks at MGM for inviting me and The Wife to come to this event. I’m sure there will be something of this nature every year for Restaurant Week, so if you missed it this year, make sure you go next year. You can’t beat a night out like this for the price of admission. And it’s for charity.
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas
If Not For Me, Vote For The Hang That Will Be Thrown Should I Win! You Can Vote Once Per Day From Now Through 09/30/10! Thanks!
Las Vegas Restaurant Week Benefiting Three Square (image courtesy: threesquare.org)
We’ve already mentioned Restaurant Week a few times, and we’ll keep on mentioning it because it’s such an amazing week and benefits such an amazing cause. Unfortunately, you won’t find much in the shit rag known as the Las Vegas Review-Journal, as they seem to think the importance of Restaurant Week is on par with some 3-course special being done at Viva Mercado. I urge you, TLV Army, to not only support Restaurant Week and the good folks at Three Square, but to also let the R-J know how shitty their food and beverage coverage is. It’s an embarrassment and a stain on our fine city. Let them know it’s about time to get their head out of Sharron Angle’s twat and start covering some stories that actually make our Little Twinkle in the Desert a better place.
Now that I got that off my chest, I look forward to hanging with all who make it out to the Restaurant Week kickoff event at Wet Republic in the MGM Grand tonight (August 30) from 8pm – midnight! There are still tickets available for the low low cost of $30.10 and it would be great to see you! To find out more about the Wet Your Appetite At Wet Republic Event as well links to Restaurant Week menus and such, check out our recent post; Restaurant Week in Las Vegas Approaches, Happy Dance Ensues
Hussong's Cantina Logo
Another week goes by and another special launches at Hussong’s Cantina at Mandalay Bay. This time it’s a combo deal for locals that has $3 get you a taco, a Dos Equis and a Tres Agaves margarita or shot. This will be a weekly special held every Thursday from 7pm-9pm. It’s launching this week on September 2nd and it looks like Carrot Top will be on hand. A hang just isn’t a hang until Carrot Top shows up.
The Man, The Myth, The Legend - Robin Leach (photo: Robin's Twitter Page)
In honor of Robin Leach’s(you can follow Sir Robin on Twitter at @Robin_Leach) birthday yesterday, I’m going to steal a play out of his playbook and let you in on a little Wicked Whisper and Racy Rumor! Is it true that an award winning songwriter is in advanced talks to bring a cuisine that would be totally unique to Las Vegas, further putting us on the map as a premier destination for world cuisine? Alright…so it’s not so wicked and it’s not so racy….and I already know it’s true….but I don’t know if I can spill the beans on it yet and thought I’d give it a shot. Guess I’ll leave things of this nature to the master. More on this groundbreaking restaurant once I see that things are more solidified.
Thanks so much to everyone for your support! You can vote once each day from now through 09/30/10!
Things are going great on the ‘Medium Raw’ Challenge entry front, although I think I need a minor miracle to make it into the Top 10. Thank you so much to all that have voted and continue to vote once each day, as well as put up links on Facebook and Twitter. If anybody happens to know Oprah and think she could put out a wee bit of a shout out, that would be groovy. There’s only one month left that you’ll hearing me beg for votes as voting ends on 09/30/10. Remember, if I win this thing, the celebration hang will be so epic that even P Diddy would say, “Damn, that was one hell of a hang!” Keep up those votes! Thanks!
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas
You Can Vote Once Per Day from Now Through 09/30/10! Thanks so much for helping this happen!
Thanks to all of you that are supporting my little venture with Anthony Bourdain’s ‘Medium Raw’ Challenge! It’s because of your votes that my entry is now in the Top 100 and climbing! There is still a little over a month to go, but the biggest part of the mountain is still left to climb. I’m currently about 1,100 votes behind to break into the Top 10, so every vote is desperately needed!
I know many of you are squeamish about registering to vote on these websites, but the Connect Through Facebook thing they use is easy and all I can tell you is that The Wife has been voting everyday (ain’t she great?) and has had no problems with spam or otherwise. If not voting for the quality of the essay, then vote for the epic hang that will be thrown in magnificent fashion should I actually win this pig!
Opening to the public today is Republic Kitchen and Bar, located in the space vacated by Fadó Irish Pub at 9470 S. Eastern Avenue in Henderson. Headed up by Chef Josh Green, who has an impressive resume that spans from Aureole to the late Daniel Boulud Brasserie, Republic appears to be offering mostly traditional American bar fare with a few twists here and there. They are rolling with some late night hours with a reverse happy hour that happens from midnight to 2am each night, so that makes me happy to have another place for the late night gorge closer to the homestead. Also things to note they are having a Saturday and Sunday Brunch that ranges from $8 – $17 and a decent looking cocktail and beer menu. Best wishes to the folks at Republic Kitchen and Bar, I hope ye doesn’t suck! Republic Kitchen and Bar’s website is at http://republickitchenandbar.com.
JaiHo Fusion Restaurant Logo
Also near the new Republic Kitchen and Bar comes an Indo-Chinese Fusion restaurant called JaiHo at 9530 S Eastern Avenue in Henderson. I know absolutely nothing about this place other than they say they opened on August 16th. Oooh….a mystery! Full website advertised as coming soon at http://www.JaiHoFusion.com. Also best wishes to the crew at JaiHo, I hope ye doesn’t suck either!
R.I.P. - Naked City Sandwich Shop
It’s not all good news though, and I have the unfortunate duty of informing you that the Naked City Sandwich Shop is no more. Apparently this happened while The Wife and I was on vacation, but I was just perusing through some Facebook pages today, and saw the news on the Naked City Sandwich Shop page. All hope is not lost, however, it looks like they will gradually add in the Sandwich Shop menu to the new Naked City Pizza Shop location, so the best sandwiches in Las Vegas will still happen in Las Vegas, but we’ll just have to wait a minute to get them again. I’ll let you know if there are any further updates.
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas
Las Vegas went such a long time with only one Hash House A Go Go location, but now they seem to be popping up like pimples on Montana Fishburne’s ass. The third location will mercifully take over the Red Cup Café space at the M Resort and is slated to open sometime in October. They’re looking for a wide range of positions, both front and back of house, and they are holding a job fair in the Molise Room 4 in the M Resort on Tuesday August 17 and Wednesday August 18 from 9am-6pm. If you’re looking for a gig, make sure you’re prepared for an interview. Best wishes to all applicants!
Pistachio Summer Fruit Tart from Bachi Burger. Amazing.
Due to overwhelming demand, Bachi Burger is shooting their day off out the window and are re-opening with slightly shorter hours than the rest of the week, 12pm-8pm, on Sundays. (of course they’re keeping their Monday-Saturday hours from 11am-2am) By the way, they’ve got a new limited-time special burger there called the Spicy Miso Burger along with a new item on the dessert menu, a Pistachio Summer Fruit Tart, that will knock your socks off. I call the Spicy Miso Burger a Four Napkin Burger. You need three for your face and hands and one for the mess that is sure to be made in your lap after you take your first bite. The Summer Fruit Tart is easily one of the best desserts I’ve ever had and comes with this Plum Wine Ice Cream that will make you thankful to be alive. They’re good.
Good Food Made Here. Silk Road.
One of the highest recommendations I give is for people to hit up Chef Martin Heierling’s Silk Roadat the Vdara hotel for breakfast. I just got word in that for a limited time, Silk Road will be offering half priced bottles of champagne along with their fabulous Sunday Brunch. Like we needed another reason to go eat the sensational food, half price bottles of bubbles ain’t that bad! Remember, it’s only for a limited time, so make sure you call ahead if the deal is going to make or break your visit.
Comeoniwannaleiyou Day at First
Celebrating the anniversary of Hawaii’s Statehood, First Food and Bar is throwing a full blown Luau on Saturday, August 21st starting at 9pm. They’ll have all the traditional Hawaiian grub from Kaluha Pork to Spam and will be having drink specials as well. Anybody that scores a picture of 0 in a grass skirt and coconut bra will be my Hero for Life!
Vote Once Per Day!
Speaking of First, thank you so much to all that have already voted and have been promoting my ‘Medium Raw’ contest entry! We still have a long way to go as I’m over 2,600 votes shy of the top, but I’m still hopeful to make up some ground with us being able to vote once per day from now through 9/30. I know many of you have posted links on Twitter and Facebook, but I do have to give a special shoutout to two fabulous ladies that have been going above and beyond trying to get the word out, @aka_kristin and @Adeviousone on Twitter. It seems like everytime I go on Twitter, one of them has put a link up, browbeating their own followers to help me out. Thank you so much to both of them and thank you so much to everyone for your incredible support! With your help, we can bang this thing out and take one home for the 702!
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas
What’s good, everybody? Did you miss us? Did you even know we were gone? The Wife and I are back in Vegas from a much needed vacation, the first one we’ve taken in well over three years! We did a road trip through the Great State of California where we first went to Sequoia National Park, then one of my favorite places on Earth, San Francisco, then up to Yountville for our 5th Anniversary(can you believe it?) and finally making our way down the coast to Santa Barbara. We drove a total of 1,559.1 miles and ate at (I think) 27 different restaurants / food stands / places where calories are consumed. Much more about our epic journey through the Golden State to be posted this week…
Las Vegas' Restaurant Week Benefits Three Square! Yay!
Get your fat pants on deck as one of the best weeks of the year, Restaurant Week, rapidly approaches with it falling on August 30 – September 5 this year! Over 80 restaurants in town will participate with special menus they create for $20.10, $30.10 or $50.10, a portion of each of the proceeds will directly benefit the our favorite charity, Three Square. As we get closer to the August 30th start date, the participating restaurants will be putting out their special menus and we’ll certainly pass along the details once we have them.
Club Fortune Casino Logo
For those of us interested in shortening our life spans with grotesque food challenges (Dobranski Burger, anyone?), Emily’s Cafe in the Club Fortune Casino located in old school Henderson now has a Colossus Burger Challenge. If you alone eat the 12-pattied monstrosity in 20 minutes or less, you get the $19.99 burger for free, get your picture on the wall and get a t-shirt. Eat it after the 20 minutes, you still get the shirt. Due to fear of The Wife’s Wrath, I will not be attempting it, but I sure as hell would like to see someone try! Let me know if you’re going down!
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas
It was just a little bit over seven months ago when I was on the hunt for available domain names to find the address where I can set up my house of disgruntled filth and hyperbolic verbosity. We started at two with Michael also occasionally chiming in, but are now streamlined to have only one main mouthpiece that pollutes the Earth like a BP Oil Rig. It has been a very fine seven months as I’ve gotten to know so many of you over both Facebook and Twitter, but it is now time to take a brief pause and come back refreshed and ready for bigger and better things. In other words…we need a fucking vacation.
I’ve chosen the following posts from over the past seven months for those that haven’t been with us since the beginning and for those that want to relive the fun as Tasting Las Vegas has progressed from a shitty blog written by an unqualified asshole, to…..a still shitty blog written by an unqualified asshole. Damn…I guess I have some work to do.
Please enjoy this little look back over the last 7 months as The Wife and I take some time and look back over the last 5 years. Yes, The Wife and I will be celebrating our Fifth Anniversary on August 6th and reflecting on the worst “I do” ever muttered out of The Wife’s mouth. Contrary to popular belief, no, she was not held at gunpoint and no I was not holding scandalous blackmail material over her head, but I can not and will not speak as to her sobriety on that day.
I’ll be back with more of the same, yet slightly refreshed dick jokes on August 10th. Communication through e-mail, Facebook and Twitter will also come to as much of a halt as I can muster as I truly want to get off the grid and look into The Wife’s blue eyes for a change rather than trying to find the fucking restaurant on Foursquare. Please enjoy and see y’all on the 10th!
The Pasta Shop Menu, soon to be located in The Hendo!
*– Here’s the first full review I did and it is also the first appearance of The Wife on TastingLasVegas.com. Coincidentally, there is exciting news about the Pasta Shop & Ristorante as they are moving their location to Horizon Ridge & Carnegie in Henderson (in the strip mall below the new Lindo Michoacan). This was one of the first restaurants The Wife and I ate at since we moved to Las Vegas and has remained one of our favorites.
*– I quickly came to the realization that my poor attempts to remain unnoticed and not use flash photography would provide me with a whole bunch of exceptionally shitty pictures of dishes that were perfectly beautiful in real life. The Weekly Bad Picture of Good Food was born with this post and the world of food journalism has never been the same since.
*– The first featured story I did about a place (there’s got to be some journo lingo for that) introduced me to some great people who put out some great products. When I met Jim King my excitement to eventually do Tasting Las Vegas: The Podcast increased ten fold. Hopefully we’ll get the podcast up and running in mid to late September and hopefully I can score a bit of Jim’s time. Hilarious!
*– The next featured story I did also featured the debut of The Official Photographer of Tasting Las Vegas, Kevin Stout. In a never before told behind the scenes story, all of Kevin’s gear was actually stolen out of his car the weekend before this photo shoot took place. What a fine job he did with what he put together. A trooper that Kevin Stout, a trooper. By the way, everyone at some point needs to make their way up to Retro Bakery and hang with Kari and Brian for a bit and gorge on their sweet love. I heart Retro Bakery.
*– Behold the epic tale of the birth of The Dobranski Burger at First Food and Bar. In late breaking news, The Dobranski Burger is no longer available as a regular item on First’s Late Night Menu, but it will now be offered as a challenge on the First Friday of every month. Challengers have been writing in to take the title. I say to them, Good Luck and Godspeed!
*– Not everything in life is pretty, and neither is the food at Elements, nor this review. This remains as one of the nastiest shreds I’ve done. I still remember the taste of the vile chimichurri and the sound of that bitch telling me I don’t know how to taste food. I may not know how to taste food, but I sure as hell know how to publicly tear apart a restaurant. Bitch.
*– As a few of you may have noticed, I have many intentions on doing a whole bunch of different series and features and they inevitably fall apart and fizzle into nothingness (hey there, Best Taco in Vegas…oops). I still want to do this What The Hell Is That?!? series, but who knows when I’ll start it up again. Here is the one and only representative of a dream that has yet to come to full fruition.
*– Behold! The one and only post written by The Wife! Rick Moonen had a bit of a partay to celebrate the re-opening of the upstairs dining room and his re-boot on Top Chef Masters. I had to pay tha’ billz, so The Wife came to rescue and covered this fun event.
*– One of my favorite Tasting Las Vegas days was the day I got to sit down with Chef Martin Heierling of Sensi and Silk Road fame and have a chat. He’s a fascinating guy that can cook his ass off. One of the best breakfasts you can get anywhere is at Silk Road. Martin is another guy that makes me chomp at the bit to start up Tasting Las Vegas: The Podcast.
*– Featuring more fine photography by The Official Photographer of Tasting Las Vegas, Kevin Stout and the debut of yet another feature that is on life support which will hopefully someday be resurrected, Tasting Las Vegas TV, here is a tale of the opening day of one of the greatest culinary events on Earth; Vegas Uncork’d
*– It’s no secret, I love Anthony Bourdain. Probably from the proud-to-be-immature tone of this blog, you already knew that. I think he’s funny, I think he’s honest and I am inspired by the things he writes.
*– As I said before, we started with two, but now we are one. Here is the tale and the announcement of Michael Manley going off into the Age of Manley.
*– Here is the solitary day where Tasting Las Vegas went mainstream. Although I may not agree much with Pope Curtas the ELV, I have much respect for what he does and a great appreciation for the props he has given to this bubble gum and duct tape operation here at Tasting Las Vegas. Many thanks to John and Max for graciously giving me a little bit of their air space.
*– And last but not least, proof that I’m not so much of an asshole that I can’t alter my view on the world when new information comes about. While originally I was bored with the Cosmopolitan, I am now excited. December 15th can’t get here soon enough!
Over this next week I hope these oldies but goodies help keep your fix of amateurish food writing. Here’s looking forward to more of the same, as obviously, development is not one of Tasting Las Vegas’ virtues! See y’all again on August 10th. Bye, for now!
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas
The Site of the Wing Throwdown. Lives will be changed forever.
Three chefs of the First Food and Bar kitchen; Sam DeMarco, Rob Ryan & Jake Mual, are going to have a Wing Throwdown on Saturday, July 31 to see who makes the best Chicken Wing at First. Diners will be the judges of who’s wing reigns supreme. I’ve talked with each of the competitors and the battle is ON for this one, especially with the never ending breaking of balls at stake.
Following the Throwdown, the first 10 competitors to sign up will compete in a Wing Eating Competition emceed by yours truly! The winner of the Wing Eating Competition will receive a $100 Gift Certificate to First and a goodie bag. More importantly, they will be immortalized forever on TastingLasVegas.com as the First Food and Bar Wing Eating Champion. The spoils of war are tremendous in this one!
Here’s how the night is scheduled to go down:
Saturday, July 31, 2010
10 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. – Diners are invited to judging and vote for their favorite wing
10 p.m. – Sign up for wing eating competition begins (remember, limited to the 1st 10 people that sign up)
Midnight – 1 a.m. – Post party with open sponsored bar by Stoli White Pomagranik and specials from Wirtz Beverage Coors.
Of course, First’s infamous Happy Hour starts at 11pm, featuring 2-for-1 Draft Beer, Stoli and Patron.
This should be one hell of a Saturday night, it would be great to see you all! I’ve set up a Facebook Event so you can let us know you’re coming. Tell your friends!
Crema Catalana from Julian Serrano
It’s official, people have gone off the deep end with these National Days. We just had National Tequila Day and Tuesday the 27th is National Creme Brulee Day, which if you must celebrate, get the Crema Catalana from Julian Serrano at Aria or the new Chai Tea Creme Brulee from First Food and Bar.
Apparently Riesling wine is too good to just have a day so they took a whole fucking week. No…really. In honor of Riesling Week(July 25 – August 1)Alizé at the top of the Palms has a special Riesling Week menu at $65 that features items like Smoked Salmon and Ratatouille Roulade, Phyllo Wrapped Anjou Pear and Roquefort Cheese and Smoked Bacon Wrapped Coq au Vin. For more information and to see the complete special menu, check out http://www.andrelv.com/alize/events.
Locals favorite, Rosemary’s Restaurant, is offering a flight of three different Rieslings for $18 and the Michael Mina joint at Aria, American Fish, is doing the same for two bucks cheaper at $16.
Logo of the Tired and Cranky
A quick bit of news about the home front here at Tasting Las Vegas and that is The Wife and I are going on VACATION! Finally! We will be going off the grid from August 2nd – August 10th, so you won’t be seeing any posts or much on Twitteror Facebook during that time. Just wanted to give you a heads up so you didn’t think we quit / died.
—– Mike Dobranski is a professional musician, amateur blogger, eater of good food, poker junkie, master of the inappropriate comment and bad husband to a wonderful wife.
Follow Mike and Tasting Las Vegas on Twitter at @TastingLasVegas
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