To All the Calories I’ve Left Behind… (Las Vegas)
As I look forward to my final couple weeks of living in Las Vegas, I know I’m going to miss this place. The people I’ve met here have been lively and friendly in ways that I never experienced in the other places I’ve lived. The fun places I’ve gone will leave me with happy memories until I’m too senile too remember them. In particular, the wide variety of excellent foods may be one of the things I miss the most.
Pubs
The Breakfast sandwiches at Sierra Gold were often my midnight snack of choice.
The Yardhouse is a west coast staple in many cities. They have hundreds of different beers to try and multiple samplers. My personal favorite is the dark, sweet, and powerful Gulden Draak beer from Belgium. Its high alcohol content and full bodied texture pair excellently with the Ribeye dinner and Apple Cobbler dessert. It’s a heavenly dinner before seeing a movie across the street to sober up.
McMullan’s Irish Pub has some of the best Irish beers on draft including my old standby Murphy’s Irish Stout. They have Irish bands playing at least two nights a week and an amazing crowd. Everyone there is friendly and boistrous as they should be! They even have real Irish and European food on the menu, including great fish ‘n chips and Steak & Mushroom Pie.
Sierra Gold is a pub that resides within a block of my apartment which is a huge win for me, since I can walk home safe completely trashed after a good Monday Night football game. It has excellent waitstaff for the most part, a decent beer selection, and their bar food is excellent. I recommend the Bourbon style wings, the Nachos, and the Solid Gold Burger. The latter is a gorgeous combination of Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese, Thick Slices of Smoked Bacon, Truffle Butter, and Kobe Beef. If I eat there, I leave smiling even if the Titans lose.
Carmine’s Little Italy is a pub down the street from my apartment where they serve high quality Italian food at all hours of the night. Kati and I used to eat there after my Friday Night Magic tournaments were over around midnight each week and they had some of the most comforting pastas and calzones one could ask for. To top it off, they had sports playing on big screens all over the place and Newcastle on draft. It’s not the finest Italian restaurant or pub ever, but there’s nothing better when you want pasta in the middle of the night.
Pizza
A 3 Brothers pizza never makes it the whole ride home in one piece when I pick it up.
Three Brothers Pizza serves Jersey-style thin crust pizza with high quality fresh ingredients. Just the way I like it. Their best pizzas are the simplest ones because adding too many toppings will hide the excellent sauce, cheese, and crust flavor. It’s actually run by the same group of guys that own the places in Seaside Heights, NJ!
Metro Pizza has excellent quality pizza in a variety of different styles. If I’m in the mood for a thicker crust or one of their awesome Steinbrenner Calzones, I speed dial these guys. Solid all around place.
Asian
The Stone Pot Bibim Bop at Island Style looks lovely before I destroy it with my face.
Island Style is an awesome hole in the wall Korean/Hawaiian place that I drive the extra 15 minutes to whenever I crave high quality Kalbi or other Korean delights. Each time I show up I’m greeted by Russell, an extremely friendly and upbeat front of house master. The vegetables are all fresh and vibrant. The kimchee is the best I’ve had in Vegas. The meats are tender and well-seasoned. Every dish I’ve tried there has been excellent.
Archi’s Thai Kitchen is a semi-weekly endeavor. Once you get some Archi’s curry in your belly, you’re hooked and crave it ravenously every week or so. Their other dishes are all great, but I always come back for a level 8 (8 out of 10 spicy-ness) dish of Kang Kua Pineapply Curry.
Yagyu is my favorite grill-it-yourself asian restaurant I’ve been to so far. The grills are always clean and easy to figure out, even after I’ve had two tall frosty glasses of their 29 degree beer (awesome). They have lots of options on the menu for a la carte (Kati and I liked the Kalbi and Squid the most) as well as some combination platters that end up being a better value. It’s all very fresh and tender. If you’re really hungry, it can get a little expensive, but it’s not a rip-off or anything.
Pho Saigon 8 has my favorite broth and fresh vegetables in all Spring Mountain. Everyone has their preferences in Pho places of course. Fresh ingredients, a modern and open dining room, and down to earth waitstaff make Saigon 8 my pick. If you’ve never tried pho (pronounced fuh) I recommend you try it. It’s a customizable Vietnamese noodle soup with unique broth and various meats.
Mexican
My usual at Cafe Rio: Fire-Roasted Chicken Burrito (Enchilada-style)
Cafe Rio may be a highly American-ized brand of Mexican food, but it’s the highest quality of its kind I’ve found since leaving Arizona. Their enchilads and burritos (Fire Roasted Chicken is my favorite) are very filling and incredibly delicious. The Cancun Fried Shrimp Tacos (Special) are to die for. Their taco salads are all the rage. I recommend Take-Out though if you want to keep your distance from the dozen soccer moms that fill the place up on the average afternoon.
[UPDATE: Cafe Rio is under new ownership now, and the food straight-up SUCKS now. It’s sad.]
Fast Food
Unlike mopst fast food joints, In-N-Out Burgers actually look and taste like real burgers.
In-N-Out Burger is the only traditional fast food place I ever eat at. They use local fresh produce and have excellent service. The drive-thru may be lined up around the corner even at 1am, but the line always moves fast and the food never disappoints. At the same price as any shitty McDonald’s or Burger King meal, you can get something fresh, non-frozen, preservative free, and delicious. Moving to the east coast will make me miss out on this franchise.
Jun’s House is a quick and cheap Korean joint right off the 215 that has some very good Stone Pot Bibim Bop and Kalbi for excellent prices. It’s great for a lunch break because you can be in and out in 30 minutes easily despite a piping-hot stone pot. I consider it fast food because it is not the place I go for high-quality as much as it is for good (not great) food and convenience.
Studio B at The M is my favorite buffet in town. If you are REALLY hungry –Like “I’m ashamed of myself for being a posterboy for gluttony” hungry–, this is the place to be. The highlights of the buffet are their fresh cuts of prime rib and their cedar plank salmon, but their dessert section and draft root beer are not to be overlooked. They have a huge variety as any buffet should, but they execute it at a much higher level than other casinos I’ve tried. Don’t go on the weekend if you don’t want to pay through the nose for their “seafood buffet” which is very good for a buffet, but not good enough for $30.
The High End
This, my friend, is a gift from the cheese gods.
Table 34 has GODLY Macaroni & Cheese. The place is quite expensive (Mac & Cheese is nearly $15) but usually worth it. The pork chops are also excellent. It’s a great place to go for lunch when you want to treat yourself. I feel a bit out of place in the pretentious atmosphere if I show up in jeans however.
Todd’s Unique Dining is like a place of worship. There are some nights where you want to celebrate, or you want to treat your foodie lady to something special, or you just crave some unique fine dining. Todd’s is perfect for such occasions. They have a fantastic menu that varies daily and always has at least three different dishes I want to try on it. Their Wine and Beer selections are not huge, but well picked. They have something for everyone. Kati still raves about their Duck and I have never had better Kingfish.
Beverages
The Draft Bar at M is always crowded, so it’s hard for me to take a good photo there.
32 Degree Draft Bar at The M has tons of awesome beers on draft including several from one of my favorite breweries: Rogue. The prices are excellent for micro-brew on draft and sipping a chocolate stout while watching Kati flush $20 bills down the slot machines makes it all delightfully painless.
Tea Station has a love-hate relationship with Las Vegans, but I like the place. It could say a lot that I hate tea but like a place called Tea Station, but Kati likes the Rose Tea with Boba thing that she orders there all the time. I prefer the dumb American/little kid drink of Lychee Snow Ice with Boba. It’s basically a fancy slurpee with Boba, which suits my fat white boy ass just fine, thank you.
And For Other Non-Food Honors…
This was last week’s FNM at Action Comics. I had just beat the second from the left guy (with the mutton chops) with my Next Level Naya deck. The guy to the right of him ended up beating me in the Semi-Finals.
Action Comics & Sports has been my Friday Night Magic spot of choice since I started playing the game again over a year ago. The place is friendly, very supportive of players, and still decently competitive for the “Spikes” of the game world. I would recommend any Magic: The Gathering player joins the FNMs and Pre-Releases here. They also support tons of other games and, of course, comic books and graphic novels!