RJ food critic Heidi Rinella takes you inside your favorite Vegas eateries and let's you know what's worth the bite. Hungry for more? Head to bestoflasvegas.com for all of your foodie needs
When I reviewed Le Thai in downtown Las Vegas a while back, I remember thinking (and writing) that it was just right for the area, and that I could really feel things in the Fremont East district coalescing at last. I felt optimistic for downtown — an optimism that was only reinforced by our more recent dinner at La Comida.
When I received a query from James Mourglia, who’s looking for Watkins vanilla extract and ground cinnamon, I figured that, at best, we’d end up with an online source. Once again, hawk-eyed Taste of the Town readers surprised me.
The Maytag Blue Cheese Souffle and many of the other upscale touches from Bradley Ogden’s first, eponymous Las Vegas restaurant are missing from his decidedly downscale second one, Hops & Harvest … not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Mama Mia! Steve Epstein is looking for Mama Mancini’s Meatballs. Fellow readers Ken Wolt and Stephen Salchenberger reported finding them in the frozen section of separate outlets of Whole Foods Market, which has four stores in the valley.
OK, first of all, this place is adorable. Rise & Shine is a garden-themed steak and egg place with servers wearing pajamas, and the attention to detail extends to the dishes coming out of the kitchen.
For Pauline Eikel, who’s looking for a peanut-flour peanut butter that has half the calories of regular peanut butter and that she found at Smith’s, readers have two suggestions.
Free ice cream! The annual Sunny 106.5 Ice Cream Sunday is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at the Providence community’s Promenade linear park, 7195 Egan Crest Way. The event will include ice-cream-eating contests, a petting zoo, bounce houses and more. …
People complain to me all the time about how bad restaurant service can be in Las Vegas. Those people haven’t been to Gina’s Bistro.
Two readers responded to a query from Loisanne Madden, who is looking for a recipe from the Chicago Sun-Times for a fruitcake made with graham crackers but no flour.
Central at Caesars Palace is open and has a decent enough atmosphere, although it is a bit noisy. It generally doesn’t live up to its potential, though.
Pappardelle — a pasta cut of long, broad, silky noodles that are particularly effective vehicles for velvety sauces — is a favorite of mine, and I’m clearly not alone. I received numerous responses to a query from Bob Collins of Fort Mohave, Ariz., who’s looking for fresh or dried pappardelle.
Zenshin, an Asian restaurant at the South Point from longtime local chef and Hawaiian native Terence Fong, promises to be different.
Walleye, also known as walleyed pike, pickerel, dore in French, or dory, is one of those wonderful freshwater fish found throughout the Great Lakes and other parts of the northern United States and parts of Canada. A relative of perch (personally, I’m partial to the tiny Lake Erie perch), it’s mild and sweet, can be prepared a variety of ways — and is pretty rare in Southern Nevada.
Poker bars have been, well, raising the bar as far as food during the past few years. No longer is it enough to serve the world’s best wings or nachos; if you want to draw ’em in for your food as well as for the shots, cold beer and poker machines, you need to get creative.
The 34th annual San Gennaro Feast begins Tuesday in the Grand Canyon Shopping Center, 4245 Grand Canyon Drive. Traditional Italian food to be served at the feast will include pasta, calzones, pizza, Italian sausage, fried dough and fried calamari, and some foods of other cuisines will be offered as well.
