Cajun Cracken is in four locations of Vegas. The North Las Vegas location on Losee Road offers Boiled Seafood, Combo Seafood Plates, Po Boy Sandwiches, various fried shellfish, sushi (YES SUSHI) and Hawaiian BBQ, some alcohol and MORE!
You can sit at the bar or in the dining area.
My husband started with a cup of gumbo.
He thought the gumbo was pretty good but didn’t contain rice like it does at most places.
We also tried the crispy green beans.
The green beans would be great if they didn’t have this sauce on them that isn’t mentioned on the menu. The green beans are fried nice and are crisp and fresh.
I’d get them again but I would ask them to leave the sauce off.
I tried the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken.
The chicken is very tender dark meat with a mild BBQ sauce on it. They do give you way more chicken than you can eat. For my taste I’d like to add a splash of sriracha or something because it’s good but needs a splash of something. The rice is good and the macaroni salad is kinda average.
My husband settled on the fried oyster basket with upgraded sweet potato fries. (he really wanted 1/2 fried shrimp and 1/2 fried oysters but they don’t do that here.)
Dragon Tiger Noodle is a build it yourself type casual Ramen Restaurant brought to you by James Bead Award Wining Chef Jet Tila. He has one location in Colorado and four locations around Las Vegas Nevada. The Summerlin Location is very casual.
You order and pay at the counter. Then you might add on an appetizer like a gyoza or something like a chicken wing.
Spicy Dragon Wings but extra light with the ghost pepper – VERY GOOD
To build your bowl you first decide on size bowl, broth, then noodle, then protein, and vegetables, condiments, and toppings.
The broth offerings do change from time to time.
Last time I had a vegetarian Szechuan Broth with poached chicken lots of vegetables, hand made noodles, ramen eggs, and garlic oil.
It was very good but almost too spicy for me.
This time I had the chicken broth based with poached chicken, hand made udon noodles, premium mushrooms, garlic oil, and more.
This is good but much plainer that what I had last time…GOOD but could use a kick of something. (I should have added something more).
This time my husband had a Sumo sized birria ramen with spicy noodles. My husband questioned the person behind the counter on what the broth was made of but that person wouldn’t give us an answer perhaps due to a language barrier? Or just didn’t know? (so I wouldn’t try)
He said that the flavors were VERY GOOD and came with lots of birria but today the meat was a little stringy.
Lilli is a Fine Dining, New American, French Style Restaurant located in the Chinatown of Las Vegas. The Chef is well seasoned and has previously worked at The French Laundry in Napa California. At the time of my visit they were offering a tasting menu, a four course menu, and a limited amount la carte menu in the lounge. I should mention that (at this time) This restaurant is hard to identify from the road because at this time they only had one very small sign that is too hard to see.
Once inside it looks like this.
Here’s only part of the main dining area.
We ordered the four course menu and they started us off with an amazing amuse bouche of mushroom consommé with a goat cheese foam.
This next dish I can’t praise enough because you can’t taste how special this really is.
It’s this OUT OF THIS WORLD Crazy great Potato Salad Mousse with a fancy Trout.
Next was Hawaiian Kampaci.
This next one was another of the PHENOMENAL dishes.
Missouri Chestnut Gnocchi with Cheese and caramelized rice wine and dates.
Next was Pacific Patrale Sole with grapes, lettuce, and brown butter sauce.
Then they brought out some focaccia with butter.
Entrees were –
Liberty Duck Breast with Cippolini Onions , Jujubes, Foie Gras Port Jus
Best meal out of the week came from Rang’s Cocina Moderne. They offer a mix of Italian, Spanish, and Asian Cuisine. The food and service is always great and you sure can’t miss going here. This time we enjoyed the really nicely made focaccia bread with THREE different butters that represent the three basic styles of flavors that are offered here. They are delicious and different.
Dinner was fish Florentine (meltingly tender fish and really scrumptious potatoes)
and the new meatloaf with a special spiced guava sauce made with a special blend of high quality spices for a special zing.
(above is a secret zing ingredient to the guava sauce)
And we had to finish with Rang’s INCREDIBLE wasabi cheesecake with soy caramel.
We also enjoyed a nice lunch at Gung Chae Healthy Korean Kitchen. We enjoyed the Spicy Chicken Bibimbap and the Spicy Pork Bibimbap. They call them spicy but aren’t too spicy. It’s a casual place. You order and pay at the counter type place. The food was good to us but they were very generous with the chicken but on the day we were there they were very light with the pork. Last time my husband had the bulgogi and thought that was good too.
We also tried Montreal Smoked Meat for the first time at Lester’s Deli in Henderson. They are a Canadian based Deli that specializes in serving Montreal Smoked Meat (brisket), poutine, and a few more things.
Many people refer to the Montreal Smoked Meat as Pastrami. My opinion may differ from yours but this is good but doesn’t taste anything like pastrami. It’s milder without bark and has a slightly fatty feel in the mouth. To me it’s more like a pickled roast beef. Good but just not pastrami to me. I did think that the lox plate was good. Pickles were good. Fries are a bit over done for my tastes but maybe? they do them that way to hold up to the creamy cheese sauce for their poutine dish.
In NORTH Las Vegas – A brand NEW El Super – Super Market recently opened on Craig Road. I saw some things that I don’t find at other grocery markets. The bakery section looked really nice on the day of my visit. Purchased some hard to find epazote dried herbs there.
In other FOOD News –
Fall (expected) Openings –
Ayni Peruvian Restaurant – 3900 Paradise Rd (The Collective)
Los Amores De Julia – 2400 W Sahara Ave
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and unknown either this year or next year –
Summit Shop (candy, chocolate, tea) 3211 N Tenaya Way
Mundan Asian Bistro – 8450 Farm Rd
Stars Stripes and Scoville’s (hot sauce shop?) – 732 S 6TH St
Charley’s (cheesteaks) 5340 W Charleston Blvd
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2027 Openings
Black Bear Diner – 907 E Lake Mead Pkwy
Brownie MMM – 2121 E Sahara Ave
and Silly and or CUTE Food News
Charlie enjoying leftover from various places we went to
Charlie enjoying some Gung Chae Healthy Korean Charlie enjoying some Lester’s Deli Food OH and he did eat food from Rang’s Cocina Moderne but I forgot to photo that.
This was the FORKING Las Vegas FOOD Buzz of the Week
These are just a few of the recipes that you can make too and can find in the search.
Tequila Lime Cilantro Turkey Meatballs with Herb SauceVegetarian Tikki Masala Style Potato StewSpaghetti Squash, Feta, Harissa in a Chickpea Crust Mini PiePotato String Crusted Spicy Mexi-Style Beef Stuffed Anaheim PepperDelicious Cheesy Crispy Potato SquaresCorned Beef on Rye with Russian Dressing and East Coast Style SlawTwisted Date BreadSpicy Avocado Cabbage and Black Bean SlawRed Quinoa SaladYellow Mango Frozen ConfectionEggplant Parmesan Meat-Less-BallsPotato Fennel Apricot & Green Garlic SaladBundt Pizza Bread
These are just some of the FOODS that YOU can make too!
Krazy Buffet is a Chinese Buffet located in Vegas not too far from the Las Vegas Strip. We tried them on a Sunday and I noticed that they offer a shellfish heavy buffet. But it’s a buffet s there are many other things to try.
It was packed so we had to wait for a table. Got seated pretty quickly and started the buffet journey.
I noticed that someone dropped a chicken leg on the floor and nobody wants to pick it up. All the workers just ignored it.
Here’s my first plate.
The spicy chicken is really gross and I don’t think anyone would like it unless you don’t mind chicken cartilage in your mouth. The one sushi is also really gross and I had to spit that out too because the fish is hard, dry and chewy. The green beans taste good but they are over cooked and squishy. The sesame ball is good.
I thought I would like the sea bass and the fried chicken.
The sea bass is GROSS. I can’t identify the WEIRD flavor…YUK! The chicken is dry, stringy, and GROSS too!
The only thing I liked (and it really wasn’t that great) was the soft serve vanilla with a fresh hot doughnut. The fresh pineapple was so sour that it hurt my mouth. The fried banana was ok.
Krazy Buffet – Maybe ok for raw shellfish but – Not the best.
8095 W Sahara Ave Las Vegas NV
702-869-6699
I couldn’t find a working website for Krazy Buffet.
Papa Joe’s Chicken & Waffles is a Southern Soul Type Casual Restaurant located in the Centennial part of Vegas. This is mainly a take out restaurant because they only have three tables to dine at inside.
I tried the chicken & fish dinner with sweet potato fries, macaroni and cheese that comes with a dinner roll.
The chicken wings here are really GREAT! They are big and juicy with lots of meat and are fried to perfection (nice and crisp, delicious, and seem free of oil). I also got two generous fish filets that are also perfectly fried. For my sides I got macaroni and cheese (a bit over cooked and broken up), sweet potato fries and a dinner roll (that seems buttered with added sweetness).
My husband tried the chicken and shrimp dinner with macaroni and cheese, dressing (stuffing), and a corn muffin.
Happy to say that the chicken and shrimp are both fried to perfection. The macaroni and cheese is a bit over cooked. The stuffing seems a bit wet. The corn muffing is fresh and moist but is a bit sweet.
Papa Joe’s Chicken & Waffles is certainly Worth a Try!
Momzu Italian Oven is a high quality seasonal Italian Restaurant located not too far from the Las Vegas Strip. They are a little different and offer some Italian Street Foods that are seldom found in most Italian Restaurants such as sausage stuffed olives, cheese stuffed squash blossoms, sage leaves with fried anchovies. They are also well known for their amazing bread that is made with a three hundred year old family starter that probably is the very best bread in all of Nevada. You can order a la carte or go for a Chef’s Table Menu that is multiple courses of much of the menu. (and we feel the way to go but we warn you that you will have leftovers to bring home.)
Here’s what it looks like inside.
Whatever you order they start you off with their amazing bread and embellished ricotta cheese.
If you are ordering a la carte then you might want something like a light and refreshing Italian Beet Salad called Barbabietole.
It’s an Italian Restaurant so you will need a freshly made pasta course. Perhaps the carbonara.
Next are your entrees.
Hanger Steak
Chilian Sea Bass (This was really amazing…it just melted in your mouth)
We had way more food than we could eat and this was the only time we passed on dessert.
Normally we go for the Chefs Table Menu of multiple courses.
This is similar to what you’d normally get on the chef’s table menu.
Bread with embellished ricotta
Street Food combination platter
Vegetables and Salads Platter
Risotto
pasta
pizza
one of two entrees
two of two entrees
a platter of dessert
This is very good and most likely you will have plenty to bring home too. (2026 price $75. per person)
Found a new French Bakery downtown called French Riviera Tropezienne Bakery. The restaurant menu on-line differed from the bakery menu I saw when I was there. I thought maybe I’d try the restaurant selections of soup a l’ oignon? and maybe the black cod in brown butter? or maybe the kosher selection of the day? BUT NO those things weren’t on the menu. Only the bakery selections were available that day. The desserts looked impressive and what I tried was A-OK but not what I came to try.
Did some take out from Asian Wok. Not a fancy place at all but they seem to offer the best American Chinese take out dishes in the area. This time my husband had the shrimp, chicken, beef kung pao and I had the curry chicken.
We also tried a new Italian Deli that recently opened downtown called Slice Deli. It’s a neat tiny take out place. No indoor seating but they do have outdoor seating. They locally source their bread and gelato. We tried an eggplant parm, a shrimp parm hero, and pistachio gelato. All was good.
In other FOOD News –
New food related places that are expected to open this year –
Wetzel’s Pretzels – 1807 W Craig Rd
GiroGrano Pizza Rodizio – Mirica Mile Shops
Johnny Rockets – Excaliber Hotel
Ginza Bairen – Stix Asia Food Hall – Uncommons
Ramen Barrio – Stix Asian Food Hall – Uncommons
Nanamusubi – Stix Asian Food Hall – Uncommons
In CUTE Food News –
Charlie enjoying some chicken from A.mano Pizza.
Charlie enjoying some Asian Wok.
and Charlie enjoying some food from Slice Deli.
That was The FORKING Las Vegas Food Buzz of the Week.
