Most times when something is on sale at my local supermarket it isn’t stocked on the shelf. One of the two main supermarkets also usually doesn’t have a person at the customer service desk so there is also nobody to complain to (at my closer supermarket Smiths). Even if you call to ask for a manager usually nobody answers the phone (Smiths).
Up above potatoes were on sale …….but not for me.
They have a nice BIG SIGN for Brussels Sprouts but there are no Brussels Sprouts.
I also wanted the 4 lb bag of Navel Oranges but none today.
Another pretend potato sale.
Again no potatoes……
Also no carts…..The two pictured are stuck together like they are glued.
Oh and my slighter further other local supermarket Albertsons plays the same games.
They sent me a coupon for a free doughnut. Not a doughnut to be found.
Here are some sale items I didn’t get.
No cucumbers
No Corn
My Local Supermarkets Usually doesn’t Stock Sale Items.
The Notable Dinner of the Week was at Safta 1964 by Alon Shaya in the Encore part of the Wynn Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. We always start with the Salatim Platter. It differs some from visit to visit. This time it included the unusually FORKING. AMAZING hummus (very few in the country are made this high quality well). Labneh, Baba Ganoush, Caramelized Tomatoes, Lutenitsa (eggplant, red pepper, tomato dip), Cream Cheese with Smoked Trout Roe, Za’Atar Oil, Hot Fluffy Pitas, and Pickles.
The Crispy Eggplant is very crispy on the ends and has a creamy and sweet interior.
The Stuffed Grape Leaves are filled with beef short rib, pine nuts, dates, and are over labneh.
One of the best desserts that you can get anywhere is the Safta’s Delights.
It’s usually three each of Chocolate Chunk Halva, Baklava, Turkish Coffee Truffle, blueberry Rugelach, Lemon Tart.
This was the Notable Dinner of The Week.
This is a Pop Up Restaurant and the last day to dine here will be December 31 2024.
This one is based on my husband’s opinion. He said that the Pork Chop from Ciao Vino was the best one that he ever had so it deserves to be the Notable Dish of the Week. He said that it was tender and delicious. He also enjoyed the peppers under the pork chop. He said that usually pork chops are served tough and getting a delicious tender one is very rare. I enjoyed my halibut that evening that was also prepared perfect.
The Notable Dish of the Week is the Pork Chop from Ciao Vino
Halloween is when my claws come out and I complain about some of the lousiest food I tried here. (I drew the picture below for a restaurant I used to work for)
Our local food critic always raves about an Italian Restaurant called Cipriani. This restaurant was also on Eater Las Vegas as one of the best for lunches in Las Vegas so I had to try it. We got the three course menu. The FORKING Truth is that two of the three courses were horrible.
I started with the lentil soup that completely lacked any depth of flavors….For the most part it tasted like a bowl of wet dirt.
Lentil Soup
For our mains we both tried the branzino with pasta. The pasta was perfect but possibly they forgot to season this dish? The only flavor was the fishy bloodline that they might have also forgotten to remove from the fish.
The North Las Vegas Location of Servehzah Bottle Shop and Tap Room might serve good beer but food is another story. All the tacos…even the fried tacos were served cold. The fried meat tacos also were coated in a wet cold (what seemed like thawed from frozen?), possibly raw batter and didn’t taste good. I had a protein bowl that is their signature specialty dish. The chicken was served cold and had this unappetizing taste. The dressing didn’t pour and was hard like cold cream cheese. I think it is possible that it might have been a health violation.
Some things from Izakayo Go were indeed very good but raw fish is usually very good from Japanese restaurants. The big eye tuna steak was NOT EDIBLE. It was raw inside and not tender at all. It was like trying to bite into a raw turkey leg.
I heard mostly good things about Fat Choy. They were even featured on Drive Ins Diners and Dives. The chef also has great experience working at very fine restaurants such as Robuchon. My server recommended the salmon teriyaki so I gave that a try. My fish was slightly over cooked and slightly fishy tasting maybe from being over cooked but my husbands Crispy Korean BBQ Rice bowl was even worst (see it pictured below).
Crispy Korean Beef BBQ Rice Bowl
I tried a small piece of beef. WOW……It’s not developed with any kind of flavor and has a dehydrated beef jerky kind of texture. This is really awful.
We went to MRKT Land and Sea. This is a luxury restaurant at Aliante Casino. I tried the salmon dinner.
Salmon from MRKT
They over cooked the salmon till it was dried out and crumbly.
I sent it back and then they made me raw salmon that was partially over cooked on the ends. They said that they were going to try again but after waiting another 40 minutes we decided that they couldn’t cook salmon. I didn’t have dinner that night.
Incase you don’t know how salmon should be cooked I added a picture from how Bouchon serves salmon.
Salmon from Bouchon
We all should get something like the above from a luxury restaurant.
The Harvest Cafe is sort of a budget restaurant that offers a large menu with lots of variety including breakfast. The prices are very low so you go in not excepting the best. But I made the mistake of expecting the standard or just ok.
This is a very sad plate. I picked the grilled cod because I thought it was the easiest plate on the menu to get ok. I don’t know how they made it but I can imagine frozen fish sticks that got the batter removed and the fish got drenched with four. They grilled it well on one side with the other three sides tasting like raw flour. In the process they over cooked the fish sticks till they were tough and chewy. The green beans were dropped in a nasty tasting oil and served soggy. The rice just tastes gross. You go here when you have a cold and can’t taste your food. Or you go here when you are dieting and are trying not to eat.
And the mediocre or non-honorable mention
Prince’s Pizza
We tried four different slices..None of them looked bad but all four supposedly were made with a different sauce…????……All four were made with tomato sauce that was as sweet as candy.
Uncle Paulie’s
Hated the pastrami sandwich.
Pastrami sandwich from Uncle Paulie’s
Weird tasting pastrami with crunchy ends on not so great bread.
From Greens and Proteins Restaurant –
Just awful tasting and mostly everything was over cooked.
Thai Chicken Peanut Bowl from Greens and Proteins
The Chicken Peanut Bowl was missing the mushrooms and the asparagus. Chicken was dry and chewy. Rice was mushy. My husband’s plate was Chewy steak, hard rice and just didn’t taste good.
Spiedini Fiamma Italian Bistro –
Here almost everything was either over cooked or undercooked. The chicken was under cooked and also had rubbery skin. Dessert there had a frozen center.
Chicken from Spiedini Fiamma Italian Bistro
This was the 2024 Horrific Food Edition from Las Vegas NV.
Monzu Italian Oven & Bar is an Italian Restaurant not far from the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. They offer house made bread and pizzas made with a three hundred year old natural starter that gives the bread and pizzas a sophisticated developed taste. They offer many starters, salads, pizzas, entrees, desserts, bar drinks, and Italian Wines. Certain hours they also have live music.
We always get the $62. Chef’s Table Menu. It’s always different. They do customize for your taste. It’s also way more food than you can eat so you always have leftovers to bring home.
Whatever you order they start you off with their amazing country bread that is served with olive oil and house made ricotta cheese.
Then with the $62. Chef’s Table Menu you might get Antipasti like this….
There was four kinds of Italian meats, four kinds of Italian cheeses, Italian fried breads, pistachio crusted goat cheese, walnuts, and sage fried anchovies. On previous visits I remembered getting a fried artichoke and another time we got fried stuffed squash blossoms.
Next courses were –
Kale salad with pomegranate and fennel salad with crunchy sweet fennel
Crepe lasagna with beef
Potato Gnocchi with walnuts and gorgonzola sauce
This is their pesto multi cheese pizza. I think I’ve tasted the very best pizzas here. They are like no other and “POP” the most. Delicious amazing developed crust and spectacular toppings. Then the pizzas go straight up to the Stratosphere with the crushed Calabrian Chilies and the garlic marscapone condiments….WOW! You won’t get this anywhere-else.
tender Lamb Chops with roasted potatoes
Tender Hanger Steak with herb sauce and roasted potatoes
Citrus Doughnut, pistachio dipped cannolis, nougat, cookies is a sweet ending.
The $66. Chef’s Table Menu from Monzu Italian Oven & Bar is The Notable Dinner of the week and also is Worth a Fork!
Showing off is just to show you that I cook stuff. The majority of what you see here can be found as a recipe here www.TheForkingTruth.com Of course I don’t photo everything just the special occasion stuff I make for gatherings. Up above egg salads stuffed into cracker cups I made (cracker cups are just bread crisps that I shaped different).
Below are butternut squash filled fried crepes with 5 spice and some orange ginger sauce.
Honey Apple Cake
An unusual visit from The Giant Aussie Shepard/Cattledog. She seems oddly enchanted with the honey apple cake. Don’t worry I let her have some and she lapped it up. My smaller dog is running around barking right now. If I made something with cheese or chicken he would be here.
Mini Potato Knishes with the Honey Apple Cake
Potato Cheddar Pierogi
Cheesy Potato Filled Potatoes and Wasabi Potato filled Potatoes
Mini Bouchon Bites topped with chocolate pots de creme and a cherry (Bouchon Bakery recipe for really great chocolate cakes)
Plain pizza with a variety of fresh cheeses and with slow roasted tomatoes and home grown basil
One of the all-time-BEST recipes I ever came across was the Cook’s Country Cheddar Pierogi Recipe. (Published on here but slightly different I think the only difference was that I fried mine). Usually Pierogi are served like ravioli (just boiled) and the next day get served fried but I think pierogi are always tastier fried.
My ****UPDATE**** is that I just learned by accident that the pierogi come out even better if the filling is chilled hard. When the filling is fresh made it is too soft to shape and stuff well…..
I had chilled cheddar potato filling that I made for stuffed potatoes and I thought the leftover I’d make into pierogi. That is how I figured it out.
That is my update to Cook’s Country Potato Cheddar Pierogi Recipe.
This was a better than average week with a lot of great food. One of the dishes that is always incredible is Emeril’s Banana Cream Pie. It’s so life changing that even if you hate banana cream pies you will love this one. My husband HATES banana cream pies but also loves Emeril’s Banana Cream Pie because it really is FORKING AMAZING and like no other. It’s just FORKING DELICIOUS. It is a sin and a shame if you go anywhere where there is a Emeril’s Restaurant and don’t get the Banana Cream Pie.
Available in several states but my last one was at….
