Monthly Archives: July 2023

HaSalon – Las Vegas NV – Modern Israeli Cuisine – Just Opened

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HaSalon is a Modern Israeli Inspired high quality Restaurant located in the Venetian in the Palazzo area on The Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. This restaurant is by seasoned chef, restauranteur, and Masterchef Judge Eyal Shani who has over 40 restaurants around the world and also opened Miznon (a casual counter Israeli Street Style Food Restaurant) in the same hall in the Palazza recently. HaSalon translates to dining room. You are suppose to feel that you are dining in the chef’s own dining room. The menu is daily changing of fresh harvested meats, daily flown in fresh fish, vegetables, and hand made pastas. The early seating is normal and tranquil and the late seating the restaurant transforms to a supper club and is vibrant, loud and maybe wild and crazy. Dancing is encouraged on top of the tables.

We tried the early seating that starts at 6pm.

Whatever you order that start you off with complimentary delicious focaccia and sour cream that was embellished with tomato guts and Chile peppers.

Thought the six pepper appetizer called spicy instrument would go well with the focaccia and other things so we gave it a try.

Everything on the plate tastes different. The dark green is the spiciest. The darkest red is the smokiest and everything else is in-between.

This plate was interesting…..The beet carpaccio was so light it was almost like air. But had lots more flavor than air. It was very earthy but melted in the mouth. It was embellished with creme fraiche and horseradish snow.

Ricotta clouds were highly recommended by our server. She said they make the ricotta in-house.

To my surprise they differed from what I imagined and were actually gnocchi made with whey.

My husband added another plate to our order and we got the eggplant melanza.

It’s four very thin slices of sweet eggplant in a rich but light tomato sauce with cheese.

We shared what they call melting spinach.

It’s a mound of spinach cooked with butter and topped with grated cheese and grey sea salt.

For dinner we shared the hraine (striped bass in spicy tomato sauce).

This was my personal favorite of the dishes. No BAD DISHES were found here but this fish was very DELICIOUS and prepared perfectly. It’s also a large portion (I note that I don’t know if they gave me extra by accident) and feeds two people. The fish is also embellished with tahini, cilantro and scallions. My husband’s favorite dish was the eggplant melanza. It was sort of a sophisticated style of authentic eggplant parmesan. Another special dish to me was the beets carpaccio. The beets were very earthy and almost really did seem like meat.

That was my trip to HaSalon – Newly Opened

HaSalon

Venetian, Palazzo 3325 S. Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas NV

702-607-7777

www.HaSalonVegas.com

www.VenetianLasVegas.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Focaccia style Bread with Onions, Tomatoes, and Grana Padano Recipe

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I was reading a recipe for Focaccia and I was very surprised that it had an egg and heavy cream in the dough. This recipe I would have not read but it was by an Italian Chef from Lombardy so I guess it’s for real. I didn’t have heavy cream at home but I did have a French cheese called Fromagerd d Affinois with herbs (basically Brie). I used that in the dough instead of cream and I changed up the flours due to what I had in my pantry. I also changed up the liquids slightly. I also had to figure out the oven temperature and timing. But WOW! It came out FORKING DELICIOUS! Serving size is always difficult to determine because I don’t know if you want a small serving or a large serving. This made 6 small breads……so that means between 6-12 servings depending on if you want a half bread or a whole bread…..so I’ll say 9 servings. That is my guesstimate.

Ingredients for around 9 servings

1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon water warmed up to 110 degrees F

1 pack active dry yeast

1 Tablespoon honey

1/4 cup brie cheese or something similar

1 egg – lightly beaten

1 teaspoon course sea salt

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

5 Tablespoons 00 flour

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + more for spraying the dough

4 Tablespoons water

6 pinches flake sea salt

1/4 red onion – sliced extra thin

12 sweet grape tomatoes – sliced thin

3 oz Grana Padano – shredded

3 small pinches rosemary

3 small pinches Italian seasoning (This is what I used…..I tablespoon sea salt, 1 Tablespoon black pepper, 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder, 1/2 Tablespoon onion powder, 1 Tablespoon basil, 1 tablespoon oregano, 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds, 1 crushed small dried Calabrian Chile pepper)

non stick spray

a few pinches of cornmeal or semolina

Directions

Set oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine yeast, 110 degree water, and honey in a large bowl. Mix and wait about ten minutes till you see a foamy surface. Whisk in cheese, egg, and salt. Add flours, water, and olive oil. This mixes together very well. Knead it some and make a ball and put it in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. In around an hour divide the dough into 6 balls. 2 sheet pans get sprayed lightly with non stick spray and then spray the lightly with olive oil and add a light sprinkle of corn meal or semolina. Shape each ball of dough into a flat pancake. Three pancakes will fit on each sheet tray. Cover them loosely with plastic wrap. Let them rise 30-60 minutes.

Spray them with olive oil. Sprinkle them with a light sprinkle of sea salt flakes and rosemary. (Optional….you should make the dimples in the dough….I did but they didn’t stay dimpled)……Add a sprinkle of raw onions slices and tiny sweet tomato slices. Add a sprinkle of Grana Padano. Finish with a LIGHT sprinkle of Italian seasoning and another sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil.

This goes in your preheated 425 degree F oven till slightly browned. Ovens do differ. This took around 25 minutes in my oven on a middle rack. In my old oven I think this only would take around 15 minutes.

Anyway it really did come out FORKING DELICIOUS! (Below is one of the 6 small loaves sliced up)

Took some to a party I went to with my FORKING AMAZING chocolate chip cookies.

Focaccia Style Bread with Onions, Tomatoes, and Grana Padano

I didn’t make chef Mattia Agazzi’s recipe for Focaccia (only because I didn’t have the ingredients) but it inspired me to make what I got here so a Special Thanks!!!! to him!

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Little Hong Kong Chinese and Filipino Favorites Restaurant North Las Vegas NV

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Little Hong Kong Chinese and Filipino Favorites Restaurant is located in North Las Vegas Nevada. It’s a small casual restaurant with some wait service Filipino Food, American Chinese Food, soft canned beverages, and bottled water. They only have a few tables in this restaurant and I noticed most customers do take out here. This restaurant has an impressive 4.5 star average on Yelp so I thought it would be very good.

This dish is hard to find on menus so we tried vinegar marinated milkfish that is fried crisp with black pepper.

We also tried Mandarin hot braised vegetables to share.

and Szechwan beef. Both dishes are made with nice variety of the same fresh vegetables (bok choy, broccoli, red bell pepper, mini corn, carrot, onion, green pepper) But…….Both the Mandarin vegetables and the Szechwan beef taste exactly the same and are both in a sweet flat sauce that doesn’t even have a hint of heat.

Also the fish and the beef are not cooked properly. Both are dry and chewy. (It’s unusual to be served chewy dry fish). Sadly this is substandard. We also were the only table dining in and weren’t checked on. We even had to ask for the bill.

I don’t know what happened to this restaurant today so I can’t say…………But today sure wasn’t worth a try and certainly WASN’T Worth a Fork!

That was my trip to

Little Hong Kong

445 West Craig Road North Las Vegas NV – 702-643-3601

www.LittleHongKongVegas.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

First Taste at Pho Aimie – NORTH LAS VEGAS NV

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Pho Aimie is a full service Vietnamese Restaurant located in North Las Vegas Nevada. They offer around twenty varieties of pho (usually a beef noodle soup). One variety of pho that they offer is a rare steak spicy sate noodle with peanut thick soup that is not often on menus. They also offer vermicelli entrees, rice entrees, varieties of rice and egg noodle dishes, Vietnamese ice coffee, beer, and more. I do note that I didn’t notice Vietnamese baguette sandwiches (Banh Mi ) on the menu.

They seat you quickly as soon as you enter.

They have a large open room with hanging carved lantern type fixtures, and bamboo shrubbery.

We started out by sharing the chicken potstickers.

They have crisp exteriors from being deep fried and nicely seasoned chicken interiors.

For my dinner I picked the vermicelli stir fried with chicken lemongrass.

I got a generously sized bowl of lettuce, vermicelli, bean sprouts, carrot-radish-cucumbers, scallions, onions, and tender shaved medium spicy lemongrass infused chicken. This is light and refreshing and just right on a hot day. This can be two meals for some people……but only if you are OK with only a small amount of protein.

My husband tried the shaking beef rice entree.

It came with a bowl (of what my husband said was beef broth) soup. The beef here is tender and was cooked with onions with a soy based sauce with vegetables (carrot radish, cucumbers) and steamed rice.

That was my first taste at Pho Aimie in NORTH LAS VEGAS NV.

2696 W. Ann Rd NORTH LAS VEGAS NV

702-522-8988

www.PhoAimieLV.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Carson Kitchen Las Vegas NV – Fine Comfort Foods

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Carson Kitchen was created by restauranteur Cory Harwell and the late chef Kerry Simon who was often a judge on many Food Network TV Shows. The Las Vegas location is downtown in a midcentury converted hotel that formally was the John E Carson Hotel. It’s pretty easy to miss and just walk by but right around opening time is a small line of people waiting to get in by a door that is hard to notice.

You have options inside. Do you want to sit on the rooftop? Outside, or at the bar? You can sit at the kitchen counter and catch some action.

Or you can grab a seat in the main inside dining area.

The menu offers fine chef quality comfort foods. You can get starters like crispy chicken skins with smoked honey. A few of the other starters are hot dog burnt ends, and asada style venison tacos. They also offer sandwiches and flatbreads. Other plates like beet tartare, macaroni and cheese, three bean salad with ham and green goddess dressing, and gin riggies (rabbit & snake sausage with tomato cream. Some of the entrees are things like chicken thighs, pork meatloaf, salmon with strawberry pico, and short ribs with Mississippi jus and pepperacini pesto.

We were told orders do not necessarily come out together here. They come out of the kitchen as they are done.

We decided to start with the beet tartare.

It’s a bed of whipped goat cheese topped with soft beets, crushed pistachios, and mandarin oranges with thin crisp flatbreads.

For our mains we shared the secret Sunday chicken sandwich with spicy pickle aioli and house prepared tater tots.

About ten minutes latter we also shared the jerk turkey burger that also comes with house prepared tater tots.

The flavors are really great from both the sandwiches. The chicken sandwich is special with that spicy pickle aioli that really cuts threw everything. The tater tots are also exceptional with a very good real potato flavor and are perfectly crisp.

This was my first trip to Carson Kitchen in downtown Las Vegas NV.

Carson Kitchen – Fine Comfort Foods

124 South 6TH Street Las Vegas NV

702-473-9523

www.CarsonKitchen.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

EZ Roasted Cheese & Mustard Cauliflower Recipe

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I was thinking about calling this recipe FORKING TASTY cauliflower because when my husband tried it he said that this was, “FORKING TASTY Cauliflower. Sorry I missed photographing my dog for you……….. but even he thought it was FORKING TASTY too and STOLE a piece off of this plate while my back was turned. I used an orange colored cauliflower that is slightly tastier than the white ones but you can use a white cauliflower. Purple cauliflowers are more delicate and would probably burn up so I wouldn’t recommend using purple. Serving suggestion size may differ because we all have different appetites.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1 cauliflower (preferably orange) – break down to florets

2 eggs

3 tablespoons mustard (I used Amora Brand Dijon mustard)

4 oz parmesan cheese – grated

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

non-stick spray

Directions

preheat oven to 450 degrees F

Spray your baking sheet(s) with non-stick spray and set to the side.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs, mustard, cheese, pepper, and paprika. Mix well and then add the cauliflower florets. This mixture will be very thick. Mix well till it looks like the cheese mixture is all over the cauliflower. Then arrange the cauliflower on sprayed sheet pan(s) in single layer with a small amount of room around each floret.

These go on your middle rack for around 25 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked and slightly brown.

Roasted Cheese & Mustard Cauliflower

This is FORKING TASTY Cauliflower.

The Forking Truth

Food Shopping in North Las Vegas is More Difficult than what I’m Used To

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My local Smith’s seems very understaffed. In the mornings when I like to shop they don’t have customer service or cashiers on. Later in the day they have one cashier that doesn’t bag for you and the line is always a mile long……………So you usually have to do your self check out anyway. I dread ringing in my order myself. The computer there at Smith’s can drive you nuts.

You can ring in organic scallions that cost more but if you have regular scallions the computer reads, “no items found.” So you have another choice and find the scallions by the picture and it might work that way. I found out that other items in the store you are on the, “type item ring in way” and others are on, “the look up picture way.”

Besides the irritation of ringing things in there are other irritating things about Smith’s.

You can’t buy toothpaste and other things before 9am.

On the bright side the fish is much better here than it was in Arizona. Here the fresh fish actually taste fresh and not old and fishy. Also the eggs have a nicer color yolk.

But they do sell some weird things in Las Vegas. I think the pistachio salad looks very unappetizing. It might make you poop in a neon turquoise color.

They also sell the weirdest celery I’ve ever seen.

We also have an Alberson’s near by. That store is a pain too. I miss the old days when I just pulled out my shoppers card to get the sale prices. Those were the old days. Here at Albertson’s you have to shop with a cell phone and have the Alberson’s app. You have to swipe each item on sale to get the sale price.

I’m also disappointed with the Whole Foods and Smart and Final here. Both stores are smaller and both don’t sell the specialty items that I’m looking for.

Even shopping at the 99Cent store is more difficult. At the 99Cent Store they don’t let you take the shopping cart out of the store. So if you have a few heavy bags you are screwed.

Food Shopping in North Las Vegas is more difficult than what I’m used to.

The Forking Truth

Mariscos La Lomita De Culiacan – Mexican Seafood Restaurant – North Las Vegas NV – Worth a Try!

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Mariscos La Lomita De Culiacan is a small casual fresh Mexican Seafood Restaurant located in North LasVegas Nevada. They don’t have a bar but will make cocktails from the kitchen. The atmosphere is loud. The TV plays loud in Spanish TV. They play loud music in the dining room and loud music also comes from the kitchen. I do warn you that English is the secondary language here. Our first server didn’t understand us and a second server came over to serve us who was bilingual. I saw a lot of Mexican seafood rolls on the menu. Each one had cream cheese in them and since my husband doesn’t care for cream cheese I had to pass on them. We tried margaritas. They seemed very strong but had little flavor….

They started us off with tostadas and salsa.

For my main I tried the mojarra fish a la diablo.

I got a large mild white fish that is reasonably fresh and cooked to perfection with a medium spicy but tasty sauce. It sits on a generous pile of rice and the plate also includes soupy refried beans and some salad. We also got white corn tortillas on the side.

My husband tried the Cameron (shrimp) culichi verde (poblano cream sauce with cheese).

This platter also comes with rice, refried beans and salad.

Prices were low and portions were very generous.

Mariscos La Lomita De Culiacan is Worth a Try!

3300 Losee Rd North Las Vegas NV

702-988-2252

I haven’t found a website but they are on Facebook

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

The Vetri Cucina Pre Theater $99. Menu is Worth a Fork! At The Palms Las Vegas NV

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The Vetri Cucina is a high quality Italian Restaurant by award wining cookbook author and restauranteur Marc Vetri. The Las Vegas location in the Palms Casino Resort is on the 56th floor with breath taking views of Las Vegas.

Inside is a bar and a main dining room and a couple private dining rooms.

I noticed that they iron the table clothes to make them extra crisp.

At the Las Vegas Location in the Palms Casino the emphasis on the menu just happens to be small shareable plates. We were at the Palms to see a show so it seemed like a great idea to try the Pre Theater menu. It is 4 courses of two choices to try so we went for one of each!

All the tables are set with high quality heavy silverware, hand made water glasses, and these FORKING adorable FORK Charger Plates.

They started us out with amazing delicious bread and HOUSE CHURNED butter.

In reasonable time we were served a really yummy sweet onion crepe with truffle parmesan fondue.

and a fresh and light blue fin tuna crudo with salsa verde and artichoke.

Both great especially the crepe!

Next were the pasta courses.

Beef cheek agnolotti with balsamic beef jus.

and (our favorite) almond tortellini with truffle and parmesan.

Entrees were roasted goat over HOUSE MILLED polenta.

and wood roasted black cod with squash blossom and tomato conserva.

We finished with house made black cherry gelati.

cucumber sorbet

And then they sweetened us up more with raspberry gelee and mixed fruit bonbons.

Everything we tried was prepared to perfection and the service was very attentive and informational. Plates were also cleared quickly.

I have to say…….

The Pre Theater Menu from Vetri Cucina in the Palms is………..

Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

Vetri Cucina At The Palms 4321 W Flamingo Rd Las Vegas NV – 702-944-5900

www.VetriCucinaLV.vom

www.Palms.com

Every THING is subject to change

The Forking Truth

EZ FORKING Scrumptious Bread Crisps & Blue Cheese Butter with Herb Sauce Recipe

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A long time ago I used to go to Eddie’s House Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ and he used to serve complimentary bread baskets. Those bread baskets contained an assortment of breads and these flat crisp breads with blue cheese butter and pistou herb sauce (pesto without nuts). A few years ago I published a similar recipe. I did get the crisp bread recipe from Epicurious. This is pretty much the same recipe for the crisps but in my current oven I need to bump up the heat 25 degrees for the crisps to come out the same. The rest is even easier than before because I decided that you don’t need to measure the butter and blue cheese. Just blend a stick of butter with a wedge of blue cheese. For the herbs I grabbed a handful of basil, some leftover marjoram, some green parts of scallions and olive oil. Portion size is always difficult to determine because I don’t know if you want one small piece or several pieces. This makes three flatbreads that I’m guessing are two servings so I will round this to 6 servings.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil + extra for brushing or spraying the flat breads

sea salt flakes – to taste

poppy seeds – to taste

sesame seeds – to taste

1 – 4 oz stick butter (doesn’t matter if salted or not) – room temperature

1 wedge (around 4 oz or more) blue cheese – room temperature

handful of herbs

extra virgin olive oil to blend

Directions

Here’s the difficult part………picking a temperature for the oven……….In my last oven I made these same flat breads at the Epicurious suggestion of 450 degrees F for ten minutes……I tried that and it doesn’t work in my current oven so I cranked it up to 475F and then the crips came out. You can try 450F and if yours is still raw then crank it up to 475F till done.

After you pick your oven temperature……In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, water, and oil. Divide the dough into three balls.

Roll the balls on parchment paper and top the dough with plastic wrap and roll the dough into a flat bread. Remove the plastic wrap and spray or brush with olive oil. Sprinkle sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and sea salt flakes. Transfer your raw flat bread on parchment paper to a sheet pan and place in your oven for about 10 minutes.

Repeat with 2nd and 3rd dough balls.

I’ve found out that you can bake two in the oven but in my oven the flat bread on lower rack needed two more minutes.

For the blue cheese butter just blend the blue cheese with the butter.

For the herbs remove any stems and blend with olive oil.

This is FORKING Delicious!

EZ Bread Crisps with Blue Cheese Butter and Herb Sauce

A special THANKS!!!!! to Epicurious for a FORKING fantastic bread crisp recipe and also to Chef Eddie that was from Eddie’s House for this amazing idea!

The Forking Truth