Monthly Archives: June 2024

Cocktail Rye Rolls Recipe

I got the idea to make some tuna and smoked trout mousse, pickled onions, and cocktail rye rolls so that is what I made.

I made my rye mini loaf recipe but instead of 8 mini loafs I got 30 cocktail sized rye bread AND 8 small rolls.

Anyways –

This recipe makes around 16 servings

Ingredients

2 cup + 2 Tablespoons bread flour

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons dark rye flour

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar – separated

1 Tablespoon course sea salt

1 pack (2 1/4 teaspoons) dry active yeast

2 Tablespoons caraway seeds + extra for sprinkling the tops

1 1/2 cup 110 degree water

1/4 cup canola oil

semolina to coat bottom of rolls

1 egg white – to brush rolls with

sea salt flakes – light pinch to finish rolls

Directions

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Add the yeast and one tablespoon of brown sugar to the water. Mix and cover with plastic wrap.

In your stand mixer bowl with a dough hook add the flours, sugar, salt, caraway seeds, oil, and water as soon as it looks foamy on the top.

Mix slow to get all the ingredients together and once mixed turn up to medium speed and let mix for ten minutes.

Either leave dough in bowl or remove dough and add to a bowl.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter for four hours for the flavors to develop.

Preheat oven to 425 F

I used about 1/2 the dough for cocktail sized breads.

I rolled the dough around soft pretzel size and broke off pieces about the size of the first joint of my thumb.

The balls get rolled and before you place them on the parchment paper you dip the bottoms in semolina.

Leave the rolls sit on the counter about hour so they can puff up a bit.

Brush the tops twice with egg whites.

Make two decorate slices in the tops if desired.

Sprinkle the tops with caraway seeds and sea salt flakes

In my oven the cocktail sized breads took 10 minutes

The softball sized rolls took 15 minutes.

Cocktail Sized Rye Rolls

ENJOY!!!!

The Forking Truth

NEW WEird diffERENT Limited and Special Edition Foods June 2024

There is ALWAYS something New, Weird, Different, Limited, and, Special Edition in the wonderful world of food. We just never know WTFork we’ll come across when we shop for food.

Up above is –

WEIRD – Off Limits Gluten Free vegan Vanilla Zombie Cereal……WHY THE FORK is this cereal named ZOMBIE? That is really WEIRD. You need a grave sense of humor for this.

DIFFERENT and kinda WEIRD – Off Limits Gluten Free Vegan Strawberry Spark Cereal…….The Blue girl on the box makes me afraid to try this cereal.

DIFFERENT – Off Limits Gluten Free Vegan Coffee Cereal. This one makes more sense to me but why a rabbit on the box and not something like a race horse or cheetah……Guess a rabbit is better on the box than a turtle.

DIFFERENT – Heyday Harissa/Lemon chickpeas, Coconut Curry Chickpeas, Kimchi Sesame Navy Beans. Well they all sound delicious but don’t know yet.

DIFFERENT and possibly WEIRD – Sprouts – Pineapple Habanero White Carrot Chips – They sound interesting but mostly just taste FORKING salty…….BLAH!

LIMITED EDITION & WEIRD – Cup Noodles – Ramen Noodles with Everything Bagel ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED CREAM CHEESE…….SOMEONE MUST HAVE BEEN ON DRUGS TO MAKE THIS………..

WEIRD – Go Raw – EVERYTHING BAGEL Organic sprouted seeds – Why would I want seeds that taste like bagels?

WEIRD – Hippy Snacks – Banana Bread Crisps……weird but might be tasty?

DIFFERENT – Savorsmith Irish Truffle and Rosemary Luxurious Potato Chips….????? I like both truffle and Rosemary but not sure about them together…..Peacock woman on bag looks very WEIRD!

DIFFERENT – Pepperoni Pizza Cupcakes that made an appearance on Shark Tank. ????

DIFFERENT – Peperoni Baozza…….Now THAT is FORKING different!

NEW and possibly WEIRD – Star Wars Truff Hot Black Truffle Sauce……I do like some of the Truff Sauces but find it to be odd they felt the need to make a collectable edition.

Found this at Sprouts might be FORKING WEIRDEST EVER!

WEIRD – Sprouts Kimchi Dill Pickle Cranberries – You know someone must have been on drugs to think this one up.

I also came across some WEIRD foods for dogs this month.

WEIRD – Milkbone Dunkin’ Vanilla Glaze flavor Biscuits…..My dogs might eat them but would probably prefer a cheeseburger or fresh roasted chicken.

WEIRD – Purina Beggin – Loaded Bacon & Beef Nacho Treats and also Loaded Bacon & Cheese Fries………We love our dogs…Why would we buy them Junk food when they can just eat some of our people junk food?

There is usually something Oreo………

I found LIMITED EDITION Oreos that come out July 8th 2024.

LIMITED EDITION – Mint Chip with Chocolate Chips Oreo Cookies

Well that was the NEW, WEIRD, DIFFERENT, Limited and Special Edition foods for June 2024. Who knows WTFork we’ll come across next month!

The Forking Truth

Dining Out (& IN) With DOGS in Las Vegas June 2024

Dining out with dogs is just a “FLUFF” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started with my late dog Louie. You know Louie always enjoyed going out to eat. When he got elderly he came down with aggressive cancer. We were told that he probably only had 3 months to live…..but maybe up to 6 months………I took Louie out to eat as often as possible since going out to eat was his greatest enjoyment. Instead of the 3-6 months Louie made it another 17 months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when the weather is right and when I can.

Just so you know I am usually a week or so behind with Dining Out with Dogs…..June pretty much began too hot to dine out with dogs so the dining out was actually in May and “In doors”when it was too hot.

We got to go to Hawaiian Barbecue #1 in North Las Vegas. In case you don’t know Hawaiian BBQ is usually big styrofoam containers stuffed with lots of protein and usually rice. This place doesn’t have their own patio but do share a community patio only 2 doors down. My husband (and dogs) tried the Chicken Stir Fry Saimin (Asian flavored stir fry with noodles).

And I (and dogs) had the garlic Mahi Healthier Plate (Maui Fish, salad, brown rice, and hard egg). (with garlic scraped off for dogs) They also had some of the egg.

We all enjoyed Hawaiian Barbecue # 1

5870 N Losee Rd North Las Vegas NV

702-642-4600

www.BestHawaiianBarbeque.com

We happened to have a nice day where we could sit in shade in 85 degree weather so we went to Those Guys Pies in North Las Vegas. They specialize in cheesesteaks and pizzas. If this place sound familiar to you then you might have caught them on Food Network’s Diners Drive Ins and Dives.

We started out by buying the dogs craft chicken dog biscuits from the dog biscuit vending machine that they have inside.

They also got to eat grilled chicken from my Lakeside Salad.

And Cheese Steak from my husband’s cheesesteak.

We always enjoy going to Those Guys Pies

5585 Simmons St North Las Vegas NV

725-251-5826

www.ThoseGuysPies.com

Suddenly it got very hot in Las Vegas but near the beginning of the month we had a windy-not-too-sunny day with shade so we were able to quickly enjoy some cheeseburger from In-N-Out.

They always enjoy an In-N-Out Cheeseburger.

Today it was too hot outside to dine out with dogs. So we took the dogs threw the In-N-Out Drive Thru and brought a burger home for them.

The Dogs always enjoy a Cheeseburger from In-N-Out.

Well That was Dining Out (and In) With DOGS for June 2024. We are hoping for a Monsoon to cool things here so we can Dine Out again soon! We hope to see you next month.

The Forking Truth
In Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017

Letty’s De Leticias Cocina Las Vegas NV – Worth a Try!

Letty’s De Leticias Cocina is a full service Mexican Restaurant located in the Arts District of Downtown Las Vegas Nevada. They offer a variety of Mexican all day breakfast dishes such as pozole, menudo, chilaquiles, and a few more things. A few of the other items they offer are appetizers like chips and salsa, ceviche, and quesadillas. They also offer soups, and sandwiches on fresh baked bolillo bread. You can also find Tamales, Enchiladas, Burritos, Pupusas, Carne Asada, Grilled Chicken, Carnitas and MORE!

If this restaurant seems familiar to you then maybe you saw them on Food Network’s Diners Drive Ins and Dives.

This is a small restaurant that fills up fast.

We started out with some margaritas and chips and salsa.

My husband enjoyed the steak ranchero burrito packed with cheese, rice, and beans and topped with red guajillo sauce and more cheese.

I tried the birria ramen.

I liked the eggs because they were nice and jammy. The beef isn’t bad because it’s tender and flavorful. They also gave a generous portion of beef. For my taste the broth is too fatty for me to eat it but my husband has a different taste and enjoys this. He will eat it over the next two days.

Worth a Try!

Letty’s De Leticias – 702-476-9477

807 S. Main St Las Vegas NV

www.LettysDeLeticias.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

China Mama 2 Shanghai Plaza Las Vegas NV – Real Chinese Food – Worth a Fork!

China Mama 2 is located in Las Vegas Nevada’s Chinatown in Shanghai Plaza. This restaurant offers mostly authentic Chinese Food but they also offer a few American Chinese Dishes like orange chicken.

It’s always busy here and you wait for your table by signing in on an iPad. The wait is usually 1-2 hours but We got lucky today and only waited eleven minutes.

Whatever you order they start you off with ice water in cold metal tumblers and hot Jasmin Tea.

We started out by trying the wood ear mushroom salad.

It’s crisp and kinda spicy…..

The waiters favorite dish here is the sliced fish filet with ginger and scallions so we went with that.

it’s light and mild and easy to eat.

But the dry pepper chicken is another story.

The chicken is bite sized, breaded and fried. It’s fried well because it seems free of oil but it was fried with MOLTEN HOT dried and fresh peppers and garlic. This dish really is too spicy hot for us……We’ve had this dish before at other Chinese Restaurants and it is always very spicy hot but not MOLTEN HOT like this one. We manage to eat a little of this one but I brought most of it home minus any pepper I came across. At home I made a honey based sauce that took the heat down a couple levels.

We also shared some of the sautéed lettuce.

The lettuce is nice and crisp and only very mildly seasoned.

We also had some steamed rice. The rice doesn’t come with the meals here and you have to order it.

We had plenty of leftovers to bring home.

The food was all very good but for our taste the dry pepper chicken ran too spicy hot.

China Mama 2 (at Shanghai Plaza) is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

China Mama 2

4266 Spring Mountain Rd Las Vegas NV

702-900-8802

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato, and Cheesy Custard Blintz with Orange Rayu Sauce Recipe Idea Based on Yotam Ottolenghi Recipe Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard with Orange Rayu Recipe

Incase you don’t know Yotam Ottolenghi is a James Beard and Multi Award wining chef, restauranteur, and cookbook author. Somehow he comes up with the most interesting unique amazing recipes ever. I did a variation of his Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard before.

Five-Spice Butternut Squash in Cheesy Custard

This time I added sweet potato, used different cheeses, made crepes, and made the rayu sauce.

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato in Cheesy Custard Blintzes with Orange Rayu

Used a nonstick pan to fry blintzes. You will get 9-11 crepes. For the filling feel welcome to cut the recipe in half. I got about double the filling I needed….I used 1/2 and froze the other half.

Crepes

4 eggs

1 cup water

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter – melted + MORE BUTTER TO FRY BLINTZES

2 Tablespoons Greek yogurt

couple drops vanilla extract

1 cup flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Filling

6 oz vegetable stock

8 oz heavy cream

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 teaspoons corn starch

2 teaspoons white miso

3 oz Swiss Cheese – shredded

3 oz Gouda Cheese – shredded

about 2 lbs butternut squash (large dice) (I precooked mine with around 2 Tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper and a sprinkle of turbinado sugar.

about 1 pound sweet potatoes (large dice) (I precooked mine with a small amount of oil and salt and pepper.

non stick spray.

This all gets mixed together and goes in a sprayed baking dish in a preheated 400 degree F oven.

Orange Rayu

2 ounces olive oil

2 scallions cut in thin slices

1/2 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1/2 teaspoon ground Aleppo

1 Tablespoon white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon black sesame seeds

1 large orange – fresh squeezed juice and all the zest

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Heat all the ingredients up in a sauce pan for a few minutes on medium heat.

Assemble

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato in Cheesy Custard Blintzes with Orange Rayu

A special THANKS!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for an amazing recipe that keeps giving and giving!

The Forking Truth

Dish Of The Week – Grilled Salmon from 1228 Main – Las Vegas NV

The Dish Of The Week that impressed me the most was the Grilled Salmon from 1228 Main. This Restaurant is in the family of Wolfgang Puck Restaurants and is located in downtown Las Vegas Nevada. The Grilled Salmon dish impressed me for several reasons.

1 – They didn’t even ask how I wanted it done and prepared it medium-ish

2 – They removed most of the bloodline that gives fish a fishier taste

3 – They crisped up the skin so much that it was like eating a crispy potato chip

4 – the fish was great and sauce and vegetables were unusually FORKING DELICIOUS

Everything we had on all our visits to 1228 Main were all VERY GOOD but I do need to mention that the menu changed on my every visit there. In case you don’t know 1228 serves daily made fresh baked goods, breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, and also has a bar.

The other plates we enjoyed on our last visit were –

Focaccia with provolone cheese and mortadella on the side

Spanish style cheese cake

This time we sat in the bar area

The Dish of the Week came from –

1228 Main – at – 1228 S. Main Street Las Vegas NV

702-602-0531

www.1228MainLV.com

The Forking Truth

My Visit to Thai St Cafe Las Vegas

Thai St Cafe has two locations in Las Vegas Nevada. I went to the Centennial Location. I wanted to come here because I read that they also do the fried Spinach Salad that many Thai Restaurants do here…….WTFork?……We walked in and immediately I knew I was here before……..But last time this restaurant was named Secret Of Siam…….Then I read about Secret of Siam in trouble for accidentally adding THC to their curries and many people got sick. The restaurant closed while under investigation and the judgement concluded Accidental. The Restaurant re-opened and in a short time became Thai St Cafe. I have found out that they are under a new ownership now.

It looks exactly the same inside as before.

The menu is exactly the same as before.

I decide not to get the spinach salad.

Got the eggplant with chicken with a #3 heat out of 5.

It looks exactly the same as before. It’s actually slightly less flavorful and not as spicy so it differs some. It’s good but not my favorite version of this dish. I like when the eggplants are more firm and less oily and more sweet like white eggplants.

My husband tried the drunken noodles with chicken.

He said that his chicken was dry and he got grumpy.

That was my visit to Thai St Cafe.

5705 Centennial Center Blvd Las Vegas NV

702-331-4406

www.ThatStCafe.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Bleu Kitchen Garlic Noodle Bar Las Vegas NV – Asian-Soul-Fusion – Worth a Fork!

Blue Kitchen Garlic Noodle Bar is an Asian – Soul – Fusion sort of restaurant that offers various noodle dishes and also a lot of seafood dishes. They also offer sharable plates such as bao buns, wings, and shrimp fried rice balls. They also offer small plates like Asian style chicken or oxtail tacos, deep fried lobster tails, and jumbo stuffed shrimp. The main dig might be the garlic noodles that come in a few varieties of shrimp, a couple in chicken, salmon, lamb, crab cake salmon, oxtail, ribeye, bbq ribs, and Gumbo Pot pie. Soft beverages and house made lemonades are served here. This restaurant is located in the North-West part of Las Vegas Nevada.

It’s comfortable inside with soft soul music in the air.

We started out by sharing the Chicken Asian Style Tacos.

They are 4 tacos made with fried potsticker skins and are stuffed with juicy Asian style chicken, sesame seeds, chives, sweet garlic aioli, and wasabi avocado aioli. They are crunchy light and delicious with lots of layers of flavors.

I tried the Korean Sticky Chicken with Garlic Noodles and a Pineapple lemonade.

The lemonade is not too sweet and is refreshing and comes with a lot of fresh fruit.

The Korean Sticky Chicken was expertly fried. The exteriors of each piece of chicken are shattering crisp and the interiors are extra juicy and flavorful in a sticky slightly sweet and spicy sauce. The noodles are chewy and tasty and not too garlic-ee. It also an extra generous portion of food…I doubt most people can eat more than half.

My husband thinks he ordered the Pan Fried Garlic Shrimp?

Well anyway he got one of the shrimp dishes that he said was delicious with perfectly prepared shrimp.

Tasty Fresh Food.

Extra large portions.

Reasonable prices.

Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

Bleu Kitchen Garlic Noodle Bar – 702-992-3290

7450 W Cheyenne Ave Las Vegas NV

www.TheBleuKitchen.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Oh La La French Bistro Las Vegas NV – Restaurant Week 2024 – 3 Courses $60.

Oh La La French Bistro is located in the Summerlin part of Las Vegas Nevada. They bake their own bread here and I was told nearly everything is made in house. They are open for lunch, brunch, and dinner.

Oh La La French Bistro is also participating in Las Vegas Restaurant Week that has been extended to June 21. They are offering a lunch Restaurant Week 3 course menu for $40. and a Dinner Restaurant Week 3 course menu for $60. A portion of the proceeds benefits Three Square Food Bank.

The Restaurant Week Dinner Menu –

Whatever you order they start you off with their house made baguette and butter.

Course one –

Warm Pistachio Goat Cheese with onion confit jam, honey, and pistachios…WOW! This is BOMBalicious……Who knew?

Escargot – snails, parsley, butter, shallots, garlic – my husband enjoyed this and some of the warm pistachio goat cheese.

Course two –

Sole Meunière – with brown butter, garlic, capers, lemon, and parsley. Fingerling potatoes. The fish seemed fresh as can be and was the lightest sole meunière I ever had anywhere.

Duck with green beans and mustard sauce – I heard that this was good.

Course Three

Chocolate mousse

Chocolate liégeois – chocolate and vanilla ice cream with house made whipped cream and ganache. Both desserts were delicious but the favorite was the chocolate liegeois.

Everything above is also on the regular dinner menu.

Restaurant Week was extended to June 21 2024 for Oh La La French Bistro.

Oh La La French Bistro

2120 N Rampart Blvd Las Vegas NV

702-222-3522

www.OhLaLaFrenchBistro.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth