Just showing off some things I made recently for the once a week get together we have here. Made two kinds of crostini from some rolls I previously made that I kept in my freezer. Some are topped with onion goat cheese with fresh scallions. The other crostini it topped with my fresh pesto, fresh marinated mozzarella and tomatoes, balsamic, and basil.
Next to that are sweet potato hand pies.
Here are cannoli (home made ricotta & home made shells) and more crostini with basil, pesto, marinated mozzarella cheese, balsamic, and parmesan
For the next gathering I made cookies and had leftover cannoli shells and cheese so I also brought some cannoli. The cookies were butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies, pistachio cookies, and peanut butter with strawberry jam cookies.
Made Brownies and Hasselback Potatoes with smoked mushrooms and crispy onions.
Spiced (5 spice & cinnamon) Butternut Squash filled crepes and bread crisps with spinach artichoke dip.
What I made this past month for gatherings and parties.
The Market Grill Cafe is a full service Greek, Italian, Mediterranean Restaurant located in the Centennial Area of Las Vegas Nevada. This is a family owned and ran restaurant that has been voted “Best of Las Vegas” for several years. The Proprietors are Joe and Rhonda Pierro and one is Greek and the other is Italian so the restaurant is a spin on what they know.
Some of the appetizers they offer are saganaki (flaming cheese), tabouli, and baba ganoush. They also offer soups and salads, Greek favorites like moussaka (beef, eggplant, potato casserole), pastitsio (beef macaroni pie), spanakopita (spinach and cheese pastry). They also offer a list of pastas, and offer several entrees including three lamb dishes. Their signature award wining dish is their pomegranate chicken (I’ll describe it in a bit). They also offer a variety of desserts.
You can dine on the patio for outdoor dining but most of the seating is inside.
At night they have live music.
Here’s the saganaki.
They set it in fire before it reaches your table. The Greek cheese is flamed with lemon and brandy and comes with lots of flat pita breads.
This is delicious!
Entrees come with small Greek Salads.
For my main I had to try the Pomegranate Chicken.
This is 24 hour marinated chicken (herbs & pomegranate juice) that was grilled and sliced and topped with pomegranate glaze and crushed walnuts. This also comes with a side of hummus, pita bread, and fluffy basmati rice. The chicken is moist and tasty with a little zing from the pomegranate. I’d get this again.
My husband tried the other dish I was thinking about getting….The white fish scallopini.
The orzo that it comes with is very good but the fish isn’t so great. It’s edible but taste like from frozen fish from any of our local supermarkets and is slightly over cooked. But hey a lot of restaurants don’t do fish as well as their other dishes in the southwest.
Poke Sushitto is a casual restaurant in North Las Vegas Nevada that offers Poke Bowls and burritos. You can order sushi bowls or sushi burritos “Chipotle Style.” For beverages they offer fountain drinks, bottled water, bubble tea, Asian Fruit Drinks, Asian Teas, and Pokka Coffee. Kids meals are also offered and there are a few additional side orders. If you can’t make up your mind there also are a few suggested bowls.
If you order your way then you can order 2 or three protein bowls. The proteins I noticed were raw or baked salmon, crab, sweet or tempura shrimp, regular tuna, spicy tuna, scallops, chicken, and tofu. If you ordered a bowl you pick rice or salad or half rice and half salad as your base. They offer all kinds of vegetables and sauces and a few toppings.
I tried baked salmon with spicy tuna.
I asked for 1/2 brown rice and half salad…….I guess the girl couldn’t hear me and gave me all salad. For added vegetables I got carrots, cabbage, and corn. I also got crunchy fried strips, some ginger, scallions, yuzu miso sauce and cilantro. On the side I got a sweet soy type sauce, and sriracha mayo. Somehow it turned out flavorful and tasty.
My husband tried a three meat bowl.
I think it was mostly similar to what I got but it had tuna, shrimp, and salmon, pickled, radishes, sushi rice, and jalapeños. I forgot what sauces he went with but he also was surprised that it came out delicious! He also thought that the price was very reasonable for what he got!
Since it was very tasty and the fish seemed fresher that from a lot of neighborhood sushi places I have to say Poke Sushitto is Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
Poke Sushitto – 702-522-9668
2520 E Craig Road North Las Vegas NV
Their website connects to Lotus of Siam……But you can find them on Facebook.
Al Solito Posto is a richly decorated high quality Italian Restaurant located in Tivoli Village in the Summerlin part of Las Vegas Nevada. They are participating in the 2024 Las Vegas Restaurant Week and offer a 3 course menu for $50. A Portion of the proceeds benefits Three Square Food Bank.
What to pick?
We ordered and they started us off with their focaccia and table side oil that is embellished with smashed beans, dry herbs, and cheese.
We started out with meatballs and squash blossoms.
main meals were rigatoni and chicken marsala (portions were very generous)
Desserts were Italian Lemon Cake and Bombolini
For the most part everything was great and this was a great Restaurant Week Choice.
I actually never made spinach artichoke dip before. I read about 10 recipes on the internet for it. Then I knew what to do….There are two different ways to make spinach artichoke dip. One way is to make a white sauce as your base. The other way is to just mix a lot of stuff up. This dip can be served warmed up or room temperature. Most people do prefer it warmed up. This is great to serve with crostini or crackers (flat breads pictures are called crisp breads and recipe can be found in the search). Serving size is always difficult to determine. If you are just doing tasting portions then you will get about 20 servings. I’d say for people at home this is more like 12 portions. For best results make this the day before you need it so the dried chopped onions can rehydrate.
Ingredients for around 12 portions.
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup ranch dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon (heaping) garlic confit (blended)
10 oz fresh spinach chopped and heated for one minute in the microwave
10 oz marinated artichokes – chopped
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese – shredded
1 cup parmesan cheese – shredded
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 Tablespoons dried chopped onion
1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin and chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (or to taste some people might only want 1/4 t.)
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg -or use fresh ground for better flavor
sea salt – to taste
fresh ground black pepper – to taste
optional – 2 Tablespoons – bottom of the jar giardiniera (mine was in tiny pieces like a very fine chop)
Directions
Mix cream cheese, sour cream, ranch, mayonnaise, garlic confit, spinach, artichokes, mozzarella, parmesan, granulated onion, granulated garlic, Italian seasoning, dried chopped onion, white pepper, nutmeg and scallions together. Add giardinera if using. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve either room temperature or warmed up from the oven.
I was thinking guacamole and basically did guacamole with some Asian ingredients. This makes 4-8 servings. 8 serving if you only eat 1/2 an avocado but up to 4 servings if you eat a whole avocado. I do need to note that this is far more flavorful on the day that you make it but the good news is that it is always tasty. Some people eat more and some people eat less….So I will say 6 servings
Ingredients for around 6 servings
4 avocados – opened up, pit removed, and flesh scraped out
1 lime – just the fresh juice
1 shallot – fine chopped
3-4 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar (I did 3 and at the end decided I wanted a splash more)
1 Tablespoon – yuzu kosho – or to taste (this is a hot pepper/citrus/garlic condiment that is delicious)
1/2 oz. cilantro – chopped
1/2 oz. scallions – chopped
1 teaspoon – dried mint (or use some fresh mint if you have it)
0.16 oz package nori seaweed – fine chopped
1/2 apple – peeled, cored, – fine chopped or thick grated
optional sea salt to taste
optional black pepper to taste
optional more cilantro and or scallions to finish
optional a few pomegranate seeds to finish
Directions
Gently mix all the ingredients together and try not to break up the avocado all the way. You want it to be lumpy.
Esther’s Kitchen is a locally sourced Italian Cuisine Restaurant located in downtown Las Vegas Nevada in the Arts District. They made their own sourdough, breads, pastas, pizzas, and more. This restaurant recently moved from a smaller location next door. The restaurant is named after the chef’s aunt.
WOW! It’s at least triple the size of the old Esther’s.
Past the hostess desk are dining tables and a large bar with more tables. To the left of the hostess desk is part of the open kitchen where I can see they are making pasta.
This is the dining area and open kitchen by the entrance. You can’t see it in my photo but there is a smaller dining area to the left of this area. Wow it is really loud in here…not music either…just a lot of people in conversation.
We started out by sharing a smoked ocean trout toast.
The made-in-house toasted sourdough is very good and so is the creamy thick cream cheese. Silky fresh smoked Ocean Trout, sweet heirloom tomatoes, onion, and fresh herbs complete the toast.
I tried the Cauliflower Alla Romana because it sounded interesting and not too heavy (anchovy, chili, garlic, fried capers, parsley).
It’s different……..The cauliflower has a starchy coating but the cauliflower is almost raw. The pieces on the top are just hard and starchy. The bottom pieces have a lot of anchovy and maybe capers and some are too salty. This is far more filling than it looks. I brought a bunch home.
My husband ordered one of the dishes that they do best……They called it rigatoni (house. made) Carbonara (egg yolk, house made guanciale & peas….((not sure if it had peas in it?)))
Well whatever this pasta is my husband said that it was very good.
