I heard positive things about Taste Budz Creole Kitchen on Eater Las Vegas so I wanted to give this restaurant a try. It’s a casual mostly Cajun type restaurant with two locations in North Las Vegas Nevada.
I read on Eater Las Vegas that the Chef is someone known as Celebrity Chef Trish. (Her likeness is painted on the wall below.)
It is very casual. You order and pay at the counter.
Lots of bright paintings on the walls to look at while you are waiting for your order.
I tried to eat the Jerk Salmon Entree with Macaroni and Cheese and Sweet Potatoes.
There is gross black stuff on the fish that might be leftover crud from a flat top or pan. The fish has a weird texture and is almost impossible to cut with a fork. But the taste is worst. It is so hot that it is not edible. The macaroni and cheese was re-heated too many times so it’s not so good. The sweet potatoes are like canned and are turning to mush.
The Cajun steak is so tough that even an alligator would give up on trying to eat it…. The food served to us I would consider it to be below standard and I would not recommend.
The Veranda is an eloquent breakfast-brunch-lunch type of restaurant located in the Four Seasons Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip that is connected to Mandalay Bay Hotel/Casino. We all know that it isn’t going to be cheap to eat anywhere in the Four Seasons………….I didn’t plan to dine here but got kinda stuck….We were going to the aquarium so I planned to dine in Mandalay Bay at The Border Grill but it was closed for holiday vacation and there are very few choices in Mandalay Bay for lunch. I thought The Veranda offered a nice menu and was walking distance so I gave it a try.
Anyways-
It’s formal inside with a bar and sort of retro seats at the tables. There is a patio that looks nice for when the weather is right.
I ordered an iced tea……I said, “I’d like a plain iced tea.” The server looked at me like I was from Mars and said, “Don’t you want a flavored iced tea?” It took him maybe 15 minutes to bring my ($10.) ice tea.
The highlight of our lunch was the crispy lemongrass cauliflower with sweet chili sauce ($20.).
They do give a generous amount of cauliflower that is breaded and fried to perfection. It lightly laced with lemongrass. It taste good without the sauce……The sauce cancels out the lemongrass taste and you get left with a sort of Chinese Take Out Duck Sauce Taste……This would taste much better with something that compliments like a citrus soy sort of sauce….
I try the Blue Fin Tuna Niçoise salad (I didn’t notice that it is $37…..It’s written real tiny and light on the menu)
To tell The FORKING Truth it’s not awful but it isn’t so great either………Most of it is tasteless. They squirted some tomato vinaigrette on the top that is sort of sweet with very little flavor. The tuna is ok but also with little flavor……..Nothing flavors the vegetables or egg. I almost never add salt and pepper to plates out but had to here. Even the green beans are plain. I asked my husband to taste one……He said, it taste like a boiled green bean. It’s pretty darn disappointing for $37. The blue fin tuna nicoise I had from Matteo’s in the Venetian was only $20. and much better….
My husband tried a Diablo Flatbread ($25.).
He was disappointed because the crust was like a cross between a super thin pita bread and a cracker…..and he thought the surface would have tomato sauce. He said that only around the ends was the tomato sauce topped with cheese, sausage, and pepperoni. It’s also small in size and he left hungry.
I don’t mind paying more for food if it is exceptional but here that is not the case. The most over priced meal of the year was from The Veranda at The Four Seasons in Las Vegas NV.
Basically this is a variation of Pimento Dip…But different… This one is a delicious base of ricotta cheese mixed with mostly cheddar cheese, some cream cheese, roasted peppers and Calabrian Chili Paste. I mixed it up together and it tasted amazing…..I mean FORKING AMAZING. My husband usually HATES Pimento Dip but he said that this one is delicious. I’m serving it with thin crisp breads that is published on my site.
1 lb ricotta cheese
7 oz cream cheese (preferably a quality brand without gum in it) room temperature to mix in easily
1 lb aged cheddar – shredded
Around 12 oz. roasted red peppers – seeds and stems removed around 1/2 fine chopped and the other half blended
Bomba Calabrese to taste – each brand does taste different and also has a different amount of heat. Today I used Italian Harvest Brand. I used about a heaping Tablespoon.
Directions
Just mix together the ingredients and you are done.
Roasted Pepper Cheesy Dip with Calabrian Chili Paste Cheesy Roasted Pepper Dip with Calabrian Chili Paste
There is always something new, weird, different, limited, and special edition in the wonderful world of food. We just never know WTFork we will come across when we shop for food.
Up above is –
NEW – General Mills NEW and IMPROVED Kit Kat Cereal. The prior cereal was Old and Lousy this is New and Improved.
NEW – Kellogg’s Chocolate Milkshake flavored cereal that turns your stomach….OPPS! I mean milk chocolate flavored.
DIFFERENT – Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes with Vanilla Marshmallows that are Tigar, Bulldog, Lion, Bear, and Cougar shaped???????? Just look at the marshmallows….Does that look anything like a bulldog or a bear?
DIFFERENT – General Mills – Honey Nut Cheerios Minis….Looks like you get less cereal? Doesn’t look filling?
DIFFERENT – Kellogg’s Rainbow Sherbet that cools your mouth Froot Loops. Sounds interesting but the cereal is no longer a loop………It’s a scoop!
DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – General Mills – Trix turns cereal a mystery color…sounds scary.
DIFFERENT – General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch Rolls…..
DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – Post Waffle Crisp Cereal …I never saw this before
DIFFERENT and also maybe NEW – General Mills French Toast Crunch bursting with syrup and cinnamon taste….?
LIMITED EDITION and WEIRD – Cap’n Crunch’s ARTIFICIALLY Flavored Seaberry Crunch…..I think the octopus poops them out.
WEIRD – Post – Fruity Pebbles Waffles that are fruity blasted……….If they are waffles then they are not Pebbles…DAH!
NEW – General Mills -Reese’s Puffs in Peanut Butter Lovers Flavor……
DIFFERENT – Jimmy Nardello Peppers – I was going to purchase them but all the packages had partially rotten and also very soggy peppers in them…..The Jimmy Nardello is an heirloom pepper that is sweet but is suppose to have a much better flavor than a bell pepper……
LIMITED EDITION – Terra Herb Stuffing Flavored with Sage and Rosemary Vegetable Chips. Maybe you need cranberry dip for them?
DIFFERENT – Kettle Naturally flavored spicy pimento cheese potato chips. They actually sound good but I don’t know if they are good. They only place them by the door so I always forget to pick them up. Then going out I can’t buy them so I always forget.
DIFFERENT – Sunny Calabrian Chili Tahini Dip……Different Maybe unusual to use Calabrian Chili with anything Middle Eastern.
DIFFERENT – Betty Crocker Cinnamon Toast Crunch Frosting – Made with Cinnadust Frosting….Well at least they are honest.
DIFFERENT – Vital Farms True Blues Pasture-Raised Heirloom BLUE Eggs….Do they make you poo blue?
Limited Edition – Nabisco White Fudge Covered Oreo Cookies
Well that was the New, Weird, Different, Limited and Special Edition Foods for December 2024. Who knows WTFork we will come across next month and next year….
Dining out with DOGS is just a “Fluff” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all started out with my late dog Louie. He always enjoyed going out to eat. When he got elderly he got diagnosed with aggressive cancer. We were told that he only had 3-6 months to live. Since he enjoyed going out to eat I took Louie out to eat as often as I could and instead of the three to six months Louie made another seventeen months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when the weather is right and when I can.
The dogs and us got to go to the California Fish Grill.
They helped me eat this big plate of Branzino.
“Ummm so good!”
And they also got some fried fish and shrimp.
We’ve enjoyed ourselves at the California Fish Grill.
California Fish Grill
6440 Centennial Center Blvd Las Vegas NV
725-231-7444
www.CAFishGrill.com
The next week it was almost too cold to take them out but we made it to one of the Rivas Mexican Grills. We made it to the one with a community patio in North Las Vegas across from Aliante Casino.
The dogs got to eat some beef from a beef taco.
Some Carnitas from my husband’s burrito.
and fried fish from my fish salad.
Rivas Mexican Grill
6885 N Aliante Pkwy North Las Vegas NV
702-586-2251
www.RivasMexicanGrill.com
This week we went to Hawaiian Barbecue #1. That’s enormous amounts of food with usually rice and macaroni salad in Styrofoam containers.
My husband had the #4 Bento and shared some of it with the dogs.
Me and the dogs shared the mini (but it’s not so mini) Mochiko Chicken.
She is so happy to get this food!
He is also very happy.
Here it comes.
We did alright at Hawaiian Barbecue #1
5870 N Losee Rd N Las Vegas NV
702-642-4600
www.BestHawaiianBarbeque.com
This week I would not have dined out with dogs if I knew how cold and windy it got going to be only 15 minutes away from my house but we dined at Mezzo anyway.
They started us out with complimentary bread and oil that was embellished with balsamic and lemon.
I share just a small amount of the bread with the dogs.
My husband shared some of his sausage with the dogs from his sausage and rigatoni plate.
The dogs also got some salmon from my blackened salmon with squash plate.
I was very careful to give them fish without balsamic on it because all vinegars are harmful to dogs.
We all enjoyed ourselves at Mezzo Bistro & Wine.
Mezzo Bistro & Wine
4275 N Rancho Drive Las Vegas NV
702-944-8880
www.MezzoBistro.com
That was Dining Out With DOGS for December 2024. We hope that you’ve enjoyed and have a Great New Year and we hope to see you next month!
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
Ferraro’s Ristorante is a very nice Italian Restaurant and Bar Located not far from the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. It has a very rice formal looking atmosphere.
Patio dining is also available for when the weather is right.
We went with the three course lunch for $28. (subject to change).
They started us off with complimentary fresh baked rolls with oil that was embellished with balsamic vinegar and PISTACHIOS.
My husband ordered an extra appetizer and tried the Polpette (meatballs) e Polenta.
He said it was delicious and much better than what you get at a lot of OTHER Italian restaurants.
First courses for us were –
A Very Good and modern style Cesare Salad.
And a very tasty.
The Ferraro’s Salad – mixed greens, carrots, tomatoes, Parm cheese, cranberries, sunflower seeds, PISTACHIOS, and balsamic dressing.
Main course were –
Pillowy potato gnocchi in PISTACHIO pesto with tomato and crispy basil.
and-
Salmon Limone – salmon was fresh tasting and prepared with a moist center, yellow & green squash, and asparagus were nice fresh and tender crisp too.
The sweet endings were-
Cannoli
And-
The signature house dessert PISTACHIO Passion.
The Three Course Lunch from Ferraro’s Ristorante ($28. per person subject to change) is Worth a Fork!
Showing Off is just to show you that I am still cooking and baking. I’m not doing as many new recipes but all the cooked or baked foods that you see are a recipe on this site.
Up above are Sesame, Date, and Banana Cupcakes. Boy did these go fast at a gathering I went to.
Fried potato pierogi and chocolate Bouchons with chocolate frosting and drizzled with ganache ….These went really quick too.
I made butternut squash cinnamon buns and with the leftover dough I stuffed, rolled, and filled it with cinnamon and brown sugar and drizzled it with chocolate sauce. These all went.
Chipotle Rice Corn Cheddar stuffed Peppers. Lots of compliments and these went fast.
Baked Salmon Mousse Balls with Orange Ginger Sauce that sit in little cracker cups also got gobbled up.
Pizza Rolls (no exact recipe…just make pizza or focaccia dough, fill with desired pizza toppings (these were lasagna cheese filling and pizza sauce) and roll like cinnamon buns. Finish with pizza seasoning and a little shredded parmesan)
I bet these will go fast too! and I added some extra cookies I had in my freezer.
I got the idea for pizza rolls after I made butternut squash cinnamon rolls. I just winged a focaccia type dough, rolled it thin, topped it with leftover lasagna cheese filling and some sauce and rolled it just like cinnamon buns. Then I sliced a little off and put each sliced in a non stick sprayed cupcake pan and topped the tops with a little bit of pizza seasoning and a little bit of shredded parmesan. In about 30 minutes at 350F give or take they were done. You can get my ideas for pizza, focaccia, and butternut squash cinnamon rolls here. I got lots of compliments on them and everyone loved them and gobbled them down. My husband said that he could eat them all day long.
Pizza Rolls
Everyone will love them and they make a great appetizers for entertaining.
NORMS are famous 24/7 California Diner Restaurants and one opened fairly recently in Las Vegas Nevada not too far from the strip. I only heard good things about NORMS and saw them featured on several local TV Shows so I wanted to give them a try. It’s very busy and energetic inside.
It also looks like a diner inside with a mix of all kinds of different tables, bar seating and booths. There are several dining areas on different sides of the bar.
We went with entrees and they are reasonably priced and come with soup and salad. We started with soups…..(actually my husband eat them both because they are not for me)
Creamy chicken noodle soup – A bit too thick but OK.
Gumbo – Not great like Emeril’s but still tasty and ok according to my husband.
Salads were next.
I tried my salad with blue cheese dressing. Too bad …….it taste like they thinned down the dressing too much and it doesn’t taste like blue cheese anymore. My husband the Italian dressing doesn’t have much flavor either.
For my main I tried the grilled wild whitefish.
The grilled whitefish has a light unflavored breading on it. This would taste better if it came with a sauce. I use some hot sauce that is on the table and it helps. The potato is kinda hard and very difficult to mash the butter in with a fork.
But there is no help for the vegetables. They even look like they have expired.
Over cooked old squash….ick
My husband tried the Chicken Fried Steak.
It’s kinda bland. The carrot fingers are kind of wood-ee. Real fresh carrots would taste better. The tater tots have a very hard exteriors.
NORMS does give you a lot of food but you have to not care what it taste like.
