International Smoke is a restaurant by chef Michael Mina and author and television host Ayesha Curry. This restaurant had two locations. One location is in San Francisco and the other that I went to is in The MGM Grand Resort and Casino on the strip in Las Vegas Nevada. This restaurant offers a global menu. They say they cook with smoke and use bold flavors.
Inside is sort of dark but not too dark (you can read the menu). The decor is masculine and classic. A large bar is almost half the dining area. As you walk in you are greeted with a delicious aroma of smoke……
We started out by sharing the black truffle mac ‘n’ cheese.
The pasta is nice and firm and isn’t mushy. The cheese sauce taste like it was made with real cheese and it is good. The truffles don’t give off much flavors but it is better that than to taste artificial flavors.
My husband tried the Jamaican braised oxtail.
This dish was good. Good flavors, a little spicy…….It was enhanced with red beans, coconut rice, and Jamaican green seasoning. The only issue here was that it lacked enough sauce to really enjoy.
I tried the Sinaldan Style Mary’s Chicken (achiote salsa mache, sauce pastor, sweet potato, avocado).
On the bright side the flavors really were off the charts amazing……and spicy too……………..But on the dark side this chicken was prepared very uneven, mostly DRY and hard to cut, and with rubbery inedible chicken skin. It was hard to enjoy the amazing flavors here. I was asked by someone (maybe a manager? not my server) on how it was but I just started so I didn’t know how it was yet because she asked as soon as I got it. Didn’t feel like complaining after I was done.
Off of one visit I don’t really know how this restaurant is but I would not recommend getting the chicken. Oh I should mention that I have recently enjoyed the Korean Bbq Salmon Sandwich from Micheal Mina’s Bourbon Pub at San Francisco AIRPORT…(yes at Airport) It was so delicious…and amazing….I wonder if chicken is good there?
International Smoke
3799 S Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas NV (MGM Grand)
702-891-3922
www.MGMGrand.com
www.InternationalSmoke.com
Every THING is subject to change.
