The House Made Bread with House Made Ricotta Cheese is a very special treat that you get when you dine at Monzu Italian Oven & Bar in Las Vegas Nevada.
The Delicious craft bread gets its unique developed taste from an all natural over three hundred year old family mother starter made from apricots. This very special bread takes five days to prepare.
Then you get to dip the crusty bread into the oil and perfectly seasoned creamy house made ricotta cheese.
YUM!!!!!!!!
The Notable Dish of the week. The House made Bread & Ricotta Cheese from –
Cipriani is a Italian with a limited Japanese Menu Restaurant with locations in Italy, Europe, Asia, and the United States.
The Las Vegas Location is located in the Wynn Casino Resort on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada.
The atmosphere is rich and inviting but the food is mostly BLAND.
I wanted to dine here because I read on EaterVegas that Cipriani offers one of the best lunches in all of Vegas. It actually makes the 19 Essential lunch spots of Las Vegas.
Our lunch started with quality balsamic, olive oil, and bland bread and breadsticks.
Then I started with a BLAND bowl of lentil soup that completely lacks depth.
My husband started with the mortadella and high content vinegar cornichons.
He said that the mortadella wasn’t bad but not the best…..He only saw one piece of pistachio in it.
We both had the Cipriani Tagliolini with Branzino and Cherry Tomatoes. The pasta seems fresh made and is cooked perfect…..but…
It’s almost flavorless.
Except for fishy blood-line left on some pieces.
Desserts were better.
The Ricotta Cheese Cake isn’t bad but it differs from other ricotta cheese cakes out there…..It’s like cake batter mixed with lots of ricotta and mixed berries.
We also shared sorbet. We were expecting Yuzu Sorbet and Lemon Sorbet…..But we were served mango and lemon sorbet because they were out of yuzu sorbet.
Both sorbets are very good. I could come here for only lemon sorbet but I doubt I will.
Meráki Greek Grill has around 6 locations in Las Vegas Nevada (5 locations and a soon to be 6th location at the time of visit). This is a casual restaurant. You order and pay at the counter, and then grab a number and seat yourself (inside or on the patio).
We started out by sharing a side order of falafels.
The falafels are soft with soft exteriors but are herby and flavorful inside.
We both tried the signature Meraki Bowls.
My husband got his with gyro meat and rice.
Here the gyro meat is cut thicker so it’s stays slightly more moist. The bowl come with a generous amount of feta cheese, it also comes with garbanzo beans, olives, radish, tomatoes, and greens.
I tried my Meraki Signature Bowl with Norwegian Salmon and Quinoa.
The salmon has very nice grill marks on it but……….
It’s really over cooked and contains the whole bloodline that needs to be removed.
Not counting the salmon……… The salad is generous in size and is good. I just wouldn’t recommend getting the salmon. But maybe it depends on who is cooking? At the “OTHER” Greek restaurant….The one with a similar menu…..Sometimes their salmon is very good and sometimes it is dry and over cooked….Could be the same story here?
Monzu Italian Oven & Bar is obviously an Italian Restaurant and it’s located not too far away from the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada.
Besides the usual Italian Foods like antipasti, insalate, pasta, steaks, chicken, fish and more. This restaurant starts you off with their special bread that takes five days to prepare. It’s gets it’s unique taste from an all natural over three hundred year old family mother starter made from apricots.
They serve the special bread with oil and house made ricotta cheese.
We’ve so far have always ordered the 7 or 8 course (depending on how you look at it) $62. Chef’s Menu because it just might be the best FORKING Deal in Vegas.
It’s always different…..But tonight it went like this…..
First is Antipasti-
Starting top left going clockwise is – Grilled Artichokes, 4 kinds of cheese, marinated olives and pickled vegetables, Italian sliced beef, cheese stuffed squash blossoms, and fried breads.
Next were salads.
Fried kale salad with pomegranate, blood orange, and walnuts and a crispy fennel salad.
Risotto Verde with artichokes, peas, fava beans, fennel, and topped with grated cured egg.
Potato Gnocchi in gorgonzola cream sauce with walnuts.
Mortadella Pizza made with taleggio and mozzarella cheese, artisan mortadella, pistachio pesto, and basil with sides of marscapone cream and crushed Calabrian chili peppers.
Lombatello – (hardwood grilled hanger steak) with salsa verde and potatoes.
(The FORKING Truth……..This steak really was tender as butter)
Pollo I Vernizzi – chicken in wine sauce with onion, garlic, and potatoes
All kinds of desserts
This really was far more food than we could eat so we brought back enough for another dinner.
The Bulgogi Tostada from Komex was so delicious. It was made with such tender beef that was developed with flavors and just popped with so many interesting flavors from the Korean Hot Sauce. It was a great surprise Who knew?
Bulgogi Tostada from Komex
Crispy rice patty topped with beef bulgogi, Komex Slaw, Pico De Gallo, Korean Hot Sauce
I came across these San Carlo la Vita e Buona Pesto Flavored Potato Chips from a specialty on line food store called Yummy Bazaar when I was there buying something else. It says on the bag that this is Italy’s #1 potato chip and I like pesto so I wanted to give it a try.
The ingredients look safe.
I open it up and take a whiff……
It smells something like dried basil………..
I spill some out….
The chips are on the small side.
I eat a few.
They taste almost like pesto…………but a little different……I almost never say this but I think that these chips can use some salt.
The texture of the chips is very different from most chips that I have tried.
The chips are extra thin and have like a hard thin but delicate styrofoam texture that is very strange.
The flavor is a little off………… but because of the texture I might not try this brand again.
That was my FORKING Experience with San Carlo La Vita e Buona Pesto Flavored Potato Chips.
Greens and Proteins is a local group of healthy eating restaurants in Las Vegas Nevada. They all offer all day breakfast, soups, salads, thin pizzas, burgers, wraps, sandwiches, bowls, a kids menu, and smoothies. Some locations offer meal prep.
It’s casual inside. You order and pay at the counter and seat yourself. They run the food to you when it’s ready.
I tried the Thai peanut Chicken Bowl. It’s suppose to be a bowl of chicken with basmati rice, squash, zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, peanuts, sesame seeds, spicy peanut sauce.
My husband was disappointed with his Bulgogi Korean Steak Bowl because the beef was tough and chewy and didn’t taste so great. He also didn’t enjoy the undercooked hard crunchy brown rice.
I got this-
The squash are ok…….The chicken is very dry and tough and doesn’t have much flavor. My bowl is missing the asparagus and mushrooms. The basmati rice is very mushy today. I think some ingredients might be missing from the sauce because it’s pretty tasteless and isn’t spicy at all.
Mezzo Bistro and Wine is an American-Italian Restaurant located in North/West Las Vegas Nevada. If you didn’t make a reservation there is a chance that they will offer you a seat on the patio.
They start you off with house baked bread, and oil embellished with balsamic and lemon.
We shared a grilled vegetable plate appetizer.
Gosh it’s enormous but it is so darn tasty too…….(grilled tomatoes, artichokes, yellow squash, zucchini, and mushrooms). I’ll eat some and bring some home for another day.
I tried something that isn’t normally on any Italian menu…..Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna with Spinach Risotto and topped with Wasabi Aioli. Melty mozzarella type cheese was on here too.
The fish is in a soy type sauce…..The mozzarella cheese has almost no flavor so it adds richness to the fish. The risotto is very cheesy. I don’t think it really pairs with the fish but you can separate it to a latter course by eating the asparagus after the fish.
My husband tried the Chicken Riggies (New York rigatoni dish with creamy tomato sauce, peppers, and chicken).
The Mezzo Bistro Version also has mushrooms, cherry peppers, prosciutto, capacola, romano cheese, white wine, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese……..(you are not going to leave hungry from this one).
We packed up almost half of what we had so we could try a cannoli.
It was a nice sweet ending.
Mezzo Bistro and Wine – Worth a Try! (make a reservation if you want to sit inside)
Komex Fusion Restaurant is located in the west side of Las Vegas Nevada. They offer Fusion tacos, burritos, enchiladas, chimichangas, and a fusion toastada that was featured on Food Network’s Taco trip. They also offer a lot of Bulgogi. Some of the bulgogi that they offer are bulgogi cheesesteaks, bulgogi grilled cheese, bulgogi sliders, bulgogi torta, flautas, rice bowls, fried rice, a platter, and bulgogi chow fettuccini. A few of the other things that Komex Fusion offers are musubi, a swai fish platter, won ton soup, a kid’s menu, and Mexican tacos, burritos, torta, and quesadillas.
It’s not a fancy place but it seems clean.
This place has been recognized for it’s food by a number of well knowns such as-
Food Network
The Cooking Channel
All Recipes Weekly
The Buzz Feed
Food and Wine
Las Vegas Review Journal
Desert Champion
We ordered several things to try! But they start you off with complimentary chips and very good salsa. They also offer complimentary bottled water.
We tried-
Bulgogi grilled cheese on Texas Toast (seems like challah Texas Toast?)
The famous fusion toastada that was featured on Food Network’s Taco Trip (the bottom is a crispy rice patty topped with beef bulgogi, Komex slaw, pico de gallo, and topped with Korean hot sauce.
fried stuffed wontons
pork taco
Fish taco on flour tortilla and a chicken taco on double corn tortilla.
Everything really was very good. All the proteins were expertly prepared. My personal favorite was the toastada because it had the most going on with it……It also was more filling than I expected it to be. My husband really enjoyed the bulgogi grilled cheese. He is undecided if he will get it again next time or one of the toastadas. The tacos were very good but next time I think I’d order a little side of the Korean hot sauce for them because it was so tasty.
I was thinking coffee cake…..Then I was thinking about a few really great tasting wedges of apple pie I made with a crumbly walnut topping (that is on my site) and sort of combined them into a cake. The addition of the two pie wedges is THE SURPRISE! That’s how I came up with the SURPRISE cake…….I bet I can come up with many more variations….I got BUNCHES of ideas in my head. …………Serving size is always hard to tell because I don’t know if you want a smaller taste (12 servings) or a full size piece (more like 9 servings). I like my servings on the smaller side so for me this is 12 servings but I will say 9 servings so nobody feels short changed.
Ingredients for at least 9 servings
4 oz unsalted butter – soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (if you have pink Himalayan use that)
1/2 cup heaping – Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
4 oz unsalted butter – melted
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 smaller wedges of frozen apple walnut crumb pie – cut up in small blocks
non stick spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Spray a 9 in pan (I used a square pan) with non stick spray
In a large bowl combine the soft butter, white sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, yogurt, and vanilla and mix well with a fork and set to the side.
In a medium bowl combine the melted butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar.
Use HALF the batter and place it evenly into the bottom of your non stick sprayed pan. Then add the apple pie crumbles as evenly as you can. Pour and spread HALF of the medium bowls syrup on to the top.
On top of that add the remaining half of batter and spread as evenly as possible.
Next do a layer of pie pieces.
Add the walnuts to the remaining syrup and mix well. Spread this mixture over the top as evenly as you can.
In my oven this took 45 minutes. Yours might slightly more or less.
It’s done when it looks like this.
Walnut Apple Coffee Cake Surprise
It’s moist and delicious! You don’t need ice cream or whipped cream. It’s also not too sweet.
