Casa Don Juan is a full service Mexican Restaurant in Las Vegas Nevada with three locations. The Main Street location in the Arts District has an out side patio. Inside this location has a Frida Kahlo theme with many pictures of her on their wall. Incase you don’t know Frida Kahlo is considered to be Mexico’s most important artist and is part of Mexico’s culture.
Whatever you order they start you off with complimentary chips, salsa, and bean dip.
To me the chips don’t taste freshly made. The salsa is spicy but taste mostly like oregano. I didn’t try the beans.
I tried a chicken fajita salad (with the jack cheese on the side) that is called ensalada de fajitas here.
Soulbelly BBQ is an artisanal central Texas inspired kind of BBQ restaurant by seasoned chef (James Beard Nominated, Food Network Chopped Champion, and Bravo Top Chef) Bruce Kalman. The Las Vegas Arts District location offers outdoor seating by the smokers.
Indoor seating in the bar and take out area.
And main dining area where the live music happens.
The tables are set up with carriers of sauces that include the house made Jiggly Meat BBQ sauces.
I wanted to try the tri tip pastrami but they were sold out of that today……so I went with Caesar Salad with their BBQ Smoked Turkey.
The turkey is tender, moist, and delicious………The salad taste far different than it looks…….It’s kind of deconstructed……..The black pepper cornbread croutons in there are really amazing and contain some of the flavors of Caesar….It’s different…but all together delicious. But might be even more delicious with a few drops of house BBQ sauce….. The vinegar sauce only a few drops kicks it up a level.
My husband tried the sandwich called, The Belly of The Soul (smoked brisket, fried egg, cheese sauce, pickled onions, spicy BBQ sauce, and crispy BBQ onions).
He said that this was really great. I tried a small bite of the BBQ Brisket and I have to say it was really perfect today.
On a second visit my husband had to have the Belly Of Soul sandwich again but with beans this time. He said it was just as good as from last time.
This time I got to try the tri tip pastrami sandwich – topped with slaw with a side of watermelon-cucumber salad.
It’s pretty good but isn’t cured with nitrates……the special dangerous pink salt that turns the meat pink…… resulting in a different taste. It’s beefier and less corned……..Well it’s healthier than what I’m used to and is pretty good. It seems like you won’t go wrong with the brisket, and the turkey. I want to try the fresh ground in house smoked brisket burger next time.
So we went back.
We started out by sharing their fried macaroni and cheese balls special.
Ummmm! and the pepper puree dipping sauce is unique and delicious too!
This time we both had their amazing smoked ground in house brisket burgers that are finished on the grill. They suggest to get them medium rare so we both did.
My husband got his with extra American Cheese and Soul Belly made Bacon with a side of potato salad.
The burger is really great. For my taste the potato salad is too smooth and has too much mustard in it….I can’t eat it but I do admit that I am sensitive to mustard.
I had my burger without cheese but with with slaw, pickles and special sauce with their cornbread on the side.
WOW! this is a really great burger! Juicy, smoky, flavorful. It really doesn’t need anything else. It is large. I thought it might be 8 ounces but our server said it’s a 7 ounce burger. The cornbread also is very good and really doesn’t need the honey butter since it is so rich, moist and with crunchy ends. It’s not too sweet or too savory. It’s just right!
On another visit we had some repeats that were just as good as before. We also relied the BBQ mushrooms with chimichurri.
They might be the meatiest mushrooms ever….but…they are very strong with the smoke today.
I also noticed that the menu has changed a little bit. The pastrami sandwich and the watermelon salad are no longer on the menu. Also the macaroni and cheese balls are on the menu now.
I have to say Soulbelly BBQ is Worth a Fork!
Worth aFork!
Soulbelly BBQ 1327 S. Main St Las Vegas NV – 702-483-4404
I came across a Nigerian Jollof Recipe by Ozoz Sokoh that goes by Kitchen Butterfly. I enjoyed a no added meat version of Jollof Rice that I tasted at a restaurant called West Hut in Phoenix AZ. There are many varieties of jollof rice out there. There are over a dozen different West African countries and they all make Jollof rice different. When I read the Kitchen Butterfly Version I thought it might taste similar to what I tried at West Hut. Then I’m thinking that I don’t need a big pot of rice and really only need to cook vegetables today so I used her spices to come up with what I got here. I made my version FAT FREE and it came out FORKING DELICIOUS!!!! I think everyone out there would like this! Serving size may differ because I don’t know if you want a small side serving or a large bowl full.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
2 lbs carrots -peel if not organic, cut in chunks
1/4 cabbage – rough cut
1 onion – slices and cut the slices in half
4 oz celery – chop
hot pepper to taste – I use one hot hatch chile – fine dice
2 teaspoons Caribbean Curry Powder (I used Kitchen Butterfly’s recipe and 1/2ed her recipe and I still have quite a bit extra here’s 1/2 her recipe 1 1/2 Tablespoons turmeric, 1 1/2 Tablespoons ground coriander, 1 Tablespoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek, 1/2 teaspoon powdered mustard, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon fennel)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
24 oz. tomato puree (preferably from Italy so it’s sweet)
1/4 cup water to get all the tomato puree out
12 oz peas (I used a bag of frozen that I thawed)
optional – sea salt – to taste
optional – ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Set oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl add the carrots, cabbage, onion, hot pepper, Caribbean curry powder, thyme, bay leaves, tomato puree. (water to the can or bottle) and that liquid gets added, Mix well.
This goes in a large covered pan (or two pans) on the middle rack till the vegetables are fork tender. Ovens do differ and so do the vegetables so it will take 90-120 minutes.
Your thawed peas should get heated up slightly. (microwave, oven or pan) and stir them in before serving.
West African Inspired Carrots, Cabbage & Peas
WOW! This came out so FORKING DELICIOUS!
A Special THANKS!!!!!! to Kitchen Butterfly (Ozoz Sokoh) and Food52 for your recipes so I could do what I got here.
I haven’t purchased a frozen dinner in maybe a few decades. I live close to several Gordon Ramsay Restaurants but I was curious about Chef Ramsay frozen fish and chips at my local Walmart so I thought I’d give it a try with the 4 cheese macaroni.
On the back of the fish and chips box it says that it contains two servings……….I thinking maybe 2 servings for a toddler….This is what I got. I guess it’s more like one serving with too many fries.
I do note that I don’t have an air fryer and an air fryer is the preferred method for preparing the fish and chips. My husband followed the directions for oven preparation.
I have to admit that the fish and flavor of fish nugguts are very good but the breading didn’t get crisp. The fish is very flaky and is very moist. The potatoes or “CHIPS” have a delicious fluffy interiors but their exteriors aren’t crisp.
WtFORK would Gordon Ramsay say?….I think he’d say something like, “My dead grandmum can make crispier fish and chips than that.”
Anyways-
Here’s the back of the box for the 4 cheese macaroni. The box says one serving. I prefer it as a side serving so this is two servings to me.
It says to microwave it.
It taste very good. It actually taste much better than from many restaurants but it didn’t come out right.
It’s all stuck together.
I wonder what would Gordon Ramsay say?…..I think he’d say something like, ” Well you are a DUMP F****ing Donkey for buying microwave frozen food.”
Also my half didn’t have any corn bread crumbs.
I doubt that I will ever buy anything premade frozen again.
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Chef Ramsay Fish & Chips and Four Cheese Macaroni. and what I thought Gordon Ramsay might say.
I do note that YOUR FORKING THOUGHTS may indeed differ. (and you might have an air fryer and do a little better)
Victory’s Cafe is an American casual restaurant located in the Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas. They offer starters, breakfast, hamburgers, hot dogs, salads, sandwiches, and some entrees from 7am-11pm and after that they offer a late night menu.
Inside is a mix of traditional tables and booths. The walls are decorated with can labels. I asked if the can labels pictured on the walls came from this cannery but nobody knew. (later I found out that this was never an actual cannery)
They started us off with warmed up rolls with soft butter.
The buns got hard and chewy like maybe they were over microwaved?
In reasonable time my Chinese Chicken Salad arrives. (romaine, carrots, mandarins, crisp noodles, red bell pepper, and cashews…..
For my taste the Asian dressing is too sweet so I doctor it up with some vinegar-ee hot sauce. The chicken breast is very tender but at the same time it is also very dry….I wouldn’t get this again.
My husband thought the meatloaf was ok.
The meatloaf and mashed potatoes were covered with gravy and it came with boiled vegetables.
That was my trip to Victory’s Cafe at The Cannery Casino
2121 E. Craig Road North Las Vegas NV – 866-999-4899
Secret of Siam is a Thai Restaurant located in the Centennial Area of Las Vegas Nevada. They offer most of your usual Thai Dishes, a good amount of sharing plates, seafood dishes, beer, and wine.
Most of the seating are booths.
The crispy spinach is an interesting starter.
The spinach is shattering crisp and seems free of oil. The dipping sauce on the side is on the sweet side and is adorned with red onion and cashews.
I tried the basil eggplant with chicken.
The heat level (3 out of 5) is good to me. The chicken was moist, tender, and developed with flavors. The eggplant is creamy and sweet and doesn’t seem oily.
My husband tried the drunken noodles with beef (heat level 4 out of 5)
Today the #4 heat might be running more like a #3 but everything else is good….Good flavors, tender beef.
On a second visit my husband tried the spicy basil #4 heat with combination (chicken, pork, beef, shrimp) that was reasonably good like everything else so far………..
I tried a dish I never noticed on a Thai Menu before. The Green apple pompano (green apple salad green apples, tomatoes, red onions, cilantro, cashews, lime sauce) over crispy fried fish).
I have to say that the slaw is delicious……..but
The fish is not edible. It’s like it was fried in glue. You can’t dig the flesh out and when you manage to get a little morsel it’s fishy.
The Secret of Siam is not to order the Green Apple Pompano……..I wouldn’t take a chance with the red snapper or salmon either because of the taste of the morsel I tried.
Secret of Siam ….The Secret might be………….. (not to get the fish)
Secret of Siam
5705 Centennial Center Blvd Las Vegas NV – 702-331-4406
El Dorado Cantina is a Mexican Restaurant with Three Locations in Las Vegas Nevada. The Tivoli Village location in Summerlin is adorned with amazing light fixtures indoors and outdoors.
Very detailed cut glass chandeliers of flowers and parrots accent the patio and also look amazing from indoors.
Inside are red star light fixtures and hanging light fixtures with butterflies.
Eater Las Vegas wrote that the chips and salsas are the best from this restaurant so we gave them a try.
I should note that the chips and salsas are not on the Happy hour menu (3-6 Monday-Friday & 12am-3 daily) but they were only $3.75 and they are good. My Golden Cadillac Margarita was 1/2 price and it’s good for $11.00 but if I paid $22. for it I might feel different?
They offer EIGHT different tacos on the happy hour menu, a quesadilla, nachos, Mexican seared tuna, and a few other things.
I tried a roasted corn and poblano taco, a pulled chicken taco, and a carne Asda taco.
They are smaller sized tacos but are double shelled and well stuffed.
The carne asada is infused with good flavors and is tender today.
The chicken taste fresh made and is mildly seasoned and is as tender as tender can be…..
The roasted corn and poblano taco is maybe the tastiest but also is almost free of corn.
I see two corn kernels….It’s mostly caramelized onions with poblanos and lots of rich sour cream. It’s extra tasty from the cheese that was grilled on the tortilla.
He liked the carnitas best out of the meat tacos. He liked the shrimp but didn’t like the generous amount of guacamole on them. The chicken mole tacos seemed similar to the regular chicken tacos……just with a dab of thin mole on them. Cauliflower taco was tasty.
That was Happy Hour at El Dorado Cantina – Tivoli Village Las Vegas NV – Worth a Try!
My 2020 recipe for pastrami was the best ever. I wanted to delete my earlier pastrami recipes but as luck would have it I always got a complaint from someone that I deleted a recipe while they were working on it. I wasn’t planing on changing my 2020 recipe but I accidentally grabbed granulated onion so I’m giving it a try with the addition of granulated onion. Making pastrami is easy but is also very risky. Even if you are a professional sometimes the meat won’t cure and preserve everywhere because of the natural fat in it and it can spoil even if you did everything correctly. That is the reason most delicatessens who use a lot of pastrami pay companies to do the brining for them.
To start with you need a whole brisket…..The pounds of it can differ. (I think it’s a waste to do all this work for only a half brisket. After-all you can freeze the leftovers.
The hardest part is trimming the pastrami. You have to trim off all the really hard fat.
I might have trimed off more fat than you would? I also separated the point from the flat. After the trimming you need to puncture the brisket all over on both sides so it gets brined correctly.
Ingredients for the pastrami brine. (You might want to prepare the brine the day before because it takes a very long time to cool down. IT’S ESSENTIAL FOR THE BRINE TO BE COOL.
2 Tablespoons Prague powder (buy online…This makes the pastrami pink, helps to preserve it and you get that certain flavor that you can’t get without)
8 oz Crystal Brand Kosher salt (Mortons salt crystals are a different shape and don’t penetrate the meat as well)
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup honey
4 teaspoons juniper berries
6 Tablespoons coriander seeds
4 teaspoons allspice berries
6 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons whole cloves
4 teaspoons mustard seeds
4 Tablespoons Tellicherry black peppercorns (not the same flavor from other black peppercorns)
4 teaspoons white peppercorns
2 teaspoons ground ginger
6 oz garlic (around 40 cloves) rough chop or slice
2 Tablespoons granulated garlic
2 Tablespoons granulated onion
4 hot dried chilies – crushed
4 teaspoons smoked paprika
16 cups water
Directions – bring to boil and boil for about ten minutes. Let cool. Brisket can’t be added to a hot or warm brine.(I divide the brine into three bowls and make an ice bath to cool them down)
If you separate the brisket (or cut in half…but you will have a big line of fat in the middle with meat that needs to be cut in different directions….) You can use turkey cooking bags to hold 1/2 of each of the pastrami. You also try to squeeze as much of the air out as you can. Today I used canned sodas to help keep the brine all around the brining briskets.
The pastrami should be turned over every day.
I brine mine for 6 days. (the longer you brine the chances of spoilage are higher)
After 6 days you remove the briskets from the brine and blot them off.
Then you have to add the rub using a spice blender.
8 Tablespoons coriander seeds
2 Tablespoons Tellicherry black peppercorns
2 Tablespoons smoked paprika
This gets blended up and you rub it all over the brisket.
Smoke with pecan wood at least 5 hours but 7 hours is better changing the wood as needed.
This gets finished over night in a low 185- 200 degree F oven. (last time I did last time at 185.. did 200 this time because my oven doesn’t do 185.
If you make pastrami then you might want to make rye bread or rye rolls. (My recipes are in search)
Made Rye Rolls today!
Same recipe as before but in the Whirlpool Oven They needed 25 minutes at 425 degrees F.
Here is 1/2 of the pastrami cold. (it’s better to slice uo the pastrami cold)
BBQ Pastrami and Rye Rolls
I don’t mean to brag but The FORKING Truth is that the pastrami and rye rolls are far better than from most restaurants!
There is always something new, weird, different, limited, or special edition in the wonderful world of food. We never know WTFork that we will come across when we shop for food.
Up above is what I’m guessing is-
LIMITED EDITION – Kellogg’s Shocking Orange Rice Krispies. I wonder if they make your teeth orange too! That could be shocking.
DIFFERENT and maybe SPECIAL EDITION – Kellogg’s Mindcraft Frosted Flakes with CREEPER BIT Marshmallows…??? I wonder if those green creeper bit marshmallows taste like weird?
DIFFERENT – Duncan’ Hines – Dolly Parton’s Southern Style Banana Cake Mix with OTHER natural flavors…..(WTFORK are other? natural flavors? Otter butts, lizard spit, beetle poop?) Haven’t tried this so it could be great or a BUST!
Found a bunch of different puffs.
DIFFERENT – Outstanding Puffs – Kansas City BBQ flavored……Ummmm?
DIFFERENT – Shrewd Food – Protein Puffs in Brick Oven Pizza Flavor. Too bad I didn’t buy them. I’d like to try them right now!
DIFFERENT – Outstanding Puffs – That are Hella Hot flavored. They sound too spicy hot but I don’t know if they are. I enjoy regular hot…..Hella hot just sounds too hot. I wonder how hot they sell?
DIFFERENT – Moon Cheese Yum Inferno – Dam I should have bought them. They sound yummy but hot. But what flavor is moon cheese?
DIFFERENT – Outstanding Puffs in Chill Ranch…??? Not sure about that flavor. Much taste like a mouthful of buttermilk powder?
DIFFERENT – Chester’s Poppers in jalapeño cheese whirlz…….sound tasty they might be?
Done with puffs for now.
DIFFERENT – Ronilli premium cauliflower crumbs……..I don’t know how they are so I can’t judge………I know I tried cauliflower crackers before and they had a really sour taste so I’m afraid to try cauliflower crumbs…..
WEIRD – Blue Diamond almonds that are blueberry flavored……
DIFFERENT – Simple Truth Nut Butter Bites in Cocoa Beat Almond flavor…OPPS! I mean Coca BEET Almond…….I’m thinking that these seem like filling for a chocolate candy…..
DIFFERENT – Jeni’s Ice Cream in flavors I’ve never seen before….Brambleberry Crisp and Gooey Butter Cake
I saw lots of interesting flavors of Haagen Dazs….
DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – Haagen Dazs Summer Berry Cake Pop, Black and White Cookie, Bourbon Vanilla bean Truffle
and
DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – Haagen Dazs Dulce de Leche Churro
and
DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – Haagen Dazs Rum Tres Leches and Bourbon Praline Pecan….OH GOSH they all sound fabulous! I think I just gained ten pounds just by thinking about tasting all those ice creams. I didn’t buy any either…this time.
Good old ketchup is new and different now too!
NEW – Heinz Ketchup in habanero and chipotle…..Both flavors do sound good to me.
And there is usually something Oreo.
DIFFERENT – Nabisco Soft Baked Oreo Cakesters.
Well that was the new, weird, different, limited, and special edition foods out there for September 2023. Who know WTFork we’ll come across next month.
SNS Diner & BBQ is also known as Southern Nevada BBQ and is located in North Las Vegas Nevada. They offer breakfast, and a lunch/dinner menu of comfort foods. They also offer daily specials and of course barbecue. If they look or sound familiar it might be because they’ve been featured on Food Network’s Diners Drive-ins and Dives.
They have all kinds of seating inside.
Outside was only three tables but we managed to get one and the dogs were very happy about that.
We tried a bbq corned beef sandwich with a side salad. The side salad came out first.
The dogs got to eat my cucumbers from the salad.
My husband started out with a cup of gumbo.
He thought it was good and my digs were excited to eat some of the sausage in it.
I gave my dogs a small amount of the smoked corned beef.
They do a mild kind of corned beef here but it is tender. (The smoked pastrami here is more like an east coast style…Well it was last time…) The dogs got mostly bbq chicken that was very good! It was really tender, lightly smoked with crispy skin and really perfect! They also got bbq pulled pork, the tender brisket, some macaroni and cheese, and a little sweet cornbread (not pictured).
The dogs were very pleased with SNS Diner & BBQ and can’t wait to return.
That was Dining out With DOGS at SNS Diner & BBQ North Las Vegas NV
3229 Losee Rd North Las Vegas NV – 702-269-9696
www.SNSDiner.com
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
