Al Solito Posto is a richly decorated high quality Italian Restaurant located in Tivoli Village in the Summerlin part of Las Vegas Nevada.
There is a large patio that wraps around the restaurant.
Inside is busy and energetic. There is plenty of seating in the restaurant and large bar but reservations are recommended.
Everyone starts off with fresh baked focaccia and roasted garlic with oil and dried herbs presented table side.
We started off with the fried squash blossoms stuffed with three cheeses and garnished with basil aioli and a lemon wedge.
They were shattering crisp and kinda fun to eat.
I heard that the Italian Chop Salad was very good. It’s packed with greens, roasted tomatoes, chick peas, meats, cheeses, and peperoncini.
For my main I tried the Scottish Salmon.
They don’t ask you your preference (medium-rare, medium, etc.) and the fish comes out well done…..BUT it’s the best well done salmon that I have tried anywhere. It’s as moist as a medium and taste as fresh as can be. It’s also nicely grilled with all the skin and all the bloodline removed. It comes with tomato braised lentils and roasted carrots.
My husband tried the Maasaldine Cacio E Pepe.
He thought it was perfect. Said, “This is REALLY GOOD!”
We gave the Chocolate Hazelnut Semi Freddo a try.
To me it’s more like a mildly flavored mousse topped with very hard crunchy sticky nuts.
The Sprouts Grocery in NORTH LAS VEGAS has some really great surprise sales. I walked in and they had BIG BAGS of two kinds of broccoli on sale for 99cents a bag. In case you don’t know Yotam Ottolenghi is a multi award wining and James Beard award wining chef, restauranteur, and cook book author. I figured that he would have a great tender stem broccoli recipe and he did on his website. I didn’t want to change anything in his recipe but I had to change a few things due to what I had around the house. So I made a few substitutions and left out one ingredient that I didn’t have. I also doubled the amount of brown sugar peanuts because I knew I would want more than a 1/4 cup. This came out different and delicious! It might be something that you might want to try? This made four generous side servings for me.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar – peanuts
2 teaspoons soy sauce – peanuts
2 teaspoons olive oil – peanuts
1/2 cup peanuts – peanuts
non stick spray – peanuts
1/2 cup peanut buttet – dressing
2 teaspoons gochujang – dressing
1 Tablespoon soy sauce – dressing
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar – dressing
1 lemon – just the juice
2 teaspoons – fresh grated ginger – dressing
2 garlic cloves , ground to paste – dressing
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon chives – to finish
1 pound broccoli (You can use whatever broccoli you want)
Salt to boil water
Directions
Set oven to 325 degrees F.
Get a small sheet tray ready and spray it with non stick spray.
In a small mixing bowl mix together the brown sugar, soy sauce, and oil. Then mix in the peanuts. Pour this out on your sprayed baking sheet in one layer and spread it out. This goes in the preheated oven for nine – ten minutes.
Put a pot of water on to boil and salt the water.
Mix up the dressing – in a small bowl mix together the peanut butter, gochujang, soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, salt, and water. Put to the side.
When the peanuts come out of the oven they will be molten hot. You might want to break them up a little before they set and lump up together.
Boil the broccoli for three minutes. Drain the broccoli and either serve or if for latter put in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
Serve with peanuts and sauce either on the side or drizzled on and finish with chives.
Tenderstem Broccoli with Peanut Gochujang Dressing
A Special THANKS!!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for his Tenderstem Broccoli with Gochujang Dressing Recipe so I could come up with what I got here.
There is always something NEW, Weird, Different, limited, or special edition in the wonderful world of food. We just never know WTFork we’ll come across when we shop for food.
Up above is
NEW – Milk Chocolate M&M’s bark………Bark sounds like. something most of us will woof down…….
LIMITED EDITION – KitKat – artificially Churro flavored……….How do you artificially flavor cinnamon?………For my taste these KitKats run around 1/2 good and 1/2 bad…………….
NEW – KitKat naturally and artificially Chocolate Frosted Donut flavored……Interesting I wonder how TheFork they can come up with a fried doughnut flavor?
DIFFERENT – Hershey’s Milklicious chocolate Kisses…..I think they are Milk Chocolate Kisses filled with milk chocolate cream……..Less chocolate that way…..
LIMITED EDITION but LEFTOVER – DeeBest Dreidel Jewel Pop in Green Apple and Strawberry……..Guess it’s not made out of clay!
DIFFERENT – Calbee Harvest Snaps Crunchy Loops in gluten free Tangy Sweet Chili….? Could be good…Could suck…don’t know till I try.
TAILGATE EDITION – Kettle Brand 7 Layer Dip Flavored something…….I think they are potato chips but can’t say for sure. They don’t sound appetizing to me but maybe some people will like?
DIFFERENT – Utz naturally and artificially Mike’s Hot Honey Flavored Potato Chips……..I almost bought them until I read the ingredients. Can’t do chips with lactic acid……It’s very painful to my mouth…..I have no idea how some people can eat it?
What goes with chips?…DIP!
DIFFERENT – Taste of the South – Fried Pickle and Ranch Dip……Ummm could go either way?
DIFFERENT – Cholula original medium salsa………I’m guessing that this might be good?
DIFFERENT – Bada Bean Bada Boom Crunchy sea salt Broad Beans…..Anything with beans that goes boom is pretty funny.
DIFFERENT – P-nuff crunch as seen on Shark Tank. Peanut puffs make from navy beans, rice, and peanuts……Actually these are pretty good. I bought them from the discontinued 99cent sale at my local Sprouts Grocery……Sorry I didn’t buy more. Oh well.
DIFFERENT – Simple Truth -Ultra Thin Crust goat cheese and beet sauce pizza….That’s Different…might be tasty
NEW – Kraft American Cheese Slice Singles in Caramelized Onion, Jalapeño, and Garlic & Herb …….It’s a little cheesy……….
For Dogs I saw something –
DIFFERENT – Milkbone Birthday Cake with sprinkles and vanilla yogurt coating! My dogs would probably woof it down.
LIMITED EDITION – Milk Bones that are vanilla dipped strawberry………(I don’t think my dogs would like this best but they might eat them?)
DIFFERENT and maybe SPECIAL EDITION – Wiggles and Wags Vanilla and Cinnamon Dog treats that look like vanilla frosted strawberries…….????
Well the next one I bet my dogs would love.
DIFFERENT – Dentley’s Duck Feet Dog Chews.
I also saw something for SUCKERS for Cats!
WEIRD – Rhodes BONKERS Purr Pops in Chicky Licks flavor………..SUCKERS for CATS? Yes a lot of people were on drugs to invent this one.
And there is usually something Oreo.
LIMITED EDITION – Space Dunk 5 Galactic Designs with popping candy. Maybe it taste out of this world?
Well that was the new, weird, different, limited, and special edition foods out there for February 2024. Who know WTFork we’ll come across next month.
Dining out with Dogs is just a “Fluff” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started with my late dog Louie. He always LOVED going out to eat. When he got elderly he came down with aggressive cancer. We were told that he probably only had three months to live and possibly up to six months. Since Louie loved going out to eat I took him out as often as I could and Louie made it another 17 months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when the weather is good and when I can.
We made it to #1 Hawaiian Barbecue. They don’t have their own patio but only two doors down is a community patio that we can use. Hawaiian Barbecue is traditionally EXTRA LARGE portions of food with lots of rice packed into a styrofoam container.
I got the grilled Mahi healthier plate.
It two mild fish filets over a giant salad with a hard boiled egg and brown rice. I give the dogs the fish without garlic on it, some of the brown rice and some of the egg.
My husband got the plate called The Bento Box. He got BBQ beef, BBQ Pork, BBQ Chicken, Fried Fish, macaroni salad, and rice.
The dogs got to eat some of his plate too.
Then they are back to me for more.
The dogs always LOVE going to #1Hawaiian Barbecue!
5870 N. Losee Rd North Las Vegas NV
702-642-4600
www.BestHawaiianBarbecue.com
The dogs always love SNS Diner BBQ. By-The-Way this restaurant was featured on Food Network’s Diners Drive-inns and Dives.
My husband got a three meat (BBQ brisket, BBQ pork, Hot links with potato salad) plate that is very hard to photo because everything is wrapped in foil.
The dogs got to try brisket and pork from that plate.
Me and the dogs got the BBQ 1/2 chicken with macaroni and cheese. They also got some cornbread.
The dogs always love going to SNS Diner BBQ.
3229 Losee Rd North Las Vegas NV
702-269-9696
www.SNSDiner.com
The next week it got cold here again so we just drove to a Wendy’s after a visit to the vet.
Then the dogs enjoyed their cheeseburger at home.
Wendy’s
1301 W Craig Rd N. Las. Vegas NV – 702-399-2351
www.Wendys.com
It’s getting warmer now so we made it to Those Guys Pies in North Las Vegas. They specialize in serving pizzas and steak sandwiches. If they seem familiar to you then you might have seen this restaurant on Food Network’s Diners Drive Ins and Dives. The dogs got some goat cheese and chicken from my salad.
“Ummmmm Chicken!”
The dogs also got gourmet fish dog biscuits from the dog biscuit vending machine here.
They also got a little bit of steak and some cheese from my husband’s cheesesteak.
They always enjoy Those Guys Pies!
Those Guys Pies – 5585 Simmons St North Las Vegas NV
725-251-5826
www.ThoseGuysPies.com
We hope that you’ve enjoyed Dining Out With Dogs for February 2024. We hope to see you next month!
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
Siena Italian Trattoria is a bar, restaurant, and Italian deli either in or near to the Summerlin part of Las Vegas Nevada. They offer long large menus for lunch, brunch, and dinner to try to accommodate many appetites or tastes.
To the left is a large bar as big as the dining room and to the right is a deli and store as large as the dining room.
The dining room is large and dimly lit …….so bring your flashlight and readers…….There is a wall of many wine bottles and an open kitchen.
They start you off with a basket of bread, crisp breads, and butter.
We tried the Bruschetta and salt cod mousse appetizer because you rarely see this Venetian Style appetizer on menus.
it’s different…..It’s not very mouse-ee…..You actually have big pieces of fish here embellished with something creamy, some shredded cheese, and some fish roe on toasted slices of bread. There is also dressed greens with olives and pickled peppers to adorn the bruschetta.
But here is where things went south on this particular dinner.
I was going to order the branzino because that is usually the best fish at an Italian Restaurant……….After I try to order the branzino…..My waiter goes off about the Chilean Sea Bass…..He had a very THICK ITALIAN accent and I did have a bunch of trouble understanding him but I could tell he was very passionate on PUSHING the Chilean Sea Bass….”He said it was one of the best two plates to get.”
So out comes the Chilean Sea Bass…..
It has a very strong fish odor………..
I try a very small piece and it taste as bad as it smells.
I even give my husband a tiny piece and he agrees it is smelly tasting.
Nobody can eat this…….I have to send this fish back. Now I’m beginning to wonder if he wanted me to get the Chilean Sea Bass because it was old and they needed to get rid of it or maybe he pushed it on me because it was the most expensive fish on the menu?????
ANYWAYS-
The waiter says that the branzino will take too long to prepare. I was going to switch to a chicken dish since that fish smelled here…………….But then the waiter says to get the salmon…..He said that salmon gets prepared fast. I don’t trust the waiter anymore but went with the salmon anyway.
My husband digs into his veal ossobuco.
He said that the risotto was very good. He also said that the. veal was indeed tender but not the most developed. with flavors.
Leoncito is a Modern Mexican Restaurant and Bar located in the Red Rock Resort in the Summerlin part of Las Vegas Nevada. This is a nicer quality restaurant that offers lunch, brunch, dinner, happy hour, and a 3 course express lunch for $35.
By the entrance you walk by the open kitchen.
Behind this main dining area is a patio for outdoor dining.
They started us off with warm complimentary chips and two salsas.
One is green fruity and creamy and the other is tomato based and spicy.
I started off with the aguachile.
It’s a refreshing plate of cucumber, Serrano, tomato, and micro cilantro.
My husband tried the Bacon Oaxacan Cheese Potato Taquitos.
They were well seasoned and very tasty.
For my main I tried the Baja Rockfish Tacos.
The fish was batter dipped and was topped with slaw, avocado, onions, crema rosa, and these unusual pickled onions that really made them pop! Those onions were unusually great…..they were very citrusy….sweet…tangy…sour…really super flavorful. The rice was very flavorful too.
My husband tried a carnitas burrito.
It also had chorizo beans, salsa verde, yellow rice, pickled jalapeños, queso fresco, cilantro, and chipotle aioli. It was also very good and flavorful.
I ordered the sundae for dessert but the ice cream machine wasn’t functioning so we both got Bunuelos (Ice cream filled cinnamon doughnuts …..doughnut dough by Pink Box)
They were a nice sweet ending.
The Express Lunch (Monday-Friday 11-3) is certainly Worth a Try!
This Italian Sesame Cookie Recipe is based on www.ItalianRecipeBook.com ‘s recipe for Italian Sesame Cookies. Maybe due to using a different brand of flour than what the recipe writer used I had different results and my dough was so dry I couldn’t make cookies out of it. I cut the recipe in half too because it made far more cookies than I can even give away. Then to half of the recipe – I added more butter, a Tablespoon of water, a whole lemon zest instead of a half and maybe due to my oven I had to bake the cookies 25 degrees F higher to make them come out. In the end I wound up with delicious not-too-sweet cookies. I made about 34 cookies (with 1/2 of the original recipe) I can see eating one or two cookies for a serving……so I’ll estimate about 20 servings.
Ingredients for around 20 servings
1 3/4 cup flour
4oz unsalted butter – room temperature and slightly melted
1 Tablespoon water
1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 lemon – just the zest
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup sesame seeds
Directions
Set Oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet or sheets with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl mix together all the ingredients except for the sesame seeds. (flour, butter, water, sugar, egg, zest, baking powder, salt)
The dough gets rolled into small logs (something between a pen size and your pinky. Make each log almost as long as your thumb. Dip the log in water and sprinkle and roll in sesame seeds. Space some on baking sheet and Repeat till done.
The baking sheet goes on the middle rack till lightly browned. Ovens do differ some. In my oven this took 25 minutes.
Italian Sesame Cookies
Italian Sesame Cookies
A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!! To www.ItalianRecipeBook.com for sharing their Italian Sesame Cookie Recipe so I could come up with what I got here!
I made pizza a few times before here but I usually don’t measure and tried to explain what I do the best that I can. I always made two pizzas at a time because it is just about as easy to make two as one and then you have leftover pizza for at least another time or times. Home made pizzas are made different than Pizzeria Pizzas…….The home oven just doesn’t get that hot and is electric or gas……For a home made pizza you can add olive oil to the dough and cook the crust first at the highest heat that you can. The second baking should be done on a stone to try to get a crisp crust. Serving size is always impossible to determine. I don’t know if you want one slice or four slices……So that means between 16 servings and 4 servings depending on if everyone eats one slice or 4 slices……….I’ll rough guesstimate……I’ll say the two pizzas will be at least 6 servings.
Ingredients for at least 6 servings
2 cups 110 degree F water
1 Packet yeast – 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
Directions
This goes in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
You wait (up to an hour) till you have a nice thick foamy top.
Then you add
16 ounces flour (today I used all purpose)
1 Tablespoon sea salt (I prefer course sea salt)
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit at least an hour.
Then you add another 16 ounces of flour. Knead and knead and knead forever……or at least 6 minutes.
You won’t use all the flour but will use most of it. some the dough will sit in and you cover your dough ball bowl with plastic wrap again and leave it alone for a few hours. I start my dough between 7 and 8 am and use the dough between 1 and 2pm.
Preheat your oven for as high as it goes……….(Mine goes to 550 degrees F)
My pizza pan and my pizza stone can’t handle 550 degrees so I use a baking sheet that I first spray lightly with nonstick spray to avoid sticking……Then I spray with olive oil….and sprinkle the sheet tray with semolina.
The dough gets sandwiched between parchment paper and plastic wrap. I roll it with a rolling pin. Then peel the plastic wrap off and flop the dough over the pan and peel the parchment paper off.
Pat the dough to fit better in the pan…….Place on a middle rack for 7-8 minutes or until lightly brown on the ends.
If you have a pizza stone….You can leave the oven door open to cool off the oven a bit and when it’s down to around 300 degrees you can put your pizza stone in and heat it up to around 450 degrees (to PREFERABLY MANUFACTURES DIRECTIONS) for about an hour and top the dough to your liking till melted….maybe only 5 minutes…not much more.
ENJOY!!!!!
(below is pizza with fresh mozzarella cheeses, pesto, sauce, tomato, basil
A few other pizzas I did.
heirloom tomato pizzaMy Heirloom Tomato PizzaScaccia also called Lasagna Bread (different dough but rolled up pizza)Leek pizzaPepperoni pizzaArugula Balsamic and Tellegio Pizza
Tasty China is an American Chinese Restaurant located in North Las Vegas Nevada. This is a neighborhood type of restaurant but I hear from many in the area that this is the long time favorite of the American Chinese restaurants in the area (and there are many). While visiting I noticed that they do mostly take out and delivery.
But some people do dine in here.
They start you off with crispy fried noodles with duck sauce.
We started out by trying the egg rolls.
To us they are more like spring rolls. They seem like they were fresh made because the cabbage in them is tasty and fresh.
It’s a little different here. The spicy dishes come different levels of heat. I picked “hot” for Szechwan Chicken.
No worries. “Hot” here is normal Chinese take out……or not very hot. They only use white meat chicken here and it is tender like butter. This has all the normal flavors of Szechwan Chicken and is only slightly sweet so it is good. This one also has a nice selection of vegetables in it like zucchini, carrots, bell peppers, carrots and celery. It is also a generous portion and came with a very generous portion of white rice.
My husband ordered the Kung Pao Beef “Extra HOT.”
The Kung Pao beef is also generous in size and was made with masterfully tender beef. The “Extra HOT” seems like regular take out Chinese to both of us. To me the dominate taste here is soy sauce…….I’m beginning to wonder if this is what might be Nevada Style Chinese because I’m finding that the majority of American Chinese dishes we’ve tried in Las Vegas is this flavor profile….??????????? This is not what we are used too………
We both thought that the Szechwan Chicken was good because it was balanced with flavors that included garlic and ginger. It had not too much sweetness and seemed about right. Our server was very helpful, thoughtful and efficient.
With the check we got fortune cookies and almond cookies.
If you are used to east coast American Chinese some plates do differ from what you are used to but some like the Szechwan chicken are similar so it’s Worth a Try!
Unique Eats is a very unique restaurant located in Las Vegas Nevada. It’s a cute little restaurant that offers breakfast, lunch, coffee, smoothies, catering, beer, wine, and MORE. Tuesday – Saturdays 4:pm-10:pm they change the name to Twisted Pye where the main dig are the pizzas.
Back to Unique Eats.
Unique Eats offers a LOT of variety. A few of the appetizers that they offer are hummus, wings, and grilled cheese with tomato soup. They offer SIX different salads that you can add chicken, salmon, or shrimp to. They offer eight different sandwiches that include chicken salad, slow roasted corned beef, and cheeseburgers. They also offer entrees, 10 inch original or thin crust pizzas, pastas, a vegetarian menu, and a vegan menu too!
We tasted (and brought the rest home for the next day) the house made lox.
It’s hand sliced with a nice melt in your mouth texture. This is better than what you get at many deli shops that just buy lox packaged.
I tried the house roasted pastrami sandwich with a side salad.
It’s a bit unique with lettuce, heirloom tomato, onion, and spicy dijon……..To me the rye bread is very good. The pastrami is very good but it does have some non-traditional taste to it. It is also well grilled and a little too oily to me. It is good but not east coast style.
My husband tried the Torte De Pibil with fries.
It’s a great BIG Sloppy sandwich filled with refried beans, cocinita pork, lettuce, heirloom tomato, pickled onions, and potatoes on a toasted bun served with battered seasoned fries. All very good no complaints here.
Unique Eats – a little bit of everything! Very Unique! Worth a Try!
