Makai Pacific Island Grill is a casual Hawaiian Plate Lunch type restaurant that will soon be in seven locations in Las Vegas Nevada. A Hawaiian Plate Lunch is usually generous portions of meat or meats, some sides and rice that is usually served in a styrofoam box (here they use aluminum pans). The North Las Vegas Location on Losee Road is located in a shopping center with plenty of parking.
It’s casual. You order at the counter, pay, and seat yourself.
Here are our plate lunches. (below is a regular and large size)
I got the regular size that is TWO meats, TWO sides, and RICE.
JEEPERS I got THREE meals out of this and it only cost a little over $10. It’s cheaper to eat here than to cook at home.
I got Mochiko chicken (fried on the bone), Teriyaki chicken (moist dark meat), tasty kimchi slaw, TWO scoops of brown rice, salad with a tasty dressing, and yaki sauce. It was all tasty and good!
My husband got a large.
He got THREE meats, THREE sides. Kalua pig, katsu chicken, teriyaki beef, macaroni salad, corn, and two scoops of rice.
All good but the beef was a little dry today.
Makai Pacific Island Grill is Worth a Try!
6520 N Losee Rd North Las Vegas NV
The phone number is not listed on their website (or my receipt) as of this posting.
The Magic Noodle is a Chinese Hand Pulled Noodle Restaurant located in Las Vegas Nevada. You get either skinny chewy noodles or fat springy noodles here. You get the noodles either stir fried, in soup, or with sauce. This is a tiny popular restaurant so you add your name to the wait list to dine here. The food comes out as it’s ready.
Our first dish out was my fish noodle soup with pickled vegetables.
The fish is mild and tender. The fat noodles are springy. This is full of lots of flavors and also is a bit spicy. This is delicious I’d get it again!
We also shared an onion pancake.
It’s ok but would be tastier with a sauce. Maybe I’m suppose to dunk it in the soup?
My husband tried the Szechuan Beef Brisket noodle. It’s also spicy.
He thought it was very good.
Food was very good, prices were low, and service was speedy friendly and efficient.
The Magic Noodle is Worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
The Magic Noodle Chinese Restaurant
5165 S Fort Apache Rd Las Vegas NV – 702-873-0888
I haven’t found a website for this restaurant but noticed that you can find them on Facebook and Instagram.
HaSalon is a Modern Israeli Inspired high quality Restaurant located in the Venetian in the Palazzo area on The Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. This restaurant is by seasoned chef, restauranteur, and Masterchef Judge Eyal Shani who has over 40 restaurants around the world and also opened Miznon (a casual counter Israeli Street Style Food Restaurant) in the same hall in the Palazza recently. HaSalon translates to dining room. You are suppose to feel that you are dining in the chef’s own dining room. The menu is daily changing of fresh harvested meats, daily flown in fresh fish, vegetables, and hand made pastas. The early seating is normal and tranquil and the late seating the restaurant transforms to a supper club and is vibrant, loud and maybe wild and crazy. Dancing is encouraged on top of the tables.
We tried the early seating that starts at 6pm.
Whatever you order that start you off with complimentary delicious focaccia and sour cream that was embellished with tomato guts and Chile peppers.
Thought the six pepper appetizer called spicy instrument would go well with the focaccia and other things so we gave it a try.
Everything on the plate tastes different. The dark green is the spiciest. The darkest red is the smokiest and everything else is in-between.
This plate was interesting…..The beet carpaccio was so light it was almost like air. But had lots more flavor than air. It was very earthy but melted in the mouth. It was embellished with creme fraiche and horseradish snow.
Ricotta clouds were highly recommended by our server. She said they make the ricotta in-house.
To my surprise they differed from what I imagined and were actually gnocchi made with whey.
My husband added another plate to our order and we got the eggplant melanza.
It’s four very thin slices of sweet eggplant in a rich but light tomato sauce with cheese.
We shared what they call melting spinach.
It’s a mound of spinach cooked with butter and topped with grated cheese and grey sea salt.
For dinner we shared the hraine (striped bass in spicy tomato sauce).
This was my personal favorite of the dishes. No BAD DISHES were found here but this fish was very DELICIOUS and prepared perfectly. It’s also a large portion (I note that I don’t know if they gave me extra by accident) and feeds two people. The fish is also embellished with tahini, cilantro and scallions. My husband’s favorite dish was the eggplant melanza. It was sort of a sophisticated style of authentic eggplant parmesan. Another special dish to me was the beets carpaccio. The beets were very earthy and almost really did seem like meat.
That was my trip to HaSalon – Newly Opened
HaSalon
Venetian, Palazzo 3325 S. Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas NV
I was reading a recipe for Focaccia and I was very surprised that it had an egg and heavy cream in the dough. This recipe I would have not read but it was by an Italian Chef from Lombardy so I guess it’s for real. I didn’t have heavy cream at home but I did have a French cheese called Fromagerd d Affinois with herbs (basically Brie). I used that in the dough instead of cream and I changed up the flours due to what I had in my pantry. I also changed up the liquids slightly. I also had to figure out the oven temperature and timing. But WOW! It came out FORKING DELICIOUS! Serving size is always difficult to determine because I don’t know if you want a small serving or a large serving. This made 6 small breads……so that means between 6-12 servings depending on if you want a half bread or a whole bread…..so I’ll say 9 servings. That is my guesstimate.
Ingredients for around 9 servings
1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon water warmed up to 110 degrees F
1 pack active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon honey
1/4 cup brie cheese or something similar
1 egg – lightly beaten
1 teaspoon course sea salt
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
5 Tablespoons 00 flour
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + more for spraying the dough
4 Tablespoons water
6 pinches flake sea salt
1/4 red onion – sliced extra thin
12 sweet grape tomatoes – sliced thin
3 oz Grana Padano – shredded
3 small pinches rosemary
3 small pinches Italian seasoning (This is what I used…..I tablespoon sea salt, 1 Tablespoon black pepper, 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder, 1/2 Tablespoon onion powder, 1 Tablespoon basil, 1 tablespoon oregano, 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds, 1 crushed small dried Calabrian Chile pepper)
non stick spray
a few pinches of cornmeal or semolina
Directions
Set oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine yeast, 110 degree water, and honey in a large bowl. Mix and wait about ten minutes till you see a foamy surface. Whisk in cheese, egg, and salt. Add flours, water, and olive oil. This mixes together very well. Knead it some and make a ball and put it in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. In around an hour divide the dough into 6 balls. 2 sheet pans get sprayed lightly with non stick spray and then spray the lightly with olive oil and add a light sprinkle of corn meal or semolina. Shape each ball of dough into a flat pancake. Three pancakes will fit on each sheet tray. Cover them loosely with plastic wrap. Let them rise 30-60 minutes.
Spray them with olive oil. Sprinkle them with a light sprinkle of sea salt flakes and rosemary. (Optional….you should make the dimples in the dough….I did but they didn’t stay dimpled)……Add a sprinkle of raw onions slices and tiny sweet tomato slices. Add a sprinkle of Grana Padano. Finish with a LIGHT sprinkle of Italian seasoning and another sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil.
This goes in your preheated 425 degree F oven till slightly browned. Ovens do differ. This took around 25 minutes in my oven on a middle rack. In my old oven I think this only would take around 15 minutes.
Anyway it really did come out FORKING DELICIOUS! (Below is one of the 6 small loaves sliced up)
Took some to a party I went to with my FORKING AMAZING chocolate chip cookies.
Focaccia Style Bread with Onions, Tomatoes, and Grana Padano
I didn’t make chef Mattia Agazzi’s recipe for Focaccia (only because I didn’t have the ingredients) but it inspired me to make what I got here so a Special Thanks!!!! to him!
There is always some new, weird, different, limited, or special edition out there in the wonderful world of food. We never know WTFork we’ll find when we shop for food.
Up above is –
NEW – Kellogg’s Cinnamon Sugar Rice Krispies – It’s a morning RICE and Shine flavor….Great cinnamontography on the box!
DIFFERENT and maybe NEW? – General Mills Trix minis……..I think the cereal machine that makes this stuff got clogged and could only squirt out minis……..It sure looks like you are going to poop mini rainbows if you eat them.
LIMITED EDITION – Cap’n Crunch’s Red, White, and Blue star shaped cereal….Ok this one is going to make you blast fart fireworks !
Maybe DIFFERENT? Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Crunch…….When I ate Raisin Bran it was just called Raisin Bran…….but that was a very long time back……….Raisin Bran Crunch must be something different?
More Crunch? Or maybe the factory is just old now and the crunch is actually cockroaches?
DIFFERENT – General Mills – Cheerios Cinnamon Oat Crunch…..Sounds good but I don’t know….(Could be the same OLD factory with roaches now?)
DIFFERENT – General Mills – Trixs Gardens of the Galaxy naturally and artificially flavored corn puffs….. Ok or are they playing Trix on us?
DIFFERENT – General Mills Gardens of the Galaxy Mega Size Lucky Charms….??? OK Mega Size means mega gut and mega Butt! HA!
NEW – Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes naturally and artificially flavored Strawberry Milkshake flavored corn cereal. Berry funny!
DIFFERENT – Cap’n Crunch’s Artificially flavored Berrytastic pancake mix…? How good can that be? Very berry funny!
DIFFERENT – Hostess Crispy Minis Cookies & Creme ……?…..Do you have to wait to be seated to eat them?
DIFFERENT – HERR’S – Fore Roasted Sweet Corn Flavored Popcorn…WOW Popcorn that taste like fire roasted sweet corn! I hope it’s corny!
DIFFERENT – HERR’S – Jalapeño Poppers flavored Cheese Curls – Sounds hot..but might be a chile pepper?
DIFFERENT – HERR’S – Carolina Reaper Flavored Xtra Hot…Cheese Curls…OUCH that might hurt? Is that a crunch with death?
DIFFERENT – Blue Diamond Almonds XTREMES Carolina Reaper HOTTEST Nuts………Not sure if this is actually a smart snack or another crunch with death?
DIFFERENT – Nice Whole Cashews that are Everything Seasoned…..? Do I wrap lox and cream cheese on them? At least they are nice.
DIFFERENT & HOT! – Del Monte Blazing HOT Ghost Pepper Pickle chips…..That sounds too hot to eat? You could use this instead of a baseball bat by your door for protection. Maybe ghost pepper pickle chips make you go BOO hoo?
DIFFERENT – Kraft Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette …..Might be good on ice cream?
DIFFERENT – Odang roasted red pepper Hummus Dressing????? Maybe this really is smooth red shrug sauce? (incase you didn’t know sometimes hummus is topped with a green shrug sauce (spicy green Chile -garlic or it can be red from red chilies but shrug is usually chunky. Or maybe it’s just dressing that didn’t make it for salads?
DIFFERENT – Wildflower Shatta sauce. It’s an Arabic hot chili sauce. Some variations are fermented.
DIFFERENT – Native Forest – Organic Young Red Curry Jackfruit…….You just don’t see that all the time!
DIFFERENT – Tzatziki Triscuit. ???? Not sure if I want tzatziki on my tzatziki Trisket?
DIFFERENT – Real handmade Za’atar flavored Pita Chips…..Need hummus with them!
AND there is usually something Oreo……….
LIMITED EDITION ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED (Oh yum!) Cotton Candy Oreo Cookies. JEEPERS Those Oreo People are so creative to figure out artificially flavored sugar instead of using real sugar for cotton candy!
Well that was the NEW, Weird, Different, Limited, and Special Edition foods for July 2023. Who knows WTFork we’ll come across next month?
Little Hong Kong Chinese and Filipino Favorites Restaurant is located in North Las Vegas Nevada. It’s a small casual restaurant with some wait service Filipino Food, American Chinese Food, soft canned beverages, and bottled water. They only have a few tables in this restaurant and I noticed most customers do take out here. This restaurant has an impressive 4.5 star average on Yelp so I thought it would be very good.
This dish is hard to find on menus so we tried vinegar marinated milkfish that is fried crisp with black pepper.
We also tried Mandarin hot braised vegetables to share.
and Szechwan beef. Both dishes are made with nice variety of the same fresh vegetables (bok choy, broccoli, red bell pepper, mini corn, carrot, onion, green pepper) But…….Both the Mandarin vegetables and the Szechwan beef taste exactly the same and are both in a sweet flat sauce that doesn’t even have a hint of heat.
Also the fish and the beef are not cooked properly. Both are dry and chewy. (It’s unusual to be served chewy dry fish). Sadly this is substandard. We also were the only table dining in and weren’t checked on. We even had to ask for the bill.
I don’t know what happened to this restaurant today so I can’t say…………But today sure wasn’t worth a try and certainly WASN’T Worth a Fork!
That was my trip to
Little Hong Kong
445 West Craig Road North Las Vegas NV – 702-643-3601
Pho Aimie is a full service Vietnamese Restaurant located in North Las Vegas Nevada. They offer around twenty varieties of pho (usually a beef noodle soup). One variety of pho that they offer is a rare steak spicy sate noodle with peanut thick soup that is not often on menus. They also offer vermicelli entrees, rice entrees, varieties of rice and egg noodle dishes, Vietnamese ice coffee, beer, and more. I do note that I didn’t notice Vietnamese baguette sandwiches (Banh Mi ) on the menu.
They seat you quickly as soon as you enter.
They have a large open room with hanging carved lantern type fixtures, and bamboo shrubbery.
We started out by sharing the chicken potstickers.
They have crisp exteriors from being deep fried and nicely seasoned chicken interiors.
For my dinner I picked the vermicelli stir fried with chicken lemongrass.
I got a generously sized bowl of lettuce, vermicelli, bean sprouts, carrot-radish-cucumbers, scallions, onions, and tender shaved medium spicy lemongrass infused chicken. This is light and refreshing and just right on a hot day. This can be two meals for some people……but only if you are OK with only a small amount of protein.
My husband tried the shaking beef rice entree.
It came with a bowl (of what my husband said was beef broth) soup. The beef here is tender and was cooked with onions with a soy based sauce with vegetables (carrot radish, cucumbers) and steamed rice.
That was my first taste at Pho Aimie in NORTH LAS VEGAS NV.
Carson Kitchen was created by restauranteur Cory Harwell and the late chef Kerry Simon who was often a judge on many Food Network TV Shows. The Las Vegas location is downtown in a midcentury converted hotel that formally was the John E Carson Hotel. It’s pretty easy to miss and just walk by but right around opening time is a small line of people waiting to get in by a door that is hard to notice.
You have options inside. Do you want to sit on the rooftop? Outside, or at the bar? You can sit at the kitchen counter and catch some action.
Or you can grab a seat in the main inside dining area.
The menu offers fine chef quality comfort foods. You can get starters like crispy chicken skins with smoked honey. A few of the other starters are hot dog burnt ends, and asada style venison tacos. They also offer sandwiches and flatbreads. Other plates like beet tartare, macaroni and cheese, three bean salad with ham and green goddess dressing, and gin riggies (rabbit & snake sausage with tomato cream. Some of the entrees are things like chicken thighs, pork meatloaf, salmon with strawberry pico, and short ribs with Mississippi jus and pepperacini pesto.
We were told orders do not necessarily come out together here. They come out of the kitchen as they are done.
We decided to start with the beet tartare.
It’s a bed of whipped goat cheese topped with soft beets, crushed pistachios, and mandarin oranges with thin crisp flatbreads.
For our mains we shared the secret Sunday chicken sandwich with spicy pickle aioli and house prepared tater tots.
About ten minutes latter we also shared the jerk turkey burger that also comes with house prepared tater tots.
The flavors are really great from both the sandwiches. The chicken sandwich is special with that spicy pickle aioli that really cuts threw everything. The tater tots are also exceptional with a very good real potato flavor and are perfectly crisp.
This was my first trip to Carson Kitchen in downtown Las Vegas NV.
I was thinking about calling this recipe FORKING TASTY cauliflower because when my husband tried it he said that this was, “FORKING TASTY Cauliflower. Sorry I missed photographing my dog for you……….. but even he thought it was FORKING TASTY too and STOLE a piece off of this plate while my back was turned. I used an orange colored cauliflower that is slightly tastier than the white ones but you can use a white cauliflower. Purple cauliflowers are more delicate and would probably burn up so I wouldn’t recommend using purple. Serving suggestion size may differ because we all have different appetites.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 cauliflower (preferably orange) – break down to florets
2 eggs
3 tablespoons mustard (I used Amora Brand Dijon mustard)
4 oz parmesan cheese – grated
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
non-stick spray
Directions
preheat oven to 450 degrees F
Spray your baking sheet(s) with non-stick spray and set to the side.
In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs, mustard, cheese, pepper, and paprika. Mix well and then add the cauliflower florets. This mixture will be very thick. Mix well till it looks like the cheese mixture is all over the cauliflower. Then arrange the cauliflower on sprayed sheet pan(s) in single layer with a small amount of room around each floret.
These go on your middle rack for around 25 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked and slightly brown.
My local Smith’s seems very understaffed. In the mornings when I like to shop they don’t have customer service or cashiers on. Later in the day they have one cashier that doesn’t bag for you and the line is always a mile long……………So you usually have to do your self check out anyway. I dread ringing in my order myself. The computer there at Smith’s can drive you nuts.
You can ring in organic scallions that cost more but if you have regular scallions the computer reads, “no items found.” So you have another choice and find the scallions by the picture and it might work that way. I found out that other items in the store you are on the, “type item ring in way” and others are on, “the look up picture way.”
Besides the irritation of ringing things in there are other irritating things about Smith’s.
You can’t buy toothpaste and other things before 9am.
On the bright side the fish is much better here than it was in Arizona. Here the fresh fish actually taste fresh and not old and fishy. Also the eggs have a nicer color yolk.
But they do sell some weird things in Las Vegas. I think the pistachio salad looks very unappetizing. It might make you poop in a neon turquoise color.
They also sell the weirdest celery I’ve ever seen.
We also have an Alberson’s near by. That store is a pain too. I miss the old days when I just pulled out my shoppers card to get the sale prices. Those were the old days. Here at Albertson’s you have to shop with a cell phone and have the Alberson’s app. You have to swipe each item on sale to get the sale price.
I’m also disappointed with the Whole Foods and Smart and Final here. Both stores are smaller and both don’t sell the specialty items that I’m looking for.
Even shopping at the 99Cent store is more difficult. At the 99Cent Store they don’t let you take the shopping cart out of the store. So if you have a few heavy bags you are screwed.
Food Shopping in North Las Vegas is more difficult than what I’m used to.
