Cafe Hollywood is a casual full service restaurant located in Planet Hollywood on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. They feature all day breakfast but also offer lunch and dinner. Inside you can sit at the counter or a table and marvel at all the Hollywood stars that grace the walls.
insideinside
I tried the smoked salmon and avocado toast.
It’s a slice of wheat toast topped with smoked salmon, mashed avocado, poached egg, sour cream, pickled red onions and capers. It was mostly good but I asked for a medium poached egg and they just poached it soft and it was a little underdone. The waiter did offer to get me another egg but I declined.
My husband tried the breakfast burrito.
The burrito is stuffed with scrambled eggs, pepper jack cheese, green bell peppers, refried beans, bacon, sausage, and ranchero sauce. The burrito comes with breakfast potatoes. This platter was A-OK.
An overall A-OK so …….Worth a Try!
That was my trip to Cafe Hollywood at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino
I was sort of gifted with a lot of yellow squash and I wanted to do something interesting and different with them. Often I use my spiral cutter and make spaghetti strings with the yellow squash that kind of cook its self from being marinated. Then I heat it up and it isn’t so squashy and it is stringy instead. Today I thought that I would try shaving the squash instead. But what flavors should I do today?…..For inspiration I was searching the internet for Top Chef recipes, a few other chefs, and award winning chef, restauranteur and cook book author Yotam Ottolenghi recipes. I do Ottolenghi recipes a lot because he is one of the most gifted vegetable chefs in the world. Yotam Ottolenghi does a COLD marinated yellow squash salad with kiwi salsa. I changed it up a little and I thought a spicy apple salsa just when real nice with squash this time of year. I used 3 pounds of yellow squash. So that makes 6-8 servings depending on how big you make the servings. This takes a few hours for the squash to marinate or just do the squash the day before.
Ingredients for around 7 portions
3 lbs yellow squash – ends cut off and sliced very thin like a shave
1 teaspoon fennel seeds – toasted – ground
1/2 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1/2 lemon – juice and zest
6 cloves garlic – ground to paste
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese – grated
2 apples – coarsely grated
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 red chile – fine chop (I used a Fresno that was spicy)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro – chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley leaves – chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground dry mint (if you have fresh mint use about 2 Tablespoons)
2 Tablespoons fresh basil – chopped or torn
optional 1/2 cup of either dried corn kernels or 1/2 cup toasted salted pepitas
Directions
Put the shaved yellow squash in a gallon ziplock bag. Keep in the refrigerator or set to the side.
Put a small fry pan on medium high heat and add the oil, sugar, garlic, and the toasted and ground fennel seeds. Cook only a minute or two till the garlic is cooked and take off heat. Add the vinegar, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix well. When this is room temperature add it to the bag of shaved squash. Squish it around to distribute. This needs to marinate at least 1/2 a day or overnight.
Make the apple salsa. In a medium bowl mix together the apples, vinegar, ginger, chile, cilantro, mint, parsley, and basil.
To serve – you can serve either cool as a salad or heated up as a side dish. The original recipe adds toasted hazelnuts….For the salad version (cold)……If I had those dried corn kernels I would have added them to this recipe for a little crunch.
Shaved Yellow Squash with Spicy Apple Salsa and Pecorino Cheese
This recipe is GREAT cold or hot……I think I actually like it better hot with added pepitas. Below is warmed up with pepitas.
Shaved Yellow Squash with Spicy Apple Salsa Pecorino Cheese and Pepitas (hot)
A SPECIAL THANKS!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for sharing his amazing recipe so I could come up with what I got here!
KP Mediterranean Restaurant is located in the strip mall at 99TH Avenue and Bell Road in Sun City Arizona. The KP stands for………
Kahramana Palace.
Kahramana happens to be a fountain that is one of Bagdad’s most iconic artworks. Inside and outside I didn’t notice a fountain but it is casual inside with a mix of traditional tables and booths.
They have a small stage in the front of the restaurant set up with a drum set. Perhaps they have live music at certain times?
They offer most of your Mediterranean favorites but maybe with a slightly different style.
We ordered and my husband got a complimentary vegetable plate. It was a surprise since there is no mention of this on their menu.
complimentary vegetable plate
The complimentary plate came with pickled vegetables, lettuce, crispy jajeek salad (creamy cucumber salad), and this really amazing eggplant salad that had these magically crisp cucumbers in it.
Then our appetizer veggie plates arrives topped with a thin flat bread.
Veggie Plate
It’s a little different. It came with garlic sauce, Arabic salad, tabouli (spelled tabboula), very minty stuffed grape leaves, cole slaw, hummus, a less creamy baba ghannouj, and very different falafels. These were shattering crisp and also a bit spicy.
For dinner I tried the Pompano Fish. It came out covered with a thin flatbread.
Pompano fish
It came out opened up in half. It was nicely seasoned, fried golden to perfection. It came with pickled vegetables, lettuce, sumac onions, and vegetable studded yellow rice. You can eat some of it fajita style with the thin flat bread. It also is a very generous portion….
My husband got the Adana Kebab also covered with a flatbread.
The Adana Kebab is a Turkish Kebab that is traditionally made from ground lamb but here it is made with ground beef. It is also is spicy from red pepper.They are set up the same as the fish with pickled vegetables, lettuce, sumac onions, and vegetable studded rice.
KP Mediterranean Restaurant is Worth a Fork! Everything Delicious! Large Portions, Low Pricing!
The Vic Bar + Kitchen is located in the FAR West Valley in a community called Verrado that is in Buckeye Arizona. he Vic Bar + Kitchen is an American Restaurant that offers an all day menu. They have a completely different menu from their opening. It’s a lot more casual comfort food now. They offer appetizers like sausage nachos (my husband was thinking about trying them), soft pretzels with green chili cheese sauce, and wings. They also offer salads, sandwiches, a few burgers, mahi tacos, and flat breads. They also offer entrees like half roasted chicken, steak frites, and grilled cauliflower and more!
Inside is a very large bar and it’s surrounded by a mix of tables and booths.
inside
Today I went with the plum salad and added salmon to it.
For my taste the salmon is over seasoned but is flaky and moist inside. They were very generous with walnuts that would be tastier toasted. The salad also is embellished with slices of strawberry, chunks of blue cheese, and slices of plum that taste like they have something on them that shouldn’t be there. I thought my salad was better than what my husband ordered.
green chili mac ‘n’ cheese
Here’s the green chili macaroni and cheese that comes with avocado and a boneless chicken thigh. The chicken thigh is good, tender, and tasty. The cheese sauce is very loose and has a processed taste. It’s better when you get a little green chili with it so you don’t taste the cheese as much.
Previously The Vic Bar + Kitchen used to have these items on the menu.
Deviled local duck egg
Shishitos with soy sauce and blueberry sugar
Melon salad
Smokie sandwich with fries
Strawberry-lemon icebox cake with an added surprise that I had to spit out.
This is just an easy marinated chicken thigh recipe. I was inspired by restaurant that I go to in Carefree AZ called Confluence. They make delicious fried chicken and serve it with a Chiltepin Mustard Sauce that really makes it POP! Chiltepin pepper is hard to find if you don’t go to Mexican Markets. It’s an extra delicious but very HOT heat. The chiltepin are around the size of black peppercorns and should be a reddish pink. You can find them on-line but I haven’t seen reasonable pricing for them on-line. Try a Mexican market first. This recipe makes around 6 servings.
3 lbs chicken thighs (I used boneless skinless but it really doesn’t matter)
1/2 cup honey – marinade
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – marinade
1/4 cup dijon mustard – marinade
2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard – marinade
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice – marinade
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt – marinade
4 Tablespoons dijon mustard – sauce
2 Tablespoons whole grain mustard – sauce
2 Tablespoons honey or date syrup – sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice – sauce
5 chiltepin – or to taste (you might want less or more hot….start with three and taste) crushed with fingers – sauce
non stick spray
optional splash chicken stock – heated – sauce
Directions
In a medium mixing bowl mix together the honey, olive oil, mustards, allspice, and salt. Pour it into a gallon ziplock bag and add the chicken *****NOTE if you are doing chicken with bones you might want to split the sauce and chicken into TWO bags. Give the chicken a good massage in the bag with the sauce and be sure to spread the sauce all around the chicken. Squeeze out all the air and then ziplock the bag(s) shut. refrigerate over night.
The next day it doesn’t really matter how you cook the chicken as long as you bring the thigh meat to at least 165F degrees. I did mine on the oven because I felt that this might make a great mess on the grill. I did mine on non stick sprayed grill pan in the oven preheated at 400F degrees. My chicken was done in around 25-30 minutes. I browned one in the pan for the picture because mine didn’t brown much.
The sauce mixes up fast in a bowl. Just add the mustards, honey or date syrup, allspice, and do the chiltepin to taste….Start by trying three of them…I did 5. Add a splash of heated chicken broth if you happen to have any around.
SERVE
Honey Mustard Marinated Chicken Thighs with Chiltepin Mustard Sauce
Dominique Ansel is a multi award wining pastry chef. He also is the inventor of the Cronut that is a cross between a croissant and a doughnut.
Up above to the left is the famous cronut and to the right are pain au chocolat.
Cookies shaped like cups filled with vanilla milk.
Spinach and cheese quiche, croque monsieur sandwich, and fluffy egg sandwiches are available.
Assorted cakes
pumpkin pie
bourbon pecan pie
novelty desserts
novelty desserts
desserts
Three days in a row we tried something.
My first try was this amazing looking fortune cookie.
The limited seating is all filled up so I take our dessert to a slot machine with a tray to enjoy. It’s softer than it looks. My husband takes a bite and says, “YUK.”……… Well it’s not a yuk ……but it is different from what I was expecting. The thin tender fortune cookie is filled with slightly lemon laced cream. It’s richer than frosting but taste exactly like a lemon laced frosting from a bakery. The baked goodie on the bottom taste buttery and the Lucky Me fortune is white chocolate.
The next day we tried a pain au chocolat.
They look amazing but maybe I was unlucky and the one we got had very little chocolate in it. My half didn’t have any. My husband dug out a small piece for me to try. It was very good. Obviously high quality chocolate but ours had very little in it. The croissant also doesn’t have many layers in it. The croissant part looks amazing but wasn’t nearly as many layers or that from French butter taste as the croissant from L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon.
I had to try a cronut. I didn’t know that it was filled with mocha cream. Mocha is my least favorite flavor so it wasn’t for me.
Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada offers 40 choices of food and beverage restaurants. They have a large food court called Famous Foods Street Eats. A little taste of Famous Restaurants from all over the world might be found there. Not all but many of the foods swing Asian. I was all set to try dumplings from one place but then I found something that I haven’t seen offered anywhere else.
I see Blood Bros BBQ offers shichimi togarashi BBQ turkey breast. I want that! Why shouldn’t I want to try a multi award wining 2021 TOP 50 NY Times listed restaurant.
No order at the counter here. It’s modern and cashless so you have to order like this.
We ordered and soon we got this.
The flavors are really great together and the sauce is delicious too but unfortunately the turkey is mighty dry and the white bread is stale. (BAH!) We didn’t eat much………Maybe you might hit them on a better day?
I saw Streetbird by multi award winning chef Marcus Samuelson so I wanted to go there.
We tried M’s Fried Chicken Thigh and the Buffalo Cauliflower.
It was larger portions than we were expecting. The cauliflower is tasty, fried nice and not too spicy. It came with a ranch type of dressing on the side. The chicken was cooked to perfection and is tasty and mildly spicy. It’s almost like Nashville style but it is different….It seems like we got the same exact stale white bread with it that we got from the Blood Bros BBQ? This also came with house made pickles.
This was a little taste of Blood Bros BBQ and Streetbird from Famous Foods Street Eats at Resorts World
Resorts World 3000 S Las Vegas BLVD Las Vegas NV
www.RWLasVegas.com
They only list a phone number for room reservations.
Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill is an English Style Pub located in Caesars Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. Gordon Ramsay is an award wining famous celebrity chef with several restaurants in Las Vegas. Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill is a beer place and has 36 taps and offers 63 different bottled beers.
insideinsideinside
They offer a variety of different tables, booths, and a bar to sit at.
I ordered the famous fish and chips that come with mushy peas. I’ve had his fish and chips from his more casual restaurant called Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips and it was very good from there. Here’s the fish & chips from Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill.
fish & chips with mushy peas
This is all falling apart. When you stick a knife into it the fish flakes just crumble…….It doesn’t taste bad but seems off today. No crunch………Chips are kinda soggy but don’t taste bad. They have a nice potato flavor. I never had real mushy peas before…..It’s almost like minty pea soup. It’s really hard to eat with a fork. Below are the fish and chips that I had from Gordon Ramsay’s more casual restaurant Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips at the LINQ. These were much better and came with more sauces (and cost far less…….almost half).
Fish & Chips from Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips
Anyways-
My husband tried the short rib grilled cheese with fries.
short rib grilled cheese sandwich
My husband is slightly upset with this sandwich because it cost almost $30. and is overly scant with cheese. (most of the white in the sandwich is pickled onions)
inside the short rib grilled cheese
Much of the grilled cheese sandwich is free of cheese. All you can see is the short rib & pickled onions.
My husband complains about cheese not in a grilled cheese sandwich. They bring him a new one quickly that was burnt on one side but did have cheese on the bread this time. The beef was slightly dry and the fries were ok but didn’t have much of a potato taste.
Sushi Plus is located in Glendale Arizona. They are named for what they serve. They serve a variety of sushi, sushi combination plates and lots of rolls. Many but not all of the sushi items are cooked.
As for the “Plus” they also offer appetizers like gyoza, soft shell crabs, and tempura. They offer noodle dishes – several ramen dishes, yakisoba, and seafood noodle soup. They offer a few salads, a kids menu, and entrees like teriyaki, sesame chicken, fish and chips, and bibimbap. They offer soft beverages, sake, and wine.
They happen to have an impressive 4.5 average out of 5 stars on Yelp so I thought this restaurant should be pretty darn good.
We thought we’d start out by sharing a combination sushi plate. We waited a while. But for some reason our server serves us our entrees first.
Japanese Curry Rice
I got the Japanese Curry Rice with Vegetables with chicken. I guess it was sitting a while because the sauce has grown it’s own skin. The vegetables in this dish are microscopic. It is suppose to be with vegetables…… I think this bowl was microwaved because parts of the bowl are steaming hot. Some of the chicken is ok but about half the chicken has a very strange texture. Like biting threw an over cooked chicken gizzard….The sauce is thick and very gingery. It is torture eating this dish. Our server only has one other table but didn’t ask how it was.
My husband tried the spicy chicken.
It is better than the curry rice. The chicken seems fresh prepared and is reasonably tender. The thin flat sauce taste taste laced with gochujang. This came with one piece of broccoli, some cabbage, and a generous portion of rice.
When we pushed the plates to the side our combination sushi plate arrived. We got a variety plate of sushi and a spicy tuna roll.
I started with a salmon nigiri. (look at the bottom end of the fish)
It’s leathery and warm. It’s also unseasoned under the fish. It isn’t spoiled but isn’t the freshest.
Then I try some spicy tuna roll. It is actually spicy. It seems ok. The white fish nigiri is a little warm but seems ok.
I try the tuna nigiri. I take a very small bite.
I can’t eat it. It’s way too fishy tasting for me. My husband tries it and can’t eat it either.
The server here didn’t ask how anything was, didn’t clear plates, didn’t even ask if we wanted to bring leftovers home. Didn’t question the tuna we left behind.
Buddy V’s Ristorante is an East Coast Style American Italian Restaurant located in the Venetian Hotel Casino in the Grand Canal Shops that is on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. Celebrity Chef Buddy Valastro’s is well known for his TV roll playing the Cake Boss.
Carlo’s Bake Shop across from Buddy V’s
Buddy V grew up working in his father’s bakery called Carlo’s Bake Shop. The business grew. Buddy became the Cake Boss and opened his American Italian Restaurant based on food recipes his grandmother and mother made for him.
Inside is casual.
inside
They start you off with light fermented focaccia bread and olive oil splashed with balsamic.
We shared the Tuscano Salad as an appetizer. I don’t know but I think they accidentally gave us full size portions because these are enormous even for full size portions.
Toscano salad
This is an arugula based salad. The arugula is small and tender and sweet for arugula. This salad contains crispy artichokes, a good amount of pecorino, marinated tomatoes, prosciutto and lemon vinaigrette.
Today I tried the Sicilian Style Fish & Chips.
Sicilian Fish & Chips
This is parmesan crusted Atlantic cod, Tuscan Fries, fresh, crispy well seasoned but drippy slaw, ketchup, and unusually really great tartar sauce. The tartar sauce has chunky pickled pieces in it that taste extra good. This is very good. Everything is nicely made and seasoned nicely. This is better and almost half the price of fish & chips I had somewhere else in Vegas. I did use my lemon from my iced tea to squirt on the fish. Maybe you should ask for a wedge of lemon when you get this dish? I do warn you that this is a very big lunch….I could only eat almost half and I am a good eater but I did notice that someone at the next table had this and ate the whole thing.
My husband had the Nonna’s Lasagna al Forno.
Nonna’s Lasagna Al Forno
This is made with Italian sausage, beef, pork, ricotta, mozzerella, and provolone cheeses. My husband thought that it was very good. He was going to try to eat the whole thing but stopped around half. This is a really crazy large portion for lunch. But sometimes when you see a show it’s good to have a big lunch so you can skip dinner.
A lighter lunch is the salmon that I had last time.
Salmon with chickpea salad
Behind the salmon is the orecchiette plate but sadly it wasn’t on the current menu. My husband said it was his favorite plate of orecchiette that he has ever had.
DAM it! ………….. We saw everyone getting these amazing looking cakes so we had to order one.
This is called the Italian Birthday Cake. It’s a sponge cake soaked with rosolio liquor. It has cannoli filling, really chocolatey pastry cream and toasted almonds.
Italian Birthday Cake
Yes it’s worth the calories. It’s rich and very delicious! You can Taste why Buddy V is the Cake Boss.
Buddy V’s Ristorante is still Worth a Fork! It’s also a very good value.
Worth A Fork!
Buddy V’s Ristorante 3327 S Las Vegas BLVD Las Vegas NV
