The Crack Shack is a casual order at the counter Chicken theme restaurant with California locations and one location on the Las Vegas Strip in Park MGM. The chicken is of a higher quality than the usual and is made of Jidori Chicken.
The restaurant is co-founded by celebrity Top Chef Richard Blais. The Crack Shack offers a variety of chicken sandwiches, fried chicken, a variety of bowls, deviled eggs, biscuits, children’s meals, sweets, a bar and more.
You order at the counter, pay, grab a pager, seat yourself and pick up at the window when the pager goes off. They also offer a variety of sauces to jazz things up.
Don’t recall exactly but from left, sweet, house ketchup, bbq, enchilada and sriracha mayo
In reasonable time the pager goes off.
Here’s Matzo Ball Pazole ($10.)
The Matzo Ball is light and fluffy and sits in a Mexican Seasoned broth with pieces of tender braised chicken. We add seasoned lime, tortilla strips, cabbage and avocado and it becomes a hearty feast.
Then we shared a Firebird Crispy Chicken Thigh Sandwich ($12) with Schmaltz fries ($3.).
The sandwich is made with juicy tender flavorful chicken. It has a very thin crisp exterior. It’s seasoned well and is tasty. It’s a little smoky and a little spicy sort of like a hot smoked paprika kind of taste with a thin shattering crisp coating. The sandwich also contains a good amount of pickle slices that seem like they could be house made. There are also very crisp pieces of fried onions. We had it with the ranch dressing on the side because both of us aren’t big fans of ranch dressing. The fries appear to be hand cut. They are moist inside and tasty. The exterior isn’t particularly crisp and is dusted in a salty slightly spicy seasoning.
The Crack Shack is Worth a Fork for a semi quick casual meal out.
Worth a Fork!
www.CrackShack.com
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
Buddy V’s Ristorante in Las Vegas Nevada is located in the Venetian Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Incase you don’t know Buddy Valastro is the owner of Carlo’s Bakery that has been in his family for many decades in Hoboken New Jersey. He had much success being known as The Cake Boss on a reality TV show called Cake Boss. Buddy now has several locations of his bakery and restaurants and sells packaged products and more too.
We have a reservation and get seated quickly in the restaurant.
They start us off with complimentary focaccia and olive oil dotted with balsamic.
This focaccia is very above average and is very good. It’s fresh made with herbs and cheese but most importantly I can taste the olive oil in it. I’ve read that in the best focaccia you are suppose to taste the olive oil in it.
For my main I went with the Grilled Salmon ($25.).
It’s presented nice and encircled with balsamic and flavored oils. The fish is resting on a bed of vegetable salad and the fish has nice tasty grill marks on it. (It taste like sustainable salmon to me.) It’s prepared next to perfect. Everything is seasoned nice. Only note is that the salad is named Mediterranean chickpea artichoke salad when there actually is far more green beans than artichokes…but who cares…It’s good so we are happy!
My husband had the orecchiette and Italian Sausage ($24.)
It was made with broccoli rabe, blistered tomatoes, basil and pecorino. My husband said the sausage was particularly good. He said his whole plate was VERY GOOD! He kept saying on our whole trip here that Buddy’s was his favorite. He loved the reasonable pricing and the delicious food.
Tried a cannoli for dessert….($9.)…after all he is The Cake Boss!
Oh they gave use two not one cannoli. With thick rich really great chocolate sauce. WOW! This is the best cannoli I ever had out. I KNOW because I make my own cannoli. It’s a little different flavor-wise than mine but the filling is the same texture and richness as mine. It’s excellent like home made cheese. The shell is not bubbled (like from wine or vinegar…like mine) but has a really great light but very crisp texture……The end with chocolate chips is really good but the end with the pistachios KNOCKS IT OUT OF THE PARK!!!!! WOW it’s a very special moment when you taste pistachios that are this great!!!!
WOW VERY GOOD!
Buddy V’s in Las Vegas is Worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
WWW.BuddyVsRestaurants.com
Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
I got my Milk Street Magazine and I thought the German Apple Pie looked really great and I wanted to try it. When I looked at the recipe I thought that this is too much dessert for me so I cut the recipe in half and it still seemed like a full size dessert recipe to me. I simplified the Milk Street Recipe by making it into a one bowl recipe since it seemed very basic to me. The only thing I’d do slightly different is to not to add the one teaspoon cinnamon that I added to the recipe because it makes the dessert too dark. I did notice that many other recipes for German Apple Almond Cake do call for apple jam to brush on the apples and almost none of the recipes call for cinnamon since it makes the cake too dark…Oh well live and learn. The other BIG THING is that the texture and taste of this cake is much better day two…….Day one I wasn’t crazy for it because it seemed oily and too chewy to me but day two it seemed more cake like, fluffier and not as chewy. The Milk Street Recipe is mostly double of the ingredients I used, it goes in a springform pan for about twice as much time. I used a 10 inch pie pan that I sprayed with non stick spray and I thought this is plenty of dessert that can serve 8 or more…The Milk Street Recipe also serves 8 but much bigger pieces.
Ingredients for 8 servings
1/2 cup + I Tablespoon sugar (Tablespoon is for finishing)
4 oz unsalted butter – room temperature
2 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 oz almond paste (not marzipan) in 1/2 inch pieces
1 apple peeled and cut in thin slices
non stick spray
teaspoon powdered sugar to finish
Directions
Set oven to 375 degrees F
Spray a 10 inch pie or cake pan with non stick spray and set to the side.
In a large bowl mix together the the sugar and butter till creamy. Then add the egg till that is creamy. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and almond paste and mix well. Spread this evenly in your pan. Top with the apple slices and fan them out to cover most of the surface. Push them in a little. Sprinkle with the remaining Tablespoon of sugar.
Bake till edges of cake are brown and a tooth pick comes out clean. This should take 25-30 minutes.
Let cake cool on counter. This cake should be served room temperature or slightly warmed up and add a small amount of powdered sugar before serving. I thought that this cake was much better the next day.
German Almond Apple Cake based on Milk Street Magazine Recipe
Mine is a little darker than yours will be because I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to the sugar topping. adding more of the cinnamon and sugar to the ends.
ENJOY!
A special THANKS to Milk Street Magazine showing us your version of German Almond Apple Cake.
L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon is a high end exhibition French Tapas Restaurant with several locations in the world. The location that I go to is located in Las Vegas at the MGM Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas strip. This restaurant is multi award winning.
The late chef was Joel Robuchon who was the most awarded chef in history and was known as chef of the century.
This is an exhibition restaurant. You get seated at a bar that views the kitchen.
Usually we drink wine…but the wine prices went up and the least expensive bottle is over a hundred……….Tonight we are having cocktails.
This restaurant offers many menu options but we usually go for the three course menu that includes an amuse bouche (for $85. at this time) (also this is now as of this year only an early evening option only offered 5-6pm)
Everyone that dines here gets a basket of amazing breads and French Butter.
Our alternate amuse bouche was the airy beets over a green apple gelee and topped with apple. We went with the alternative because I don’t eat the foie gras shooter and my husband is tired of this one that they’ve been serving for around ten years now.
It’s unusually light and earthy. The apple cuts the earthiness.
For our appetizer we both went with the Le Piquillo (pepper stuffed with smoked eggplant with tuna belly and romesco sauce.
The plate is interesting visually, and in textures. All the flavors go together very well.
We shared a special offering of the evening.
Spaghetti parmigiana foam, soft egg and fresh shaved Italian alba white truffles. WOW this was the plate of the evening. It is very rare that you taste a plate like this. I’ve tasted many different truffles over the years but this is the first time I ever tasted fresh White Alba Truffles. They certainly are something very VERY FORKING special. You don’t need to eat as many Alba white truffles to get truffle flavor like many of the other truffles. The truffles go expertly well with the foamy creamy parmesan foam, egg and spaghetti. I haven’t had any truffle dishes before anywhere near this level since my last meal at Binkley’s that used to be in Cave Creek Arizona. Now this dish was very masterful and exceptional.
My dinner was the salmon…..called Le Saumon…I get that on most visits and every time it’s a different presentation but it does come with those glorious Robuchon potatoes.
This evenings’ presentation is delicious but less detailed than previous salmon dinners I’ve had here.
Tonight the salmon is embedded with bitter olive tapenade and there are thin drizzles of bitter yuzu on the plate. Fresh tomatoes and basil brighten the fish some. the salmon is almost like custard and is cooked to perfection. It’s very good …..but not exceptional like it usually is…..
Below are a couple of the salmon plates I had from previous visits…can’t find them all..believe me I’ve had many. These plates below were exceptional!
Anywho-
My husband said his dinner was also very good but he also felt that his dinner was less detailed than from previous dinners….???? Maybe it’s just tonight?
Tonight he had the quail filled with foie gras with pureed potatoes.
For dessert we both had the Les Tarts…….(once known as little slices of heaven to me.)
There are two new ones tonight….the pumpkin and the apple.
My favorites are the cinnamon on the left and the passionfruit on the right…..These are magical…especially the passionfruit.
My husband has different taste than me and his favorites are the cinnamon and the chocolate caramel peanut.
Both of our least favorites are the pumpkin and both of us don’t like the apple. (first time I didn’t enjoy a les tart)
After dessert they presented us with some chocolates.
That was my trip to L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon. Most of the magic is still there but I think it’s fading.
www.MGMResortsInternational.com
Everything is subject to change at any time and your experience may or may not differ.
Here are the hottest foods that I remember trying in Metro Phoenix in no particular order from restaurants that are still in business. (the Homer Photo is from www.PeeWee.com)
The Kang Pa Curry from Krua Thai in Phoenix was in the top two spiciest burning Thai Dishes I’ve ever tried. I feared for my life when I got this dish. I didn’t even request the hottest level (Thai Hot). This dish actually burned my lips and was next to impossible to eat. I never order medium when I do Thai and always order hot…not Thai Hot. Regular hot is usually good for me….but not this time.
The other hottest Thai Dish was the Holy Basil Chicken from Suh Noi – The Little Thaiger in Scottsdale.
Again I didn’t ask for Thai Hot but this one also was crazy burning HOT. This one was burning hot in a different way. It was like eating the hottest jalapeño ever.
The two hottest Hot Chicken Sandwiches I’ve tried in Metro Phoenix were-
From Monroe’s Nashville Style Hot Chicken I tried the Hottest Chicken they offer called Shut da Cluck waffle sandwich.
It’s like Thai Hot. It’s nuclear but sneaky. First bite doesn’t seem hot but it builds fast….real fast.
The other Hottest Hot Chicken Sandwich came from Famous 48 at the original location around the time when they first opened.
This sandwich was so hot I almost couldn’t eat it and they gave extra hot sauce on the side. *****UPDATE Famous 48 changed the recipe for this sandwich since I had it the first time. It’s a completely different recipe that is much more delicious…but almost mild compared to their original recipe.
You can get some super ultra delicious food from The Barrio Gran Reserva that is especially hot if the chef knows you can take spicy food. The chef showed us her big jar of Chiltepen Peppers (they are tiny and look like pink peppercorns). Chiltepin peppers are very hot but add lots of delicious flavor to foods.
This little complimentary seed starter is really REALLY FORKING HOT!
The Aguachile from the Barrio Grand Reserva is so FORKING Delicious but is also Forking Spicy HOT.
This is a slightly different Aguachile with mango that is also deliciously extra spicy. (also from the Barrio Grand Reserva)
The Diablo Hot Chipolte Molcajete from Mariscos Playa Hermosa is also mighty HOT!
It’s a molten cauldron of hot sauce lined with different proteins.
There’s HOT Chinese Food out there!
www.GettyImages.co.UK.com
The Two hottest Chinese Dishes that I had most recently was the Fish Hot Pot from Szechuan Cuisine in Glendale.
Fish Hot Pot….(this I had before but not in a long time)
Look at all the crushed peppers on top of it. This was so spicy I went off into la la land. Next to was another hot dish called spicy chicken noodle. It was spicy too but not as spicy as the Fish Hot Pot.
The other hottest Chinese Dish was the House Special BBQ Fish from Original Cuisine in Mesa.
This was burning molten hot but also delicious. I usually hate catfish but in the right hands even catfish can be delicious!
I hope I left you Hot and Bothered for some exciting hot food!
Every FORKING THING is subject to CHANGE. Your experience may or may NOT differ.
Bouchon in Las Vegas is located on the tenth floor in the Venezia Tower next to the theater in the Venetian Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The Parisian Style food served is of Muti award winning Chef Thomas Keller. Time Magazine named Thomas Keller to be “America’s Best Chef.”
The restaurant has a nice classic old fashioned look to it. Waitstaff is formally dressed.
Fresh shellfish is available.
The tables are close but not too close together and are covered with white linen and heavy silverware.
We started with escargots ala bourguignon (burgundy snails, parsley, garlic, Bouchon pastry).
Salad Di Endives Et Poire – (endive, red wine pears, candied walnuts, goat cheese, red wine vinaigrette.)
Dinner for the both oof us was two very generous plates of Diestel Farms Turkey (sliced breast and shredded dark meat), Bouchon bakery stuffing, pumpkin croquettes, cranberry sauce, turkey gravy, soft rolls and creamy butter.
OMG YUM! The rolls and butter are Forking incredible…had to stop eating them after a taste. The turkey is moist, very tender, very flavorful,,,,,but also salty…in a good way…It’s salty but it taste good. I don’t usually like salty ever but this is good. Croquettes seem free of oil and have a nice super thin crisp crust. like a really good mozzarella stick. The stuffing has good solid flavors. The cranberry sauce taste more like bitter orange marmalade to me……Turkey gravy is thin but has a rich bold turkey flavor. Sadly I had to leave a lot of my plate behind because dessert was next and I was seeing a show and didn’t have a refrigerator in my hotel room. This was the best food I left behind at a restaurant.
For dessert we shared the trio of tarts (apple, pumpkin and pecan and the Bouchon au chocolat.
Dessert is such a delight when it comes in multiple flavors in doll house portions. The winning dessert for us was the Chocolate Bouchon…..We are very familiar with them and the recipe is published on line and on The Forking Truth. They are the best chocolate cake that you can try anywhere. Bouchon are always moist and contain the perfect amount of chocolate and are not too sweet. Out of the pies we liked the pumpkin the best because it tasted like a traditional pumpkin pie. For our taste the apple had too much lemon flavor and the pecan was sweeter than we like…..(still good…)
Past plates from Bouchon (Napa CA location)
Bread and butter
salmon rillettes
Chick Pea soup
boudin blac
Salmon Special
Lemon tart
I’d say Bouchon Las Vegas or Napa CA is Worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
www.ThomasKeller.com
Every Thing is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
First Stop was Buddy V’s in the Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip.
Everything really was very good. My husband went crazy over the pasta and sausage dish….He is partial to that kind of dish and said it was the best he had out anywhere. I do have to add that his cannoli is the best one I’ve tasted out anywhere!
Next Stop was Bouchon….Also in the Venetian.
Very classic and just like the Bouchon in Napa Valley except this one is on the tenth floor. All went incredible here too……..Portions were much larger than I was expecting. We were seeing a show afterwards and I didn’t have a refrigerator in my hotel so I had to lose my leftovers…so sad …I threw out the best leftovers I ever had anywhere…..
Next destination was The Crack Shack at Park MGM on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Crack Shack is a casual semi fast chicken theme restaurant that is co-founded by celebrity Top Chef Richard Blais. It’s kind of semi fast food style with a sports bar kind of feel. But the chicken used is quality Jidori chicken. We got a tasty fried chicken sandwich and shared Matzo Ball Pozole and schmaltz fries too!
A trip to Las Vegas usually involves a dinner at L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon at the MGM Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Chef Robuchon was the most starred chef in history and also was known as Chef of the century. Some of his magic still lives on at his restaurant.
Emeril’s Table Ten Restaurant was a favorite that closed maybe two or three years back. I liked Table Ten restaurant best because it offered the most variety of the Emeril restaurants. Went back to Emeril’s New Orleans Fish-house in the MGM.
It killed me to skip that amazing banana cream pie today but both of us enjoyed everything we had. Emeril’s always serves the best gumbo that you can get outside of New Orleans. I got todays catch that was the grilled salmon.
OMG……. TWIST By Pierre Gagnaire was FORKING AMAZING! Twist is located on the 23rd floor of the Waldorf Astoria in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip.
To my local peeps it’s kind of like Binkley’s at the original location pricing (depending on menu you chose) but all the amuse bouches are served at the beginning and mostly at the end. This is a French style restaurant by a multi award winning chef. We received over 15 amuse bouches during dinner. Each and every morsel we we tried BLEW IT OUT OF THE PARK! Everything was so DETAILED and so amazing…..Not just great but FORKING extraordinary! All the food was a truly mind blowing experience. We both went with the vegetarian menu $89 (4 courses). I highly recommend! My NEW favorite!
Starter amuse bouchescharcoal apricot bread and baguette quinoa saladbell pepperpalate cleanserrisotto with white alba truffles and autumn vol-am-vantdessertvery detailed and amazing amuse bouches
Like not of this world from another planet FORKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!
That was a little taste of my fall 2019 trip to Las Vegas.
Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
I was watching Diners Drive Inns and Dives on Food Network and saw a restaurant that made Pastrami from eye roast. I thought that was a great idea. So I can do it too. Actually this is my favorite pastrami recipe I’ve done so far. It taste the best to me. It’s a lot easier to trim. It’s leaner but in a good way and not dry way. This comes out tender moist and flavorful. I might delete my older brisket recipes for pastrami. Real pastrami takes at least a week. This Pastrami Eye Roast sits in brine for three days and gets cooked on the fourth day. I only use Diamond Brand kosher salt because it has a different salt content for brining meat. The crystals are also shaped different and penetrate the meat better. The different brands work different on the meat and Diamond brand works best for this application. DO NOT USE ANOTHER BRAND. I thought the seasoning was perfection when I tasted it on rye bread with a thin smear of extra mild French mustard (Amora Brand) I liked the clove finish it had. It was Forking Delicious! The next day I tasted just a small piece plain and plain I thought the cloves could be cut back a little…….so adjust to if you want a clove finish or cut the cloves in the recipe by up to a teaspoon.
Ingredients for around 20 servings
4 lb eye roast (Do not use a smaller eye roast…The eye roast must be at least 4 lbs after trimming) (I bought a whole eye roast from Safeway….It was the skinniest eye roast I ever saw) – The eye roast needs to be trimmed of all fat and silver skin.)
1 cup brown sugar
5 oz DIAMOND kosher salt – ONLY USE DIAMOND BRAND OR RECIPE WON’T WORK and you can get sick if the meat isn’t salted correctly!
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons juniper berries
3 Tablespoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons allspice berries
3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons whole cloves (or decrease up to one teaspoon less to cut the clove finish)
2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
2 Tablespoons black tellicherry peppercorns
2 teaspoons white peppercorns
1 teaspoon ground ginger
10 garlic cloves – sliced thin
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
2 dried hot Calabrian Peri Peri peppers (or a 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper)
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 quart water
1/3 cup canola oil – (for rub)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce – (for rub)
4 Tablespoons ground coriander
1 Tablespoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
Directions
To your sauce pot add the salt, brown sugar, honey, juniper berries, coriander seeds, allspice, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves, mustard seeds, pepper corns, ginger, garlic, hot pepper, (2T) smoked paprika and 32 oz of water and bring to boil then reduce to simmer for around ten minutes and then take off the heat and let it cool. You can’t use it until it feels cool to the touch. I put a bowl of ice under the pot and it cooled down pretty fast.
Peirce eye roast all over with a fork.
Get a large bag. Either a brining bag or a turkey roasting bag and add the eye roast and when the brine is cool to the touch add the brine. Put the bagged meat in a pan for support. Push air out of bag and tie well. Let it sit in the refrigerator for three days.
On the forth day set oven to 500 degrees F.
In a small mixing bowl make the rub. Add oil, Worcestershire, (4T) coriander, ground black pepper and (1T) smoked paprika. Mix well and rub all over the eye roast.
Put it in a pan.
It goes in the pre heated oven at 500 degrees F for 15 minutes BUT DON’T OPEN THE OVEN DOOR! After 15 minutes shut the heat off but leave in the oven 2 hours (don’t open oven door) After the two hours take out. Let it rest maybe 30 minutes and then you can enjoy!
Be a good guest and not a Forking turkey on Thanksgiving. It seems that some people have been raised by wolves and don’t know how to behave correctly on Thanksgiving. Here are few things that some people need to know.
PLEASE be a normal responsible person. If you come down with a cold PLEASE don’t bring it to Thanksgiving with you. Your germs aren’t special and incase you don’t know YOUR FARTS SMELL TOO! If you go to Thanksgiving with a cold you will inflict your illness on others. Only a Forking turkey would do something this inconsiderate.
Don’t let your children race into someone’s home like zombies not even making eye contact with the host. Just a smile and a nod goes a long way and is enough….and would be appreciated.
Don’t be a Forking Turkey and set the alarm on the host’s washer and dryer. Only a Forking NUT job Turkey would do such a thing. You know your host will know it was done by you…….so please don’t be a dumb cluck.
You might not care for every dish your host serves but DON’T BE A TURKEY and when you see something you don’t care for just don’t eat it. Only a FORKING TURKEY would scream at the table, ” I HATE PROFITEROLES!” For GOD’S sake if you don’t scream in the super market that you hate profiteroles when you see them then why the heck would you scream it in someones home? Only a Forking TURKEY does such a thing.
Only a FOKING TURKEY would re-gift a used food product that already was used that they didn’t care for. If something you tried was crap to you why in the world would you dump your already used smelly fish on someone else……What the heck were you thinking? Only a ding bat or someone who has lost their marbles FORKING TURKEY would do this.
If you or your children break something in your host’s house the right thing to do is to mention it to your host. Not saying anything really Forking make you look like a BIG FORKING RUDE and inconsiderate TURKEY. (that’s just so rude and inconsiderate)
Only a Forking TURKEY would give the host a back stabbing compliment. “That might have been the best Thanksgiving food I ever had” “But I don’t know that much about food and I would rate it two stars!” Only FORKING MORON TURKEYS say something like that.
Don’t act like you are helping to clean up the serving ware by tossing them in the trash. Only a Forking NUT JOB Turkey would do that.
We sincerely hope that the only turkey at your thanksgiving table is the one you eat.
This is really beet guacamole but I didn’t want to call it that. It came out really Forking Delicious. I made this with some ingredients that you might not have. like chitepin chili peppers and the brine from my Forking Awesome pickled caccabella peppers. You can make substitutions if you care to but you will not get the same delicious flavors. This came out as flavorful as really good guacamole but it seems lighter and it’s a bit fruity. I think it will be great as a dip or a relish for poultry.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 lb beets (must be red because yellow react from foil) peeled
1/2 oz fresh cilantro (leaves and some tender stems) – chopped
.03 oz mint leaves – chopped
1/2 apple – peeled – small dice
4 chitepin chili peppers – crushed with fingers
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut down beets so they are smaller either in halves or quarters depending on size. Wrap each beet piece with foil and add a tablespoon of water to each wrapped piece of beet. Put the wrapped beets on a baking sheet or dish to catch liquids that might run out. Cook beets till tender. Timing may differ but in my oven this took one hour. Take beets out of foil and add to a container for stick blending.
To yor container add the beets, lime juice, garlic, cascabella pepper brine, chitepin peppers, salt and pepper and blend till smooth. Mix in the apple, onions and fresh herbs. Finish with some pomegranate seeds.
