Mezzo Bistro and Wine Las Vegas NV – Worth a Try!

Mezzo Bistro and Wine is an American-Italian Restaurant located in North/West Las Vegas Nevada. If you didn’t make a reservation there is a chance that they will offer you a seat on the patio.

They start you off with house baked bread, and oil embellished with balsamic and lemon.

We shared a grilled vegetable plate appetizer.

Gosh it’s enormous but it is so darn tasty too…….(grilled tomatoes, artichokes, yellow squash, zucchini, and mushrooms). I’ll eat some and bring some home for another day.

I tried something that isn’t normally on any Italian menu…..Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna with Spinach Risotto and topped with Wasabi Aioli. Melty mozzarella type cheese was on here too.

The fish is in a soy type sauce…..The mozzarella cheese has almost no flavor so it adds richness to the fish. The risotto is very cheesy. I don’t think it really pairs with the fish but you can separate it to a latter course by eating the asparagus after the fish.

My husband tried the Chicken Riggies (New York rigatoni dish with creamy tomato sauce, peppers, and chicken).

The Mezzo Bistro Version also has mushrooms, cherry peppers, prosciutto, capacola, romano cheese, white wine, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese……..(you are not going to leave hungry from this one).

We packed up almost half of what we had so we could try a cannoli.

It was a nice sweet ending.

Mezzo Bistro and Wine – Worth a Try! (make a reservation if you want to sit inside)

4275 N Rancho Dr Las Vegas NV

702-944-8880

www.MezzoBistro.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Komex Fusion Restaurant – Korean – Mexican Fusion Foods – Worth a Fork!

Komex Fusion Restaurant is located in the west side of Las Vegas Nevada. They offer Fusion tacos, burritos, enchiladas, chimichangas, and a fusion toastada that was featured on Food Network’s Taco trip. They also offer a lot of Bulgogi. Some of the bulgogi that they offer are bulgogi cheesesteaks, bulgogi grilled cheese, bulgogi sliders, bulgogi torta, flautas, rice bowls, fried rice, a platter, and bulgogi chow fettuccini. A few of the other things that Komex Fusion offers are musubi, a swai fish platter, won ton soup, a kid’s menu, and Mexican tacos, burritos, torta, and quesadillas.

It’s not a fancy place but it seems clean.

This place has been recognized for it’s food by a number of well knowns such as-

Food Network

The Cooking Channel

All Recipes Weekly

The Buzz Feed

Food and Wine

Las Vegas Review Journal

Desert Champion

We ordered several things to try! But they start you off with complimentary chips and very good salsa. They also offer complimentary bottled water.

We tried-

Bulgogi grilled cheese on Texas Toast (seems like challah Texas Toast?)

The famous fusion toastada that was featured on Food Network’s Taco Trip (the bottom is a crispy rice patty topped with beef bulgogi, Komex slaw, pico de gallo, and topped with Korean hot sauce.

fried stuffed wontons

pork taco

Fish taco on flour tortilla and a chicken taco on double corn tortilla.

Everything really was very good. All the proteins were expertly prepared. My personal favorite was the toastada because it had the most going on with it……It also was more filling than I expected it to be. My husband really enjoyed the bulgogi grilled cheese. He is undecided if he will get it again next time or one of the toastadas. The tacos were very good but next time I think I’d order a little side of the Korean hot sauce for them because it was so tasty.

Komex Fusion is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

Komex Fusion

633 N Decatur Blvd Las Vegas NV

702-646-1612

www.KomexFusion.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Surprise Cake Recipe

I was thinking coffee cake…..Then I was thinking about a few really great tasting wedges of apple pie I made with a crumbly walnut topping (that is on my site) and sort of combined them into a cake. The addition of the two pie wedges is THE SURPRISE! That’s how I came up with the SURPRISE cake…….I bet I can come up with many more variations….I got BUNCHES of ideas in my head. …………Serving size is always hard to tell because I don’t know if you want a smaller taste (12 servings) or a full size piece (more like 9 servings). I like my servings on the smaller side so for me this is 12 servings but I will say 9 servings so nobody feels short changed.

Ingredients for at least 9 servings

4 oz unsalted butter – soft

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (if you have pink Himalayan use that)

1/2 cup heaping – Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract

4 oz unsalted butter – melted

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 smaller wedges of frozen apple walnut crumb pie – cut up in small blocks

non stick spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Spray a 9 in pan (I used a square pan) with non stick spray

In a large bowl combine the soft butter, white sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, yogurt, and vanilla and mix well with a fork and set to the side.

In a medium bowl combine the melted butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

Use HALF the batter and place it evenly into the bottom of your non stick sprayed pan. Then add the apple pie crumbles as evenly as you can. Pour and spread HALF of the medium bowls syrup on to the top.

On top of that add the remaining half of batter and spread as evenly as possible.

Next do a layer of pie pieces.

Add the walnuts to the remaining syrup and mix well. Spread this mixture over the top as evenly as you can.

In my oven this took 45 minutes. Yours might slightly more or less.

It’s done when it looks like this.

Walnut Apple Coffee Cake Surprise

It’s moist and delicious! You don’t need ice cream or whipped cream. It’s also not too sweet.

Walnut Apple Coffee Cake Surprise

ENJOY!!!

The Forking Truth

The FORKING FANTABULOUS Dish of the Week – Tonno Alla Puttanesca from Mother Wolf at Fontainebleau Las Vegas NV – Worth a Fork!

Forking Fantabulous means life changing. It’s crazy amazing. It’s the reason why you must try this restaurant.

I had the very best tuna steak that I have ever had in my life at Mother Wolf in the Fontainebleau on the Las Vegas Strip. No other tuna steak can even compare…To the taste and tenderness. Maybe it was fresher than I am used to?

The sauces around it were magical…..There was a cherry tomato sauce called pomodoro e pomodorini, They were the most tomato-ee sweet tomatoes ever.

It had olives that never had before that were really different called taggiasca olives.

The dish also contained capers and LOTS of basil.

This was the very best tuna dish that I have ever tried anywhere.

P.S. or PRO TIP – You have to order the chef’s signature focaccia bread called sfincione to mop up all that goodness.

The Tonna Alla Puttanesca from Mother Wolf is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

Mother Wolf at Fontainebleau

2777 Las Vegas Blvd S Las Vegas NV

702-678-9170

www.MotherWolfLV.com

The Forking Truth

First Taste at Thai Spoon Las Vegas NV

Thai Spoon is a Thai Restaurant that is located in the North/West part of Las Vegas Nevada. They offer your usual Thai Favorites and also some vegan dishes and more seafood dishes that you normally see on Thai menus. Some of the seafood offerings are salmon teriyaki, seabass panang, catfish pad cha, seafood curry in young coconut, and house scallops. I noticed that they also offer plenty of bottles of wine here.

For seating they have 1/2 booths and whole booths.

We started out by sharing the chicken potstickers.

Here they are fried crispy all over. Inside they are very mild with juicy moist chicken and a soy type is on the side for dipping.

The seabass panang was seared nicely and prepared masterfully with a melt in your mouth texture.

The curry is smooth, a little basil-ee, with a nice heat. (I picked #7 out of 10)

The spicy basil has that traditional spicy, garlic basil taste.

But instead of hand chopped protein or sliced protein the meat was ground……..To me that is strange because all the spicy basil dishes we’ve tried in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and California the protein for spicy basil was always either hand chopped or sliced…….I’m thinking that ground meat in spicy basil might be a “Nevada Thing.”

Little Green Tomato Candies were given to us with the check. I thought the candy was green tomato but someone wrote to me and said the candy is guava flavored.

That was our first taste at Thai Spoon.

Thai Spoon Las Vegas – 702-430-2221

6440 N Durango Dr Las Vegas NV

www.ThaiSpoonLasVegas.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Mother Wolf at Fontainebleau Las Vegas NV – You MUST get the Tuna and the Sfincione

Mother Wolf is a Luxury Roman – Italian Restaurant located in the Fontainebleau Casino/Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. The James Beard Award Winning Chef of this restaurant is Chef Evan Funke. Who is a Master Pasta Maker.

The two stand out dishes offered here are the Sfincione (chef’s Signature focaccia) and his cacio e pepe.

It’s a large formal restaurant with more than one dining area, a bar, and an open kitchen. Rap music fills the air…..

We started out by sharing some of the chef’s signature focaccia called Sfincione.

It’s hot out of the oven. It’s fluffy, moist, and tasty.

Next is our pasta course. This was Linguine Al Lemon (oil, lemon, asparagus, pecorino cheese)

It’s delicious, well seasoned and prepared with perfect pasta….

I ordered the tuna alla puttanesca (big eye tuna steak, tomatoes, Taggiasca olives, capers, basil)

This is drop the mike moment – GET THIS – THIS IS THE DISH TO GET! And you need some of the sfincione (focaccia) to help mop things up.

To start with the tuna is also amazing. It’s a large portion and is maybe the freshest tasting tuna I ever had anywhere. It’s also tender as can be. These tomatoes are also the best tasting tomatoes. There are different flavors of basil here, pops of capers, fancy little olives that are different. This dish is a reason on why you would dine here.

My husband ordered the Saltimbocca (pounded veal, prosciutto, sage, white wine, butter, lemon, with a wild arugula salad.)

Tonight the veal is a little tough and dry….but still edible. Instead of our waiter waiting for us to take a few bites…Instead he asked us how the plates were as soon as they arrived. We told him that the plates looked good……

The wild arugula salad.

My husband said that this salad was very good and insisted that I taste it…..I thought the vinegar used was incredibly harsh. I can’t eat it but then again I am more sensitive.

GET THE SFINCIONE and the TUNA

Mother Wolf

2777 Las Vegas Blvd S Las Vegas NV

702-678-9170

www.MotherWolfLV.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Cocktail Rye Rolls Recipe

I got the idea to make some tuna and smoked trout mousse, pickled onions, and cocktail rye rolls so that is what I made.

I made my rye mini loaf recipe but instead of 8 mini loafs I got 30 cocktail sized rye bread AND 8 small rolls.

Anyways –

This recipe makes around 16 servings

Ingredients

2 cup + 2 Tablespoons bread flour

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons dark rye flour

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar – separated

1 Tablespoon course sea salt

1 pack (2 1/4 teaspoons) dry active yeast

2 Tablespoons caraway seeds + extra for sprinkling the tops

1 1/2 cup 110 degree water

1/4 cup canola oil

semolina to coat bottom of rolls

1 egg white – to brush rolls with

sea salt flakes – light pinch to finish rolls

Directions

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Add the yeast and one tablespoon of brown sugar to the water. Mix and cover with plastic wrap.

In your stand mixer bowl with a dough hook add the flours, sugar, salt, caraway seeds, oil, and water as soon as it looks foamy on the top.

Mix slow to get all the ingredients together and once mixed turn up to medium speed and let mix for ten minutes.

Either leave dough in bowl or remove dough and add to a bowl.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter for four hours for the flavors to develop.

Preheat oven to 425 F

I used about 1/2 the dough for cocktail sized breads.

I rolled the dough around soft pretzel size and broke off pieces about the size of the first joint of my thumb.

The balls get rolled and before you place them on the parchment paper you dip the bottoms in semolina.

Leave the rolls sit on the counter about hour so they can puff up a bit.

Brush the tops twice with egg whites.

Make two decorate slices in the tops if desired.

Sprinkle the tops with caraway seeds and sea salt flakes

In my oven the cocktail sized breads took 10 minutes

The softball sized rolls took 15 minutes.

Cocktail Sized Rye Rolls

ENJOY!!!!

The Forking Truth

Dining Out (& IN) With DOGS in Las Vegas June 2024

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. You know Louie always enjoyed going out to eat. When he got elderly he came down with aggressive cancer. We were told that he probably only had 3 months to live…..but maybe up to 6 months………I took Louie out to eat as often as possible since going out to eat was his greatest enjoyment. Instead of the 3-6 months Louie made it another 17 months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when the weather is right and when I can.

Just so you know I am usually a week or so behind with Dining Out with Dogs…..June pretty much began too hot to dine out with dogs so the dining out was actually in May and “In doors”when it was too hot.

We got to go to Hawaiian Barbecue #1 in North Las Vegas. In case you don’t know Hawaiian BBQ is usually big styrofoam containers stuffed with lots of protein and usually rice. This place doesn’t have their own patio but do share a community patio only 2 doors down. My husband (and dogs) tried the Chicken Stir Fry Saimin (Asian flavored stir fry with noodles).

And I (and dogs) had the garlic Mahi Healthier Plate (Maui Fish, salad, brown rice, and hard egg). (with garlic scraped off for dogs) They also had some of the egg.

We all enjoyed Hawaiian Barbecue # 1

5870 N Losee Rd North Las Vegas NV

702-642-4600

www.BestHawaiianBarbeque.com

We happened to have a nice day where we could sit in shade in 85 degree weather so we went to Those Guys Pies in North Las Vegas. They specialize in cheesesteaks and pizzas. If this place sound familiar to you then you might have caught them on Food Network’s Diners Drive Ins and Dives.

We started out by buying the dogs craft chicken dog biscuits from the dog biscuit vending machine that they have inside.

They also got to eat grilled chicken from my Lakeside Salad.

And Cheese Steak from my husband’s cheesesteak.

We always enjoy going to Those Guys Pies

5585 Simmons St North Las Vegas NV

725-251-5826

www.ThoseGuysPies.com

Suddenly it got very hot in Las Vegas but near the beginning of the month we had a windy-not-too-sunny day with shade so we were able to quickly enjoy some cheeseburger from In-N-Out.

They always enjoy an In-N-Out Cheeseburger.

Today it was too hot outside to dine out with dogs. So we took the dogs threw the In-N-Out Drive Thru and brought a burger home for them.

The Dogs always enjoy a Cheeseburger from In-N-Out.

Well That was Dining Out (and In) With DOGS for June 2024. We are hoping for a Monsoon to cool things here so we can Dine Out again soon! We hope to see you next month.

The Forking Truth
In Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017

Letty’s De Leticias Cocina Las Vegas NV – Worth a Try!

Letty’s De Leticias Cocina is a full service Mexican Restaurant located in the Arts District of Downtown Las Vegas Nevada. They offer a variety of Mexican all day breakfast dishes such as pozole, menudo, chilaquiles, and a few more things. A few of the other items they offer are appetizers like chips and salsa, ceviche, and quesadillas. They also offer soups, and sandwiches on fresh baked bolillo bread. You can also find Tamales, Enchiladas, Burritos, Pupusas, Carne Asada, Grilled Chicken, Carnitas and MORE!

If this restaurant seems familiar to you then maybe you saw them on Food Network’s Diners Drive Ins and Dives.

This is a small restaurant that fills up fast.

We started out with some margaritas and chips and salsa.

My husband enjoyed the steak ranchero burrito packed with cheese, rice, and beans and topped with red guajillo sauce and more cheese.

I tried the birria ramen.

I liked the eggs because they were nice and jammy. The beef isn’t bad because it’s tender and flavorful. They also gave a generous portion of beef. For my taste the broth is too fatty for me to eat it but my husband has a different taste and enjoys this. He will eat it over the next two days.

Worth a Try!

Letty’s De Leticias – 702-476-9477

807 S. Main St Las Vegas NV

www.LettysDeLeticias.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

China Mama 2 Shanghai Plaza Las Vegas NV – Real Chinese Food – Worth a Fork!

China Mama 2 is located in Las Vegas Nevada’s Chinatown in Shanghai Plaza. This restaurant offers mostly authentic Chinese Food but they also offer a few American Chinese Dishes like orange chicken.

It’s always busy here and you wait for your table by signing in on an iPad. The wait is usually 1-2 hours but We got lucky today and only waited eleven minutes.

Whatever you order they start you off with ice water in cold metal tumblers and hot Jasmin Tea.

We started out by trying the wood ear mushroom salad.

It’s crisp and kinda spicy…..

The waiters favorite dish here is the sliced fish filet with ginger and scallions so we went with that.

it’s light and mild and easy to eat.

But the dry pepper chicken is another story.

The chicken is bite sized, breaded and fried. It’s fried well because it seems free of oil but it was fried with MOLTEN HOT dried and fresh peppers and garlic. This dish really is too spicy hot for us……We’ve had this dish before at other Chinese Restaurants and it is always very spicy hot but not MOLTEN HOT like this one. We manage to eat a little of this one but I brought most of it home minus any pepper I came across. At home I made a honey based sauce that took the heat down a couple levels.

We also shared some of the sautéed lettuce.

The lettuce is nice and crisp and only very mildly seasoned.

We also had some steamed rice. The rice doesn’t come with the meals here and you have to order it.

We had plenty of leftovers to bring home.

The food was all very good but for our taste the dry pepper chicken ran too spicy hot.

China Mama 2 (at Shanghai Plaza) is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

China Mama 2

4266 Spring Mountain Rd Las Vegas NV

702-900-8802

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth