Michoacan Gourmet Mexican Restaurant has a location in the Centennial Part of Las Vegas. This location gets very busy and also has a bar.
They start you off with complimentary chips, spicy salsa, and refried beans.
Most of the entrees also include a cup of Fideo Soup (tomato/chicken broth with thin noodles).
For dinner I tried the Pollo Al Mojo De Ajo (chicken with wine, garlic, and guajillo pepper and house made flour tortillas). It normally comes with rice and beans but I special ordered mixed vegetables instead of beans. They also garnished the plates with some guacamole.
My husband tried the Steak Piccado (N.Y. Strip, Espanela (not sure but translates as cheese and also translates to Brazilian Tequila?), tomatillo, onions, tomatoes, jalapeños, and cilantro). This also was served with rice and beans and house made flour tortillas.
Both meals are reasonably good but entrees ran very mild with heat unlike the salsa……
Michoacan Gourmet Mexican Restaurant is Worth a Try!
The Bagel Cafe is a bakery, deli, restaurant, and bar. They do have a ghost kitchen location in downtown Las Vegas and a full service location about 15 minutes from the strip. Bagels and other baked goods are baked fresh every day. They also offer a variety of house roasted meats. They offer breakfast, salads, house made soups, Smoked fish plates, over stuffed sandwiches, pizza bagels, meat platters, dinners, a kids menu and They even squeeze their fresh orange juice. They also serve bar drinks.
Up in front is the deli and bakery.
Behind the deli and bakery are packed dining rooms.
Whatever you order they start you off with crispy bagel chips with house whipped cream cheese.
Here’s the house roasted and smoked pastrami sandwich with potato salad.
It taste the way it looks.
Here’s a side order of belly lox (smoked fish here is from Acme or Banner of New York)
The belly lox today taste very good. I’ve been told that certain times of year it runs more salty.
Above is the smoked fish combo platter for one with Nova Lox, Whitefish, and an Everything Bagel (for one person that can eat like two….or more)
The Nova is very good and better than from another well known deli that uses Acme brand lox but uses the pre-cut. – Pretty Good!
This is a look back on the restaurants I’ve been to in 2024.
Pastrami sandwich from Uncle Paulie’s
The Pastrami Sandwich from Uncle Paulie’s was possibly the worst pastrami sandwich I ever tried. It didn’t taste like pastrami and had hard crunchy ends and it was on undesirable bread.
All the slices of pizza we tried from Prince Pizza had this sickening sweet tomato sauce on them that grossed us out.
My first visit to Leticia’s I had this fish dish with the most amazing delicious Mojo sauce on it. The second time I had it the sauce was missing that essential citrus taste. I complained and they brought me some lime wedges and then it tasted almost like what I remembered.
This pastrami sandwich from the little Wexler’s in the Aria Food Court does their own cureing and smoking for their own pastrami and lox. Their pastrami & lox makes angels sing. This tiny little food court stand even whips their own cream cheese and makes their own bagels.
The best tuna baguette sandwich came from a tiny French Cafe called Petite Kitchen. They also served delicious crepes. It’s sad that they have closed for business.
Wexler’s Pastrami Sandwich
Wexler’s house made and hand sliced lox and house whipped cream cheese and house made bagel
This doughnut doesn’t look special but it was prepared fresh to order….It was hot and cinnamon-ee and just was delicious as a cinnamon doughnut can be. It came from Federal Doughnuts.
From Amora Latin American Cocina was the most incredibly delicious and unusual salad ever. Nixamized or something like that tomatoes here.
Also from Amora Latin American Cocina –
Their beef sandwich is one of the best beef sandwiches that I ever had in my life…..
The other best beef sandwich in my life was the ribeye minute steak pita from Miznon.
It’s just amazing!……Speachless….
The best chicken sandwich came from Capon’s in the Fountainbleu food court also The gelato from Capons was the best I’ve tasted so far….
One of the best Chinese Dishes was the fish in ginger garlic sauce by China Mama
From Cipriani’s we tried two terrible dishes from our 3 course lunch. Below is a pasta dish with with fishy fish that includes the even fishier bloodline as it’s only flavoring.
Below that is the unseasoned, unflavored lentil soup that tastes like dirt.
Lentil Soup
The next plate isn’t pretty but those beef balls are amazing. (called beef kebob)
They came from Shawarma Vegas. All the food is pretty good here. They even make turkey shawarma that is very good and moist. Even their white meat chicken dishes is moist and delicious.
The worst salmon ever came from MRKT Land and Sea in the Aliante Hotel/Casino it’s so dry it’s awful.
Salmon from MRKT
I complained and about 30 minutes latter they bring me out this……
Dry and crumbly on the ends and raw in the center……Don’t even bother getting salmon from MRKT.
One of the very best dinner plates of the year was this amazing tuna in puttanesca sauce from Mother Wolf in the Fountainbleu
The Bulgogi Tostada from Komex was FORKING TASTY! Just POPPING with flavors
Bulgogi Tostada from Komex
The salmon dinner from 1228 Main was amazing so was a previous chicken dish I tried there. They also make very good baked goods.
Another outstanding pastrami sandwich….not made in-house but the bread was from La Cantine. They also make delicious macarons. Read on Yelp that this place changed their name to 702 Sandwich Shop?
The ground in house prime rib burger from Carve Prime Rib in the Cannery Hotel/Casino is always juicy and tasty.
A Special Pasta Dish I tried from Basilico was exceptional.
The food is always delicious and perfect from Rang’s Cocina Moderne. Below is Chilean Sea bass. The chef there won Rising Chef of the Year from the Nevada Restaurant Association and also was featured in the Las Vegas Weekly.
Another favorite is the Cod Florentine.
The slow roasted Beef Cheek is also very recommended but honestly everything on Rang’s Menu is delicious and perfect every time you order it.
The Chicken Tikka Masala from Able Baker is better than from some Indian Restaurants.
My plate from The Harvest Cafe was hard to stomach.
ICK!
Most of the foods we tried from Flecha Cantina was delicious.
But this goat cheese ball with pistachios, tamarind, and fried pitas is super yummy!
On the other hand this Korean Beef BBQ Rice bowl was very disappointing from Fat Choy. It was like dry and like chewy jerky and no flavor.
Crispy Korean Beef BBQ Rice Bowl
The Banana Cream Pie from any Emeril Restaurant is always amazing. (below was from Delmonico Steak House)
All the food from Jose Andres’s Bazar Mar was incredible.
The very best few bites was the mini Lox and Bagel from Bazar Mar. It had so many layers and textures. It was an amazing few bites.
A certain restaurant that went from favorite to down the tubes…..was The Pepper Club by Tom English.
The Japanese Chicken sandwich used to be delicious, moist and flavorful but this one was none of that.
Same with the burger.
No more medium-rare…….I know they changed chefs….Hopefully they will change again.
The Broccolini from Bramare is amazing.
But the Broccolini from Balla Italian Soul was the worst.
It was soggy and over seasoned.
The below picture was awful.
I could only eat the avocado and some of the rice. This was Ser-veh-sah’s signature protein bowl. The chicken was cold and awful tasting…..I couldn’t stomach it.
Below might be the best chicken dish I had this year.
A Chicken dish from 1228 Main.
The bread and house made ricotta are amazing from Monzu Italian Oven. Also the pizzas from Monzu are the very best I’ve tasted in Las Vegas..The chef’s more casual restaurant Old School Pizzeria also offers those pizzas.
The Chicken Tinga from Lucy’s was very good.
The Peanut Pho from Pho Amie was very good.
The Ceasar Salad from Ferrano’s was very well made and it a non traditional style. It’s rare that you get such a well made Caesar.
Possibly the worst Caesar Salad came from Balla Italian Soul.
Instead of Caesar…It taste like RANCH! ICK!
Fron NORMS (below)
ICK!
From Asian Wok – Best Take Out Szechuan Chicken
Toughest beef of the year came from Tastebusz Creole Kitchen.
So tough even a crocodile would have to give up.
Maybe the most unappetizing plate also came from Tastebudz Creole Kitchen.
The sweet potatoes are like those canned type and are breaking down to mush. The macaroni and cheese is also breaking down like it was re-heated too many times. The black crud on the fish might before a pan or flat top that wasn’t cleaned. The fish had a hard texture and was difficult to break peices off but when you got to try some it was so painfully hot that it really wasn’t edible and didn’t taste good at all.
The best restaurant of the year where I tasted the most FORKING FANTABULOUS DISHES was from Safta 1964 by Alon Shaya in the Encore part of the Wynn Hotel/Casino. They banged and banged out so many great dishes.
The hummus is very high quality and the best I’ve tasted in Nevada and pitas that come it are fresh and hot and fluffy.
The Falafels have shattering crisp exteriors and moist herby centers and come well embellished with tahini, amba, and shrug.
The Salatim (dips and spreads) platter did differ slightly on each visit but always contained the most tasty spreads and dips that I haven’t found anywhere else.
Some of the very best vegetable dishes that you could find in Nevada came from here. Loved the crispy eggplant. Up above is the charred cabbage with dukkah, hazelnuts, tahini, and muhamara.
My favorite entree was the branzino in paprika sauce with polenta and the sweetest fresh tomatoes ever.
More desserts can be better than one.
Not one, not two, not three or four but FIVE bite sized desserts. This just has to be the most bountiful and best dessert platter on the strip. (pistachio baklava, chocolate chunk halva, blueberry rugelach, Turkish coffee truffle, mini lemon tart. and not one of each not two but THREE of each. Safta 1964 was a pop up temporary restaurant in the Encore part of the Wynn Hotel/Casino. If you would like to give them a try you’d have to go to The Michelin Award Wining Denver Location.
Hope you’ve enjoyed Most of the best and worst dishes at Las Vegas Restaurants 2024.
I heard positive things about Taste Budz Creole Kitchen on Eater Las Vegas so I wanted to give this restaurant a try. It’s a casual mostly Cajun type restaurant with two locations in North Las Vegas Nevada.
I read on Eater Las Vegas that the Chef is someone known as Celebrity Chef Trish. (Her likeness is painted on the wall below.)
It is very casual. You order and pay at the counter.
Lots of bright paintings on the walls to look at while you are waiting for your order.
I tried to eat the Jerk Salmon Entree with Macaroni and Cheese and Sweet Potatoes.
There is gross black stuff on the fish that might be leftover crud from a flat top or pan. The fish has a weird texture and is almost impossible to cut with a fork. But the taste is worst. It is so hot that it is not edible. The macaroni and cheese was re-heated too many times so it’s not so good. The sweet potatoes are like canned and are turning to mush.
The Cajun steak is so tough that even an alligator would give up on trying to eat it…. The food served to us I would consider it to be below standard and I would not recommend.
The Veranda is an eloquent breakfast-brunch-lunch type of restaurant located in the Four Seasons Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip that is connected to Mandalay Bay Hotel/Casino. We all know that it isn’t going to be cheap to eat anywhere in the Four Seasons………….I didn’t plan to dine here but got kinda stuck….We were going to the aquarium so I planned to dine in Mandalay Bay at The Border Grill but it was closed for holiday vacation and there are very few choices in Mandalay Bay for lunch. I thought The Veranda offered a nice menu and was walking distance so I gave it a try.
Anyways-
It’s formal inside with a bar and sort of retro seats at the tables. There is a patio that looks nice for when the weather is right.
I ordered an iced tea……I said, “I’d like a plain iced tea.” The server looked at me like I was from Mars and said, “Don’t you want a flavored iced tea?” It took him maybe 15 minutes to bring my ($10.) ice tea.
The highlight of our lunch was the crispy lemongrass cauliflower with sweet chili sauce ($20.).
They do give a generous amount of cauliflower that is breaded and fried to perfection. It lightly laced with lemongrass. It taste good without the sauce……The sauce cancels out the lemongrass taste and you get left with a sort of Chinese Take Out Duck Sauce Taste……This would taste much better with something that compliments like a citrus soy sort of sauce….
I try the Blue Fin Tuna Niçoise salad (I didn’t notice that it is $37…..It’s written real tiny and light on the menu)
To tell The FORKING Truth it’s not awful but it isn’t so great either………Most of it is tasteless. They squirted some tomato vinaigrette on the top that is sort of sweet with very little flavor. The tuna is ok but also with little flavor……..Nothing flavors the vegetables or egg. I almost never add salt and pepper to plates out but had to here. Even the green beans are plain. I asked my husband to taste one……He said, it taste like a boiled green bean. It’s pretty darn disappointing for $37. The blue fin tuna nicoise I had from Matteo’s in the Venetian was only $20. and much better….
My husband tried a Diablo Flatbread ($25.).
He was disappointed because the crust was like a cross between a super thin pita bread and a cracker…..and he thought the surface would have tomato sauce. He said that only around the ends was the tomato sauce topped with cheese, sausage, and pepperoni. It’s also small in size and he left hungry.
I don’t mind paying more for food if it is exceptional but here that is not the case. The most over priced meal of the year was from The Veranda at The Four Seasons in Las Vegas NV.
Ferraro’s Ristorante is a very nice Italian Restaurant and Bar Located not far from the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. It has a very rice formal looking atmosphere.
Patio dining is also available for when the weather is right.
We went with the three course lunch for $28. (subject to change).
They started us off with complimentary fresh baked rolls with oil that was embellished with balsamic vinegar and PISTACHIOS.
My husband ordered an extra appetizer and tried the Polpette (meatballs) e Polenta.
He said it was delicious and much better than what you get at a lot of OTHER Italian restaurants.
First courses for us were –
A Very Good and modern style Cesare Salad.
And a very tasty.
The Ferraro’s Salad – mixed greens, carrots, tomatoes, Parm cheese, cranberries, sunflower seeds, PISTACHIOS, and balsamic dressing.
Main course were –
Pillowy potato gnocchi in PISTACHIO pesto with tomato and crispy basil.
and-
Salmon Limone – salmon was fresh tasting and prepared with a moist center, yellow & green squash, and asparagus were nice fresh and tender crisp too.
The sweet endings were-
Cannoli
And-
The signature house dessert PISTACHIO Passion.
The Three Course Lunch from Ferraro’s Ristorante ($28. per person subject to change) is Worth a Fork!
NORMS are famous 24/7 California Diner Restaurants and one opened fairly recently in Las Vegas Nevada not too far from the strip. I only heard good things about NORMS and saw them featured on several local TV Shows so I wanted to give them a try. It’s very busy and energetic inside.
It also looks like a diner inside with a mix of all kinds of different tables, bar seating and booths. There are several dining areas on different sides of the bar.
We went with entrees and they are reasonably priced and come with soup and salad. We started with soups…..(actually my husband eat them both because they are not for me)
Creamy chicken noodle soup – A bit too thick but OK.
Gumbo – Not great like Emeril’s but still tasty and ok according to my husband.
Salads were next.
I tried my salad with blue cheese dressing. Too bad …….it taste like they thinned down the dressing too much and it doesn’t taste like blue cheese anymore. My husband the Italian dressing doesn’t have much flavor either.
For my main I tried the grilled wild whitefish.
The grilled whitefish has a light unflavored breading on it. This would taste better if it came with a sauce. I use some hot sauce that is on the table and it helps. The potato is kinda hard and very difficult to mash the butter in with a fork.
But there is no help for the vegetables. They even look like they have expired.
Over cooked old squash….ick
My husband tried the Chicken Fried Steak.
It’s kinda bland. The carrot fingers are kind of wood-ee. Real fresh carrots would taste better. The tater tots have a very hard exteriors.
NORMS does give you a lot of food but you have to not care what it taste like.
Distill is a local bar, restaurant, and gaming type of place with close to a dozen locations around Las Vegas and Henderson Nevada. The Centennial Las Vegas location offers a separate dining room away from the bar and gaming. On the menu they offer all day breakfast and a wide assortment of food.
It’s a mix of traditional tables and booths.
We decided to share the buffalo cauliflower with blue cheese dressing.
It has a crispy tempura coating and is fried to perfection. The hot sauce does run spicy and most people out there will enjoy it. I must confess that I am unusually sensitive to certain ingredients. The hot sauce used either contains too much acidic acid or too much condensed vinegar so the sauce is too painful for my palate but won’t hurt most people. Must people will enjoy this buffalo cauliflower.
For my main I enjoyed the Chili Lime Salad with added Salmon. The Salmon came split open with nice grill marks. It’s easy to see that they prepared the salmon sort of medium-ish as they should. The salad is tasty and different with some pico, corn, and avocado with a mild chili-lime creamy dressing.
The build your own burger came out medium-rare as requested with carefully prepared bacon that still had some wiggle and wasn’t dried out crisp like what most places serve.
Pho Aimie is a full service Vietnamese Restaurant located in North Las Vegas Nevada. They offer around 20 varieties of Pho, Vermicelli Plates, Rice Dishes, Crispy Noodle & Rice Noodle Dishes, Soft Beverages, Vietnamese Iced Coffee, and Beer.
They offer appetizers like crispy chicken potstickers
You might like to try one of the Pho.
Above is the #17 Pho that is beef broth and rare steak with added meatballs and brisket (contains rice noodles)
This is the #27 Pho. Called Pho Sate. It’s a Spicy Peanut Soup w Rare Steak and Sate noodles.
It’s very rare that I will pick one of my husband’s favorite dishes but I am picking this dish for good reason. He said that this sandwich was amazing! He said that the pork belly was incredible. Even the roll was amazing with the right crunch and just right fluffy interior. He said that this sandwich was so out of the ordinary very good that it might be impossible to order anything else from this restaurant. (it is a baguette sandwich. Normally comes with a spread of mayo (but left off at my husband’s request. It also contains cucumber, scallions, cilantro, pickled carrot, daikon, jalapeño, and that spectacular pork belly .) So……That is good reason to make the Pork Belly Nom Pang from Nom Pang the notable dish of the week!
Nom Pang
4275 N Rancho Dr Las Vegas NV
702-268-8288
I have not found a website for Nom Pang. At the moment (subject to change so give them a call) they are open 8am-6pm 7 days a week.
