Tag Archives: #LasVegasEats

International Smoke Las Vegas NV – Don’t get the Chicken

International Smoke is a restaurant by chef Michael Mina and author and television host Ayesha Curry. This restaurant had two locations. One location is in San Francisco and the other that I went to is in The MGM Grand Resort and Casino on the strip in Las Vegas Nevada. This restaurant offers a global menu. They say they cook with smoke and use bold flavors.

Inside is sort of dark but not too dark (you can read the menu). The decor is masculine and classic. A large bar is almost half the dining area. As you walk in you are greeted with a delicious aroma of smoke……

inside

We started out by sharing the black truffle mac ‘n’ cheese.

The pasta is nice and firm and isn’t mushy. The cheese sauce taste like it was made with real cheese and it is good. The truffles don’t give off much flavors but it is better that than to taste artificial flavors.

My husband tried the Jamaican braised oxtail.

This dish was good. Good flavors, a little spicy…….It was enhanced with red beans, coconut rice, and Jamaican green seasoning. The only issue here was that it lacked enough sauce to really enjoy.

I tried the Sinaldan Style Mary’s Chicken (achiote salsa mache, sauce pastor, sweet potato, avocado).

On the bright side the flavors really were off the charts amazing……and spicy too……………..But on the dark side this chicken was prepared very uneven, mostly DRY and hard to cut, and with rubbery inedible chicken skin. It was hard to enjoy the amazing flavors here. I was asked by someone (maybe a manager? not my server) on how it was but I just started so I didn’t know how it was yet because she asked as soon as I got it. Didn’t feel like complaining after I was done.

Off of one visit I don’t really know how this restaurant is but I would not recommend getting the chicken. Oh I should mention that I have recently enjoyed the Korean Bbq Salmon Sandwich from Micheal Mina’s Bourbon Pub at San Francisco AIRPORT…(yes at Airport) It was so delicious…and amazing….I wonder if chicken is good there?

International Smoke

3799 S Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas NV (MGM Grand)

702-891-3922

www.MGMGrand.com

www.InternationalSmoke.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Siegel’s Bagelmania Las Vegas NV – GREAT BAGELS – Worth a Fork!

Siegal’s Bagelmania is possibly the largest Jewish Delicatessen on the West Coast. They are located in Las Vegas Nevada near the convention center that is near to the Las Vegas Strip. They also have a smaller location in the airport in terminal one.

You either dine in or do take out.

This is the take out line below.

The take out line starts around here with Pink Box Doughnuts.

Next is a couple counters that are oozing with pastries, breads, cookies, cakes, and more.

Then you make it to the bagels.

The worker’s T shirts backs read “Challah at me.”

Here’s more bagels and an everything flagel.

Then you go by the shmears.

I skipped a few cases….because somewhere around here is where you order the deli meats , cheese and fish.

Then you hit knishes, latkes, blintzes and noodle kugel oh my!

We took out a few things.

Plain, rye, and everything bagels – These are the BEST bagels that I have tried since I left Pennsylvania.

belly lox (considered the better lox if you can handle the salt…..) (too salty for me)

nova lox – Both lox appear to be hand sliced

pastrami

pickles

GREAT BAGELS and more!

Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

Siegel’s Bagelmania

252 Convention Center Dr Las Vegas NV 702-369-3322

www.BagelmaniaLV.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Brera Osteria Las Vegas NV – Ask for the $28.00 3 Course Chefs Tasting Lunch GREAT FIND! Worth a Fork!

Brera Osteria is a multi-regional Italian restaurant that is an inspiration of the artsy-cool Brera neighborhood in Milan Italy. This restaurant is located in St Mark’s Square in the Grand Canal Shoppes in The Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. Besides many Italian favorites they also offer authentic Neapolitan pizza. All the seating is on the indoor patio.

They don’t post this menu so it is a secret. You have to ask for the 3 course chef’s tasting lunch menu. There is an additional charge for four of the items on the menu.

We both went for the 3 course lunch menu and everything we tried was at least good.

They start you off with complimentary bread with a little oil and balsamic.

First course was the salad called insalata (wild arugula, fennel, orange, olives, grana, chili vinaigrette).

The other first course was meatballs (beef & pork, San Marzano, mozzarella, and grilled bread).

For my main I got the salmon (Umbrian lentils, fennel puree, leeks, beet aioli). and this alone was worth the $28.00 to me. It was prepared just so and also cooked to my request.

My husband got the beef tenderloin ($18. extra charge) (with grilled romaine hearts, roasted potatoes, chimichurri).

My husband asked me to taste the beef but I was busy with my plate and declined…..Then he said that I must try the potatoes so I tried one. It was sort of garlic-ee but tasted like a special potato. Not a regular potato that you get at the supermarket…A special variety.

For dessert we both went with the bread pudding imbedded with fruit, nuts, chocolate, and was enhanced with gelato, caramel, whipped cream, and berries.

If you want this then you have to ASK for the three course chef’s tasting menu from Brera Osteria at the Venetian at St Mark’s Square. I think that it is a great find! Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

3355 S Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas NV

702-414-1227

www.BreraOsteria.com

www.VenetianLasVegas.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Miznon – Seasonal Israeli Street Food Las Vegas NV – Worth a Fork! RUN!!! DON’T WALK

Miznon is a seasonal high quality chain of Israeli Street Food Restaurants by chef Eyal Shani. According to www.Miznon.com they have locations in Israel, United States, France, Austria, Australia, Singapore, Canada, and United Kingdom. We went to the newly opened Las Vegas location. (***I’ve also read that a location just opened recently in Canada) The Las Vegas location is located near the Palazzo casino floor that is in the Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada.

This is a very casual food market stall with bar seating. You order and pay at the counter and seat yourself. They call your name as things from your order are ready. At the current time a few tables are scattered across from the stall. This is the spot where Fine Dining Israeli Hasalon Restaurant will be also by chef Eyal Shani.

The signature dish is The Original World Famous Baby Cauliflower. (you can see the Atlantic flake Sea Salt on it)

The cauliflower comes out like this with tahini sauce and a green chili sauce that is called shrug or zhug sauce (many different spellings).

It’s very surprising how great that this very simple cauliflower can taste…..It really is very good and special! It so special that the recipe of this cauliflower is posted at the restaurant.

I couldn’t try everything………so I snapped this picture of the bag of green beans when I saw them come up at the counter (with olive oil, lemon, garlic, salt).

I had to try the plate called “The Best Hummus Plate That You Will Ever Eat with Melting Chickpeas.”

I can sure tell you that it was a very great plate of hummus and also was the most detailed plate of hummus that I have ever tried anywhere. It’s enhanced with melting chickpeas, slices of hard egg, green chili sauce, olive oil, tomato seeds that are like caviar, and tahini. The pita is very fluffy and it’s all really great together.

We were both blown away with both the next two meat dishes. One was the sal de coq (rotisserie chicken, fresh herbs, radish, cucumber, pickles)

The flavors and moisture in the chicken is OFF THE CHARTS GREAT! It must be tasted to be believed. This really blew us away. You can’t really see it in my photo (because I wanted you to see the chicken) but they also gave us this incredibly delicious roasted pepper with it. (lower left corner)

LIGHTNING STRIKES AGAIN!

bag of golden meat

The pita-less entree called “Bag of Golden Meat” is far more incredible than I can ever describe. The depth of flavors and tenderness was so shocking in a great way.

This is some sort of overnight brisket, grilled onions, and a garlic-ee aioli. Honestly this didn’t even seem like brisket because it was so amazing. I really thought it tasted more like the finest shaved prime rib from a very upscale steakhouse.

Oh and I forgot to mention that the meat portions were extra large so it also is a really great value dining here.

RUN !!!!!! Don’t walk. GO to Miznon as soon as you can because it really was that good and Worth a Fork! (and a Great value too!)

Worth a Fork!

Miznon

3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas NV (Venetian located near to the Palazzo Casino Floor)

www.VenetianLasVegas.com

www.Miznon.com (at the time of my visit the Las Vegas location was not yet listed on this site but is listed on the Venetian site)

But every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Cafe Hollywood at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas NV

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.

inside
inside

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

3667 Las Vegas BLVD S Las Vegas NV

702-732-1222

www.TheCafeHollywood.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

A Little Taste of Dominique Ansel Patisserie – Las Vegas NV

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.

Dominique Ansel Las Vegas

3570 Las Vegas BLVD S Las Vegas NV

www.Caesars.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Famous Foods Street Eats – Streetbird, Blood Bros BBQ – Resorts World Las Vegas NV

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.

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill – Las Vegas NV at Caesars

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.

inside
inside
inside

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.

Might have been an off day?

That was my trip to Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill

3570 S Las Vegas BLVD Las Vegas NV

702-731-7410

www.Caesars.com

Every thing is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Buddy V’s Ristorante – Las Vegas NV 2022 Venetian – Still Worth a Fork!

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

702-607-2355

www.BuddyVsRestaurants.com

www.VenetianLasVegas.com

Grand Canal Shoppes Shopping Mall – Venetian

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

2022 Trip to L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon – Las Vegas Nevada

L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon is a high end multi award winning small plate French Restaurant located in the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. It’s from the late chef and most award wining chef of the century Joel Robuchon.

Most of us mere mortals sit at the counter and watch the action. A few people get to sit at the few tables on the side. Maybe they are high rollers? Or maybe they gave “B” jobs to get a table?

Anyways-

They started us off with a FORKING Amazing amuse bouche. It was some sort of apple gelee, finger limes, and I think some sort of smoked citrus cream? It was a mind-blowing highlight of the evening.

Another highlight is always the incredible bread basket with French Butter.

Baguettes, croissants, milk breads…….All great. The croissants really stand out…… the very best that I ever had anywhere..made with that French butter that you can clearly taste in them along with all the amazing layers of the croissant …..

The menus and prices did differ from my last visit. There are less choices and less Tonight we went a la cart instead of the tasting menu because one round of the tasting menu was not for me.

I started off with the cauliflower salad called Les Choux.

It’s cooked cauliflower with micro vegetables, crunchy peanut tuiles with a sweet and sour vinaigrette. A nice light start……..

My husband started with the Iberico ham.

In case you didn’t know this is very special ham from black footed pigs that were kissed by Jesus and only eat acorns. It’s the finest ham. They serve it with bruschetta.

For dinner my husband went with the La Bavette (seared skirt steak, onions and crispy shallots).

It taste beefy with crispy shallots going crunch, crunch, crunch. It was served with the famous buttery whipped Robuchon Potatoes.

For dinner I tried the Roasted Cod (Le Cabillaud) with grilled shiitakes, and soybeans in a saffron broth. It came with the famously RICH Robuchon Potatoes.

It really is very good…but….is the smallest dinner that I have ever had here….and I have been coming here for over TEN YEARS…..

See it’s more of a tasting. The cod is only slightly bigger than a quarter.

I know small plates is very small but this is extra tiny more like a tasting….See even ALL the appetizers that I’ve have prior to this visit are much more filling than this dinner was. (this is only some of the appetizers I’ve had here)

SEE!

Salmon Carpacchio – appetizer

Beef Cheek – appetizer

Kampachi belly with eggplant compote in cilantro sauce – appetizer

smoked salmon potato waffle with dill cream cheese – appetizer

Red snapper carpaccio with lemon gelee and turmeric vinaigrette – appetizer

All the appetizers that we’ve tried here were all more substantial than the dinner I was served tonight….

Anyways

Roasted cod entree

I had room for dessert so we shared the les tartes.

The top one taste like a chocolate candy bar, We both really enjoyed the lemon meringue, Pumpkin was lightly spiced, my husband’s favorite was the cinnamon cream pie.

Then they usually surprise you with another dessert. Tonight was blackberry macarons.

That was my 2022 trip to L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand Las Vegas Nevada.

3799 Las Vegas BLVD South Las Vegas Nevada

702-891-7358

www.MGMGRAND.com

Everything is subject to change

The Forking Truth