Month: July 2017

Border Grill – Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas always amazes me, not because of the glitz and glamour. What amazes me is how many celebrity chefs have restaurants up and down the strip. I was excited to try Border Grill, which is owned by Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. These chefs have been on Food Network’s Too Hot Tamales and Bravo’s Top Chef Masters.

Located inside Mandalay Bay, Border Grill is a modern take on Mexican food.

I started off with one of my favorite cocktails. The Suprema Sangria was a blend of red wine, melon piloncillo, a splash of orange, lime, and pineapple juices. According to the menu it was supposed to come with a cinnamon stick, however mine did not. There was still a hint of spice in the sangria even without the stick. It was a unique tasting sangria. It paired well with the chips and salsa that the waitress brought to the table.

There were several things on the menu that sounded delicious. I went for the Yucatan pork. It was Achiote pork that was roasted in banana leaves and topped with cilantro, radish, and pickled onions.

The pork was extremely tender and pulled apart with my fork. The way it was prepared kept the pork tremendously juicy. The pork was both spicy and salty. It was like Mexican pulled pork barbeque. I tried the pickled onions that were on top. They were extremely tart. I ended up not eating them with the pork. The pork was perfect on its own and the onions took away from the savory flavor.

If you want a unique twist on Mexican food then check out Border Grill. Visit their website at http://www.bordergrill.com/

  

Enjoy!

T

BarMasa – Las Vegas, NV

The Aria hotel is home to the award winning Chef Masa Takagama’s upscale Japanese restaurant BarMasa. They receive fresh seafood straight from Japan daily. They are slightly more expensive than a typical sushi place, but their unique ingredients make it worth the additional money.

The décor of the restaurant was a unique design. There are interesting lights dangling from the ceiling.

  

I started with the miso soup. It had nice pieces of tofu along with Mitsuba, which is Japanese parsley. Instead of sliced mushrooms like other miso soups, they use Nameko, which are small mushrooms from Japan. I enjoyed these bite size mushrooms. They were moist compared to typical mushrooms that are spongy. The Mitsuba did not add a whole lot of flavor. It reminded me of spinach with its texture. The broth had a light salty taste.

I did not want a fancy sushi roll for dinner. I went with the simple tuna roll with avocado. The outside of the roll was sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds for crunch and a nutty accent. The tuna was amazing. I knew it was going to be super fresh based on the dark pink color of the tuna itself. It was like butter when I took a bite, not just because it melted in my mouth but because it had a creamy texture. The avocado pieces added even more creaminess. This was one of the best tuna rolls I have ever had.

If you are visiting Las Vegas and you want a sushi dinner to tell your friends about then make reservations for BarMasa. Even if you are not into sushi, you can sit at one of their Hibachi tables to enjoy some fresh chicken or beef.

Check out their menu at www.aria.com

Enjoy!

T

Citizens – Las Vegas, NV

When working in Las Vegas during a convention I needed to have a quick lunch. However, I did not want typical fast food. Citizens inside of Mandalay Bay was the perfect solution. It was a quick sit down place that offered a variety of choices.

The inside of the restaurant reminded me of a New York deli. Their menu offers an assortment of soups, salads, sandwiches, and burgers.

  

I went for the chicken cobb salad. It was presented beautifully in the bowl. It was a rainbow of colors.

The chicken they used was fresh and shredded. This was nice because it allowed for chicken to be included in each bite. The other elements to the salad included tomatoes, white cheddar cubes, crumbled hard boiled egg, lots of crunchy bacon, and chopped cucumber for additional crunch. This salad was tremendously filling. I knew it would help me get through the rest of my meetings.

The beauty of Citizens is they are open 24/7. So if you are out in Vegas and get hungry after playing the slots, they can help you out. I took a glance at their breakfast menu and they have some great choices. If you are hungry check them out.

http://citizenslasvegas.com/

Enjoy!

T

 

Lemongrass – Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas has a plethora of things to do for everyone. Some people come to Vegas to check out the different shows. Other folks head to the casinos because they are feeling lucky. I come to Vegas excited to try some new restaurants. Since I have been to Vegas before, I knew that restaurants fill up quickly, therefore I prepared ahead of time and made my reservations before I left home.

The choice I made for my first night was Lemongrass. It is a Thai restaurant that marries authentic dishes with a modern twist.

  

Patrons are greeted by beautiful flowers when they walk up. The flowers were a vibrant pink and the size of the arrangement made a powerful statement.

Throughout the restaurant there were beautiful, delicate orchids.

To start with, the table got the vegetarian spring rolls. They came with a sweet chili sauce. It was a classic spring roll that was crispy outside and had flavorful shredded vegetables on the inside. The sauce was better than a typical sweet and sour sauce. I liked the heat from the chilies in the sauce and since the sauce was sweet, the heat was toned down.

The chicken cashew nut dish was a great choice. There was a ton of tender white meat combined with bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms, onions, baby corn, and of course cashews. The sauce had robust flavor. The chicken was perfect with this sauce. It would not have tasted right with another meat. The baby corn was my favorite part.

I could not visit a Thai restaurant without ordering the Phad Thai. The stir fried rice noodles came with fried tofu, scrambled egg, and a tamarind sauce. I got mine with chicken but shrimp was also an option. On the plate came chopped peanuts and bean sprouts. I added the peanuts to the noodle but left out the bean sprouts. I like it when they are cooked, not raw.

You can pick the heat level that’s right for you. I went with a medium heat. It was only slightly spicy so in retrospect I could have gone a little hotter. I loved this dish. It was not overly salty and was more on the sweet side. Having the tofu in it added some additional texture and soaked up the flavor of the sauce. The noodles were thin and easy to eat. The scrambled egg that was included also added additional texture without adding any flavor.

If you are hungry for great Thai food while in Vegas, check out Lemongrass. They also have a selection of classic Chinese dishes, including Dim Sum. Visit their menu at www.aria.com

Enjoy!

T

 

Kafe Kokopelli – Dade City, FL

One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is have brunch. It is a great way to relax with family and friends plus enjoy some creative foods and cocktails. It was suggested that I try Kafe Kokopelli for brunch. They are located in a building that is over 100 years old. What I learned was the building was originally owned by Ford Motors to see their Model T. I thought it was amazing they were able to restore this location and repurpose it to something for the whole community. They have some pictures of the old building in the wall to keep the history alive.

Now upon looking at the rest of the décor around the restaurant, it feels more like a hunting lodge. There are stuffed bobcats, goats, and boar heads on display.

  

They use antlers to decorate the bar, walls, and lamps. If I didn’t know I was in Florida, I would have thought I was in the mountains.

  

I started off brunch with a mimosa. They make a unique one that combines prosecco, passion fruit vodka, and orange juice. It was a unique flavor that was not that sweet. I could taste more of the passion fruit than the orange juice.

Since I was eating later in the afternoon I was not feeling like any egg dishes. I wanted some more savory dishes. I ordered the almond crusted fried brie as a starter. The brie was lightly breaded for a slight crunch. Drizzled around the plate was fresh honey along with a little honeycomb. The saltiness of the cheese complemented the sweet honey perfectly. There was also a berry compote that came on the side. It was a blend of blackberries and blueberries. They were a blend of sweet and sour. When combined with the cheese the initial taste on my tongue was the sourness but after chewing the sweetness was the star.

By this time I was ready for another drink. I tried their tropical punch. It was a nice blend of rum, banana liquor, orange and pineapple juice, and a splash of grenadine. This drink was really sweet, completely opposite of the mimosa.

Since I was sticking with savory foods, I ordered a cup of the she crab bisque. It had lots of lump crab meat throughout the thick and creamy base. Normally with she crab there is supposed to be some sherry on top. I did not taste that element in my cup. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it. I am glad I only ordered a cup because this bisque was really filling, especially with all the crab meat.

Now at this point the service was kind of slowed down. I am not sure if they were really busy in the kitchen. I am sure this was just because the restaurant was busy.

I was hungry again by the time my meatball arrabiatta came to the table. These were homemade meatballs that came with fresh pasta. The meatballs themselves were moist and spicy. The sauce that it came in was a garlic and pepper flake tomato sauce. This sauce added additional heat to the entire dish. It was extremely enjoyable. The sauce was also light and did not weigh down the pasta. I loved the fresh linguini pasta they used. I could tell it was fresh by the texture, it was doughier.

The food I had at Kafe Kokopelli was amazing. I only tried a few things from their extensive choices. I would definitely go back to try some other dishes. You can read about their history at http://www.kafekokopelli.com/

Enjoy!

T

 

 

 

 

Rock N’ Fish – Manhattan Beach, CA

Well here I am again, writing about Rock N’ Fish for a third time. This is one of the best places I have been to in Manhattan Beach. Even with a third visit I enjoyed some new dishes plus my favorites.

I started with my favorite appetizer – the coconut crusted Mahi sliders. The crunchy Mahi is covered with a mango slaw, avocado, and sweet chili aioli. The Mahi itself was flakey and fell apart as I took a bite. It did not have an overly coconut flavor. The sweetness came from the slaw. The sliders were just as good as the first time I had them. They are very consistent.

This visit I decided to try the fried calamari. It was pretty classic, fried nice and crispy. The calamari was fresh and tender. The breading was a little bland; it did need a little salt. The homemade cocktail sauce had an extra kick of horseradish. It added the needed flavor boost to the calamari.

For my main meal I splurged a little and ordered the twin Maine petite lobster tails. The dish was reasonably priced especially compared to other fish dishes. The lobster was soft, sweet, and tender. It melted in my mouth instantaneously. It was even better once I drizzled some of the melted butter on the meat.

My lobster tails were accompanied by two sides of my choosing. I got the grilled asparagus that had a nice salty taste. I also enjoyed the Brussels sprouts. They were chopped very thin. It was more like a slaw. I felt the Brussels sprouts were slightly more bitter this way.

The table saved room for dessert. I made sure to order my favorite dessert, the sticky toffee pudding. It is a wonderful cake soaked in a butterscotch sauce. Then the outside edges become crunchy. It is sweet but that is toned down when you eat it with the ice cream that come with it.

The second dessert we ordered was the chocolate lava cake. This moist cake had a gooey chocolate ganache center. The cake was extremely rich. It also came with some vanilla ice cream, which helped soften the richness of the cake. This ice cream and cake combo reminded me of an Oreo cookie. If you love chocolate then get this dessert.

So I will continue to recommend visiting Rock N’ Fish if you are in the Manhattan Beach area. They are consistently delicious.

Plus their view is amazing.

Visit their website at http://www.rocknfishrestaurants.com/htm/MB/home.shtml

Enjoy!

T

Fire Restaurant – Winter Haven, FL

Winter haven is a small town in Central Florida. They have a cute little downtown area that is having a restaurant boom. Fire is one of those hot spots.

They are pretty big inside. There is an area where bands play. They have an outside patio area, with a full bar. This is also where you can go with your dog.

  

I was pretty hungry when I arrived because I had worked through lunch that day. I started off with the bacon wrapped scallops with an Asian slaw.

The scallops were large in size and wrapped tightly with crunchy bacon. The scallops were very tender and paired well with the bacon. It was as if the were soul mates with one being salty and the other sweet.

The Asian slaw added so many flavors to the dish. It consisted of cucumber and Mandarin oranges. The cucumbers added a crunchy element and the oranges added sweetness. Then drizzled across all of this were three different sauces: a hot sauce, a cucumber aioli, and a sweet and sour sauce. That may seem like an over use of sauce but they all worked spectacularly together. The hot sauce added heat that was quickly extinguished by the aioli. This was great with the scallops and bacon. The cucumbers and oranges were great tossed with the sweet and sour sauce. This was my favorite part; it was extremely refreshing. I would consider making this at home for a side dish.

I also ordered the fried green beans. I do not see these very often so I was happy to order them. They came with a red pepper dipping sauce. The breading had a subtle salty taste. The green beans were really fresh. I could tell as soon as I took a bite. Fresh green beans have a unique earthy taste to them. This is how I knew these were fresh. The red pepper dipping sauce was not spicy at all, it was slightly sweet and added extra flavor.

I also got some wings. They had a couple of flavor choices; I went with classic Buffalo sauce. I wanted them extra crispy because this is how I prefer my wings. They did come out crispy but they could have stayed a little longer in the fryer. They have nice meaty wings. The sauce had that great tangy kick that I have come to expect from Buffalo sauce.

I really enjoyed everything I ordered at Fire. It was all appetizers however, they do have a full menu with many options. I would want to come back and try one of their burgers, they looked great.

Check out their menu at http://thefirerestaurant.com/

Enjoy!

T