Food of Las Vegas!

I had an extensive list of places I researched or heard I must eat at while in Las Vegas. I only got through a small fraction of the 34 options. But here’s the details of the good, the bad, and the ugly of my food in Vegas for two days.

ELLIS ISLAND

Surprisingly one of the only 24-hour diners in Vegas, Ellis Island was the first place we grabbed a very late-night dinner. (Around 1:30 am) No, we weren’t partying, we just got there late due to car troubles.

Ellis Island was one of my top “must-try” restaurants due to their $8 steak deal. Without a casino player’s card, (you can get even better deals with one)
I got a 12 oz. New York Strip, two eggs, potato hash, and toast. The steak was cooked a perfectly medium-rare, though it was not well seasoned at all. So, not  much flavor. The eggs were cooked perfectly. The potatoes were your regular frozen squares, fried up. The toast was standard. Overall, that was a great deal! I couldn’t finish but about half of the hash and toast.
*No worries, a well-dressed, middle-aged white man sitting next to us collected my leftovers after we left the table and ate them at his own table, as he did everyone’s leftovers. Vegas….

Drew decided on the $9 reuben with a side of coleslaw. While it didn’t look nearly as good as it tasted, it was amazing! I ate a few bites because I couldn’t help myself. It was drippingly juicy, very flavorful, just perfect! The slaw was terribly bland.

MONTA NOODLE HOUSE

For lunch the next day, we took a lyft to Chinatown to try Monta Noodle House, suggested by a friend and highly supported by great online reviews.

I got a huge $8 bowl of Kuro Ramen Black Garlic Oil. With pork broth, actual pieces of pork, roasted garlic flavor mushrooms, scallions, soft boiled egg (for a $1.50 extra) this was delicious! There were so many noodles, I couldn’t finish, but I slurped all the broth up. If you like garlic, this is the one to try! There is also a heavy mushroom flavor. The pork is very tender, but not plentiful.

Drew got the spicy tonkotsu ramen for $8, which was made with the same pork that was in mine, pork broth, the same veggies as mine, and a spicy chili sauce. It was tasty as well, but the spice seemed to take over. I couldn’t get much pork or mushroom flavor. Drew was able to finish his off! And we did swap bowls a couple times to get a different flavor. A bowl that big can get very spicy when you don’t break it up with something else.

This place was super fast as well. We got there at opening time, there was already a line out of the door and we had to wait for the first set of patrons to finish their meals. (There is very limited seating). But we were seated, ordered and fed within about 40 minutes. They don’t piddle around here.

 

MILK BAR

One of my favorite food shows is definitely Ugly Delicious on Netflix. The chef and restaurant owner, Davis Chang, hosts this travel show about food. So, I had to try some of his food while in Vegas! Unfortunately, his restaurant here, Momofuku, was a little too expensive for my taste. However, the baker he had in Momofoku that made the desserts there crazy famous, Christina Tosi, has opened Milk Bar right next door. This is a dairy-focused dessert stop (no where to sit) inside of the Cosmopolitan.

The most popular item from this place is the funfetti cake. At $14 a slice (though this is a HUGE slice) I decided to splurge and go for it.
It was VERY similar to the boxed, make-at-home version. The icing was a little denser than the stuff you buy at the store, but it all was an all-too familiar overly sweet piece of cake. It was disappointing to me. Drew loved it, though. However, I hardly ever feed him cake.

And if that wasn’t enough disappointment for our trip to Milk Bar, I got a small serving of “cereal milk” soft serve for $6. The cereal milk is made with corn flakes. CORN FLAKES. As if she said “let’s use the least flavorful cereal when making our cereal milk. Let’s use corn flakes!” This made the ice cream taste like straight whole milk. I hated it. I took one bite and was done. Drew was very disappointed as well, we threw most of it away.

THE WICKED SPOON

The last time we came to Vegas, we had the buffet experience of a lifetime eating at The Buffet in the Bellagio. The best parts were perfect steak tartare and the largest Alaskan King Crab legs you’ve ever seen, already sliced open for you with a saw. You can’t beat pulling a foot of super thick crab leg meet right out of the shell.
Anyway, this buffet was rated lower online than The Wicked Spoon, so I wanted to give this one a shot. They also have Alaskan King Crab, plus bone marrow!!!!

We were starving this day, not having much to eat in preparation for this buffet, so we got there about 2:45. There was a line, but the wait was only 20 minutes. The cool thing about this, though, was since dinner didn’t start until 3:00, they charged us the lunch price ($28) instead of the dinner price ($36) even though by the time we got seated, it was after 3:00. Nice!

Now to the buffet. It was smaller than I imagined, much fewer choices than The Buffet at the Bellagio. The crab was much smaller and not already cracked open. There was plenty of bone marrow and crostini to spread it on. And the plating of a couple dishes was cute, like the fried chicken wings and the shrimp and grits.

As for flavor- besides the bone marrow- everything was very disappointing. The chicken wings had no seasoning and were very overcooked. The crab was fine, but a  lot of work. Most items were under-seasoned or overcooked, especially their meats. I got a small slice of completely inedible sirloin.

This was not the only plate I got before dessert, but the other plates consisted of mostly bone marrow, which was perfect. I ate way too much of that!

The desserts were cute and tastier than their savory dinner options. They also had a gelato stand that was delicious. The bread pudding was probably my favorite, followed closely by the macarons. Other than that, nothing was really worth eating.

Overall, stay away from The Wicked Spoon and go to The Buffet at the Bellagio.

That’s it for Vegas! Overall, I’d say stick to places in Chinatown- everyone said that has the best, most affordable food, no matter where you choose to eat there.

Food Review: Pho Vietnam in Fort Smith Has a Banh Mi for the Win!!!

Coming home from a long vacation out West, where not even one banh mi could be found, I was determined to get one before the vacation was over. Fort Smith happens to have plenty of different Asian restaurants to choose from. So, based on online reviews, I chose to try Pho Vietnam. While it wasn’t perfect, their banh mi was!

 

ENVIRONMENT

Set in an old gas station, this place is no 5 Star restaurant.
The outside reflected exactly what we would see on the inside.
With plenty of tables came plenty of unorganized junk lying around. To be fair, they only have one big open room with the kitchen having its own tiny space. So, all those extra chairs, dishes, glasses,  toaster ovens and nautical decor has to go somewhere, right?
But I never judge a book by its cover- some of the best food I’ve had have been in holes-in-a-wall.

 

MENU

The menu is lengthy!  (Too lengthy to post photos of each page)
Full of Thai teas and smoothies, egg rolls, spring rolls, chow mein options, lo mein options, banh mi options, rice dishes, noodle dishes, fried rice options, vermicelli bowls, pho options, and many “Vietnamese Specialties” including rice flour crepes.

 

FOOD

Tea- Free

Immediately upon sitting, we were given menus and complimentary hot tea!
You know I’m a sucker for freebies, but this tea was very delicious! It needed no sweeteners with its almost floral flavor.

Saigon Spring Rolls- $7.95

Ok, these were NOT the Saigon spring rolls, which should have jicama, carrots, lettuce, basil, sausage, eggs, shrimp, and peanuts.
Rather, we were given the regular rolls. I knew by looking at them they were wrong, but gave them one bite to see if they could be enjoyed anyway.
They couldn’t. These were honestly the worst, driest, blandest spring rolls I’ve ever tasted. I sent them back and was told the Saigon ones were not available. I wish I was told that when I ordered them?
*These were taken off our ticket with no issues.

Saigon Beef Salad- $7.95

How do I judge a new restaurant? By its beef salad and banh mis. This beef salad was cheap and beautiful. The beef was flavorful and cooked just right. The rest was extremely bland. It didn’t have the same “zing” in the dressing as I am used to in a Thai beef salad. Clearly, Thai and Vietnamese dressings are not the same.

Banh Mis- $3.95

We tried two different kinds, the Barbeque Pork and the Paris Style.
The Paris Style had eggs with “sausage” and lettuce, plus all the normal additions- pickled veggies, jalapeños, cilantro. However, the large amount of onion was something I’d never experienced on a banh mi before. It was very tasty and different than any banh mi I had tried before. The egg was a nice texture addition and the “sausage” was just bacon. Though it still had the sweetness and spiciness and vinegar flavors you typically get in a banh mi.

However, the star of the show was the BBQ pork. In the perfectly soft, yet toasty bread (ok, the other banh mi had perfect bread, too) there was a ton of ridiculously juicy, flavorful pork. Juices were not dripping, but spilling out of this sandwich. Yes, it was messy, but it was to die for. And $4!!!! And it was anything but small. This is officially my favorite banh mi!

Mystery Dessert- Free

After our meal was done, we were brought small bowls of….well, I’m not so sure. Banana tapioca pudding with peanuts? I am not a huge fan of tapioca. However, this warm pudding was delicious! There was a great banana flavor without the texture of banana. I gobbled it up!

 

OVERALL

I would eat here again just for the free tea and dessert. Otherwise, I’ll be getting banh mis (many bbq pork ones) to go. These are life.
***This restaurant is CASH ONLY.