Friday’s ROTW segment on the KLAS TV Morning News features all the great MGM restaurants in the opening (and the specials they run this week for Restaurant Week benefiting ThreeSquare.) From there we segue into a look at Shibuya, ELV’s favorite Japanese restaurant in town. It may not compete with the finely-tuned sushi and sashimi of Urasawa in Los Angeles, or Masa or Kuruma Zushi in New York, but for what it is — a huge restaurant in a huge hotel — the creations turned out by Chef Stephane Chevet and his raw fish brigade are mighty fine indeed. And there’s no better place to expand your sake exposure than among the 130 bottles offered here. Unfortunately, we found out after the segment aired that Ryan Steimer – Shibuya’s sake sommelier — is no longer with the restaurant. ELV regrets not giving Steimer more attention over the past year, but ELV also regrets that most restaurant employees have wanderlust that makes jazz musicians look like these guys.

This month’s DESERT COMPANION magazine hit the shelves Friday. The cover story (by a certain food writer we all know and love) explores the world of bargain-priced, authentic cuisines available all over the Las Vegas Valley. Here is a reprint of the article for those of you who aren’t members of Nevada Public Radio (shame on you), or haven’t yet cruised by Whole Foods for your copy. Click here to see a PDF of the article in its original format (available later this month), or continue reading for a (slightly revised) version of the same text.

Great Food for Less

Over half of our food dollars go to eating out in restaurants, and you may have noticed lately that those dollars aren’t stretching quite as far as they used to. Along with the explosion of top chefs, high-end design, Michelin-starred fabulousness, and world-class food, have come prices that will curdle your cream and curl your hair. So this might be the perfect time to explore the vast array of serious ethnic eats all over the Las Vegas Valley, that deliver serious bang for the buck, and give an educational peek into some of the world’s great ethnic eats.

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Among our myriad of meals this week (L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Buzz BBQ, Yellowtail, Bistro Divino, RM Seafood, Los Molcajetes, Boulud Brasserie, BLT Burger, Marche Bacchus, STRATTA, just to name a few), these four menu items underwhelmed us.

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“Molcajetes” (mol-ka-HEY-tays) are volcanic rock mortars used by Mexican cooks to pound avocados, chiles, tomatillos, tomatoes, and spices into the coarse-grained goodies the cuisine is known for (the pestle is a tejolote.) Los Molcajetes specializes in bringing bubbling cauldrons of these to your table filled with meat, chicken and seafood (or combinations of the three). The incendiary kick from the chile sauce in those vessels tell you you’re in Taco Bell territory no longer. The lime and cilantro-scented salsa is also a winner, as are the marvelous moles and the perfect pulpos (octopus dishes). The intersection of Eastern and Owens Avenues is not exactly a place where most Summerlin socialites wish to tread, but if you have a hankerin’ for the real deal in South of the Border eats, hitch up that Hummer and get over there pronto. Be ready to drink lots of horchata or cervezas though….you’ll need them to quell the heat.

Muchos gracias to The Food Gal and her co-workers at Las Vegas Premium Outlets for finally sending ELV to a neighborhood Mexican restaurant he can recommend, both to the public at large, and his staff.

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LOS MOLCAJETES

1553 N. Eastern Ave.

Las Vegas, NV 89104

702.633.7595

FYI: Restaurant Week begins Monday with over 70 local restaurants participating.

Hunger is not something a restaurant critic faces very often. But it’s a very real concern in our community, even though we live in a city that’s had a 19-year run of unprecedented growth and prosperity. Ten and a half percent – that’s over 210,000 people – live below the poverty line here, and over 39% of our students (that’s over 117,000 kids) qualify for and get reduced priced meals in our public schools.

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ELV POSTS CORRECTION…

This post raised some hackles, so in the interest of the journalistic integrity for which ELV is known, we must report that the MGM-Mirage officially denies that Alain Ducasse is no longer involved with MIX (although his capacity, we have been told, is solely as a “consultant chef”). Sylvain Portay has told us directly that he is still works at and with the restaurant on Ducasse’s behalf, and we have confirmed this. Our sources stand by their information that Ducasse is (or soon will be) no longer associated with the restaurant. ELV regrets whatever errors were made.

ELV questions exactly when and how Ducasse “consults” on anything there. ELV imagines Ducasse’s average “consultation” goes something like this:

(Telephone rings….)

General Manager of MIX: “Hello, MIX Restaurant in THE Hotel in the Mandalay Bay, may we help you?”

Alain Ducasse: “Thees eez Alain Ducasse.”

GM: “Who?”

AD: “My name eez Alain Ducasse, I am zee most famous and acclaimed French Chef in zee world.”

GM: “I’m sorry Mr. Du….CAT…did you say it was…….?”

AD: “DuCASSE…you pathetic piece of rancid Albanian headcheese! I am zee ne plus ultra de la cuisine Francais!! Zee Michelin men bow before me and kiss zee hem of my garment….”

GM: “I’m sorry Mr. DuKane….but I’ve been here three years and we’ve never met. Would you like a reservation or a table with us this evening?”

AD: “No, I would like my check tout suite!”

GM: “Oh, that Alain Ducasse. It’s in the mail.”

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THE ORIGINAL POST:

Alain Ducasse has been bought out of his contract with the China Grill Group and the MGM-Mirage Corp. and will no longer be associated with MIX in the Mandalay Bay. Thus, the world’s most Michelin-starred chef now leaves a town he barely came to in the first place. ELV remembers Ducasse appearing at the opening of MIX six years ago, and for hardly a moment since.* Plans for the restaurant — that received a Michelin star last year — are uncertain.

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Kevin and Carrie Wu’s eateries in the Gold Coast are about the only things that can get us into that hotel. But get us there they do, with not only the best dim sum in town (Ping Pang Pong), but now with Noodle Exchange, his open-kitchen riff on the stuff that Marco Polo made famous.

NE is small — around 65 seats — but even in peak times the made-to-order noodle dishes come out fast and furious, so you won’t wait long. The menu covers most of Asia (excepting Vietnamese pho) with classic renditions of Chinese recipes like Peking Duck, Dan Dan noodles and seafood in lettuce cups, as well as variations on Japanese ramen and even Singapore-inspired noodles. But Asian pasta is only half of the story here. Its hot and sour soup is both (something rarer than you’d think), and The Food Gal was ecstatic over the fresh fruit infused green tea and the superior sorbets that ended the meal.

Prices are amazingly low — the duck is 1/4 what you’d pay on the Strip — and the freshness and snap of the stir-fries, and the treasures within the bento boxes, explains why you’re the only gaijin in the joint.

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NOODLE EXCHANGE

In the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino

4000 W. Flamingo Road

702.367.7111

open 3 p.m. to midnight daily

http://www.goldcoastcasino.com/dining/noodle-exchange

This just in: Carlos Guia, formerly of Commander’s Palace in the Alladin (now Planet Hollywood), and recently Executive Chef of Louis’ and Louis’ Fish Camp at the Town Square Mall on the South Strip, has moved to meatier climes by becoming Chef de Cuisine at the SW Steakhouse in the Wynn. Sean Kahlenberg, formerly Guia’s Number One at Louis’ is now top toque at both of Louis Osteen’s Low Country cooking venues.

Guia is moving from a spot that averaged 50-100 covers a night to one that routinely does 400+. SW’s record is 720 covers in one night (that’s 144 dinners an hour), so Carlos (as talented as he is) had better keep his track shoes on.

He’s toned down the tats to be sure, but this guy obviously is so impressed with himself that he should be permanently enshrined in the HotChickswithDouchebags Hall of Fame. Whether he truly qualifies as a “celebrity chef” is doubtful (his food doesn’t even make the playoffs), but the Rio has staked a lot on his tough-guy–Sopranos-wannabe-chef reputation….so we thought we’d let you bask in his aura one more time. But come on Steve… let’s face it….the Sopranos are soooo 2006 wouldn’t you agree?

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Okay…maybe Peter Varela, the G.M. of VG isn’t exactly Ricardo Montalban (but then again, ELV ain’t no Tyrone Power either), but Nicole — definitely qualifies for our Hot Hostess Watch of the week. Showing true professionalism, she works the front bar/seating area of VG with an untiring smile, grace and skills that would make even Andalusian surstromming served on Peruvian tunnbrod with a heaping side of Sardinian lutefisk taste good.