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.

There’s no better place to start that education than at Settebello (1776 West Horizon Ridge Pkwy. #202, Las Vegas, NV 89012, 702.222.3556, www.settebello.net). Tucked away in an obscure corner at Horizon Ridge and Valley Verde (but soon to be moving to The District II), this sole bastion of Vera Pizza Napoletana (pizza certified as authentic by Italian authorities), has deliciously raised Las Vegas’s pizza IQ and created a standard for excellence that makes it impossible to retreat to lesser pizza. True Italian wood-fired pizza is about the smoky, chewy-yet-crispy dough, and one bite of pizzaiolo Carmine D’Amato’s Margherita or Marinara (or any of his superior, straight-from-Italy toppings) will have you swearing off franchised pies forever.

Another obscure location – in this case tucked into a corner of an overstuffed strip mall in the shadow of the SouthPointe Casino – hides what may be the best hole-in-the-wall barbecue joint in town. Cajun BBQ Shack (9620 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Suite N8, Las Vegas, NV 89123, 702.737.7427, www.cajunbbqshack.com) is a one-man operation, and that man – gentle giant Paul Nwuli – knows a thing or two about succulent brisket, chopped pork and ribs. He also makes his own, thick, rich, sweet and hot barbecue sauces. Order a sandwich or a plate and Nwuli (who hails from West Africa by way of N’awlins), goes to the smoker, gets it, chops it and plates it right in front of you. The atmosphere isn’t much, which is a recommendation unto itself, since the faux Southern digs that seem to be default décor of choice in more expensive places, don’t improve their corporate ‘cue one bit.

If true pancetta pizza and a rack o’ ribs seem a bit rib sticking for you, there is an antidote some miles north and west on Spring Mountain Road that may be the most revolutionary restaurant to open in Vegas in years. Every chef and foodie in town is making a pilgrimage to RAKU (5030 W. Spring Mtn. Rd., Suite 2, 89146, 702.374.9572) these days to feast on the small plate perfections of chef/owner Mitsuo Endo. Robatayaki (grilling) is the rule here, done over expensive Japanese charcoal that subtly perfumes impeccable ingredients ranging from Kobe beef liver to Japanese Hokke fish. Those small plates sometime contain only two or three bites – at 1977 prices – and are a perfect place to expand your repertoire of one of the world’s most healthful cuisines.

Healthful food is also the watchword at Hedary’s (7365 W. Sahara Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89117, 702.873.9041, www.hedarys.com), a Lebanese restaurant that blows away the Middle Eastern food competition. The beneficial effects of tabouli, hummus, baba ganoush, falafel and labineh are well documented, and you won’t find any better examples of those in town than at this modest storefront on West Sahara. The warm, puffy and thin pita bread is addictive and constantly replenished throughout your meal. A small middle-eastern wine list, featuring a number of Lebanese bottles in the $15-30 range, is also a plus, as are house-made sausages and mehshe (meze in Greek) platter that is more vegetarian specialties than two people can eat. It would be a steal at twice the price.

The Samosa Factory (4604 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 6, Las Vegas, NV 89102, 702.258.9196, www.samosafactory.com) does all the standards: fire-engine red tandooris, fluffy naan, onion kulcha, biryanis, curries and kormas, as well or better than any Indian restaurant in Las Vegas. But what sets it apart from the generally generic food of the sub-continent (at least as it’s interpreted by Indian restaurants here) are the superb vegetarian recipes of Rita and Anand Sirivastava’s kitchen. Their koftas (grated vegetable dumplings), stewed okra with onion, turnips with ginger and mustard greens (when available) will make you question what you ever saw in chicken vindaloo. Best of all, the deeply spiced flavors in all of their dishes tell you they are not making flavor compromises just to please the Western palate. And no one leaves here without taking home at least one jar of Rita’s house-made chutneys

If you ever find yourself over in the ironically named “Family” Courts on the northeast side of town, there is but one ethnic gem among all of the low-rent chains and burger zircons. The Lao Thai Kitchen/Lan Xang II (1000 North Nellis Blvd., Suite 1, Las Vegas, NV 89110, 702.453.9188 is easy to miss, situated as it is in the middle of a non-descript strip mall. Once you find the address the $5.99 Thai buffet lunch special sign will be the first thing that gets your attention. Ignore it – the sign and the buffet. Ask for the menu and order pad Thai, red curry catfish, green papaya salad and some sour Issan Thai sausages. Your eyeballs will start sweating, the kindly waitress will smile at you, and you will smile back, because both of you know you’re eating the real thing….at prices that will make it easier to pay your lawyer.

No tour of cheap ethnic eats would be complete without a stop at Las Vegas’s oldest restaurant El Sombrero (807 South Main St., Las Vegas, NV 89101, 702.382.9234). It opened in 1948, and has had Jose Aragon at the stoves since 1955. He will tell you that his cuisine is New Mexican, not Mexican, and his chile verde and chile Colorado – with their deep, fiery flavors – are as reminiscent of Albuquerque as anything you will find in this neck of the woods. Culinary distinctions aside, Aragon’s salsas, burritos, enchiladas and huevos machaca, are made from scratch, not from Sysco – at prices that seem to have been frozen in the We Like Ike era. Authenticity can’t taste any better (or come any cheaper) than that.