Dear ELV,
As I am preparing to leave this town after 5 years here, I have realized a few things (about our food scene) especially on the Strip…
There is nothing original in this town. Everything is a copycat from another city and it is usually a bad representation of the original. I’m tired of paying the highest prices for food in the United States and getting mediocre food at best. There are awesome restaurants scattered in between the crap. B&B, Joel Robuchon at the Mansion, Monta, Bouchon, Michael Mina, Lotus of Siam, Vintner Grill, Raku, Jaleo, Carnevino, to name a few of my favorites. I know the strip is tourist driven, but the lack of originality and technical skill escapes me. Comme Ça, Sushi Samba, Stack, Olives, Mesa Grill, Emeril’s Fish House, Fix, Lakeside Grill to name a few, are horrible restaurants and if stupid tourists with dumb downed palates weren’t here everyday, they would fail. I take both food and service in account of my reviews of these establishments.
On the service note, as I have said before, union service in this town is the worst. I continue to get the worst service from union workers. They don’t care about you and your dining experience and only look at you as a dollar sign. Shocking from a town that is suppose to be service oriented. It has and always will be dollar driven. The people who live and play here are some of the most materialistic people I have ever seen. It’s all about what you wear, how much your worth, and where you are seen. Thank Los Angeles for that one.
And then there is you, John. I like you. I think your very smart, witty, and a very good food blogger/critic. But you can’t tell me that you don’t get different treatment and food when you walk into a restaurant. People know who you are and that changes everything. From the moment you sit down, managers and chefs are alerted, and the ass kissing begins. The managers make sure service is spot on, the chef is watching and tasting, if not cooking the food for you. It’s not only you but anybody of importance or money. I wonder if you sent in one of your staff or myself under the radar if they would have they same experience. No wonder that outed food critic a few months back was so pissed. I do commend your honesty and ability to tell us to stay away from somewhere.
I’m not expecting everything to be like The French Laundry (Trust me I was there two weeks ago and nothing can touch it) but higher standards need to be applied. I have been in the restaurant business for 12 years now, but I can assure you this is not another pissed off server. Just someone who appreciates the art of food, passion of people, and the joy a dining experience can bring.
Persistently, Peevishly in Pursuit of Perfection,
Vegas Pete
ELV responds:
Dear Persistently Peeved Petey,
ELV shares your pain. It takes only a day in another town like Portland or Atlanta to convince us of the same old, same-i-tude of so many of our eateries.
On the Strip, it’s all about catering to the numbers (read: lowest common denominator) so originality is always being sacrificed on the altar of Aunt Edna’s already low expectations.
Fighting boredom is a constantly battle, and thank god for some of the places you mentioned for bringing forth originality (albeit originality that’s been vetted in another venue) and world-class craftsmanship to our humble burg.
Vegas has been and always will be about making money from the masses, and John Mariani is right when he says: “The restaurants of Las Vegas are so much better than they have to be.” We can only thank our lucky stars that some chefs, hotels and restaurateurs have the talent and the drive to do something extraordinary with food when the pull in a tourist town is always towards the mean…and by that we mean mediocrity.
To your point about unions, ELV doesn’t wish to engage or enrage any side of that debate but he will say this: Invariably, the restaurant managers and owners in unionized hotels complain about the unions, and the ones in non-union hotels complain equally about how all the good employees are across the street in a union shop. We’ve never been able to discern a difference in service levels (in places where we are not known), so we keep our yap shut about that kerfuffle.
And finally, we generally agree with your list of good and not-so-good places above, with one exception: we think you’re being unduly harsh on Comme Ça, but maybe that’s because we’re secretly in love with Kallie.
Sincerely,
ELV
Enjoying your weekend? Thank a union!
Thank a union for doubling the price of your meal!
Huh? is right….baseless, unions do not add a dime to what your meal costs.
Unions do add more than a dime to the cost of the meal. The majority of the cost of the meal is to pay for the employees and the location (rent/lease/whatever), both of which are influenced by unions.
No way around that.
Ah, the culinary union, where bad employees can’t be fired, and good employees will always be paid the same as the bad ones. Restaurant employees in Las Vegas are spoiled. Most wouldn’t make it in the “Real world” aka any other city.
You know, this guy is full of it but be happy, because JC gave you your 15 minutes of fame. that is what you wanted, right?
so your leaving Vegas, and you decide to shit on it on your way out. Typical, and your going to find greener grass on the other side right? Well consider the dumb down palates of tourist, those 40+ million that flock to Vegas surround las vegas in other cities. Cities that also contain over priced non-union food, hack cooks, dirty restaurants, bad service, shitty fucking food and all the shit your bitching about in Las Vegas.
You know, I worked in other foodie cities and I have to say Vegas had its day of leading the industry back in the 03-06 time when every fucking chef wanted to open a restaurant. and if you went to cities like Portland you would see a mimic of what was happening in Vegas, then shit started to change and once again Vegas will rediscover itself as power transfers and so on… its less about the dining scene and more about the dynamics of Vegas.
The strip is what it is and I think its fair to say every restaurant does at least one thing good, and knowing that is about being more of a good “foodie” than a bitch like yourself.
That being said, I think its so fucking gay for people that exit Vegas to flip the bird so hard on the golden spoon that has been feeding your vices, giving you experience and allowing you to shove money under your mattress, thats if you didnt blow it all on tranny hookers. Yeah, I bet you didnt bitch when it was family dinner at your restaurant to feed your ugly face, assuming you worked in the industry. and if you dont work in the industry you really dont know shit.
So back to being a foodie, if you would quit bitching and start exploring a deeper meaning of food and I think JC has done that over the past year, with his attention toward local flavorful eats, the exploitation of China town and various BBQ, lunch truck and other shit. Big flavor for cheap is what a foodie is all about, and if you cant find it, learn to fucking cook!!!!
Eating at the French Laundry, go shove it Paleeze. Vegas is practical, no reason to blow your wad on expensive shit like that or even live in CA where your raped by the republic. Just go to Andres and have just as good food if not better; why? because there is fucking passion there.
So leave this fucking place where nothing is orginal. what I would like to know, what is orginal and where the fuck else you going to find a 24 hour bar in your neighborhood? thats pretty original. and who gives a shit if people are materialistic. Some like fake tit bitches, others like maseratis, some like hemp clothing, some like crack. Materialism expands on all levels of society and culture, so once again go back to where you came from and live in your non materialistic, original and always good food thats never unjust over priced food.
fin-
tranny hookers?
fake tit bitches?
materialistic people?
crack?
sounds like you got “this humble burg” all figured out. You should speak to ELV about writing a guest column.