At the end of a six course lunch at Weera Thai — at which we were blown away (and stuffed) by everything …from the beef jerky:

…to the spicy shrimp:

…to the clams:

…to the pad Thai and duck –  chef/owner Peter Weera trotted out the hunk o’ hunk o’ burnin’ beef love pictured at the top of the page.

It’s basically a loosely-formed patty studded with basil, chopped onions and jalapeños, cooked to medium, and then topped with more onions and peppers, pepper jack cheese and fried basil leaves.

It comes on a perfectly plain bun that perfectly to sets off all of that beefy heat.

There is nothing simple about it, but those who love a certain spicy, herbal complexity in their meat will fall in love at first bite, and find themselves agreeing with ELV that it belongs in the pantheon of Vegas’ best protein patties.

In ELV’s world, one of the litmus tests for great food is when something tastes so good, you can’t stop munching even after you are full beyond measure, and not even remotely in the mood for whatever is being offered. This out-of-the-box-burger pressed all of those flavor buttons, and had us munching away in no time.

Best of all, it comes with papaya fries (yes, papaya fries) and only costs $13.

Just thought you’d like to know.

WEERA THAI

3839 West Sahara Ave. Suite 9

Las Vegas, NV 89102

702.727.1515

www.weerathai.com