Author: John Curtas

Letter of the Week – Where Has All The Quality Gone?

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An obvious avid foodie, professional cook and thinker of deep thoughts writes in this week with some cogent observations, cogitations and ruminations about what has happened to our local (and national) food scene. Taken in its entirety, it summarizes much about the state of our restaurants.  ELV’s response will follow after the LOTW:

Dear ELV,

I’m curious what you think about Michael Mina opening all these eateries all over America? What do you think about all these talented chefs from days ago assimilating under his brand? Such as Adam Sobel, Gary LaMorte, Gerald Chin, Dave Varley? I mean the list goes on.

I’m also wondering if the Mina brand has somewhat standardized and factory-o-ized fine dining, upscale dining, gentrified dining? I say all this because I watch some of my friends post pics of the new Giants Stadium location and this Locale Market thing in Florida, and all I see is his consumption houses. I am seeing a crossbreed between culinary and media…. For example at the locale Market place in Florida there was talk about an alligator wrapped in bacon? For me all imagine is upscale dining dumbing itself down to cater to the reality TV obese couch sitters that patriotically support the idea of ‘Murica.

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Eating Crow at DAVID CLAWSON

David Clawson opened the David Clawson Restaurant on October 1, 2014 and I’ve been avoiding it like the plague ever since. The reason for my evasion is simple: I have loathed the Henderson/Anthem area of Clark County with every fiber of my body for twenty years. So unpleasant do I consider the entirety of the Southeast quadrant of our humble burg that I would rather be sentenced to a lifetime of eating Slim Jims and Hostess Twinkies than endure the mind-numbing, soul-killing drive up or down Eastern Avenue to expose my sensibilities to the commercial wasteland it celebrates.

Henderson/Anthem is so generic, pre-fabbed, cynical and craven it makes the Strip look venerable and historic by comparison.

It is a collection of monochromatic developments centered around franchised businesses with nary a place to walk or ride; an amalgam of residences and businesses with all the charm of a Subway sandwich shop. There is no place to walk; there is no place to drive. It is a community without any sense of one,  formed for one and only one reason: to make housing and strip mall developers rich.

Get the point? I hate the place. I only go to  Henderson/Anthem at the point of a gun. (Or to go to Valley Cheese & Wine)

Until now.

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Live By The Strip, Die By The Strip: How It Dooms Our Local Dining Scene

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Our local dining scene is pathetic with Chinatown, non-existent without it. — Former Las Vegas Strip F&B Executive

There are many reasons why the prospect of ever having a viable, neighborhood restaurant scene in Las Vegas stinks more than a pound of overripe Epoisses.

The easiest thing to cite is our complete lack of agriculture. Second on most people’s list would be our primarily blue collar populace — who are more concerned with spending as little on food as possible….in order to wile their days and nights away losing their paychecks at the nearest video poker machine.

Thirdly would be the relentless assault on our real estate by national chains and franchised brands — all of whom pounce on our blank-slate real estate developments like blood-sucking remora on the back of a giant (casino-bred) whale-shark. Their advertising muscle, and the top dollar they pay to park all those CVS drugstores and Domino Pizza franchises, virtually ensure that no mom and pop business will ever appear in a brand new shopping center. The best a locally-owned restaurant can ever hope for is to scout distressed locations in older strip malls and hope they can wrangle a good deal out of a landlord, who, despite experience and evidence to the contrary, will always be convinced that a Jimmy John’s or Subway or Walgreen’s is right around the bend, just waiting to sign a 10+5+5 triple net lease* for the space at twice the price per square foot.

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