[nggallery id=673]
If you’ve ever had a hankerin’ for a properly cooked, spiced, juicy, herb-flecked, chicken souvlaki — and let’s face it who hasn’t? — then you owe it to yourself to hightail it to west Charleston for a taste of what this classic is supposed to taste like — before every cheap, commercial, gyro-parlor in America cheapened it into cardboard poultry oblivion.
Eating Las Vegas rarely publishes press releases — unlike most media in town — and when we do, we tell our readers that’s what we’re doing — unlike most media in town.
But we’re big fans of Darius Allyn (we even knew him when he went by a different name!), and as a congratulatory gesture for him becoming the newest Master Sommelier at Bellagio, we thought we’d show you his top 10 wine venues (with stilted, promotional commentary provided by a public relations person who probably knows next to nothing about wine – other than it’s wet). Amazingly, some of these are not on MGM-Mirage (his employer) properties:
DARIUS ALLYN’S TOP 10 WINE VENUES
1. Craving Spanish wine? Head to Bellagio’s Picasso for a selection of more than 1,500 of the best wines from Spain, as well as classics from the rest of the world. Find out why Picasso has made the annual list of Wine Spectator’s Best Restaurants for Wine Lovers since 2002 and has received their Grand Award from 2003-2005 and again in 2008. (ELV note: no commentary needed. Robert Smith runs one of the nation’s best wine programs and should’ve won a Beard Award by now.)
Continue reading “Darius Allyn’s Wine Crawl. With Commentary.”
Actually, news of both closings is over a week old. It’s just that ELV and his staff have been kinda busy lately, and didn’t post this news immediately upon hearing it.
We suppose all that great Mediterranean food of Paymon’s just didn’t catch on with the downtown crowd…
What happened to Champion Gourmet is anyone’s guess, but we are saddened by the news. It had some of the tastiest soups, dumplings and Taiwanese fare in town at prices that were too good to be true. Maybe that was the problem. (sigh)
Word is that Paymon’s space (the former Tinoco’s space) will continue to operate as a restaurant with the landlord running things. We drove by last night and a new banner above the space read: “Italian Continental Gourmet Restaurant.” The continent being referred to was not specified.
We have bananas that will probably have a longer shelf life.