Author: John Curtas

Corkage fees – a no no – but not so fast…

A recent post on the new Korean-Japanese restaurant Maru in Summerlin in Vegas Wineaux mentioned that Maru has a $15 corkage fee. You can read that article here.

As reasonable as that fee is, it is illegal.

Or so sayeth the liquor enforcement officers of the City of Las Vegas. According to their strained, tortured, and attenuated reading of State and local liquor licensing laws and regulations, any establishment who charges a corkage fee, or who allows patrons to bring their own bottles into a restaurant, is violating Nevada law (and local ordinances) which mandate that all alcoholic beverages consumed on premises be sold by a licensed purveyor who obtains those beverages from a licensed distributor/wholesaler. The convoluted, nonsensical nature of these statutes and the interpretation of same, put us in mind of the immortal word of Otto von Bismarck: “Anyone who loves the law and sausage should watch neither being made.”

Continue reading “Corkage fees – a no no – but not so fast…”

The Palazzo Restaurants – Part One – on Nevada Public Radio

By now I’m sure you poured over the text of my Palazzo article (posted last week) at least a dozen times (parsing every phrase and mulling every opinion), so hearing me read the thing on Nevada Public Radio may be a bit redundant.

Nevertheless, all semi-literate, word-challenged folks, may click here to hear this week’s Food For Thought, heard weekly on News 88.9 FM KNPR, www.knpr.org.

Restaurant Charlie/Bar Charlie, The Palazzo Hotel and Casino, 3325 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89109, 702.607.6336

Carnevino, The Palazzo Hotel and Casino, 3325 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV, 89109, 702.789.4141

Morel’s French Steakhouse, The Palazzo Hotel and Casino, 3325 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89109, 702.607.6333

Table 10, The Palazzo Shoppes, 3327 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89109, 702.607.6363

KLAS TV Channel 8 (CBS) – Restaurant of the Week – RAKU Japanese Charcoal Grill

RAKU is so good it’s scary. Fresh, pristine, pure Japanese robatayaki cooking like Las Vegas has never seen, and fast becoming a foodie mecca like we’ve never had off the Strip.

Uber-seafood chef Paul Bartolotta told me he’s been twelve (12!) times in two months and still isn’t tired of it.

We (Food Man, #2 Son of Food Man, and The Food Gal) went last night and tried three desserts (after some pickled Bonito guts, beef liver, cold soba noodles et al), and found the melting chocolate cake to be possibly the best in town – ditto the watermelon grantinee (called sorbet on the menu).

Chef/owner Mitsuo Endo told us (through his interpreter – the adorable Risa) that he originally came here to cook in a restaurant in, of all places, Anthem – that bastion of bad taste in Henderson.* Anthem’s loss was the rest of the town’s gain.

And for the first time on TV, watch the world’s greatest restaurant critic** eat a pig’s ear on a morning news show.***

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* As in: houses (ginormous), cars (nothing but SUV’s), traffic (unbearable) and good restaurants (non-existent)

** Self-proclaimed

*** YouTube here I come.