Looking for some great last minute takeout for this Sunday — to munch on during that football game you might have heard something about?

Then you can’t beat one of Chris Herrin’s magnificent muffalettas (and macarons) from Bread & Butter…

…or some good ‘cue from Memphis Championship Barbecue…

…or a New York-sized pie from Anthony & Mario’s Broadway Pizzeria (within a stone’s throw of ELV’s humble abode)…

…or a sack of cheeseburgers and a Chili Mac from Steak ‘n Shake (In Sight It Must Be Right).

As usual, you’ll have to scroll down to the 36:18 mark to watch ELV stuffing his pie hole, and listen to him expound on our town’s best sandwich in the cheesy, meaty, spicy, overstuffed tones for which he is known!

Lobster bisque

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Intensity in a cup

No one loves to bag on bad Italian like ELV.

For twenty years we’ve maintained that you can throw anything on a noodle, smother it with cheap tomato sauce and cheese, and the world (or Americans at least) will beat a path to your door.

With a few exceptions, we avoid neighborhood Italian restaurants like Demi Moore does sobriety tests.

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The definitive ham and cheese sandwich

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ELV’s love of all things croque is well documented. Whether it’s monsieur, madame, gagnet or novégien, this ultimate ham and cheese sandwich is our preferred way to start the day…although we draw the line at croque bolognese or a Croque McDo.

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Grilled pizza

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Sometimes, nothing fancy will do.

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ELV note: Click here to read this article in its original format, or scroll below to see what Brock, Jim and ELV thought were their top bites of 2011.

On the plate, it was a very good year. In revisiting their best bites of 2011, the Weekly food critics will get you salivating for 2012.

John Curtas

1. Oxtail Bucatini with Oxtail Sauce (Le Cirque, at Bellagio) This Gregory Pugin dish looks like a plain, savory custard but unspools to reveal bucatini strands hiding insanely rich braised oxtail. It’s a meat dish made by angels with a devilish calorie count, and it might be the biggest umami bomb of the year.

2. Roasted Sea Bass over Arugula (Due Forni, 3555 S. Town Center Dr.) Take a talented Italian chef (Carlos Buscaglia) and give him an 800 degree oven and a juicy piece of branzino—in a minute or two he can turn out a crispy, succulent seafood wonder, atop a bed of tangy arugula sprinkled with capers. The best off-Strip seafood dish I had this year.

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Yes, another dry-aged strip sirloin…this time aged for four months and paired with a filet given the same treatment.

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ELV loves public relations people.

He loves it when they beg him for free publicity about their chefs and restaurants, and loves it even more when they “forget” to tell him when key chefs and personnel quit or are fired from their posts.

Such as former Sommelier of the Year Willi Sherer and the mega-talented Megan Romano – who were both shown the door at Mandalay Bay over a month ago. This in the same month she was named Pastry Chef of the Year by a local ‘zine (and after twelve years with the restaurant).

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December is turning out to be a busy food month in our depressed city. Dom DeMarco’s has only been open a week and is going great guns. (There was a 40 min. wait for tables on Sunday night.) New York’s Old Homestead is slated to open in Caesars on December 23rd (and bringing the original steer sculpture from 9th Avenue and Pat La Frieda’s beef with it), and Public House follows a few days later in the old David Burke space along restaurant row in the Venetian.

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Gorgeous

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One of the great things about Las Vegas — hell, just about the only great thing about Vegas these days besides the weather — is how our world wide fame makes it a magnet for talented, successful people, especially in certain creative crafts. Once people have made it in popular music, comedy, film, television, and yes, food, they inevitably end up in our back yard — if only for brief visits, but regular visits just the same. Few other American cities can boast of having Jerry Seinfeld or Jay-Z dropping by all the time, but we pretty much take it for granted that such high-wattage luminaries will be hanging out in our hotels on any given weekend. (Because, let’s face it, this is where the money is.)

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