Osso buco means “bone in the hole.” It is Italian slang for a veal shank braised in red wine. Lots of Italian restaurants brag about having “the best osso buco in town,” but none in our humble ‘burg (and yes, over 30 years, we’ve eaten them all) are in the same league as these two.
Fish n Bowl is one of those under-the-radar places that suffers from two major handicaps: a name that failed to pique our interest (when it opened a year ago) and a location that fails to motivate us to drive there.
Fish n Bowl is located in the far southwestern part of town — on Durango near Warm Springs to be specific — and we detest traveling there almost as much as we hate the soul-sucking faux neighborhoods of Summerlin and Green Valley. There’s nothing particularly soulless about the area surrounding it (aside from the fact that all the houses and shopping centers look alike), but getting there is a flat out pain in the ass for anyone who lives in the center of town (as we do).
No matter how you slice it, driving to this part of the valley — whether you take surface streets (30+ traffic lights), or roundabout on the I-215 — is a 12-13 mile slog. And when the wonders of the Strip (or the burgeoning bounty of downtown) is only minutes away, leaving the ELV palatial manse for such aggravation rarely makes much sense.
But duty (and David Leibner) called, so out we trekked this past Saturday….and surprised we were. Because what chef/owner Howard Choi is doing here is so far beyond your same old same old suburb sushi that we were kicking ourselves for not coming here sooner after only a few bites.
Five years ago, Alessandro Stratta saw his twelve year relationship with the Wynn hotels come to an unceremonious end — when his ALEX restaurant was abruptly closed. You can debate all day long what it meant for the Wynncore to replace the finest in fine dining with a bunch of no-talent dj’s and douchebags, but there’s no doubt that gastronomes from around the globe were crushed.