Category: Events

Guy Fieri At UNLV’s Chef-Artist Series

This year’s event featured one of UNLV’s own — Food Network Star Guy Fieri — who returned to host and showcase the efforts of numerous UNLV Hotel School students as they strutted their stuff to an appreciative crowd of Las Vegas’s finest and foodiest movers and shakers.

The point of this yearly soiree — introduced and overseen by UNLV professor Dr. Pat Moreo — is to teach and display what our University’s finest have learned about the “art” of fine food and service.

All of this took place a month ago, but it happened in the midst of the Best Food Week Ever for Las Vegas, so ELV’s staff is just now getting around to posting the snaps. As you’ll see from the pics, the event was top drawer, thanks in no small part to Fieri — who was a good sport as he spent the day working with chefs and servers alike; helping everything to gel — just like his hair.

 

Two Lunches – MIMMO FERRARO’S and MESA GRILL

Sometimes you’re just in the mood for something basic and uncomplicated, wouldn’t you agree? No fancy plate stylings or exotic garnishes, just a bowl of good old spaghetti and clams (aka pasta alle vongole),

and boy can Mimmo Ferraro’s fill that bill. This may be the best version of this Italian-American classic we’ve had since we visited Umberto’s Clam House in NYC’s Little Italy years ago, to see where Crazy Joey Gallo bought the farm.

As we were double-booked for lunch (a common occurrence for ELV), we then hightailed in to Caesars to Mesa Grill to chow down on a Bobby Flay Cuban burger — that was tastier than anything we’ve had there in a long time. Equally surprising: good grilled mahi-mahi tacos, a quesadilla more agressively spiced than we remember the food being here, and a cornbread pudding dessert that had three grown men fighting for the last bite.

To hear how tough I’ve been on Mesa Grill in the past, click here. And to read Frank Bruni’s review in the NYTimes (echoing my thoughts of three years earlier), click here.

To hear a past review of Ferraro’s, click here.

Ferraro’s Italian Restaurant

5900 West Flamingo Rd.

Las Vegas, NV 89103

702.364.5300

Mesa Grill

In Caesars Palace

3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

877.346.4642

www.mesagrill.com/lasvegas/

James Beard Foundation Gala – Best Food Week Ever – (Conclusion)

The good photos are by Erik Kabnik, the rest are by Eating Las Vegas.

As you can see from the pics, Las Vegas’s Best Food Week Ever culminated with an auction to benefit the JBF. Unfortunately for auctioneer you-know-who (along with his plucky sidekick Alan (The Hitman) Richman), there weren’t enough high-rollers in the crowd to make  things more beneficial for the Foundation. There were some punters (like Au Bon Climat’s Jim Clendenen — whose bids and contributions were greatly appreciated), but most just sat on their hands, despite ELV’s vociferous entreaties…And we’re not saying the crowd was cheap but:

>  After shaking ELV’s hand, most of them counted their fingers;

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