Category: Food

CARNEGIE’S Crazy Good Pastrami and Plastic Slaw

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We at ELV know from good pastrami. We’ve been chowing down on it since we were knee high to a yarmulke.

Think of pastrami as corned beef with a higher education. We heart corned beef, of course, but once you coat it with pepper and then smoke it, something other-worldly happens — it turns into the best sandwich meat on the planet.

As we’ve said before, the best corned beef in America is at Langer’s in L.A.. It’s so peppery and smoky and rich-yet-non-fatty that we never go to SoCal without stopping by (despite its sketchy neighborhood) for a pound or two to bring back to the high desert for later consumption.

When cravings hit closer to home, only the Carnegie Deli in the Mirage comes close to crafting a conspicuously covet-worthy creation.

Carnegie’s pastrami is not done on premises. In fact, almost none of its food is made anywhere close to Las Vegas. Most of its products are made in its commissary in New Jersey and shipped here….including a superb cheesecake and various other items New York fressers have come to know and love.

But that doesn’t stop them from being real good. The swiss cheese is strong and nutty, the bread invariably soft and fresh, and the cole slaw sweet and tangy…even if an occasional unwarranted visitor pops up in the mix.

Forgivable? We think so. Especially since we harbor no illusions that this food stuff came from anywhere but a plastic bag.

And the taste of that pastrami can cure a lot of sins…

Our lunch for three that was enough for five came to $56.

CARNEGIE DELI

In the Mirage Hotel and Casino

3400 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109-8923

702.791.7111

Eat This Now – Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad at SAGE

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Everyone who knows ELV knows he hates beets.

Because they taste like dirt.

Unless they’re pickled.

In which case they taste like pickled dirt.

Another reason we hate beets is because they’re actually quite pretty and look like they might actually taste a lot better than they do.

So beets both lie to you and taste nasty…in other words, they’re a double whammy of awfulness. Sort of the American Idol and Jersey Shore of edible eats.

But chefs love beets.

And they really love beets this time of year.

They love them because they are cheap and plentiful.

And they’re cheap and plentiful because they taste like dirt.

But you know what? Being a critic and all, we feel a certain moral obligation to constantly try whatever hideous beet concoction chefs are throwing at us. As a result, we order beets all the time. Even though we hate them.

And it was by following this moral obligation that we encountered Shawn McClain’s very beet-y but beauteous salad at SAGE some time ago.

And we actually like it.

Sort of.

Just thought you’d like to know.

One Cool Cake for One Cool Dude

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Jackie Gaughan, Downtown Vegas Icon, celebrated his 90th birthday on October 24th, but ELV’s staff has been so busy with its usual sybaritic pursuits that we forgot to officially wish him a happy one….and post these snaps of one über-cool cake (made by the Luxor pastry chefs as a tribute to him and his operation of the El Cortez hotel since 1963).

Some fun facts about the El Cortez:

> It is the only hotel and casino in Vegas never to have changed its facade (as in: get a facelift).

> It had 59 rooms when it opened.

> When it opened in 1941, it was considered to be too far out of town to be profitable.

> The hotel’s signage is also original.

> Between the months of October and May, it has the best Florida stone crabs in town…at the best price. (Fridays and Saturdays only)

El Cortez
Address 600 East Fremont Street
Las Vegas, Nevada 89101
Opening date 1941
Theme Ranch
No. of rooms 364
Total gaming space 45,300 sq ft (4,210 m2)
Casino type Land-Based
Owner Jackie Gaughan
Previous names none
Years renovated 1963, 1980, 2006, 2008
Website www.elcortezh

One über-cool cake befits one über-cool dude…so Jackie, these two are for YOU!