Dear ELV,

As I am preparing to leave this town after 5 years here, I have realized a few things (about our food scene) especially on the Strip…

There is nothing original in this town. Everything is a copycat from another city and it is usually a bad representation of the original. I’m tired of paying the highest prices for food in the United States and getting mediocre food at best. There are awesome restaurants scattered in between the crap. B&B, Joel Robuchon at the Mansion, Monta, Bouchon, Michael Mina, Lotus of Siam, Vintner Grill, Raku, Jaleo, Carnevino, to name a few of my favorites. I know the strip is tourist driven, but the lack of originality and technical skill escapes me. Comme Ça, Sushi Samba, Stack, Olives, Mesa Grill, Emeril’s Fish House, Fix, Lakeside Grill to name a few, are horrible restaurants and if stupid tourists with dumb downed palates weren’t here everyday, they would fail. I take both food and service in account of my reviews of these establishments.

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Dear ELV,

I’m an irregular follower of yours. I’ve seen you on Iron Chef, caught your show on the radio and read some of your stuff here and there. You seem to me to be one of the more accessible and sensible of the food critics out there.

My wife and I ate at Craftsteak last weekend and as much as I like Tom Colicchio on Top Chef and wanted our 400.00 dollar dinner to be the best we’ve ever had, it was terrible.

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ELV note: In a recent Battle of the ELV Steves, Steve #1 offered this pungent critique of ELV’s methodology:

Dear ELV,

(You should) (a)ct like a real critic, stay under the radar, quit accepting comps, and give us real reviews. Jose Andres restaurants in DC are overrated, crap except for the experience at minibar, STK is a corporate conglomerate giving us loud music and the same steakhouse experience as, well, any steakhouse, and Milos, while great, is getting some Greek love because its the only game in town.

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Loyal reader, galloping Egullet gourmand,  favorite foodie friend and curious connoisseur commenter David Ross writes:

Dear ELV,

Why is it so hard for restaurants to make a good Caesar salad?

Signed,

Seriously Seeking Caesar

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ELV note: Occasional commenter rideslowLV recently rode into our restaurant round-table roustabout with this well-reasoned(?) retort:

This shit is getting real gay…. half you bitches talk about the death of French food in Vegas. Go to Andres at the Monte Carlo and taste the BEST french food in Las Vegas. you idiots have no clue. GFX knows what up!!!
But john curtas wont tell you how good that is, because he is not humble enough to just shut the fuck up and enjoy a top notch meal. Pure White Trash.

French cuisine with its NEW SCHOOL twists has just begun. All you bitches talking about club crowds and revenue, you have no clue what a restaurant should pull monthly, budget allowances, etc.

Look at Jet Tila, that fool is kicking ass, sinatra is kicking ass, SW is still in the top 5 steakhouses in Las Vegas.

You guys are all bitches, and seriously if you dine the way you act on this blog, keep your fucking money or throw it into a machine and save the bullshit for the McDonalds drive thru. Your all white trash.

Signed,

Buncha C*NT$

ELV responds:

Eating Las Vegas has one and only one rule regarding censorship of comments made to this site: No witless profanity and no personal attacks on other commenters or individuals mentioned. (Okay, that’s two, but we never could count…that’s why we went to law school.)

Everything else is fair game, including personal attacks/criticisms of ELV –  because we’re a big boy and because a critic needs to be able take as well as dish it out — and because critiquing the critic is half the raison d’etre of this site.

ELV doubts rideslowLV grasps these concepts, as we’re guessing he’s a line cook who thinks he’s hot stuff, regardless of never having traveled east of Vegas or north of Bakersfield.

Regardless, this comment/opinion came close to the line, but we at ELV thought our bitch, gay, white trash readership might appreciate the wealth of insight contained therein.

Bitch-i-ly yours,

ELV

ELV note: The following comes from our Facebook exchange with Eric Gladstone about the whys and wherefores of ALEX’s closing in the Wynn tomorrow night, and what it means for Las Vegas’ dining scene. Consider it a supplement to Gladstone’s article this week in the Las Vegas Weekly about the demise of this short lived (May 2005-January 2011) grande dame.

Dear ELV,

The patron who would best appreciate Restaurant Alex is not the patron Wynn/Encore is looking to attract anymore. Unless he’s bringing his 20-something son or daughter along, with access to the credit card [Speaking of the credit card, they might want to note that—specials aside--.fine dining price points certainly haven’t gone anywhere—Lakeside Grill’s entrées average in the $50 range. Perhaps linen suppliers are the most endangered species in the equation.] It’s hard to recall any example in modern Las Vegas history of a property changing its customer focus so dramatically.

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Chunkyearth 2011 writes:

if cosmo is the catalyst for changing the way Vegas eats, hopefully as well its the catalyst that actually attracts high or equal quality restaurant/food critics.

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Dear Eating Las Vegas,

Let’s see if Mr. Curtas would write the same type of condescending review if he HAD to eat a vegan diet for health reasons. (more…)

ELV note: Eating Las Vegas loves Canadians, and we really love Canadians who are diesel power train specialists who love to eat in Las Vegas as much as we do. Here’s why we love them so much, and why we hope all of you readers will pitch in with some suggestions for Mr. and Mrs. Canadian Cam for their upcoming trip to ‘Frisco.

Dear ELV,

I would like to commend you. (Further ELV note: He loves being commended by Canadians.)

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ELV regrets the libelous language in this letter aimed towards persons not connected to this website. Other than editing out the name of that person, Eating Las Vegas now posts this letter in its unedited entirety — for your delectation and perusal. ELV’s response follows at the end of the ….um….er…correspondence.

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