[Show as slideshow]

Does anyone but ELV remember Nicky Blair’s? Ole Nicky was quite the SoCal restaurateur — known for catering to the celebs and high-rollers in LaLa land — when he brought his cheesy vibe to Paradise Road in the mid-90’s. For a couple of years the place was hopping with every nouveau riche, Gucci-clad developer, conventioneer and big shot wannabe in town.

(more…)

[Show as slideshow]

The renovations took two months longer than expected, and the wine bar won’t be fully operational for another two weeks, but here is your first look at the new, improved and expanded Lotus of Siam.

It will be, by far, the classiest digs in all of Commercial Center, but Saipin Chutima assures us not a darn thing’s gonna change on the menu…and America’s best German wine list promises to just keep getting better and better.

Expect the wine bar to be packed with industry and non-industry oenophiles from the day it opens.

[Show as slideshow]

Mundo seems to be happening at lunch. Dinner looked reasonably busy too, and we’re guessing management is pleased with its first month of operation (they need to fix the wobbly tables, however).

(more…)

[Show as slideshow]

It’s hard to find, engulfed by the massive, impersonal, forbidding, monolithic and almost-always-empty buildings that surround it, and probably a tad expensive for the (hoped for) clientele. But there’s no doubt that the retro-hip, old-world-meets-new Mundo is a breath of fresh air to the moribund downtown dining scene.

(more…)

[Show as slideshow]

Brasserie Puck might be the most attractive WP location in town. It certainly has the most stunning bar — with cocktails to match (see: Newscasters Gone Wild! below). The menu is typically all over the map — spaghetti with braised veal cheeks sits cheek by jowl with scallops Provencal — but in keeping with Team Wolfgang’s hyper-tuned quality control, there’s nary a clinker in the bunch.

(more…)

This is about as negative as ELV ever gets on the televised airwaves (Channel 8 wants yours truly to recommend restaurants, not bash them). And it’s not that we don’t like OTS, we just wish they were a little less heavy-handed with their recipes.

(more…)

It all started innocently enough with ELV and his staff:

[Show as slideshow]

(more…)

Click here to read our article entitled: “What’s New In Las Vegas” — published today in John Mariani’s Virtual Gourmet.

[Show as slideshow]

No one’s been harder on the tapas at Firefly (both locations) than we at ELV.

But we snuck in last week (unannounced and unrecognized), ordered four small plates, had a few glasses of tempranillo (the first glass was corked, but our server was more than accommodating when we pointed it out to him), and by crackey the vittles were darn tasty!

(more…)