THREE STARS (***)
ESTABLISHMENT NEIGHBORHOOD HOTEL
Joel Robuchon The Strip MGM Grand
THREE STARS (***)
ESTABLISHMENT NEIGHBORHOOD HOTEL
Joel Robuchon The Strip MGM Grand
Daniel Gonzalez and Antonio Trillo are the two best reasons to go to Nora’s on West Flamingo. Having trained under uber-cocktail maven Gaston Martinez, they can conjure up a cocktail with the best in town. Best of all, those drinks (all made with fresh-squeezed juices and house-made mixes), are bargain priced; only $9 for an array of tasty libations that run the gamut from a Pisco Blast (Barsol pisco, M.B. Peche, yuzu and fresh sour) to a Pilgrim’s Passion (Plymouth gin, Elderflower Liqueur, passion fruit coulis, fresh sour, mint).
We’ve had their Luscious Leopard (Absolut Mandarin, Cruzan Mango tequila, mango coulis, Remy Red) and a Ruby Delight (Absolut Ruby Red, Lychee Liqueur, cilantro and blood red orange juice), but what really whets our whistle is their Spicy Daisy, a blackberry-lime-green-chile-tequila-Absolut Kurrant concoction that flirts with the pain/pleasure principle possibly as perfectly as any potent potable.
ELV isn’t really down with the whole tiki-tiki, Polynesian-pukka thing, perhaps because we read an article years ago by Roy Blount Jr. ridiculing the whole Hawaiian-vacation-thing. (“…and then, we went to a luau..with hula dancers…and they gave us a lei!”)
Yeah, we’ve never had a burning desire to go there and probably never will. Whenever someone suggests an Hawaiian vacation to us or our staff, we always find a reason (and a way) to hightail it to France, Spain, China or Italy. And it’s a good bet we’ll hit Japan before Hawaii, the next time we head west to the Far East.
The way you hit Aloha Specialties is by snaking your way through the smoke and the horrifically -dressed people (many of them from our 50th State), to the second floor of the California Hotel — where you’ll invariably find a line of those folks standing under the “Aloha Specialties” sign. Another sign right inside the place announces “cash only,” so bring a little (you won’t need much), if you want to get a taste of Island living right here in the High Mojave Desert.