Category: Reviews

Authentic (and cheap) Ethnic Eats

This month’s DESERT COMPANION magazine hit the shelves Friday. The cover story (by a certain food writer we all know and love) explores the world of bargain-priced, authentic cuisines available all over the Las Vegas Valley. Here is a reprint of the article for those of you who aren’t members of Nevada Public Radio (shame on you), or haven’t yet cruised by Whole Foods for your copy. Click here to see a PDF of the article in its original format (available later this month), or continue reading for a (slightly revised) version of the same text.

Great Food for Less

Over half of our food dollars go to eating out in restaurants, and you may have noticed lately that those dollars aren’t stretching quite as far as they used to. Along with the explosion of top chefs, high-end design, Michelin-starred fabulousness, and world-class food, have come prices that will curdle your cream and curl your hair. So this might be the perfect time to explore the vast array of serious ethnic eats all over the Las Vegas Valley, that deliver serious bang for the buck, and give an educational peek into some of the world’s great ethnic eats.

Continue reading “Authentic (and cheap) Ethnic Eats”

LOS MOLCAJETES

“Molcajetes” (mol-ka-HEY-tays) are volcanic rock mortars used by Mexican cooks to pound avocados, chiles, tomatillos, tomatoes, and spices into the coarse-grained goodies the cuisine is known for (the pestle is a tejolote.) Los Molcajetes specializes in bringing bubbling cauldrons of these to your table filled with meat, chicken and seafood (or combinations of the three). The incendiary kick from the chile sauce in those vessels tell you you’re in Taco Bell territory no longer. The lime and cilantro-scented salsa is also a winner, as are the marvelous moles and the perfect pulpos (octopus dishes). The intersection of Eastern and Owens Avenues is not exactly a place where most Summerlin socialites wish to tread, but if you have a hankerin’ for the real deal in South of the Border eats, hitch up that Hummer and get over there pronto. Be ready to drink lots of horchata or cervezas though….you’ll need them to quell the heat.

Muchos gracias to The Food Gal and her co-workers at Las Vegas Premium Outlets for finally sending ELV to a neighborhood Mexican restaurant he can recommend, both to the public at large, and his staff.

LOS MOLCAJETES

1553 N. Eastern Ave.

Las Vegas, NV 89104

702.633.7595

NOODLE EXCHANGE

Kevin and Carrie Wu’s eateries in the Gold Coast are about the only things that can get us into that hotel. But get us there they do, with not only the best dim sum in town (Ping Pang Pong), but now with Noodle Exchange, his open-kitchen riff on the stuff that Marco Polo made famous.

NE is small — around 65 seats — but even in peak times the made-to-order noodle dishes come out fast and furious, so you won’t wait long. The menu covers most of Asia (excepting Vietnamese pho) with classic renditions of Chinese recipes like Peking Duck, Dan Dan noodles and seafood in lettuce cups, as well as variations on Japanese ramen and even Singapore-inspired noodles. But Asian pasta is only half of the story here. Its hot and sour soup is both (something rarer than you’d think), and The Food Gal was ecstatic over the fresh fruit infused green tea and the superior sorbets that ended the meal.

Prices are amazingly low — the duck is 1/4 what you’d pay on the Strip — and the freshness and snap of the stir-fries, and the treasures within the bento boxes, explains why you’re the only gaijin in the joint.

NOODLE EXCHANGE

In the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino

4000 W. Flamingo Road

702.367.7111

open 3 p.m. to midnight daily

http://www.goldcoastcasino.com/dining/noodle-exchange