Tell me what you eat and I shall tell you what you are. — Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin – French gastronome, author and lawyer(?!)
Every famous food town is identified with certain raw materials or recipes. San Francisco has its Dungeness crab; Seattle its oysters and salmon. Chicago-style deep-dish pizza (something we loathe), and Baltimore crab cakes (something we love – especially from Faidley’s) are part of everyone’s vocabulary. And who hasn’t heard of the Cajun/Creole delights of New Orleans? Even that bastion of culinary excellence(?) known as Denver has its Rocky Mountain oysters, for gosh sakes. Unfortunately, all we have ever been known for in Vegas is The Buffet, which is, no matter how fancy they make them, more of a culinary joke than something to be proud of. With a heritage like that, it is ironic that now we’ve achieved worldwide gastronomic fame for something exactly the opposite of cheap eats, and lots of it. For if there’s one thing Vegas is now known for, it’s the $300 dinner for two.
Will we ever have decent, locally-owned eateries in the neighborhoods that don’t cost an arm and a leg? Well, here’s some history, and some hope.