This morning we listed our Top 5 Spring Mountain Road Japanese restaurants on Channel 3. As usual, you’ll have to advance to the 35:08 minute mark to see how everybody’s turning Japanese these days — by eating some of the tastiest, prettiest, healthiest and most reasonably-priced food in town.
Here are the featured five, and a big domo arigato to chef/owners Kiichi Okabe (Cafe de Japon) and Kengo Nakamura (Nakamura-Ya) for supplying us with the gorgeous and tasty props for our segement. Kanpai!
ELV note: As usual, you’ll have to scroll through to the 34:20 minute mark to see us marveling over a molcajete this morning with Kim Wagner. Buen provecho!
For those not wanting to behold our well-fed visage, our top 5 Mexican restaurants are….
Los Molcajetes
Los Antojos (soon to be featured in Saveur magazine)
Honorable Mention: Tacos El Gordo (but the ordering process is just too confusing for most gringos, so we didn’t give it a shout out on Channel 3).
ELV stumbled across an old issue of Las Vegas Life magazine last week — the February 1999 issue to be precise — and looked up an old article of his about the “Most Romantic Restaurants” in town for Valentine’s Day. Thirteen years ago, his top 10 spots for romantic dining were:
1) Suzette’s (In the Santa Fe Hotel – yes, this was our #1 romantic restaurants…yikes!)
2) Palace Court (In Caesars — still missed)
3) Top of the World (still spectacular)
4) Monte Carlo Room (the gourmet room in the Desert Inn)
5) Prime (which remains one of the most gorgeous restaurants anywhere – see above)
6) Aristocrat (anyone remember it?)
7) Ferraro’s (pink neon and all)
8) Terraza (Caesars – where Rao’s now sits)
9) Stefano’s (singing waiters and all)
10) Le Cirque (which shows we had some good taste and sense even then)
If you saw us on Wake Up with the Wagners last Friday, you saw our list of most romantic, price is no object places today now includes:
– miX
– Eiffel Tower Restaurant
– Twist by Pierre Gagnaire
– Picasso
– Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare
– Le Cirque
– Prime
– Sage
A list that has, on the whole, much better food and nary a sliver of pink neon in sight.