Category: Zines

Diner Time Machine – PEPPERMILL

ELV note: The following article appears in the current edition of VEGAS magazine, but since we couldn’t find it online, our staff thought you might like to read it in this format.

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Diner Time Machine

by John Curtas

The Peppermill exists within a space-time continuum of its own creation. What has become a time warp anomaly, burst upon Vegas’s restaurant universe on December 26, 1972 — when Richard Nixon was still celebrating his landslide second election, the Vietnam war was dragging on, and neckties were wider than a baby’s bib. On that day, William Paganetti and Nate Carisali opened an offshoot of their Reno “Peppermill Inn” in a free-standing building on Las Vegas Boulevard South, across the street from the Stardust Hotel and Casino. Little did they know they were boldly going where no restaurant has gone before or since.

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101 Crazy-Awesome Desserts in Grub Street

ELV note: The following article appears in today’s Grub Street, and can be accessed in its original form by clicking here. Or you can scroll down to read it and continue to the slideshow on the Grub Street site. Congrats to Comme Ça, Crystal Whitford (Spago) and Theresa Gwizdaloski (RM Seafood) for their recognition. (Their desserts are numbers 55-57 of the slide show.)

Crystal Whitford’s Amaretto Eskimo Pie at Spago

It’s time to think seriously about sweets: When Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and the doldrums of winter (even one this mild) have taken hold, there’s something about dessert that speaks to everyone. And these days, more than ever, pastry is getting the due that it deserves: Food & Wine is launching a search for the country’s best new pastry chef; Top Chef keeps churning out seasons of its pastry-only spinoff; Johnny Iuzzini and Michael Laiskonis were rightfully heralded as stars when they recently departed their respective restaurants; and every other show on TV is about cake wars. We won’t call it a sugar renaissance, because dessert never went away, but pastry is undeniably playing a larger part in the culinary conversation than it ever has before.

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Romantically Speaking, Things Have Changed Around Here

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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.