Chinita Mexican Bar and Grill: Summerlin’s New Meh-xican

In an effort to diversify my reviews, I made sure that this time I wasn’t going to do yet another Asian or Asian Fusion place.  Anyone who keeps one eye on the new openings in town can attest that this is becoming somewhat taxing.  Next week will no doubt be some kind of infused tapas, so don’t get used to this.  Submitted for your approval is one Chinita Mexican Bar and Grill, located in the slowly but surely growing collection of Summerlin restaurants.  As far as sit-down Mexican places, I believe the only real name in the area is that corporate-sterile “Modern Mexican” Cantina Laredo in Tivoli.  Its redeeming quality seems to end at putting something interesting like spinach or pinapple mostly in dishes that deserve it,  maybe avoiding some of the cliches in decor, but not much else.

Fortaleza Flight

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Top Chef Casting Call Tomorrow

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I asked Hunter Braun — casting director for the next season of Top Chef — if casting the show was getting harder now that the show has completed ten seasons. Without missing a beat, he immediately said, “Yes and no, people now have a lot of preconceptions about what we are looking for, or think that losing for some silly reason will hurt them in their jobs or reputations. But basically, we always have been about finding the chefs with the best technical merit and creativity. Personality is important, but we’d rather have someone who is bad ass in the kitchen and not so TV ready, rather that the other way around.”

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Fat Choy: the Skinny On Sheridan Su’s New Digs

"Yum Yum" indeed, sign.

Adherents to Sheridan’s previous venture in the Great Bao food truck and 4-seat salon Bao counter (famously dubbed the Worst Location in Town) may already know about the barely-month-old FAT CHOY.  The man has a following in the throngs of dedicated food lovers, adeptly tuned to the frequency of our town’s unique blend of street food-style eateries.  Here’s the word on Fat Choy: It’s not all Baos (though they have two), it’s in the Eureka Casino (more on that later), and there has been something like a 1000% increase in seating.

The space has some character!

Take heed: there are some hold-overs from the casino diner that inhabited the space before Fat Choy that can bamboozle a less skeptical eater.  The cheesesteak, the buffalo wings, salads, and the breakfast menu (excluding the Kalbi steak and eggs special on the chalk board) are NOT any kind of deconstructed/asian-fusion/re-imagined/[insert buzzword here] version, they are crowd favorites that just need to be there.  The desserts chiller is also mainly items from the casino’s main service, not unique to Fat Choy.  The Eureka casino is definitely a haven for the “regulars” surgically grafted into the slot machines, but honestly I can’t in good conscience (and as a Las Vegas native) complain about them.  Besides, if you want to look at it Machiavelli-style, the means of a small locals casino and a couple of bar food items certainly justifies the ends of Fat Choy.  Besides, there’s a certain novelty to seeing basic hot wings next to menu items like, for example, roasted bone marrow.  A halved beef femur, roasted with just a little bit of salt and pepper, topped with tangy and sweet onion jam and served with grilled sourdough.  Of the few places in town where fans of this buttery rich delicacy can order it, this is easily the easiest way to get your fix.

Maybe Sheridan can do a "Great Bone" food truck.

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