Two Lunches – MIMMO FERRARO’S and MESA GRILL

Sometimes you’re just in the mood for something basic and uncomplicated, wouldn’t you agree? No fancy plate stylings or exotic garnishes, just a bowl of good old spaghetti and clams (aka pasta alle vongole),

and boy can Mimmo Ferraro’s fill that bill. This may be the best version of this Italian-American classic we’ve had since we visited Umberto’s Clam House in NYC’s Little Italy years ago, to see where Crazy Joey Gallo bought the farm.

As we were double-booked for lunch (a common occurrence for ELV), we then hightailed in to Caesars to Mesa Grill to chow down on a Bobby Flay Cuban burger — that was tastier than anything we’ve had there in a long time. Equally surprising: good grilled mahi-mahi tacos, a quesadilla more agressively spiced than we remember the food being here, and a cornbread pudding dessert that had three grown men fighting for the last bite.

To hear how tough I’ve been on Mesa Grill in the past, click here. And to read Frank Bruni’s review in the NYTimes (echoing my thoughts of three years earlier), click here.

To hear a past review of Ferraro’s, click here.

Ferraro’s Italian Restaurant

5900 West Flamingo Rd.

Las Vegas, NV 89103

702.364.5300

Mesa Grill

In Caesars Palace

3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Las Vegas, NV 89109

877.346.4642

www.mesagrill.com/lasvegas/

Desert Companion (‘zine) – Best Cheap Eats

If you shopped at Whole Foods in the past two months, and let’s face it who hasn’t?, you probably grabbed a Desert Companion magazine as you were leaving. Behind the hot chile pepper cover was an article by you-know-who, on where to find some of our town’s best ethnic (and inexpensive) eats. Here is the PDF of that article for your perusing pleasure.

FYI: You may be hearing big things about RAKU in the coming months…..the national food press has taken notice of our little Japanese gem (thanks to someone who needs no introduction), and universal recognition of its excellence may soon be forthcoming.

Letter Of The Week

Readers of ELV: The following letter was sent to KNPR – Nevada Public Radio by a listener. Eating Las Vegas thought you might be interested in its contents and our response.

Dear Editor,

I recently read “My almost dinner with Andre”, column, posted at www.eatinglv.com by John Curtas, KNPR’s “Food Critic”.

In it, John Curtas brags about spending $19,000 a year in restaurant tabs.
Let’s look at this figure and break it down some.
– 20% of this amount consists of gratuities, leaving $15,833 in gross
restaurant tab
– 7.75% of this is tax, leaving $14,694 in net restaurant tab
– Divided by 12 months, this makes it $1,224 per month in restaurant tab or, per week, $282.57.

$287.57! That’s just what one expects to spend on an average check for
food and wine, for two people, at the great majority of fine restaurants in town (The kind Mr. Curtas promotes on his website).

One could conclude that Mr. Curtas either eats out only once a week,
hardly the hallmark of any serious food critic’s research standards, or, eats “freebies”
the rest of the days and thus, looses the objectivity required and expected of a true crtic. Which is it?

John Curtas, a Bona Fide Food Critic? Where is Ruth Reichl, I ask? Enough said.

Chris Mullis
KNPR Listener
Las Vegas

Dear Mr. Mullis,

Your arithmetic is correct but your methodology is wrong. Continue reading “Letter Of The Week”