Tag: Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino

EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50 Essential Restaurants – 34. RAO’S

34. RAO’S

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ELV note: Rao’s hasn’t changed its menu since Ronald Reagan was President. So why is it “Essential?” Because, 1) the iconic, original one in NYC is impossible to get into; 2) the food is identical at both; 3) that food is about as righteous a rendition of Italian-American food as you’ll find in these here United States; and finally, because 4) ELV (the man, the myth, the deplore-r of all things low-class and Italian…as in “yo-Rocky!” Jersey Shore, low-class-Italian) has never had a bad meal or a bad bite in the joint. (And we’ve eaten here at least a dozen times since it opened.) That’s why the review below —  and Top 50 status — still stands.

“Red and dead” describes the vast majority of Italian-American restaurants with their cookie-cutter menus and uninspired cooking, but few Americans seem to demand or expect much from their chicken Marsala or pasta Bolognese.

Lucky for the rest of us, Rao’s is the exception to all this mendacious mediocrity. Continue reading “EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50 Essential Restaurants – 34. RAO’S”

EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50 Essential Restaurants – Number Two

2. RESTAURANT GUY SAVOY
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ELV note: The only reason Joël Robuchon is Number One on our Top 50 list and Guy Savoy Number two is because the food is slightly more over-the-top at JR. Basically though, on any given night, it’s a toss-up. Around the ELV manse, we like to say that JR is more like a temple of fine dining, while GS is more of a cathedral. (And if you can make out a difference between the two, you’re smarter than we are.)

In an Atlantic Monthly article entitled “Six Rules for Dining Out,” economist Tyler Cowen counseled avoiding any restaurant where “groups of people (especially beautiful women) are laughing loudly and having a good time.” Such an atmosphere indicates people are there for anything but the food.

Continue reading “EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50 Essential Restaurants – Number Two”

The Single Greatest Bite of Food We Had in 2013

ELV note: In honor of Cathy’s comment in the previous post, our staff thought it best if we tidy up our year-end business (and start the New Year out right) by making good on our promise to highlight The Single Greatest Bite of Food We Had in 2013. And the beeg weiner is…..

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Yes, these crispy, crunchy, chewy, bittersweet, almost burnt buttons of shellacked shell without, custard-y goodness within, are the ne plus ultra of French confections and no one does them better than Restaurant Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace.

We fell in love with canelés de Bordeaux over ten years ago when we stumbled upon a pastry shop on the Right Bank of Paris (France, not Tennessee) that specialized in them. Now, anytime we see them we swoon with delight. It’s a textural thing that makes them so special — a caramelized (almost burnt) exterior giving way to an unctuous, vanilla custard center — all in the span of a tiny cake-like object about half the size of the human thumb.  Such contrast of tastes and textures in so small a package is a miracle of pastry making that only the French have mastered.

We were honored to be able to give the induction speech of Mon. Guy Savoy into the American Gaming Hall of Fame this past November, and we celebrated with nibbling on these (and more than a few of Guy’s and Mathieu Chartron’s autumnal concoctions) later that evening.

If there’s a better way to spend an eating and drinking night in Las Vegas, we can’t think of it.

And if there’s a better bite of food on the planet….we doubt it.

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