Dear ELV,
I’m an irregular follower of yours. I’ve seen you on Iron Chef, caught your show on the radio and read some of your stuff here and there. You seem to me to be one of the more accessible and sensible of the food critics out there.
My wife and I ate at Craftsteak last weekend and as much as I like Tom Colicchio on Top Chef and wanted our 400.00 dollar dinner to be the best we’ve ever had, it was terrible.
Continue reading “Letter of the Week – Calling Out Colicchio”
We”ve had it. We are done. Finished. Fin. Finito. Kaput. Over and out. Die ende. Sfarsit (Romanian). Wakas (Tagalog) and isigcino (Zulu) with Mesa Grill.
And no matter how many of you tell us how “awesome” or “interesting” or “tasty” it is, we’re never believing you again.
Because you are wrong.
Because we’ve now eaten there at least ten times and never had anything (except the excellent burger and the cornbread pudding) that was the least bit spicy, intriguing, or compelling from a foodie-point-of-view.
And the “spicy” chicken hash was the last straw…containing as it did, minimal “spiciness” and being bereft of chicken.
We know this because we picked through all those potatoes in the hash whilst furiously fishing for flotsam flecks of fowl flesh and infuriatingly finding figments of fugaciously few.
The difference between youse guys and ELV is: we at ELV feel it’s our duty to go back to places that have disappointed us, whenever a friend or colleague (or perhaps just someone with a strong opinion) tells they “really like” a place that we don’t.
So back and back we’ve gone, again and again, hoping against hope that Boy Meets Grill Boy will show us something.
Anything.
And what we always get is a bunch of tepid, uninspired, barely “spicy” “creations” that are bland or boring or both.
If you really want interestingly spiced food, at a fraction of the price, we suggest going to Los Antojos…or Los Molcajetes, or Salvadoreno Cafe, or Border Grill, or Frank and Fina’s, or….or….
Or if you just want to bask in the absentee aura of a Food Network God, and pay $70 for lunch (no booze) like we did last week, keep your trap shut the next time we’re around each other.
Or until Bobby finds some inspiration.
But don’t hold your breath.
MESA GRILL
In Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino
3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
877.346.4642
We want to like Mario Batali’s restaurants (all three of them in the Venetian). We really do. We try to ignore his less-than-appetizing appearance, celebrity status, high prices, and the overwhelming mediocrity of the food….but sometimes, it’s just hard.