My Year of Dining Deliciously

2016 will go down as one of the most eventful years of my life. Getting married took the cake, of course, but publishing two editions of EATING LAS VEGAS The 50 Essential Restaurants (Huntington Press) was quite the undertaking as well. Factor in trips to Atlanta, Albuquerque/Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Napa Valley, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, Washington D.C., Tokyo, Austin, Texas, and Rome (Italy, not Georgia) and you have one whale of a rotation around the sun. Through it all, I managed to eat over two hundred meals in local restaurants. Here are the best of the best that I tasted in the past twelve months:

Wine List of the YearAureole (see above). Not only is it the broadest and deepest list in town, it’s also back to being on the printed page, making it a joy to peruse. Would that all those damned, dastardly digital lists be consigned to the techie hell from whence they came. Digital wine lists tried to solve a problem that wasn’t there. And people ended up ordering less wine, because they’re so cumbersome to use. A pox, a pox I say, on all digital wine lists. End of rant.

Cocktail Bar of the YearLibertine Social

Pasta of the Year – (tie) Carbone; Carnevino; Ferraro’s

Burger of the YearLibertine Social; runner up – Gordon Ramsay Steak

Steak of the Year – (tie) porterhouse at CUT; aged rib eye at Bazaar Meat

Fish Dish of the Year – Scorpina (scorpion fish) at Estiatorio Milos

Sommelier of the YearChloe Helfand at Bazaar Meat

Pizza of the YearDue Forni; runner-up – Evel Pie

Downtown Restaurant of the YearLe Pho

Chinese Restaurant of the YearChengdu Taste

Thai Restaurant of the YearOcha Thai

Vietnamese Restaurant of the YearPho Annie

Korean Restaurant of the Year – Magal Korean BBQ

Japanese Restaurant of the Year – (tie) Yui Edomae Sushi, Hiroyoshi, Yuzu Japanese Kitchen

Fabulous Frenchies of the Year – Nothing can top the lip-smacking delights that Rosallie Le French Cafe, Delices Gourmands French Bakery and Eatt Healthy Food brought to the ‘burbs.

Dim Sum of the Year – No contest: Pearl Ocean at the brand new Lucky Dragon Hotel and Casino.

Coffee Bar of the Year – The just-opened Vesta Coffee Roasters is giving the term “fresh roasted” a whole new meaning.

Appetizer of the Year – “Ham ‘n Eggs” at ‘e’ by José Andrés

Entrée of the Year – Crispy Lamb Belly with Pomegranates and Peas at Sage
 Desserts of the Year – Whatever Mio Ogasawara is whipping up that night at Sweets Raku
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Meals of the YearYuzu Japanese Kitchen; Yui Edomae Sushi; Twist by Pierre Gagnaire; Delmonico; L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon; Bazaar Meat; CUT; Sage; ‘e’ by José Andrés; B&B Ristorante; Yonaka; Strip Steak; Ferraro’s; Carbone; Chengdu Taste; Raku.

Chef of the YearSteve Benjamin at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. No one does it better, or has for as long, as Stevie B.

Restaurant of the YearBazaar Meat. Fork–droppingly delicious is how I often describe a dish (or a meal) that knocks me out with its intensity and perfection. I dropped my fork a lot this year at Bazaar Meat.

(Here’s to you José, and to the best damn steakhouse in America)

Merry Christmas to All!

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Santa Claus (me) has been checking his list and checking it twice, and he’s gonna find out who’s been naughty and nice. Actually, he already knows, and since Santa sees all, we thought it time to hand out a few appropriate gifts to a few deserving souls. (And by “deserving souls” we mean those people and places in our local food scene who should get either kudos or scorn for how they’ve behaved in the past year.)

Aria Hotel – a big kiss from Santa and a Nebuchadnezzar of premium champagne for the continued excellence of Sage, Carbone and Bardot Brasserie.

Wynn/Encore – a bag of coal and rotten grapes for the most criminally overpriced wine lists on the Strip.

Downtown Summerlin – a lifetime pass to Penn & Teller for performing the magic act of keeping (what seems like) 58 half-empty restaurants open for the entire year.

Evel Pie – tickets to a Yankees’ game for bringing a slice of Little Italy to Las Vegas.

Cory Harwell – an in-house psychiatrist for the sessions he will need after being driven crazy by trying to appeal to the whims of Henderson diners.

El Sombrero/Irma Aguirre – a copy of Hamlet to help them weather the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that Donald Trump brought to their doorstep.

Bradley Manchester – a bottle of good whiskey to help him drown his sorrows after the sorrowful closing of Glutton.

Golden Steer Steakhouse – Windex, Clorox, a mop, bug-spray, a can of paint and a gift certificate to Coit Carpet Cleaners to finally clean up this ratty looking ode to the Rat Pack.

THE Steakhouse at Circus Circus – the Zsa Zsa Gabor award for hanging in there long after, by all rights, it should be dead.

Carla Pellegrino – the Comeback of the Year award for coming back from Miami, and for coming back from having her restaurant turned into a demolition derby by an errant driver.

Anthony Curtis, Greg Thilmont and Mitchell Wilburn – drinks on me for all the work they put into publishing two editions of EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50 Essential Restaurants this year.

EATT Healthy Food – salt and pepper shakers to brighten up their extraordinary food that is sometimes woefully under-seasoned.

José Andrés – a couple of brass balls for standing up to Donald “Mr. 46%” Trump.

Libertine Social – aspirin to hand out to all of their customers for the wicked hangovers they’re bound to get from all the wicked good cocktails.

The Mixx Grill & Lounge – fire extinguishers for the biggest, fastest, flame-out of any restaurant this year.

“Celebrity Chef” Sam Marvin (and the lamebrains behind F. Pigalle) –  a year’s supply of AA batteries, my old Vivid Video collection, and a case of K-Y to help you use all those decorative butt plugs and dildos left over from the WORST RESTAURANT IDEA IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

Ho ho ho to all until next year!

Here’s Johnny! The 2013 Johnnies Limp to Their Conclusion

ELV note: Due to a nasty virus that put yours truly on his back for the past 6 days, our end-of-the-year awards were unavoidably delayed. Even as he is typing these words, ELV feels the lingering effects of the strongest chest cold/cough/sore throat/phlegm-fest he’s had in a decade. But, to put a proper cap on the past year, we still think it relevant to point out our year-end winners of the coveted Johnnies.

Gentlemen the envelopes please.

And the winner for Best Restaurant That’s Closest to My House is…..

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POP UP PIZZA

1 South Main Street

Las Vegas, NV 89101

702.366.0049

Like we said, we ate a lot of pizza this past year. And these two joints really filled the bill. For whatever reason, it seemed like we were always phoning up Mike Vakeen at Pop Up whenever a pizza jones struck. And his superior pies always came through — maybe not to the level of wood-fired perfection one expects from Settebello or Novecento, but darn near close.

Runner Up:

Anthony and Mario’s Broadway Pizzeria

840 South Rancho Dr.

Las Vegas, NV 89106

702.259.9002

The Broadway may not be in Pop Up’s league, ingredient-wise, but one should never underestimate the power of having decent wings, and anchovy pie, and good Italian lemon ice within walking distance of one’s home.

But enough frivolity, Now, it’s that time you’ve all been waiting for, food fans.

Time for the two biggies.

And here they are…. CHEF OF THE YEAR  and RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR

And the winner for Chef of the Year is….

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Whether it’s the continued excellence of Raku or the mind-blowing desserts being concocted nightly at Sweets Raku, Mitsuo Endo has done more for increasing the quality (and maintaining a very high bar) for restaurants off the Strip. Throughout the past year, we took a series of national critics up and down Spring Mountain Road, and to a person, they were blown away by the variety and quality of our Asian eats .

Raku and Sweets Raku aren’t simply places to eat; they are states of mind…and statements of quality and passion — qualities that can no longer be faked or phoned in in our humble burg. You can thank a Japanese émigré for this taste revolution (not some absentee celebrity chef who views Vegas like an easy access ATM machine), and the next great meal you have off the Strip — whether in a humble noodle parlor or a high-end “concept” joint, owes more than a nod to Endo-san’s continuting quest for perfection.

Next up, the winner of the 2013 Johnnie for Restaurant of the Year goes to….

YONAKA MODERN JAPANESE

4983 West Flamingo Road

Las Vegas, NV 8910

702.501.1727

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Yonaka is the type of restaurant that couldn’t have existed in Las Vegas ten years ago. Like all upscale Asian joints, it owes a debt of gratitude to our Chef of the Year for educating the minds and palates of the fledgling restaurant consumer. Without Raku paving the way six years ago, the appetite for intriguing Japanese food would remain but a tiny niche in our local food world. As it is, Yonaka took a page from Raku’s playbook, and tweaked it according to Ramir DeCastro’s own playful (and fruit-friendly) sensibilities — making Yonaka’s food even more fun and accessible than Raku’s.

The menu (and ingredients) may not be as hyper-pristine and authentic as Endo-san’s a mile to the north, but it can elicit just the same amount of ohhs and ahhs from the fascinated diner. For taking the mantle of superior Asian eats to an even more populist level (with delicious creativity and continued commitment to quality ingredients), and for continuing to expand the horizons of our palates, Yonaka truly deserves recognition as the most important restaurant of 2013. No place else in town was even close.