Tag: Rosallie Le French Cafe

The List

(John Lee at work)

Ed. note: Since we eat in more restaurants, more often, than anyone in Las Vegas, we periodically list where we’ve recently chowed down as a way of directing our loyal readers, to the best meals in town. As usual, all places are randomly listed and highly recommended unless otherwise noted.

NURO BISTRO – a serious challenge to Flock & Fowl’s Hainanese chicken hegemony

ROSALLIE LE FRENCH CAFE – good coffee; even gooder pastries

NOMAD BAR – get the hamburger and the hot dog

PUBLICUS – always packed these days, for good reason

EDO TAPAS & WINE – The Food Gal’s favorite, for good reason

NOMAD RESTAURANT – bring a wheelbarrow; load it with cash; expect to be dazzled

PARTAGE – how lucky we are to have this food off the Strip

(Hamchi crudo at Esther’s Kitchen)

ESTHER’S KITCHEN – to get a table, go late for lunch or early for dinner

THE KITCHEN AT ATOMIC – great vibe, even if some dishes sometimes miss the mark

PAMPLONA COCKTAILS AND TAPAS – Spaniards are so fun-loving they make the Italians seem like the French

LE CIRQUE – Alan Mardonovich now has the kitchen; Ivo Angelov runs the tightest ship in the business

(November is white truffle time at Le Cirque)

KKULMAT KOREAN KITCHEN – the food feels like a loving Korean grandma is cooking it (she is!); but the place sometimes smells like disinfectant

CIPRIANI – a full review is upcoming, but here’s a hint: I think I could eat this food every day

(We’re not sure gelato can taste any better than this)

CUBA CAFÉ – about once every ten years we eat some Cuban…just to remind ourselves why we don’t eat much Cuban

MICHAEL MINA – I’m on a seafood diet; when I see food, I eat it, especially seafood this good

DE KITCHEN – small (12 seats) but mighty Thai in #DTLV

OHLALA FRENCH BISTRO – couldn’t be more French if there was a mime with a monkey out front gargling with Gruyère and garbling La Marseillaise

FERRARO’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT AND WINE BAR – I’d eat here once a week if it was closer to my house

MARCHE BACCHUS – you might like the new full bar; I like Amanda Purdy’s additions to the menu

CASA DON JUAN – much of the food is by-the-numbers, but the carnitas por dos is out of this world

SOHO JAPANESE RESTAURANT – a raucous sushi bar with a serious omakase (see John Lee at work at the top of the page, and behold these tasty snaps below):

SCOTCH 80 PRIME – steaks, whiskys, and sides, all superior

SHINYA MARU RAMEN & IZAKAYA – if you need a ramen fix downtown, this is not bad, but it’s not that good either

PIZZERIA MONZÚ – simply spectacular Sicilian

MORDEO BOUTIQUE WINE BAR – compelling food that was a hit from the get-go

BAJAMAR FISH TACOS – gee, I wonder what their specialty is?

(The “Lucas” at Bajamar)

CLEAVER – the jury is still out on this one

FU MAN DUMPLING HOUSE– closed

SHAKE SHACK – more and more, we’re realizing that SS kicks In-N-Out’s ass

(Blackened mahi mahi at Triple George)

TRIPLE GEORGE – super service; improved food

HONEY SALT – more solid than ever; great brunch

URTH CAFFE – superb cappucino; absurdly-sized pastries

(Too. Damn. Big.)

 

 

Breakfast…If You Insist

My disdain for eating copious amounts of carbs, fats, meats, sauces and sugars the first thing in the morning is well documented. (See previous post)

Packing in proteins, breads, and fat when you first wake up (when you’re not even hungry) is the stupidest thing to do in food.

What Americans have done to breakfast (and its unholy cousin/devil spawn: brunch) is unconscionable.

You want to know how disgusting breakfast food and America has become? Just check out this list of abominable breakfast creations from a few years back.

But hating breakfast as a meal doesn’t mean I hate breakfast foods. In fact, I love almost all of them.

I love a well-made omelet, hand-made pastries, and fresh-tooled sauces. Nothing beats a straight from the oven biscuit, a couple of perfectly poached eggs, or ripe, fresh fruit. And who among us doesn’t lust for the yeasty tang of a fresh buttermilk pancake, smothered in good butter and real maple syrup?

The trouble is, you will never find any of these things in any egg-centric restaurant, specializing in breakfast. You know the type: the ones with punny names like  “Hamlet and Eggs,” “Egg’lectic Cafe,” or “Great Eggspectations.”

Egg-centric restaurants use the cheapest ingredients possible and routinely massacre them.

Dollars to doughnuts, if the word “egg” appears in the name of a restaurant, it means the chili is from a can, the pancakes are from a mix, the sauces come from a freezer bag, and the pastries all fell off a truck. And you don’t even want to think about where the eggs came from.

A correlation to this rule applies to any joint advertising “soup, salads and sandwiches” — none of which has anything fresher than the cryovac’d meat they defrosted four days ago, or the rapidly browning lettuce being served one step ahead of the health inspector.

Anyone who eats “soups, salads and sandwiches” ought to have their head examined.

But let us not belabor the atrociousness of cheap breakfast food. Let us instead celebrated the few places where wonderful food is made every morning in Las Vegas by people using top shelf ingredients and cooking them the way your grandma did:

EAT – Downtown’s mainstay is better than ever. Get the hash (pictured above). Get the posole. And by all means get the pancakes.

DELICES GOURMANDS FRENCH BAKERY & CAFE – More of a small bakery, offering a few jaw-dropping pastries, plus quiches and a crêpe or two — every one of which is wonderful. Good coffee too. The only place in town I buy bread anymore.

ROSALLIE LE FRENCH CAFE – Best. Pastries. In. Town. Period. Wonderful quiches, with serious coffee as well. (See tasty snap at top of page)

http://s3.amazonaws.com/citybuzz/2014/05/vegas-restaurants/15-restaurants-las-vegas-2.jpg

BOUCHON – The pastry basket is justifiably famous; eggs Benedict don’t come any finer, and the omelette would make Jacques Pepin proud.

Notice what all of these places have in common? None of them has the word “egg” in their name. And you’ll never find a bunch of sloshed women slugging down cheap mimosas at any of them.

I rest my case.