Category: United States

AmericanBreakfastBuffetNevadaRating: ExcellentUnited States

Bellagio Buffet – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno10:51 PM

Comparing the Bellagio Buffet to the buffets proffered at other casino hotels isn’t quite akin to comparing a Bacchanalian festival to a swinish feeding troth, but it might be close.  That’s because the difference in quality between the Bellagio Buffet and its nearest competitor is several degrees of magnitude. It’s the one buffet in Vegas in which you might actually see the gentrified and the affluent condescend to mingle with the rabble.  It’s also the one buffet in which some of the patrons don’t look like they parked their hay wagons in front of the casino and walked in. Being the very best, the Bellagio Buffet seemingly brings out the best behavior among its dining patrons who at other casinos might jostle and push their brethren just like European tourists do (and by the way, some of them put the much-maligned and stereotyped “ugly Americans” to shame). There are many other Vegas buffets which offer greater variety, but where the Bellagio stands out is in its lavish presentation of cuisine as opposed to chow, fine dining as opposed to smorgasbord and culinary creations as opposed to caloric caches. While other buffets have action stations usually featuring thematic (such as seafood)…

Fine DiningNevadaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Bouchon – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno10:14 PM

Thomas Keller is the owner and chef of one of the world’s most highly acclaimed and famous restaurants, but despite all the accolades and honors the French Laundry has garnered over the years, he isn’t nearly as famous or popular as his celebrity protégés. One protégé is a provincial rat named Remy whose aspirations to become a great chef despite a lack of formal culinary training mirror Keller’s own path.  Remy’s focus and fastidious attention to detail are known to be patterned after Keller.  To make the restaurant scenes as realistic as possible, the film’s producer interned in the French Laundry kitchen.  Other members of the film’s creative braintrust studied at length to channel the master’s style and passion.   Keller served as the key consultant for all cooking done in the movie, hence the authenticity. Keller was also the creative genius behind the “world’s greatest sandwich” as prepared by another celebrity protégé, Adam Sandler in the film Spanglish.  The sandwich is an embellishment of the BLT, but the way Keller taught Sandler to prepare it, it is far from a pedestrian BLT.  It would seem that Keller is a celebrity chef behind the celebrities, but it might be more accurate…

ChineseClosed in 2024Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaUnited States

Amlee Gourmet Restaurant – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno5:00 AM

There’s a Cantonese saying that translates to “anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies with its back to heaven is edible.” The Chinese diet counts as delicacies some things which would repulse the more sensitive American palate.  It’s not just the Chinese who will imbibe, ingest and intake what we might consider sundry strangeness. Each culture, including American, has foodstuffs other cultures find shocking. One culture’s strange and inedible is another’s traditional favorite. Take cheese, for example. Until rather recently, few Chinese would eat cheese, considering it the fetid spoils of milk. As it grows smaller, the world has become increasingly fascinated by watching the consumption of the bizarre–bizarre in this case being a voyeuristic term that doesn’t apply to the culture in which the food is enjoyed. The Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmerm chronicles the adventures of an intrepid eater who will try any and everything put in front of him, regardless of how much it writhes, palpitates or squirms as he puts it in his mouth. It’s televised shockfest at its most appealing to those of us who think we’d try just about anything. Compared to Zimmerm, most of us are rank amateurs. Thousand year old…

AmericanClosed in 2011Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaRating: OutstandingUnited States

Rosemary’s Restaurant – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno3:58 AM

You might think that a chef and proprietor whose restaurant has garnered almost every conceivable accolade might be almost unapproachable, perhaps even haughty and aloof…that being among the gastronomic glitterati, he wouldn’t make time for admirers of his culinary craft. We learned during a June, 2006 visit that THE Michael Jordan (the other one was a pretty fair basketball player) is one of the nicest, most unassuming and genuinely endearing celebrity chefs we’ve ever met. We had the great fortune of running into Jordan at his restaurant and he wasn’t solely concerned with what we thought of our meal (we loved it, of course). He engaged us in conversation about New Mexico, Chicago, restaurant critics and Chowhound, a Web site he admits to visiting when he wants to take the pulse of his diners. He was genuinely appreciative of our having driven nearly 600 miles to dine at the fêted restaurant he and wife Wendy launched in 1999 after being fixtures at Emeril Lagasse’s New Orleans Fish House, the MGM Grand Hotel’s trendy restaurant. With the launch of Rosemary’s (a drawing of a sprig of the popular spice graces the to-go menu) in a fashionable west-side Sahara location, the Jordans…

Closed in 2018Gone But Not ForgottenItalianNevadaUnited States

Ristorante B&B – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:43 AM

A pair of trademarked orange Crocs on the reception kiosk was as close to Mario Batali as we got. It’s as close as some of the wait staff has gotten in the months since Ristorante B&B launched. We had expected no less. Batali has parlayed his celebrity chef status into a veritable empire of highly acclaimed restaurants in New York City, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Like many restaurant impresarios, the “Great One” is intimately involved in the development of the concept and menu for all the restaurants which bear his name. He was also involved in the selection of the kitchen staff who execute to his vision. That’s why visits to some of his outlying restaurants are few and far in between. Whether you like the celebrity chef concept or not, you’ve got to respect that Molto Mario is always striving to improve upon his craft. Like a culinary anthropologist, he is as interested in the provenance of the cuisine he creates as he is in the actual end product. A 2005 winner of the James Beard Award for “Outstanding Chef of the Year,” Batali is a legitimate chef force, not just “another pretty face” engaged in kitchen warfare…

Closed in 2010Gone But Not ForgottenNevadaPeruvianUnited States

The Paradise Grill – Las Vegas, Nevada (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno12:10 AM

Americans spent several billion dollars a year on products touting their ability to provide fresh breath.  Ultrabrite toothpaste promises to “give your mouth sex appeal” while Colgate’s Oxygen toothpaste’s slogan is “Pure, Fresh, Clean.”  Fresh breath is so important to our culture that we even insist our pets have it. Milk Bone Dog Biscuits pledge to “freshen breath naturally” so of course, we buy that product in bulk for our four-legged children. Fresh breath, it seems, translates (at least on humans) to a “cool, minty sensation with no mediciny taste” if commercials are to be believed. It’s unlikely dogs would appreciate having minty breath, preferring instead something smelling with the aroma of rotted carcass.  So why this digression into the emphasis our culture places on fresh breath when this is supposed to be a review of a Peruvian restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada. The answer can be found in one word–ceviche. The ceviche at the Paradise Grill is so fresh and invigorating that it will impart upon your mouth, a sensation of freshness that may last for hours. I’ve had ceviche on three continents and it has varied in quality and memorability. None has impressed itself on my taste buds…

ChineseNevadaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Ping Pang Pong – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno12:27 AM

The complaint I hear most often about the Duke City dining scene is that we have a lamentable lack of quality Chinese restaurants. This is a sentiment that’s been echoed ad-infinitum on Chowhound and other restaurant blogs. In my years of reviewing Duke City restaurants, I’ve deemed only nine Chinese restaurants worthy of taking up space on my Web site. Considering Chinese restaurants outnumber those of any ethnicity other than New Mexican, that’s not a good sign. I’ve tried dozens of Chinese restaurants in New Mexico (and continue to try them in hopes of finding a rare hidden gem), but only a few have the qualities I like in Chinese restaurants. Fewer still are those which execute consistently from visit to visit. Now, it would be easy (and fun) to wax mean about the things I didn’t like about each of those Chinese restaurants–and it might even be a service to my readers, but that negativity could be summed up in a few points. What I dislike most about Chinese restaurants–not just in New Mexico–is their homogeneity–the boring, stereotypical “sameness” that seems to typify each restaurant. It’s as if a sole template was created that defines how each Chinese restaurant…

ArizonaBurgersClosed in 2018Gone But Not ForgottenUnited States

The Original Wineburger – Phoenix, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno2:37 AM

Every year, children of all ages fall in love all over again with the heart-warming 1947 Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street. We’re aghast when the district attorney demands that defense lawyer Fred Gailey provide “authoritative proof” that Kris Kringle is “the one and only Santa Claus.” We share Gailey’s seeming desperation when he offers as evidence, a solitary letter addressed to Santa Claus at the NYC Courthouse. We’re enraged when the D.A. retorts that one letter is hardly enough proof, and are proudly vindicated when Gailey has guards march in with huge bags overflowing with letters. We revel in Gailey’s argument, “Your Honor, every one of these letters is addressed to Santa Claus. The Post Office has delivered them. Therefore the Post Office Department, a branch of the Federal Government, recognizes this man, Kris Kringle, to be the one and only Santa Claus.”  We cheer at justice being served when the sympathetic judge, desperate not to be portrayed as the man who found Santa Claus guilty, declares, “Uh, since the United States Government declares this man to be Santa Claus, this court will not dispute it. Case dismissed.” Authoritative proof! That has been in dispute for years when it…

CaliforniaRating: Very GoodSeafoodUnited States

Crab House at Pier 39 – San Francisco, California

Gil Garduno7:09 PM

Every town has them–the touristy attractions every out-of-town visitor wants to hit and locals avoid like a Lobo basketball team coached by Ritchie McKay. To visitors, these attractions represent what your town is all about and nothing you tell them will dissuade them from thinking so.  After all, your local Chamber of Commerce paints these attractions as “can’t miss” and “absolutely must see.” Generally packaged with these touristy attractions are  dining destinations that promise to deliver authentic local flavor–the cuisine de culture so to speak. In Albuquerque that generally means a meal at a New Mexican restaurant–usually one with the stereotypical accoutrements that more closely represent Old Mexico than New Mexico. Invariably, in the Duke City those package deal restaurants feature cuisine whose red chile has the piquancy of Chef Boyardee tomato sauce and its green chile, the heat equivalent of a bell pepper.  An authentic experience?  Hardly, but many out-of-town visitors wouldn’t have a clue. To most first-time visitors, a San Francisco vacation or business trip would be incomplete without a trek to the storied Pier 39 and a meal at one of its seafood restaurants.  Never mind that locals will try to talk you out of it.  Most…

Ice CreamNevadaRating: Excellent

Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop & Soda Fountain – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno2:03 PM

While Ghirardelli chocolate is available worldwide, there are only a few shop locations–mostly in California with outliers in Las Vegas, Chicago and in two Florida cities. Named after Italian chocolatier Domingo Ghirardelli who brought his chocolate from Peru to San Francisco, Ghirardelli Shops are a true chocoholics dream where you can purchase a tempting assortment of chocolate confections and gifts. The San Francisco location on Ghirardelli Square is a historical site near Pier 39 (where the pictures on this review were taken) that is even equipped with chocolate making equipment so you can see artistry at work. Truly one of the most progressive cities in the world, Las Vegas has a Ghirardelli chocolate shop near Harrah’s.  It’s designed like an old-fashioned soda shop with a checkered floor, ceiling fans and a long counter at which you place your order. Detractors might say, these soda fountains are also staffed with soda jerks, emphasis on the word “jerk.”  On a hot summer day, it’s obvious the staff wants to get you in and out quickly. The menu is replete with decadent ice cream sundae masterpieces, floats, malts and shakes, some of which are named for San Francisco area landmarks such as the…

CaliforniaClosed in 2020Gone But Not ForgottenPeruvianUnited States

Destino Nuevo Latino Bistro – San Francisco, California (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno4:39 AM

In 2004, The Economist (a British weekly news publication) proclaimed that “Peru can lay claim to one of the world’s dozen or so great cuisines.” In 2005, Bon Appetit declared Peruvian “the next hot cuisine,” extolling its “vibrant ceviches, crispy, spiced rotisserie chickens and packed-with-flavor empanadas” then encapsulating its declaration with “this is one cuisine we could eat every day.”  A year later, at the world’s premier gastronomic forum, the International Summit of Gastronomy, Lima (the coastal nation’s capital city) was touted as the “gastronomic capital of the Americas.” What’s surprising is not that the culture-rich cuisine of a small, multi-ethnic nation rarely on the world’s stage received such acclaim, it’s that it took so long.  Peru’s culinary traditions, after all, began in pre-Columbian times. Peru was home not only to the oldest known civilization in the Americas (the Norte Chico civilization flourished as early as the 30th century BC) but later to the largest civilization in the Pre-Columbian Americas–the Incan empire. Immigration melded the culture and cuisine of the Spanish, Basque, African, Moorish, Sino-Cantonese, Japanese and in the 19th century, the Italian, French and British with Peru’s indigenous peoples, the descendents of the pre-Incas and Incas, to combine the…