LOTUS OF SIAM – Las Vegas, Nevada
In the August, 2000 issue of Gourmet Magazine, Jonathan Gold, the only food critic to ever earn a Pulitzer Prize, called the Lotus of Siam restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada “the single best Thai restaurant in North America.” Not a disparaging word was heard or a dissenting opinion offered among the cognoscenti save for those who argued that the word “Thai” should be removed from from Gold’s audacious proclamation. Lotus of Siam is THAT good! In the decade plus since Gold’s assertion, every reputable critic from every credible publication has jumped on the bandwagon, essentially echoing or adding to to the validation of the greatness that is the Lotus of Siam. The superlatives are similar on every review you’ll read of this vaunted restaurant; only the names of the scribes change. In a media culture which delights in the “time to tear down” portion of Ecclesiastes 3:3, the absence of true criticism for Lotus of Siam speaks volumes. Lotus of Siam is THAT good! First-time visitors approach Lotus of Siam with high expectations, return visitors with the type of reverence usually accorded only to shrines or holy places. A visit to the original site of this anointed shrine to Thai…