A Monster Sandwich in Sin City [On the Road: Las Vegas]

I came back to Vegas a year after, this time business and not pleasure, but still had the chance to eat in a couple places. One of them was Carnegie Deli home of the best pastrami and corned beef in town. The original place was opened in 1937 in NYC and these days they have another four locations including one in the Mirage hotel. 

Carnegie

Who said Pastrami?

I went big got the Woody Allen the sandwich that made Broadway Danny Rose famous. The only way to describe the sandwich is obscene, huge, big, giant, immense, you get the concept. The sandwich was the height of my two fists together. It’s the one of the biggest sandwiches I have ever tried. A great sandwich, excellent flavour, lots of pastrami and corned beef, even though that took me a couple days to finish it, the meat kept the flavour, really nice. 

That's what I call a sandwich

A pastrami and corned beef explosion

Now I understand why my American friends complain so much of the wafer thin sandwiches we got here in London, size wise they are just like a Lilliput’s sandwich offered to Gulliver. 

Woody Allen

Great sandwich, nice place, my only advice is be prepared to indulge and don't wear a belt. 

Take away

Pastrami reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Race” 

Mickey: What does that mean?

Kramer: Well, if you've got needs and abilities that's a pretty good combination

Mickey: So what if I want to open up a delicatessen?

Kramer: There are no delicatessens under Communism

Mickey: Why not?

Kramer: Well, because the meats are divided into a class system. You got Pastrami and Corned Beef in one class and Salami and Bologna in another. That's not right

Mickey: So you can't get Corned Beef?

Kramer: Well, you know, if you're in the Politburo maybe

Carnegie Deli

T: +1 702 791 7111

Deli

Approx Damage: $20pp

Area: The Strip

Las Vegas

Twitter: CarnegieDeli

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More French style in Sin City [On the Road: Las Vegas]

Another stop for breakfast in Vegas was in Mon Ami Gabi, we were too lazy and the place looked nice so we decided to have breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants. Classic French bistro, five locations across the US. We sat outside, a bit windy but sunny and warm so it was nice. 

Gabi

Looking at the menu we got a fresh recently taken from the oven baguette with butter, extremely nice, I love bread and grew up eating recently baked bread with butter, brought back memories, the salty butter melting in the hot baguette, pretty nice. After looking the menu Marisol and I decided to share the weekly special open faced mushroom sandwich with mustard and a poached egg, the egg was cooked perfectly, running yolk, pretty nice sandwich overall. As side French fries, skinny flat, nice, crunchy. 

Baguette

Open faced

Skinny fries

I really enjoyed eating at Gabi, wouldn’t mind to come back for more. 

Top view

Butter reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Butter Shave” 

George: What's with all the butter? 

Kramer: I'm shaving with it, and you know what I discovered? 

Jerry: You can eat it? 

Kramer: No, my face feels so good, I'm going to use it all over my body

Mon Ami Gabi

T: +1 702 944 4224

French Cuisine

Approx Damage: $30pp

Area: The Strip

Las Vegas
Twitter: MonAmiGabiLV

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La Creperie in Fake Paris [On The Road: Las Vegas]

During the last trip to Vegas we stayed at the Paris hotel, it’s amazing to see the American take on amusement theme park based in the city of light. So surrounded by slot machines there was a small food vendor with the traditional French crepes, no other than La Creperie. 

The place

The place is open from 7am to 11pm, selling savory and sweet crepes, we got there did the queue and ordered a Forestiere sautéed spinach, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, basil topped with béchamel sauce, and a Toulouse, ground sausage, pepperoni, sautéed mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, basil, topped with marinara. 

Our crepes

They were bah! even though they are made from scratch, they were just ok, the forestiere béchamel was a bit odd, and the Toulouse was like a pizza, the mushrooms weren’t fresh, we were pretty sure they were can mushrooms, I guess is a quite bite, but if you have tried crepes in Paris don’t go for this as it’s nothing close to that experience. 

The chefs

Close up

Crepes remind me the Seinfeld episode “The English Patient” 

Jerry: This is quite a condo 

Morty: The Mandelbaums own the Magic Pan restaurants 

Jerry: The crepe place? 

Morty: Yeah. This is all big crepe money 

Jerry: There's crepe money?

La Creperie

T: +1 702 946 7000

French Cuisine

Approx Damage: $5pp

Area: The Strip
Las Vegas

Nevada

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Batali + Bastianich = Carnevino

Of all my friends probably the closest one as picky as me to go eat in a restaurant is Chapa, in Vegas after studying Zagat recommendations he suggested to go and have lunch in Carnevino. The place is owned by restaurateur tycoon Mario Batali and wine connoisseur, vineyard and restaurant owner Joe Bastianich. Executive chef Zach Allen is in charge of the magic and Adam Perry Lang is responsible to source and age the meat. 

The place

Nice ambience, quiet for Sin City, modern, and relax. The service was great, the waiter had an amazing knowledge on the wine as you would expect in a Bastianich restaurant. We were a big table so the decision was to share entrées and then go for a main. The starters we ordered were a tagliata di manzo which was some sort of rocket and beef carpaccio, carne cruda (steak tartare), and fried calamari. For main I got the lamb chops, and shared a pappardelle with porcini trifolati. Also had the chance to try Mary's spago with lamb ragu. 

Wine time

The beef carpaccio was nice, with the rocket and parmesan, nice flavours and original presentation, the tartare was excellent, really well executed, and the fried calamari was perfectly battered and with a nice spicy punch. 

Beef carpaccio

Tartare

Calamari

The lamb chops were perfectly seasoned and cooked, great flavours, and the pappardelle was superb, the pasta was al dente, the sauce was spectacular, same for the spago.

Chops

Pappardelle

Spago

Great restaurant, a must if you want to eat well source meat, excellent pasta, and a superb wine list. 

Carnevino

Wine reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Airport” 

Flight Attendant: We have some delicious Chateaubriande, my personal favourite, or, if you prefer something lighter, a poached Dover sole in a delicate white wine sauce with just a hint of saffron 

Jerry: Oh, saffron! That sounds good 

Flight Attendant: And today we're featuring wines from the Tuscany region 

Jerry and Tia: Tuscany!

Carnevino

T: +1 702 789 4141

Italian Cuisine

Approx Damage: $40pp

Area: The Strip

Las Vegas

Twitter: @CARNEVINO

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Border Girls

If you saw season three of Top Chef Masters, you will agree with me that one of the more consistent chefs during the whole season was Mary Sue Milliken. I became a big fan, week after week Mary Sue dominated with a couple of exceptions the competition, giving the judges and critics twist of classics with Latin infused flavours. 

Mary Sue in one of the eliminations during Top Chef Masters (Copyright  © BravoTV)

Well one restaurant I was sure I couldn’t miss during my visit to sin city was Border Grill. Mary Sue and Susan Feniger Mexican creations, a menu full of flavour and margaritas. Three locations, one truck, and a taco stand is not enough? 

The place

We got to the place and as typical Mexican place we were just sitting down and already we had home made tortilla chips and classic dips. I add an order of the Border Guacamole, queso fundido, grilled fish tacos, and chicken poblano enchiladas. 

Tortilla chips

Guacamole

The guacamole was superb, healty, nice creamy texture, good combination with the onions and the parsley, the queso fundido was nice, good balance with the chorizo and the avocado. The Enchiladas were quite good, the grilled corn, poblano crema, mushrooms and the charred poblano chiles gave a nice combination. Finally the best of the day was the grilled fish taco, splendid, nice flavour, pretty light, just an explosion of flavour, divino! Uno mas! 

Queso fundido

Fish tacos

Enchiladas

Great place nice regional cuisine, great flavours, don’t miss if you’re in Las Vegas, Santa Monica, or Downtown LA. 

Busy lunch at the Mandalay

Mexico reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Abstinence” 

Jerry: Cancelled? But I was supposed to be on tomorrow night 

Letterman: Yeah, but then, you know, some people were telling me about that little flap out there at the junior high assembly. And before that, you were bumped by a lizard? 

Jerry: Actually, it was a… 

Letterman: those things, deadly dangerous. A long time ago my uncle and a date are driving, like, through Mexico. They see one on the road, drags him out of the road, and chews his face off. Listen, we'll call you if anything opens up. Okay, Jimmy? 

Jerry: Jerry Letterman: Right! Jerry

Border Grill

T: +1 702 632 7403

Mexican Cuisine

Aprox Damage: $35pp

Area: The Strip

Las Vegas
Twitter: BorderGrill

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Hubert Keller Burger

I'm a big fan of Top Chef, but I enjoyed even more Top Chef Masters, where established Master chefs compete to get money for their charities. I remember in the first season there was a quick fire challenge to create a burger, and chef Hubert Keller created a Roquefort burger, which didn't win but got good reviews, he did mentioned that the burger was a best seller in his restaurant Burger Bar. 

Mandalay Bay

Burger Bar

Well I was in Vegas and there is a Burger Bar there so I couldn't resist to go and try the burger. Chef Keller has three locations the one in Vegas, San Francisco, and St Louis, and a forth one to come this summer in Beijing. Open every day in the Mandalay Bay, typical burger joint American décor, stools like in a diner, long bar, loud music, and our table had a concert between the music and the racket from the kitchen. I couldn't hide my excitement of trying a burger of a classic French trained chef. 

Inside

Mary and I decided to share as there were two burgers I wanted to try. First the Hubert Keller burger, buffalo, caramelised onions, baby spinach, blue cheese, and a ciabatta bun. And finally the Rossinni, Kobe beef, sautéed foie gras, shaved truffles, a black Perigord truffle sauce, and an onion bun. Onion rings and skinny fries, and finally we asked for the sauce sampler, 5 different sauces to choose, we got chipotle aioli, basil aioli, homemade mustard, spicy ketchup, and white barbecue. 

Sauces

Buffalo time

Rossinni time

The burgers were superb, cooked to perfection, the buffalo patty with onions and blue cheese awesome, everything spot on, good balance with the strong blue cheese but not overpowering the rest of the components, the spinach, and the onions. The Rossinni was expectational, the foie gras, with truffles and the truffle sauce is heavenly, then add a pinch of sea salt and pepper and is orgasmic, perfectly cooked, full of flavour. Fries were excellent, onion rings were magnificent, the battered was really good, and the dipping sauces were nice, the favourite one was both aiolis. 

Buffalo close up

Rossinni close up

Ready for share

Truffle sauce baptise

The Rossinni came with a dessert, we choose the doughnut chocolate burger, I’m not a sweet tooth, but it was nice, some bitter notes from the jelly, dark chocolate with nutella and strawberries and a donut bun, overall quite nice. 

Dessert

Strawberry and Chocolate burger

The place is phenomenal, excellent burgers. 

Donuts remind me the Seinfeld episode “The Note” 

Kramer: I just saw Joe DiMaggio in Dinky Donuts. You know, I looked in there and there he was having coffee and a donut 

Jerry: Joe DiMaggio? In Dinky Donuts? 

Kramer: Yeah. Joe DiMaggio 

Jerry: I'm sorry, if Joe DiMaggio wants a donut he goes to a fancy restaurant or a hotel. He's not sitting in Dinky Donuts 

Kramer: Well maybe he likes Dinky Donuts 

George: I don't even like to sit next to a man on an airplane because our knees might touch 

Jerry: I can't see Joe DiMaggio sitting at the counter in little tiny filthy smelly Dinky Donuts 

Kramer: Why can't Joe DiMaggio have a donut like everyone else? 

Jerry: He can have a donut, but not at Dinky

Burger Bar

T: +1 702 632 9364

Burgers

Aprox Damage: $40pp

Area: The Strip

Las Vegas

Twitter: BurgerBar

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