Happy Thursday morning everyone! While the rest of the world has no opinion of Thursdays, well, I have a very strong one--basically they suck. Yep, it's my Monday morning--time to dress from head to toe in black and go from ankles to neck in polyester. Attractive? Oh yeah, it gets all the ladies...
But I've got several hours to kill before I have to head back into the casino. Most of my around-the-house chores are finished, but there's always more to do. Yesterday, I was exhausted all day long--I stayed up pretty much all night on Tuesday, reading, writing, not so much arithmetic, and surfing the net. When I finally got to sleep around 9:00 am, my phone started ringing a half hour later. It was Lars. Oh yeah--lunch at Grimaldi's!
So I got another hour and a half of sleep, then took a quick shower, found a clean shirt and my flip-flops, and headed out.
Lars and his newly-shaved head arrived just a minute or two after I did, and we settled down into the menu. No, no salads, thank you for asking, we're all about the mission at hand.
This time, we followed the rules and did it right. I ordered an 18-inch sausage and black olive pie, and Lars went with tradition--pepperoni and mushroom. Needless to say, they were both amazing and we agreed that we'd finally found the perfect combinations. Or as Lars put it, The quest is over, now the worshiping can begin!
For whatever reason, neither one of us could put down more than four slices, so we both came away with two slices of each pie to take home for dinner. So eight hours later, when I was watching Anthony Bourdain eat his way through Ireland, I enjoyed my leftovers with a tall glass of Coke on ice, just as God intended.
And yea verily, it was good.
I think I'm becoming addicted to Anthony Bourdain's show, No Reservations. I missed most of the first-run episodes, so I've been recording them every chance I get. I swear, I always feel smarter, or at least more well-informed, after each episode. Now, he may come off as a smarmy jackass to some folks, but I totally embrace his travel philosophy--avoid the touristy stuff, eat what the locals eat, and keep an open mind. He's definitely more of a traveler, not a tourist.
As far as being a chef goes, who knows? I don't know much about the guy--I guess I could hit up the old Wikipedia and find out, but I'm guessing he hasn't picked up a knife or a saucepan in the kitchen in years. I think he does better as a food critic, although, watching him squirm in Emeril's presence in the New Orleans episode was a treat to watch. He used to slam Emeril all the time, but watching him eat at Emeril's table--where the food was top-notch, to be sure, was fun. Backpedal city. And the look on Emeril's face--you could just tell he was thinking, That's right asshole, you love this stuff because I actually cook for a living...
But he's grown on me. He may be a prick, but he's my kind of prick. At first, it seemed that unless the food was cooked in New York, San Francisco, or on the street in some third-world shiathole, it just wasn't good enough. And I think he used to harbor some sour grapes about being overlooked as a 'celebrity chef'--he seems to have a real problem with big time chefs who open restaurants in Las Vegas, and well, making fun of my new hometown just ain't cool. But if he sticks to wandering all over the planet and introducing the rest of us to the odd and the offbeat, well then, I'm going to keep watching.
I especially enjoy all of the episodes filmed in Asia. Talk about interesting--Because of his show, a visit to Hong Kong, Thailand, and mainland China are now high on the list of Things I Wish I Could Afford, while a visit to Vietnam, er, not so much...
So besides Beach Week and the occasional World Poker Tour episode, that's the only thing keeping me watching the Travel Channel. I've seen all the cruise and Vegas-related programming several times over, and Samantha Brown just doesn't do it for me. But watching Anthony Bourdain sample the wares in an open market in a city that I can't pronounce, relying only on the honesty of his interpreter, well, that's just must-see TV!
In the meantime, I'm just going to chill out here at the house and finish off my pot of coffee. No breakfast for me, but lunch will probably be another one of those roast beef-swiss-dijon sandies on an onion roll. But what I'm really looking forward to is my post-work meal late Friday night/early Saturday morning.
One of my buddies just opened his own Thai-Chinese restaurant, and it has it's official opening tomorrow. But I've eaten there already. He had the pre-opening 'sample the menu' party last Sunday, and I have to say, it was fantastic.
First of all, the name of the place is called The Golden Kitchen, kinda like your typical mom-and-pop style Chinese restaurant. But it's not a cheapass dime-a-dozen Asian buffet that seem to dot this town like degenerates in the bingo room. Oh no. It's *much* better than that.
The owner, Kenny, comes from the casino business, but has always wanted to own a restaurant. But he chose a location in Henderson near one major casino and within two or three miles of several minor casinos and a dozen or more 24/7 video poker bars. And he's catering to the neighborhood--so many of the people that live around there work in the hospitality industry and work oddball hours, so his restaurant is open from 11 am until 6 am every day, giving everyone who gets off after midnight an alternative to bar food or drive-thru dining.
So, this past Sunday night, after I got out of work, I headed over to the new restaurant (around 2 in the morning). When I got there, I was surprised to see about 15 of my friends there, and within the next two hours, about 30 more showed up. Pretty much everyone I knew in Vegas was there--seriously, if a bomb went off in the room it would've wiped out about 90% of the people I know in this town--there were dealers from other properties, my co-workers, bartenders, cocktail waitresses, etc. It was a great crowd of 'my people'. We just sat around socializing, while the waitress kept making sure that nobody had an empty bottle of beer for the entire time, and the kitchen staff just kept bringing out tray after tray of wonderful Asian dishes.
There were the old reliables on display--sweet and sour pork, fried rice, lo mein, Chinese short ribs, kung pao, broccoli beef, etc., but damn it was all good. First of all, the fried rice was far superior to the basic rice/scrambled egg/frozen peas and carrots crap you get at most places. It was all fresh and the veggies were crunchy. And the sweet and sour was the best I'd ever had. Besides just pineapple, onions, and peppers, there was some sort of sweet Asian fruit in the recipe that I'd never had before--it was just a bit bigger than a cocktail onion one would use in a gimlet, but it was sweet like candy, and hollowed out like an onion. I had no idea what it was, and I made a point of finding out, but I didn't write it down, so I've forgotten what it was called. But damn, it was good--and made a fine addition to an otherwise common entree.
There were also great soups--hot and sour, and egg drop. Both were delicious. The spring rolls were some of the best I'd ever had, and the pan-fried dumplings, they were oh-my-gawd good. I had some wonderful shrimp kung pao, and some mildly spicy cashew chicken, but the best was a special dish he cooked up at the end--spicy shrimp and scallops. It was just amazing--the seafood was so tender--not overcooked at all, like in most Chinese restaurants, and it was flash-wok'd with ginger, sesame, and garlic, and came with water chestnuts and green onions. And there was just a hint of that fiery Thai red pepper, so when you first ate it, it had a little zip to it, but a few minutes later, it lingered with a nice satisfying heat that made you keep licking your lips. It was one of the best Asian dishes I've ever had.
We sat in there for over four hours, drinking his beer cooler empty and sampling everything he brought out. And it was all just amazing. Everyone loved it and agreed that he was bound for success. Hell, he's gonna get rich off of my co-workers once they start paying for their own beer! The plan was to open on Wednesday (yesterday) but there was a problem with the menus, so they had to send them all back to get reprinted, so it's not opening, officially, until tomorrow. And guess where I'm eating after work? That's right. I cannot wait to get my hands on some more of those dumplings, and that sweet and sour.
Americanized Chinese food? Maybe. But way better than anything you'll get at China Panda. Hell, they don't even have pork on their menu. WTF is that about?
Maybe I'll take the camera with me and do a full-on review.
Oh, and next Wednesday I'll have another review of a very upscale restaurant from my list. It seems that one of my readers from out-of-town is on a quest to have 12 amazing Vegas dining experiences this year, and has invited me to join him on Tuesday night for the first meal of his culinary adventure. I'm not going to reveal anything else, but let's just say that it'll be the nicest joint I've been in since that trip to Andre's.
To say that I'm looking forward to that would be an understatement on par with the original "Houston, we have a problem."
Anyhow, not much else is going on here in America's Playground today. The weather has finally warmed up, the sun is out, and I think winter is finally behind us. And I've got a few hours of freedom left before head back to the neon treadmill, and I hope to enjoy it away from the computer.
Y'all have a great day!
Mikey
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