Hash House A Go-Go.....Off Strip Gluttony

I had first learned about Hash House A Go-Go from the popular TV program called Man V. Food on the Travel Channel.  It looked like a fun place but since it's way off the strip and I never rent a car when I'm here, I didn't think it was going to be an easy place to go to.  Enter my friend Roger who came in from L.A. to meet with me and his friend Mel.  He drove here and comes here often.  Roger asked me when he told me he was coming the same weekend if I had ever heard of the place, Hash House A Go-Go.  I told him I had just learned about it and he highly recommended it.  I went back to my DVR and watched the episode.  The feature dish looked ridiculous since it was practically 1 day's worth of calories.  No way I was going to get that.  Boy was I wrong.

The place opened in 2001 and has been running full steam since.  We waited 30 minutes for lunch and had a chance to see all the Celebrity pictures with signed menus that adorned the walls.  As we were waiting, I couldn't help but notice all the dishes that came out of the kitchen.  They were all served on huge platters that you could put a full family meal on.  They were either on large platters or cast iron Skillets.  They have a famous Bloody Mary that was garnished with Jalapeño stuffed olives, and pickles and pickled string beans.  The spice in the drink was perfect for me.  It had a great bite that stayed with you for many minutes after the drink was done.  Great way to start a meal.

When looking at the menu, I noticed the feature dish and it looked great.  I had seen it come out of the kitchen more than anything else when we were waiting.  So I decided to get it.  It's called Andy's Sage Fried Chicken Benedict.  Starting from the bottom of the plate to the very top the layers go like this:

• Red Bliss Potato mash that gets nicely browned on the bottom from spending some griddle time
• Buttermilk biscuit cut in half and put on top of the mash
• Fresh spinach
• Freshly sliced tomato
• Hardwood smoked bacon
• Sage dusted fried Chicken breast (I have to talk about this.  The sage is mixed into the batter of the fried Chicken that has been deep fried.  it was so good, I made sure I at least finished the chicken.  You could make a meal on just that kind of fried chicken alone)
• Scrambled Eggs
• Griddled Mozzarella (Chef takes the cheese and puts it right on the griddle till it melts and then puts it on top of the chicken
• topped off with a chipotle cream sauce and garnished with a big knife (to keep it all together) and a mega stalk of Rosemary.
• oh, and laid perpendicularly to the platter is placed deep fried angel hair pasta that is placed pretty much in the middle of the dish.

Here is what it looks like:

Roger and I got the same dish and Mel got the waffles and fried chicken.  Her dish had a 1/4 piece of bone in chicken that was on top of 4 mega waffles.  But there was something special in the waffles.  When they made the waffles in the waffle iron, they place two pieces of hardwood smoked bacon on top of the batter after it's in the iron so the bacon cooks right into the waffle.  Mel offered me a taste and it was heavenly.  Smokey salty bacon with sweet waffle went down real nice.  The dish also has deep fried shredded Scallions that are so crunchy and delicious.

I have to also mention that on the table is a small metal bowl filled with fresh made strawberry jam that the Chef makes every day.  Instead of it being jelly like, this was almost like fluffy strawberry jam.  I'm not a big strawberry fan but this was very tasty and light.

If you don't have a car, get into a taxi and get over to Hash House A Go-Go.  It was a fun delicious meal and if you don't leave stuffed, you did it wrong.

Hash House A Go-Go can be found here: http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/