Pink's Hot Dogs... Famed L.A. eatery done Vegas Style

Who doesn't enjoy a great hot dog.  Whenever I'm having a BBQ at my house, a hot dog is an unspoken appetizer that is always served.  Now being from New York, there is really only one way to have this delicacy.  Mustard and Sauerkraut.  Ok, maybe that's the Jewish Bronx version but it's what I know as an authentic dog.  It kills me to see my kids put, dare I admit this to my readers, Ketchup on a dog.  But they eat it and at this age, I'm happy when they eat anything.  As I have traveled all over I have had the opportunities to try different dogs done in different ways.  The Coney chili dog in Detroit, the famed Chicago dog with neon relish and peppers and so many more.

I have been meaning to go to Pink's on my past trips to L.A. but never had the opportunity until now.  Pink's is located at Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino in las Vegas.  They have a large list of hot dogs to try there.   Their signature dog is a Chili dog but I'm not a fan of chili on anything other than a spoon.  But there were others that looked interesting.  I ordered the Brooklyn Pastrami swiss cheese dog and the big man dog.

The Brooklyn Pastrami Swiss cheese dog was excellent.  Melted Swiss cheese was on the bottom of the bun and the hot dog put onto the cheese.  Peppery lean pastrami was placed  over the dog and yellow mustard topped it all off.  the second dog, the big man dog, was a hot dog with tomato and onions and I asked them to put sauerkraut on it as well.  All of this was served with some great deep fried onion rings.

I've never met a hot dog I didn't like.  But still to this day, I like a good natural casing dog with spicy deli mustard and hot sauerkraut the best.

Pink's is located outside the Planet Hollywood hotel on the strip in Las Vegas.
http://www.planethollywoodresort.com/din_pinks.php

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon...........Theatre in the round

L'Atelier in French means workshop.  L'Atalier de Joel Robuchon means one of the finest meals you will ever have.   Plus if you get the right seat, you get dinner and show.  I was very fortunate to have gotten that seat.  The Bonus was getting to meat two very cool people who I sat next to.  Tom and Veronica were friends with a mutual friend and got together while Tom was there to visit on business.  Sitting next to them was extra special as we all hit it off right away and got to enjoy an artistic feast like no other.

For those of you who don't know Joel Robuchon, he was named in 1989 "The Chef of the Century", has many cookbooks and dozens of restaurants all over the world. As of today, he has more Michelin Stars than any other chef in the world.

I learned about his Las Vegas locations about 6 years ago and have always wanted to come here.   He has to locations here in Las Vegas.  One is Joel Robuchon and it has what many have called the finest tasting menu ever.   But with a wine pairing bringing the cost up to almost $500 a person, you should save a long time for that one.  L'Atelier is not a cheap meal but much more affordable than the other.  I have read about the restaurant in a number of places and it is recommended that you get the tasting menu.  Aside from the fact that if you were to order dishes separately you would come up with the same price but the experience is worth it.

One of the great things about the restaurant is that 1/2 the available seating is counter seating.  I truly love counter seating as you get to watch the action in the kitchen.  Where as it's not for everyone, I would take it any day.  I was very fortunate to have been seated at the end where there were absolutely no displays or racks in my view.  I was in full view of all the chefs.

I decided to have the "Chef's Club" tasting menu which looked fabulous.  My only two decisions were if I wanted the Rib-eye or the Scottish Salmon for the main (I chose the Rib-eye) and the choice of assorted sorbets or tarts ( I chose sorbets).

You start with a bowl of small freshly baked baguettes and probably the best butter I have ever had.  Not wanting to fill up, I only had one piece of bread.

I was given an Amuse Bouche that was served in a shot glass. On the bottom was warmed and pureed foie gras, then layered thinly was a port wine reduction and topped with whipped Parmesan.  The picture stinks. Sorry.

The first dish arrived.  Curried Butternut Squash soup with Ginger Cream.  The soup was smooth and silky and the ginger cream had a nice bite into the sweetness of the squash.  The dish was garnished with a dusting of chili powder and had toasted pumpkin seeds nestled into the top of the ginger cream.  Having the crunch of the seeds was a nice addition to the soup.  It was served in one of those Martini glasses that usually you put ice in the bottom but instead had a chili pepper and red straw as a base for the soup.  Very cool presentation.

The second dish was a Crispy Langoustine fritter with Basil Pesto.  I am a big fan of shell fish, especially anything in the lobster family.  For those of you who don't know, a Langoustine is a very small lobster.  It's similar to a hard shell shrimp.  This dish was good but I personally thought the wrapping was a bit oily.  It reminded me of the shrimp chips you sometimes can get at a Chinese restaurant.  The small salad was very bright tasting as it has a lemon vinaigrette mixed into it.  For some reason I can't get the photo to go the right way, so for now, just turn your head.

The third dish was the main dish.  Classic Rib-eye steak cooked to perfection medium rare.  The beef was such a prime selection that the layer of fat that is located almost in the middle of the steak was so tender.  I actually cut out little bits of it to accompany each bite taking it to another level.  This dish was served with Chef Robuchon's signature mashed potatoes.  Both smooth and creamy, the potatoes went so well with the steak.

The fourth dish was a cheese dish.  Personally I can't remember what any of the cheese were called.  So I have named them Cheese 1, Cheese 2 and Cheese 3.  Oh, and I can't tell you which one is which so you'll have to trust me that each one of them were great and went great with the breads that accompanied the plate.

Dessert arrived and it couldn't have been more refreshing.  5 Assorted sorbets were shaped in quenelles and flavored from left to right, cranberry, raspberry, peach, vanilla, and chocolate.  Along with my Espresso, a great way to end the meal.

Now I just wanted to mention some observations that I wanted to share that made this experience extra special.  If you love food, you will love this restaurant.  If you love to cook food, then you you need to come here and sit where I was sitting.  They have an antique Berkel meat slicer that is specifically designed to cut elegant pieces of meat and salami paper thin.  These slicers are not powered but hand cranked and the blades are designed in a concave shape so that only the very edge of the blade touches the meat.  This is done to prevent any heat caused by friction to come in contact with the paper thin meat that is cut.  If you get a chance to see one of these in action is great, but to see them up close is really a thing of beauty.  Where I was sitting, it was closer to the station where the chef's would plate the food. Watching them create art on a round palate was so much fun to see.  The gentle wisps of sauce that were created were not only there for flavor but also to feed the eyes with a painting that you didn't want to disturb with a fork.

Again, I want to thank Veronica and Tom for making my experience there a great one.  Its always great to dine among people who really appreciate great food but it's even better when upon first meeting them, you laugh the entire time.

Please go.  Please go.  Please go.  Its a wonderful culinary experience that would add to any Las Vegas trip.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon can be found at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.  For more information and reservations please go to: http://www.mgmgrand.com/restaurants/atelier-joel-robuchon-french-restaurant.aspx

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/

Las Vegas starts with a Noodle at Noodles in the Bellagio

I had gotten into Las Vegas later than I had hoped for. I had originally planned a meal at a great place that I was able to postpone till Saturday night, so I just needed to get something in me to keep me awake and satisfy the grumbling.  Buffet was out of the question since i have absolutely no self control.

So I decided to go to Noodles at the Bellagio Hotel. I was staying there so it was convenient.  It was around 10:00 PM so there was no lime but all the tables were full.

I was offered the counter since there were no tables available.  This ended being a really dull seat.  Normally with counter seating, your're seated at counter where you can overlook the happenings behind the stage. I always enjoy watching a kitchen working like a finely oiled machine. Or if you go for sushi, you get to watch all the colors of the rainbow dispayed in edible form. At Noodles you get a wall. It's not a concrete wall or a poorly wallpapered wall, but a nice wood grain wall, but it is a wall about two feet high with sake bottles and jars of dried chili's adorning the top.

The menu is standard Chinese fare with the smattering of a couple of Japanese dishes and even an Imdian curry dish.  But mostly the menu is Chinese.  I decided to get some comfort Chinese food.  For me that means Shu Mai dumplings and some sort of noodle dish.


The Shu Mai arrived in a traditional steamer basket and the top was removed revealing 5 dumplings.  Yes, the photo shows 3.  I ate two and realized I forgot to take a photos.  The Shu Mai were plump and juicy and they were filled with large chunks of Shrimp and pork.  They were quite delicious.  It was served with the traditional Chinese mustard. The only problem I had was that all the dumplings stuck to the plate and I had to scrape them off to enjoy them.  My only explanation for this was that they had done the placing of these on the plate a while ago and steamed them just to warm them up, but it didn't release from the bottom. 

My Main dish arrived and looked just like I pictured it and just like I wanted it.  Yaki Udon was served with peppers, scallions and plump and juicy Shrimp.  They were all served and laced in the large Udon noodles which was covered in soy based light stir fry sauce.  The dish was both comforting and full of flavor.  It was just what I needed.

Overall it was a very good quick and delicious meal.  I just have to make a mental note that if they ask if I want counter seating, I will absolutely say no and wait for a table. 


Noodles can be found at the Bellagio hotel and more info can be found here:
http://bellagio.com/restaurants/noodles.aspx

Gumbo Ya-Ya

I'm a big fan of Cajun food.  Jambalaya, Etoufee, Craw fish (not really Cajun but prevalent in Cajun cooking), and of course Gumbo.  Ah Gumbo.  There are many different versions of the Gumbo.   Some have seafood, some have sausage, some even have turkey.   As a fan of soups, I decided a while ago to come up with my own version of a Gumbo to call my own.  I looked over many recipes and after making many different versions, I have come up with one that I make many times a year.  Whenever I make the Gumbo and serve it to family and friend, it's a huge hit.  I even tried recently to freeze a batch and have learned that it doesn't defrost well so make it, and eat it.  The good news with that is that the dish lasts about a week in the fridge.  

Here are the list of ingredients:

1 Cup Flour
1 Cup of Canola Oil
1 1/2 Cups Onion Finely diced
1 Cup Celery Finely diced
1 Cup Green Pepper Finely diced
1/2 tspn Kosher salt
1 lb. kielbasa cut into medium cubes ( you can substitute chorizo here if you would like)
1/4 tspn cayanne pepper
3 bay leaves
2 Quarts of Chicken Stock
1 lb. Chicken cut into medium cubes and mixed with seasoning below
1 lb. shrimp (51-60 size) peeled, deviened with the tails removed

Chicken seasoning:
2 Tbsp Paprika
2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tspn Onion Powerder
1 tspn dried basil
1 tspn dried thyme
1 tspn dried oregano
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn freshly ground pepper
1 tspn file powder (This is optional)

Before you start, this dish is for someone that doesn't mind lots of prep work and and a good long afternoon to make this dish.  But trust me, it will be worth it.

Get a cast iron dutch oven (or large pot) and set heat to medium heat.
Add flour and oil into pot and mix so it forms a roux.
Mix the roux often to prevent it from burning on the bottom.   This part will take time.  like 45 minutes time.  it's important to keep the temperature at medium otherwise all your work here in the beginning will be for naught.
When the roux reaches the color of chocolate it's done.

Now besides eating the Gumbo, this is my favorite part.  Add the Onion, Pepper, and Celery and mix with the roux.  When the veggies hit the roux it creates an wonderful steam that has a nutty smell that takes you away.
Cook up the mixture for about 5 minutes till the veggies are softened.
Add the salt, cayanne, and Kielbasa and mix so it's all mixed up and cover for 5 minutes.
Take top off and put it in the sink to clean because you won't be covering this dish anymore
Add Chicken stock and mix everything so that the veggie roux mixture gets thinned out.

Bring soup up to a simmer and simmer for 1 hour.
After an hour, mix up the soup and add the chicken that is mixed in with the seasonings.
Stir soup so all the pieces of chicken are separate and cook for another hour.
Stir soup after the hour and add the shrimp.  stir and cook another hour.
When Soup is reduced to the thickness you like, your done.
I like to add a large scoop of white rice on the bottom of the bowl and ladle the soup over the rice.

 Enjoy.

Thali in Ridgefield CT. Great Indian Meal

This Saturday Evening we had decided to make it a family dinner night.  Anita, my wife, had said that our 7 year old son Jonah had really enjoyed Indian food when they were visiting friends overseas a few weeks ago.  I was worried about our 5 year old but knew once he tried the food, he would like it.  It was a gamble, but in the end, it was one that paid off.

Thali is located on Route 7 in Ridgefield and is part of a Motel there.  Since we had gone with kids, we went early and were actually the first ones there.  By the time we left, every table had people sitting in it.  We had decided to start with Samosa's since we knew they were safe.  Since our son really enjoyed this overseas, we ordered two servings.  The outside of the Samosa's were harder than I had remembered from having them in the past but there were delicious.  Each one was filled with a tender potato and green peas and there was a light dipping sauce to go with it.  Our other appetizer was Ragda Patties.  Now I had expected something different than what we got.  The dish almost looked like a low bowl of Chili with cheese on it, but what was inside was a mix potato, ginger and a flavor of cumin that was in a dark brown sauce with green peas and chick peas.

We were excited when our Main dishes came because the place smelled great as the server approached us.  I am a big fan of Saag Paneer and theirs was real good.  large Chunks of Panner (a solid version of cottage cheese) were mixed in with a savory creamed type spinach that had garlic mixed into it.  To be safe, we ordered Chicken Tikka Masala so the kids had something safe to eat since it's traditionally a mild dish.  The sauce was a thick tomato gravy that had lots of flavor.

The third main was the biggest hit of the night.  The dish was called Chingri Malai Korma.  It was Cardamom flavored sauce with small shrimps in it.  As it turned out, this went the quickest.  Normally our oldest son Jonah isn't a big shrimp fan but he couldn't get enough of them.

The fourth dish was Malai Kofta which was basically the same thing as the shrimp but with a potato paneer ball.  We learned this later when the dishes came and we gave each other the oops look.  But the shrimp dish tasted better for some reason.

We also got Naan and Garlic Naan which were both delicious and we got Jasmine rice.  All of those did a great mopping job that you look for in Indian food.

Overall, the food and service was excellent.  We were under a bit of pressure with ordering since we didn't want to go to far from safe because of the kid factor.  I think in the future, our dishes will have to encompass a dish with no gravy.   When we were done, it looked like a table of left over soup.  The portion of the gravies were very generous and we were just too full to add more rice and Naan to soak them up.

I highly recommend Thali to anyone who likes Indian food and is in the Ridgefield area.  They also have locations in New Haven and New Canaan.  Thali can be found online at http://www.thali.com/home.html

Vegas Here I Come.......

With only one week left, i'm drooling over the idea of the various places i have booked to dine in while in the city of plenty next week. I'm going to be traveling there for business and have set aside a few days and nights to go out and sample what tasty delicacies the city has to offer.  While most of my experience and reservations are on the strip, I have found some off strip places that I have read will be a real treat.  Keep checking back here after next weekend.  I hope that I will be blogging everyday when I have a new review to report on.

Until then...Keep eating.