One of the things I like to do when we travel to new places is to
visit the restaurants that reflect the local flair and try the wines and
micro-brewed beers of the area. Well, since the world exists in Vegas
in every sense of food, it is nothing short of spectacular the choices
we have to choose from. Tanya suggested I could even dedicate an entire
blog itself on critiquing the restaurants here. Perhaps. But who am I
really? The Mountain Man, uncultured and uncouth. Who am I to lay it
down on those establishments and rate them? I know what I like, and I
know when a restaurant sells high and falls short. With so many to
choose from, we will never have to eat at the same place more than a
couple times, but we do have some favorites. Here are 3 of our
favorites so far.
Our favorite suishi place is called 'I Love Suishi',
which is right across the street and one of the best suishi places I
have ever experienced. The service is great, but the atmosphere can be
quite annoying. The ladies are dressed in traditional Japanese silk
robes and are very efficient at what they do, but they greet every new
customer that walks in the door with a high pitched, ear-splitting three
sylable Japanese welcome that sounds eerily contrived to reach some
level of authenticity. If its a real Japanese welcome and this is
customary at Japanese restaurants, then I will claim my unculturedness
and apologize to the fine girls of 'I Love Suishi', but it sounds
horribly contrived and it
kills me every time. The music kills me too, the tin-can sounds of
plucking and off-beat rhythms descend from the ceiling designed to relax
and transcend, but it only winds me tighter and tighter until I'm a
little ball of stress and fidgeting with my empty chopsticks. It makes
my fillings ache. I let Tanya do the ordering at the suishi places.
Its always complicated and she knows better what all the items are and
thankfully, you don't have to sit there very long before your food
arrives. I think the atmosphere is OK, and these comments are generally
stemming from me going there hungry and easily agitated on a last
minute, let's-eat-out decision. Its one of the best suishi places I've
been to, the service is slick and the food will blow your mind!!!
Wow!
Another great little spot we were directed to is 'Battista's Hole in the Wall',
an authentic Italian spot. You'd never know it by its locale inside a
little strip mall just off Flamingo, but it is well worth seeking out.
You are immersed in the atmosphere as soon as you get in, the dimly lit
restaurant transports you back to another era. Thick Italian accents
could be heard in the room and the place felt like it was from the
50's. Literally thousands of artifacts jam every space on the ceiling
and walls, so it is endlessly interesting to look around. There was a
main bar area with seating and several dining rooms of varying sizes
down a hallway. We were led down the hall to one near the end which had
5 tables in it. The menu was very simple and straightforward,
permanently written on a placard on the wall, and the meal came with a
bottle of their house wine. I felt myself questioning whether my
server's accent was a true Italian...a thick Brooklyn Italian accent.
It just didn't feel right to me at all, so I tried to engage him in
conversation to get a little more but he was busy making his rounds and
never got back to me until it was bill time. I'm pretty sure he was
faking it. Before our meal came out, one of the treasures of this
restaurant stopped by our table. An old man, I would put him in his
90's, came out slumped over with the weight of his accordian and chatted
us up, found out we were Canadian and played us a short tune. I forget
what he played us, but I was kinda taken with him and wanted to chat so
there was a moment of awkwardness before Tan kicked me under the table,
I retrieved $2 from my pocket and thanked him for the tune and he moved
on to the next table, who turned out to be a crew from Edmundston NB. I
would have liked to talk to him more but he was working, he worked
every table in the room then moved on to the next room. Cute little old
guy, there were pictures of him all over the walls in his younger days,
so I figure this has been his gig for maybe 50years or so. The wine
was excellent, the food was amazing, and the atmosphere was spot on.
Very enjoyable meal, so we'll definitely be going back to Battista's.
Last place on a quick trip around the Vegas globe of restaurants is 'Lindo Michoacan'
gourmet Mexican cuisine. Our buddy Andy was in town so we wanted to
get him off the Strip to where the locals eat. The restaurant sits on a
hill overlooking the city, so we were able to watch the sun go down and
see the city turn to gold over the course of our meal. Its a
spectacular vista, and what a meal!! Lindo Michoacan is a beautiful
restaurant, and a huge menu of things I've never even heard of. I was
quite taken with the complimentary appetizers of chips and mexican
dips. Everything was so fresh and tasty! One of the dips was insanely
hot, so Andy and I enjoyed a few Negra Modelo's to chill the palette.
We ordered some guacamole as an appetizer and the waiter came right to
our table with the raw ingredients and did it up right there in front of
us. I was full before my meal even came, so when I left I was really
full. Maybe too full to enjoy my meal properly, but it was damn'd
good! The servers were super friendly too, very happy to have us
there. The thing gets me about some places, is that I never expect a
higher end restaurant like Lindo to bring out a sombrero and shots of
tequila and have all the servers break out in a big clapping, singing
session for someone's birthday. It has always struck me as a low brow
thing to do, for a restaurant to have a staff-staged, festive blowout,
but I'm learning now that that's just part of their culture. The
Mexicans like to celebrate and are loud about it. So are the Acadians.
So I guess I will relent to being wrong about this whole celebratory
thing in restaurants and accept it as a traditional part of the culture
and not turtle to it anymore. Just let it all in and accept it as is.
And, I will try not to fill up on the chips the next time we go back.
Thanks for reading.
TRJ
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