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Thursday, March 13, 2003 Eat: Recommended Restaurants
By James P. Reza
This week's theme: Muy Bueno
It's easy to lump the food of all Spanish-speaking countries into one bloated group--Hey, you got your empañadas into my burrito!--but we're not going to do that here. Instead, let's start with what pasty white Americanos generally call "Mexican food," which includes the food of Mexico as well as the American Southwest. Sometime in a coming issue, we'll tackle the rest of the Latin palate.
Frank & Fina's Cocina 5550 W. Charleston Blvd.; 878-8669 $; Casual Located in a tiny, old A-frame building, Frank and Fina's family-run restaurant is popular with just about everyone: lunching secretaries, hip students on a budget, regular Joes and Joses, and, thanks to the vegetarian section of its menu, granolas. The guacamole is flavorful, and the chimichanga-style burritos stand out. There's only a limited liquor license, so margaritas are made with wine, which is just fine.
Border Grill 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 632-7402 $$; Smart Casual "Too Hot Tamales" chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger are famous for taking the street foods of southern Mexico and reworking them to define progressive Southwestern cuisine. Don't expect a plate covered with beans and rice; instead, menu choices include a variety of ceviche (cold-cooked fish), plantain empañadas, tamales, tacos and more.
Coyote Cafe 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 736-1485 $$-$$$; Smart Casual By taking traditional New Mexican recipes and cooking techniques and updating them, chef Mark Miller practically defined Southwestern with his Santa Fe, N.M., eatery in the late 1980s. His MGM restaurant opened in the mid-1990s, and remains one of the city's favorites. The casual cafe fronting the pedestrian walk features a less expensive margaritas-and-guacamole-type menu, while the dining room is an upscale, colonial Mexican delight.
Doña Maria's 910 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 382-6538 3205 N. Tenaya Way; 656-1600 $; Casual This few-frills family-owned Mexican cocina features the expected combination plates, but choose from the tamales menu--pork, chicken or cheese--as this is Doña's true fame claim. Experienced diners know to request a bowl of the smoking hot chipotle salsa, with a snowy margarita to quench the flame. There's always a futbol match on the big screen, and lunch tables fill fast.
El Burrito 8508 Del Webb Blvd.; 255-1069 633 N. Decatur Blvd.; 870-1969 $; Casual This family restaurant was originally located downtown in the 1950s, but fled to the suburbs many years ago. The atmosphere is that of a comfortable, neighborhood eatery (there's a television always screening basketball), and the big-portion, inexpensive food is what most expect of a small Mexican place. The chilaquiles (egg, chile and corn tortilla casserole) are among the best we've tasted.
El Sombrero Cafe 807 S. Main St.; 382-9234 $; Casual Since 1950, El Sombrero has been the archetypical Mexican hole-in-the-wall. A tiny storefront in a part of town most suburbanites ignorantly avoid, El Sombrero is still owned by the same bloodline that launched it. The food is classic Mex-American: cheap, good eats overflowing the plate. Weekday lunches are consistently busy.
Garduño's 4321 W. Flamingo Rd.; 942-7777 $-$$; Casual/Smart Casual A longtime Las Vegas favorite, Garduños is a product of a New Mexican family. Some of the recipes (including the chile stew and posole) and the ingredients (including the region's Hatch chile) are unique to New Mexico, but others carry more of a traditional Mexican influence, making most of the menu familiar. Although this can't honestly be called a traditional New Mexican eatery, the food is still very good.
La Barca 953 E. Sahara Ave.; 657-9700 $$; Casual Southwestern, nouvelle, fusion, blah blah blah...La Barca puts on no airs about being anything other than a traditional Baja Californian eatery, where ceviche is the stuff of which meals are made, and ice-cold beer makes it all go down. Don't stop in thinking you'll settle down with a plate of rice/bean/tortilla something. Here's it is all--all--about the seafood.
Lindo Michoacan 2655 E. Desert Inn Rd.; 735-6828 3715 S. Decatur Blvd.; 257-6810 $; Casual Considered by some to be the city's best Mexican restaurant, Lindo Michoacan is like stepping into a restaurant in Mexico. Yes, you'll find the familiar concession of combination plates featuring tacos and enchiladas and the like, but there also are traditional specialties (seafood, roasted goat) that take this firmly into the realm of authenticity.
Pink Taco 4455 Paradise Rd. (in the Hard Rock Hotel) 693-5000 $; Smart Casual/Trendy This is the Ÿber-sexy beachside taqueria in the Cabo of your dreams. Everyone--staff, sexpots, satyrs--looks to have been plucked from MTV, and the music volume boosts conversation to strip club levels. Unexpectedly, the Mexican menu (by chef Tacho Kneeland) is equally as appealing as the people, with unusual items such as chilaquiles emerging properly tasteful.
Taqueria Cañonita 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 414-3773 $; Casual/Smart Casual Located along the Grand Canal in the Venetian, this "open air" restaurant offers a pleasant dining experience. The food is traditional Mexican informed by an upscale sensibility--shrimp quesadillas, bean empañadas, tacos al carbon--and the atmosphere is like dining in a trendy eatery in Mexico City's Zona Rosa.
Viva Mercados 6182 W. Flamingo Rd.; 871-8826 $-$$; Casual Bobby Mercado and family long ago turned this strip mall restaurant into a Las Vegas fave. Since then, dozens of others have come along, diluting the success here. But the massive menu (including a a large vegetarian section, as well as a larger Baja seafood selection) is always well-tended, making the food much better than almost any of the typical Mexican places.
Z Tejas 3824 S. Paradise Rd.; 732-1660 9560 W. Sahara Ave.; 638-0610 $-$$; Smart Casual Locals put off by the carpetbagger vibe of the central location will love the ambiance of the westside version, where weekends are populated by neighbors enjoying a drink and the game, and the tables are big enough for briefcases. Delicious wild mushroom enchiladas and spicy grilled chicken pasta are choice selections from the Southwestern/cajun-inspired menu.
Know of a great, recently opened restaurant? Send its name to jpreza@lvcm.com and tell him why you love it. |
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