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Thursday, May 08, 2003 Eat: Recommended Restaurants
Suburban delight
By James P. Reza
While many Las Vegans long for a more urban experience, most are eager to embrace the suburban lifestyle by working over there, living over here and driving everywhere. No surprise, then, that some of the city's favorite restaurants are nowhere near the Strip or downtown, but in far-flung developments. The next time you tire of strip-mall chain predictability, explore a local restaurant in another 'hood. Sure, the stucco looks familiar, but the food isn't.
Bob Taylor's Ranch House 6250 Rio Vista St.; 645-1399 $$-$$$; Casual/Smart Casual Bang in the middle of the once wide open, ranch-strewn northwest, Bob Taylor's is now floating in a sea of stucco. You can get mesquite-grilled steaks and seafood on almost any corner anymore, so why make the drive? For a taste of old-school hospitality and an escape from corporate blandness. Filet and shrimp, lobster tail, prime rib...the menu reads like 1950s Vegas.
Cafe Tajine 101 Montelago Blvd.; 567-1234 $$; Casual/Smart Casual Lake Las Vegas in far eastern Henderson is quite a distance to go for a meal, but maybe not when its Moroccan-inspired food served with a view like this. Located in the Hyatt Regency at Lake Las Vegas, Tajine is a comfortable, upscale room serving refined north African cuisine, including meals in the restaurant's namesake earthenware container. Dine indoors or outside overlooking the pools and lake.
El Burrito 8508 Del Webb Blvd.; 255-1069 633 N. Decatur Blvd.; 870-1969 $; Casual This family restaurant was located downtown in the 1950s, but fled to the suburbs many years ago. The atmosphere is that of a comfortable, neighborhood eatery (there's a television always screening basketball), and the big-portion, inexpensive food is what most expect of a small Mexican place. The chilaquiles (egg, chile and corn tortilla casserole) is among the best we've tasted.
Grape Street Café 7501 W. Lake Mead Blvd.; 228-9463 $$; Smart Casual Grape Street is always slammed. Sure, the bistro-inspired Italian menu (pasta, panini sandwiches, wood-fired pizza) is delicious, the wine list deep and wide, and the atmosphere comfortably upscale. But others do all this as well, so it has to be location, location, location, for the well-heeled Summerlinites can't stay away.
Jazzed Cafe & Vinoteca 8615 W. Sahara Ave.; 233-2859 $$; Smart Casual/Trendy Calling itself "your urban-style neighborhood restaurant," this bustling suburban bistro in The Lakes overflows with local soul. Top-notch northern Italian cuisine (chef/owner Kirk Offerle has nearly perfected the hand-stirred-to-order risotto) tempts an urbane clientele who enjoy being bathed in jazz and local art. The mishmash decor evokes sensuality, and the live music and candlelit tables add to the allure.
Malibu Chan's 8125 W. Sahara Ave.; 312-4267 $$; Smart Casual/Trendy A busy bar scene, late hours and an air of casual elegance make this Euro-Asian fusion eatery a popular west end stop, particularly for happy hour. Though the service can be indifferent, even stand-offish, the well-mixed cocktails, the food (everything from fresh sushi to Puckish pizza) and the delicious desserts make it usually worth the effort.
Montesano's Italian Deli 3441 W. Sahara Ave.; 876-0348 4835 W. Craig Road; 656-3708 $; Casual One visit illustrates why Montesano's has grown from a small storefront deli to a bustling diner (the Craig Road location, within a bustling middle-class neighborhood, is the cozy, de facto diner the Sahara location once was). The menu is a mishmash of New York Italian dishes; the pizzas are all delicious, and the sandwiches (including sliced-to-order egg salad) show why locals line up to buy fresh bread. Leave room to gaze at the fresh dessert case.
Rosemary's 8125 W. Sahara Ave.; 869-2251 3700 W. Flamingo Road; 777-2300 $$-$$$; Smart Casual The local restaurant that emphatically raised the bar for off-Strip dining in 1999, Rosemary's is an upscale American bistro by former Emeril chefs Michael and Wendy Jordan. Eschewing the comfort food trend, nothing is simple at this power lunch spot: rich New Orleans style infuses most of the choices, including BBQ Shrimp over Maytag Blue Cheese Slaw, White Peach & Prosciutto Salad, and parsnip and prosciutto scallops. An impressive second location is now open in the Rio.
Tenaya Creek Restaurant & Brewery 3101 N. Tenaya Way; 362-7335 $-$$; Smart Casual Tenaya Creek owns the kind of devoted following most other neighborhood restaurants wish for, and rightfully so. Operated by longtime local family the Etters, Tenaya Creek is more than just an elegant eatery serving a tasty menu of sophisticated dishes served with proper presentation. It's also an award-winning microbrewery. And a kitchen that completes the meal with amazing desserts (try the Bananas Foster). What more do you need?
Two Gals from Cal 1632 Nevada Highway; 293-1793 $; Casual If you find yourself on the road to nowhere and hunger is staring you in the face, then pull off U.S. 95 at the south end of Boulder City for a meal in this comfortable strip mall locale. The local fixture seems to serve a few more residents than travelers, and the breakfast and lunch menus are particularly satisfying. The omelet selection is big enough, but we prefer the sandwiches and soups.
Vigne Cafe 12261 S. Eastern Ave.; 269-8463 $$; Smart Casual If upscale off-Strip restaurant menus follow a pattern, it's contemporary American, and Vigne, a recent addition to Green Valley, does it well. Vigne's chef, a veteran of Wolfgang Puck's Postrio, presents items such as duck and mascarpone agnolotti with roasted squash and sage brown butter--an item with a style familiar to anyone who enjoys Rosemary's. A particular attraction of Vigne is it serves a special late menu until 2 a.m.
Wild Sage Cafe 600 E. Warm Springs Drive; 944-7243 8991 W. Sahara Ave.; 304-9453 $$-$$$; Smart Casual Appealing to a less stuffy, more trendy demographic than the similarly aligned Rosemary's, Wild Sage serves excellent renditions of comfort food, including pork chops and meat loaf in an artsy environment. The original restaurant is hidden in a stuffy Green Valley business park, but west-enders have a new, larger location all their own. Sunday brunch is delish.
Tre 1050 S. Rampart Blvd.; 946-6200 $$-$$$; Smart Casual/Trendy Tre--from New York's famed Maccioni restaurant family (Le Cirque)--is among the most impressive off-Strip eateries in Vegas. A freestanding Summerlin building, Tre is modern Mediterranean--Arabesque, Moorish, Italianate--with an inspired menu to match. Happy hour sports a busy bar, and Tre is the west end dinner spot for those accustomed to the style and service of the Strip.
Have a favorite Vegas restaurant? E-mail its name and a few descriptive sentences about why you like it to jpreza@lvcm.com. |
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