Dining Features
Haute Plates
From Japan to Paris on $20 a day: Café de Japon offers inviting, exotic eats on a student’s budget
December 22nd, 2011
We’re back in the wacky world of Japanese cooking, this time at a kissaten, or a Japanese-style coffee shop. Chef Kiichi Okabe, formerly of Sushi Roku at the Forum Shops, decided to open one of these places, a concept I frequented in various forms as a student in Tokyo. Read more »
The Restaurant Awards
Our second annual celebration of Las Vegas’ best dining
October 13th, 2011
After four years of hard times, everyone is ready to sound the death knell for fine dining in Las Vegas. But rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, we had so many excellent dining experiences to consider this year that it was quite a challenge to decide which ones to single out. After more than a few passionate discussions among Vegas Seven’s food-and-beverage team, we’ve come up with a “best” list that shows that our restaurant scene is not only very much alive, but still evolving. Read more »
Worthy of a Double-take
Laudable wining and dining at Town Square’s Double Helix Wine & Whiskey Lounge
September 22nd, 2011
The wine bar has slowly been working its way into the American consciousness, but it has a long way to go before it attains the popularity of a beer hall or cocktail lounge. La Cave at the Wynn is going great guns, but Nora’s Wine Bar in Boca Park recently went belly-up. But in my book, Double Helix has all the tools to give it staying power. Read more »
Dining
Come See Comme Ça
Rustic French is in good hands in the big city
June 23rd, 2011
When Cosmopolitan CEO John Unwin tapped David Myers and his West Hollywood French bistro to fill a niche on his third floor, he clearly was thinking of a casual—as opposed to stuffy—French venue. The result was a second Comme Ça, slightly different from its counterpart in California, but as rustic and easygoing as the original. Read more »
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It’s the Bomb!
East Coast Eats brings a meaty taste of Boston to Henderson
June 16th, 2011
The venue is East Coast Eats, opened by a couple of guys from Massachusetts’ North Shore (or “Nawth Shaw,” as natives like me refer to it). The conceit in this storefront is the food we ate in the Boston area: roast beef sandwiches, calzones, various types of seafood on pasta, and above all, subs. And everything is done Boston-style. Read more »
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7 Great Comforts
Our food critic shares the dishes that feel and taste just right during the holidays
November 25th, 2010
No time of year resonates more for comfort foods than the one between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is a time for office parties and cozy dinners with friends, and the colder weather makes heavier, more filling dishes justifiable. I admit, I’m biased in favor of foods one would call indulgent, but let’s face it, so are most people. Here are my seven choices for most comfortable dishes in town: Read more »
Dining
Television That Sizzles
Chef Hubert Keller shares his secrets with a hungry nation
February 17th, 2011
Watching Chef Hubert Keller prepare the kitchen set for filming is delicious torture. The smells are divine, but the food is forbidden; this is a television set and not a restaurant, after all. In case you’ve been living under a pizza stone, Keller is a San Francisco-based French chef who runs multiple restaurants, two of which are in Las Vegas: Fleur (formerly Fleur de Lys) in Mandalay Bay and Burger Bar in the Shoppes at Mandalay Place. He garnered fame beyond the restaurant realm as both a contestant and judge on Bravo’s Top Chef. He’s working on his third cookbook (due out in 2012) and is passionate about his favorite charity, the Make-A-Wish Foundation. But today, his focus is on filming Secrets of a Chef. Read more »
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A Banner Meal
Dining is an exchange of nostalgic ideas at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill
February 10th, 2011
What are the odds that two globetrotting Caucasian brothers from New York City would open the hottest Japanese restaurant in Vegas? Not long, if you consider that while Bruce and Eric Bromberg ate their way around the planet as kids with their foodie dad—ultimately leading to their careers as 17-year partners in the restaurant business—their travels have never taken them to Japan. Then, one evening, they had the perfect meal a small Manhattan Japanese restaurant, Mishima. This led to an epiphany. They immediately hired the chef, and Blue Ribbon Sushi was born. The company, today with 11 restaurants in total, hasn’t looked back since. Read more »
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Seven Great Burgers!
Our picks for hot and juicy meat-on-grill action
February 3rd, 2011
The American palate may have gotten more sophisticated during the past few decades, but beef is still very much our meat of choice, and the burger is still our favorite and most accessible way to consume it. Read more »
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Early Fleur
Waiting for Hubert Keller’s new bloom
January 27th, 2011
Hubert Keller is a star, a fan of rock music and a Mr. Nice Guy. He launched the upscale burger phenomenon in Las Vegas with Burger Bar in 2004, has his own PBS show, Secrets of a Chef, and owns a successful San Francisco restaurant, Fleur de Lys. Read more »
