Blue Ox

Upon the referral of our friend, Killjoy, we were told we HAD to check out the Blue Ox. Apparently there are multiples of these in town, but as it is a local favorite, we decided to check it out... Mostly because Killjoy is very rarely wrong about these sorts of things and we trust his judgement. Also, it appears that the Blue Ox owner is a huge Minnesota Vikings fan. For those of you who don't know, I (Rabbit) am from Michigan, so I feel a certain type of kinship with people who are also from god-forsaken cold places. That and we Midwesterners have some kickass food. (Woot woot to the Midwesterners in the hizzy!)

So we dropped in yesterday evening and were pleasantly surprised by the laid back, Pulp Fiction type feel the diner had. We took a seat and perused the menu. And it looked good.

Now, Killjoy had insisted that we try the chicken fingers (not a giant twist of my arm by any means) so that's what I ordered. Generally, that entrée comes with home made potato chips but I opted for the french fries, as I don't usually care for chips to begin with (unless you're British and by chips you mean fries. . . but I digress). Kobold had the Minnesota Viking (roast beef on a bakery style roll with tomato and onion, served with horseradish on the side) and he got the home made potato chips.

Overall the meal was quite good, though the waitstaff needed to be slapped around a bit. Kobold and his hatred of poisonous death apples (tomatoes) caused a small ordering malfunction (the sandwich came with tomatoes which he asked to be left off, and did not include onion or the horseradish). My meal came with the chips, but I did eventually get my fries.

Kobold's roast beef was quite good, though lacking in onions and horseradish and tasted slightly of tomato. The sandwich was a little smaller than he had anticipated, but he helped me eat my chicken fingers, so it was all ok. He said that the chips were also good but a little on the bland side.

My entrée was very good indeed. I ordered the mild chicken fingers and was surprised by the heaping portion. Each "finger" was damned near 6, 6.5 inches long and I got 5 or 6 of them. Quite a meal indeed. It's a good thing that Kobold was there to help me. I got a very small order of fries when they did come, but I'm not sure that that was the full order...

So, overall the rating is probably around a B+ for the food, but a C or so for the service. Don't get me wrong; we'll go back (Because I think the waitress was either a little "special" or really new) to give it another try.

Tiki Too?

All right, kids. I know that this is technically a food blog but I've fallen in love with a little local hole-in-the wall bar and I thought I'd let you know about it. It's called Frankie's Tiki Room (Charleston and MLK) and the site page is here.

It's dark, it's cozy, it's popular with the locals and the bartenders can pour a MEAN drink. I'm not a lightweight by any measure, but let me tell you. Three Kahiki Kai's and I'm a happy, happy Rabbit. The drinks are around $8 per... but trust me, it's totally worth it. Also, for a little extra scratch, you get a rad collector's mug!

Kobold is a fan of the "Three Rum Scum" and my drink is the Kahiki Kai (A little fruity and much easier to take than just a straight shot). Each drink has its own special collector's glass, including the "Bearded Clam" whose glass features a four-legged, four-armed woman whose..eh... "lower region" hair forms a grass-skirt type thing. It's pretty darned cool, if I say so myself.

So if you're in the mood for a Tiki type drink, chill people and a really cool ambiance, check out Frankie's. The staff is excellent and the people are pretty damned rad too.

Peirogi!

Dobry wieczor! (That's Polish for good afternoon...) Kobold had heard from the night time security lady at his workplace (who is Polish) that there is a little Polish deli in town that is amazing. We were originally in the market for paczki but as they are seasonal (only for fat tuesday-ish time), we were out of luck on that. I do recall from my time in Russia, though, that there were these lovely little potsticker-like things called Peirogi. Oh... em... gee... they were amazing, but I could never remember the name of them. On visiting Kobold's work one evening to help keep him company and bring him dinner, we came upon the little security lady and asked her about said potsticker-like foods. Of course she knew what we were talking about and said that yes, the deli had these things.

Being the excited little Rabbit that I can be, I asked the lady where it was. She couldn't remember but in a few minutes, produced the top portion of her most recent receipt from the place, which had the address on it. Win for us. So today we were out garage sale shopping with Kobold and his father, Dadoo... and decided to make a stop. We're not Polish, necessarily, but we are good fatties and we're all about trying something new.

So! We get to the little market on Charleston past the 15 (the address is 5900 West Charleston - think Charleston and Jones area) and pull into the shopping complex. It's confused. It has a Polish deli, a Mexican market, a sushi place.. Very multicultural. I'm not complaining.

The three of us walk in and are greeted by friendly staff and a surprisingly busy environment. You'd think, given the location, that it wouldn't be bustling, but apparently there's a larger Polish community in Las Vegas than I had previously considered. We were immediately wowed by the array of goods available here: from fresh-baked breads to in-house made meats and sausages, to candy, chocolate, spices, frozen foods, drinks... and Oh, Em, Gee so much delicious stuff, it was making me bounce like a giddy schoolgirl.

We chose a couple of cold drinks from the fridge, including some lemon-flavored soda which was very good.. almost a lemon creme sort of thing, to strawberry carrot juice (in which, the first four ingredients did not contain sugar... and corn syrup was not listed at all). We also scored some sausage, candy, peirogi (potato and cheese) and tea. Turns out, the Poles are serious about their tea.

We couldn't wait to try the sausage, and as it was pre-cooked, we nommed it while in the van in the parking lot. The sodas were excellent and the juice was rad. The candy was a sort of yoghurty.. vanillay... something but also very good. We had to wait 'till we got home for the peirogi, but it was boiled, then pan fried and YOMMY. Punch a baby yommy. For real.

If you're in the mood for something different, swing by this little place (but not on Sundays - they're not open) and grab a bit of this-and-that. Prices are totally reasonable, things are fresh-made or imported and the staff is excellent.

Las Pupusas

O...M...G. Being the curious rabbit I am, I asked a group of my coworkers if they knew anything about pupusas. I, being from the Midwest, know little-to-nothing about Latin American cuisine and so, I ask those who have more experience than me. I got a suggestion from my friend, Junior who is married to a Salvadorian lady, that pupusas were extraordinary and yum-tastic. Trying to describe them is rather lacking, but I'll give it a try. Envision flour puffy tortillas, stuffed with meat, cheese, herbs and spices and some sort of magic ingredient that makes you want to hump them... they are then fried in the deep fryer for a few minutes (until they're hot, not like they're chicken wings or something) and slapped onto the plate.. kinda like savory tortilla dough nuts.... kinda.

He was not mistaken in the slightest and he recommended a little place here in town, simply called Las Pupusas. The one he sent us to was WAY out in new North Las Vegas, on West Craig road, but they do have other locations (Flamingo and Eastern as well as one near Valley View and Desert Inn). At any rate, it was a great adventure out into never-never land for the pupusas.

Kobold ordered three of the "combination" pupusas (which, I may add, are only $1.50 each. W00t!) which include pork, spices/herbs, cheese and loveliness. They're pretty big on their own, but you know we're fatties so we ordered more. We also had sweet corn tamales (4 of them, served with beans and sour cream for dipping) and chicken enchiladas which were huge, delicious and served with beans, rice and all the fixings. Everything here was absolutely delicious and, dare I say it, didn't make my tummy do flip-flops. Even better!

The food was quick, prepared on-the-spot (you can see into the kitchen - this is big points for me because you KNOW it's clean and you can watch your food being made. Rad.) and came in huge portions. It's reasonably priced and good enough for us to think about trying out other pupusa locations so we can judge them up against this place.

Long story short? I love my co worker and will honor his suggestions any time!

Country Cafe

Kobold and I were hungry (as is wont to happen) and were looking for something close to home when we came across Country Cafe. When we walked in, we immediately noticed that we were two of the smaller people in the place. Generally this means two things: 1). The portions of the food are gigantic and 2). the prices are good. Upon perusing the menu we decided the second was definitely true. Prices here? Completely reasonable.

We ordered our drinks and were presented with near-gallon sized cups. Ok, if this follows suit with the drinks, we're in like Flynn. We ordered an appetizer (mozzarella sticks) and were pleasantly surprised with the ginormous portions displayed here. Woot for us.

Kobold ordered the chicken wings with home made potato chips and much to our pleasure, he was presented with nearly (maybe even more than) a pound of wings which were awesomely flavored and yum-tastic. Same with the potato chips. Cooked fresh, well seasoned and in huge abundance.

I decided on the chicken fried steak and was shocked when it came to me. Two huge pieces of meat in awesome breading, smothered in home-made brown gravy; plus a baked potato, green beans and a roll (as if I could even think to eat it)!

We couldn't even conceive of getting desert, but it looked absolutely amazing. The menu is varied and 'down home cooking' oriented, though like I said - totally reasonable on the price.

The ambiance is down-home, as the name suggests and the staff is super-friendly. Just a note, though, the women's bathroom is white and yellow. You may want to squint when first entering.

Grind Burger - part deux

All right, all right - I know, we've covered Grind Burger before (and bought their swag and been there at least three more times since we've reviewed it the first time) but I have to tell you, I have NEVER had any sort of burger this damned good. It makes me want to punch multiple babies. MULTIPLE!

Ghryc, Kobold and I headed down there as the general cry for the evening was "give me red meat!" This time instead of a turkey burger, I had cow (as did Kobold) and as Ghryc was feeling a little disinclined to be quite as big a fatty as the other two of us, he chose the meatless patty.

But first!

We had the appetizer. It was nom-tastic. Calamari in thai sweet sauce? Can we haz moar pleeeze?! Kobold said he might just order the appetizer as a meal next time we came, it was that damned good.

Even the meatless patty was good (according to Ghryc, neither Kobold nor I dared try it) and the toppings/sauces were as always, amazing.

I'm beginning to think that there are subliminal messages in the rockin' music they play at this place because aside from the 'meh' caliber of the dessert, I have yet to try anything here that was not 'hurt infants' good.

Seriously.

You guys have got to try this place!

The Deli Den

Once upon a time, Ms. Rabbit and Mr. Kobold drove allllllll the way out to never-never-land to find a papasan that was barely used and on the cheap. Whilst out on their adventure, they hungered. Deciding to see what sort of delectable edibles were available out in knobby-ville, they drove to the Durango and 215 area and found a place called The Deli Den. Seeing the prices were reasonable, and being that Rabbit is a big fan of delis in general and more specifically, New York style delis, they decided to nom at this place.

Ms. Rabbit chose the Philly Cheesesteak sandwich and Kobold chose the special (which we unfortunately cannot remember the name of) with corned beef, provolone and yum-tastic bread. Both were excellent, the meat had good flavor and the portions were huge. The service was mediocre at best, but the staff was friendly enough. It definitely had a family-owned feel and the decor was functional and non-fancy (odd, for that side of town).

The two adventurers nom-ed their gigantic sandwiches and eyed dessert but thought better of it, as the balaclava was bigger than Rabbit's hand. Yikes! Portions here are out of control big.

The only sticking point that was while Kobold was digesting, the tummy started to churn and do unhappy things. We're not sure if it was the sandwich, the corned beef or the combination of the two, but it did not end well for Kobold's bathroom or his stash of TP.

So if you're ever waaaaaaaaaaay out in never-never-land, give it a try but beware the corned beef.

Beer, Beef and Brownies

Steiner's website proclaims that it "is a Nevada style pub and (...) is the best bet for cared-for service, inspired cuisine and an abundant selection of beer and spirits."



Kobold and I were wandering South on Las Vegas Boulevard, past the Town Square mall, past Fry's.. just sort of headed in a direction, when I saw the "Nevada style pub" sign and got curious. We pulled yet another shell world (are we seeing a pattern here?) and popped in. First, let me say: Staff.. you did an excellent job! Kobold gives you females extra points for being attractive, but his scale is a little different than mine. As far as ambiance and service go, you guys get an A+ from me.. or .. a smiley face sticker.. or a pony.

We skipped the appetizers, electing to try and save enough room for a listing on the desert menu that looked absolutely sumptuous. We did note that the prices throughout the menu were absolutely reasonable - and the menu is gigantic. There are 24 beers on tap and more in bottles, a whole page dedicated to sangwiches (hot and cold) and.. yeah. Foodgasm.

Kobold had a sandwich called "The Palms" which is best described as a patty melt, on marble rye with swiss, onions and a side of 1,000 island dressing - take note, restaurants: THIS IS THE ONLY WAY PATTY MELTS SHOULD BE PREPARED! Kobold likes his cow medium rare and that's exactly how it was prepared. He also elected for a side of the home-made potato chips. Yum-tastic, kids. I promise you this.

I had a PhilEly Melt (aka: philly cheesesteak), which was gigantic and had excellent quality of beef (you may also order it with chicken instead), filling, full of onions, peppers and REAL cheese served on a hoagie. I had the beer battered fries which were neither too big nor too small and were nice and crisp but not over done. I'm starting to sound like golide locks at this point, so I'll stop. Seriously, though. Amazing.


For dessert, we had been eyeballing the Hot Bourbon Brownie Sundae and were squeeing in our pants by the time we each had our first bites. Warm, soft brownie, hot fudge, vanilla bean bits on top of vanilla ice cream, smothered in a bourbon sauce? We were happy little fatties and devoured all that we could before the prospect of being carted out of the place on a hand truck presented itself.

Seriously, people. Go south on the boulevard. I promise it's absolutely worth the trip.

Blue Fin Sushi

Ghryc and I are big fans of sushi - and on the rare occasion that Kobold is feeling adventurous and has it on good authority that the cross-contamination at that particular place is nonexistent, he'll try it too. On this occasion it was just myself and Ghryc, though and we went for some all-you-can-eat sushi at Blue Fin. It's on Sunset almost to Hender-tucky but still technically within the city limits. Also, apparently, it delivers. Oh, how I wish I were within range. You can find their website here .

Let me add this in here: Ghryc can put away some serious amounts of food in general, but watching him eat sushi and sashimi is... well, it's almost like watching a true master paint a portrait or listening to a musician really get into the groove. This man can eat when he wants to and on the occasion that you get him to a sushi place, there is no other choice than 'all you can eat' for him.

Myself, I'm content with one, maybe two rolls (the rice is filling, ok!) and I'm good for the while... never mind that I'll be hungry in an hour or two once everything has settled. So, to give you an idea of the general gist that we ate, I'll include the ones I remember myself eating and... well, I'll give you the rundown of what Ghryc said about the massive amounts of food he packed away.

I always have tempura-something (I'm not a fan of raw fish, I prefer the cooked or tempura-ed rolls), so this time I chose the tempura shrimp. They were light and crispy, not overcooked and generally wicked delicious. I also believe I had the crystal shrimp and/or a godzilla-type roll (shrimp, avocado, fish sauce, et all) which was also quite good. I'm a good kid when it comes to eating but also I want to mention the portions here were quite large, so for a normal fatty, 1-2 rolls just might do you in.

Ghryc is a fan of sashimi and ....whatever the little quail-egg-thingies-with-orange-balls-on-top.. things are, so he had those, as well as some spicy rolls and some cooked rolls, all of which he declared absolutely delicious. This is only one of the many sushi restaurants that he frequents but it is one of his favorites, as the price is decent and the portions large.

Something New

Kobold has been asking for us to try something new; Indian food. I'm not well-acquainted with such things and despite being fairly adventurous, I'm not the type of girl who will eat anything (ie: Kobold is excited about the prospect of trying some Norwegian/Icelandic rotting shark something-or-other.. aka: Hákarl ). Indian food is one of those things that I was sort of on the fence about. I say "was" because he convinced me to go to India Palace (menu/info here for you lovely readers)

It's once more Zagat rated and wonderful. At this point, I really ought to stop questioning him. We went with Ghryc on a Saturday evening and were pleasantly surprised, the place was quasi-busy but seated us right away. The service was impeccable and the prices are reasonable.

They do offer many appetizers, including a staggering assortment of Naan - but we skipped this in order to save room for the meal. They did bring us some complimentary naan (kind of like whole-grain water crackers.. funny-shaped) along with 3 different 'standard' sauces.... red, green and poo-colored. I can't tell you what they were, but the poo-colored was my favorite. It was sweet-ish, the green was more mild and the red was hot-sweet.

Kobold had the KEEMA Lamb, which doesn't necessarily LOOK super-appetizing but I assure you, as I did take a taste, it is amazing. A bit of a kick but not enough spice to deter my Midwestern tastebuds. Kobold decimated this meal in under 15 minutes but stated that he was happily full. The portions look small but added in with the Naan they bring at beginning, plus rice, it was a goodly amount of food.

Ghryc had the goat curry and, per usual, ordered it in "kill me please" hot. Even the waiter asked at least twice to make sure he wasn't just being boastful. He wasn't, and he was pleased with the outcome. It too looked a little...interesting in presentation, but also came in a portion that filled him up and he said it had good flavor and wasn't just "American hot" (ie: hot without any kind of good taste). Special note: the Goat does not come de-boned, so be careful.

I had the chicken Kabab, which comes on a chili's-esque cast iron skillet-dealie, in cahoots with onions, peppers, lemon wedges and an orange slice. It was very good -tasty like.. spicy (but not too spicy) chicken... "molded" FYI, means "squished around the stick so it looks like a sausage." Again, not something I had known about the presentation, but it was quite yum-tastic.

We were intrepid enough to try dessert, too. I initially wanted GAJJAR HALWA, but the waiter said they were out. Sad panda. I settled for KHEER, as I am a gigantic fan of saffron (ok, maybe an addict - it's hard to get saffron anywhere). It was very good, huge portion and came in a banana split boat. Hooray! Kobold had the RAS MALAI and I have to admit, it was good too, though I am generally not a fan of cheese in my deserts.

Thai me to the moon...

I couldn't resist the awful pun. I apologize profusely but it couldn't be helped, especially since we're becoming such good friends.

Ahem.



The subject today is Thai food and aside from the fact that I know I'm going to get crap for this, I've currently got two favorites in town: Royal Thai and Thai BBQ (the Original).

First up, Royal Thai. It's on Sahara just West of the Strip (can you tell this is our general neighborhood area? Yeah.. deal with it) and it's neatly situated in a strip mall filled with other cuisines that we've been meaning to try but have yet to venture toward because, well... Royal Thai is amazing. Menu and info for you here

The staff is O.M.G awesome and despite the fact that we're usually the only ..er... white people in the place (isn't this a good measure of the cuisine? If other people of that ethnicity love to eat there?), we've never been treated with anything less that excellence.

Not only this, but the food? The food makes me squee in my pants. Almost literally. I'm a big fan of Pad Thai in particular and this place makes me quite happy about it. Portions are huge and prices are absolutely affordable. I always start out with the appetizer - tempura vegetables (because despite the fact that I'm a fatty and don't generally eat a lot of veggies, I can't pass up deep fried eggplant, zucchini, broccoli and carrots with sweet sauce for dipping!) and then move on to the Pad Thai. I have also tried the eggplant main dish as well as the orange chicken. Everything to date has been absolutely delicious. Not a single complaint from me or any of the poor intrepid souls that have ventured here with me.

The best thing about Royal Thai is the dessert. Seriously. I'd punch babies for this dessert. I believe they call it sweet rice... I'm not sure how to say it in Thai, so I fake it and tell the server that I want the green rice (yeah, it's green, but totally worth the shock value) with ice cream. And by ice cream, I mean coconut ice cream which is not too sweet - actually, not as sweet as the rice - and still has bits of coconut in it. It comes in a little dish and you may want to share it, but not.. if you know what I mean. It's incredibly rich and it may be too much for you to think about eating, but you'll want to anyway. Also, the rice is served warmish and of course the ice cream is not. Great combination. NOM NOM NOM!

The other favorite thusfar was attempted just this week: Thai BBQ on Jones and Flamingo. Menu and location details here Whilst waiting for our showtime for Sherlock Holmes (which, BTW, was quite good indeed), my friend Ghryc (that's pronounced Freak... don't ask) and I ventured to the intersection of Jones and Flamingo for a bit of food before we sat around on our rears for 2+ hours.

Being that the co-author, Kobold has this silly allergy-to-shellfish thing, I often try to avoid eating things with .. you know, animals that could kill him while we're out and about, but my company tonight would not be spared the tragedy of killing small crustaceans. We ordered the appetizer called "Wings of Angel"... which is a little disturbing if you're super-religious, but we're not so we were all about cherubic cannibalism. The order comes with 2 boneless chicken wings which are stuffed with shrimp, pork, chicken (of course) and clear noodles, also served with a side of sweet and sour cucumber sauce. Y.O.M! Not just yum, but YOM. Whilst my companion was given to eating the sauce all by itself, it did indeed lend to the taste of the shri-por-ken (like tur-duck-en, get it?) and sort of helped cut the very minimal greasy edge of the deep fried goodness.

I, being that I have decided this is my standard fare at Thai places, had the Pad Thai, which was an enormous helping (hello, lunch for 2 days afterward) and though there were no substitutions on the shrimp on the menu - as I would have preferred chickens - I was quite pleased with the overall taste. Very well done indeed.

My companion is of the opinion that you can't go to a Thai place and not have curry - I'm not entirely sure what he ordered, but he ordered it in the "please hurt me with the level of spice" area and was pleasantly surprised that not only did it "eviscerate" him as he had wanted, but it still had excellent flavor. All I remember is dabbing my finger in a bit of the sauce, putting it on my tongue and being incredibly sorry afterward. Please keep in mind, I'm from the Midwest, which means spicy things aren't really my specialty.

We were remiss and didn't order desert, as we did have a flick to catch, but we were both heartily satisfied with our meals and we left without too much of a dent in our pocketbooks.

Pasta Nommy!

It wasn't too terribly long ago that Kobold and I ventured to our newest favorite Italian food place. It's called Pasta Mia and it's on Flamingo and Arville, just west of the strip. I have to say it, OMG it's delicious. It's Zagat rated/approved and though it's in a sort of weird looking strip mall-ish location (right next to the Loose Caboose, if you're interested), it's absolutely lovely inside. It's definitely a good place to take a date. It's the sort of place that has real (oh no, not that!) table clothes and napkins.

Moving on, while we were there we happened to be one of very few customers, but we did hit it off-hours, so we'll go ahead and assume they have healthy traffic flow, despite strange location.

I chose the Lasagna - as I'm told that the true measure of an Italian place is, of course, the lasagna (and I'm more than slightly partial to such things) and Kobold had the Penne Arrabbiata (15.99 and 12.99 respectively). While we waited for our meals, we were treated to Richard Cheese Christmas music (OMG amazing) as well as garlic bread that I would have killed babies to get again. Seriously. Babies.

Also, our waiter was very courteous and had an excellent sense of humor. This rates highly in my book, as I spent many (many... many...) years as a server and I know how restaurants and servers/chefs should behave. Beware, I tip well if you do well and if not, I feel no pity whatsoever leaving no tip at all.

Moving on, my lasagna can best be described as a "food-gasm." The portions here are absolutely humongous and despite the slightly-higher-than-I-was-initially-willing-to-pay prices, let me tell you.. you will stuff yourself and still have leftovers. Let's not forget - Kobold and I are fatties, we can pack away some food if we want to, and believe me we were trying.

It was some of the best Italian food I've ever (yes ever) had... the sort of food that you eat until you're full and then-some. I could not stop eating, it was so good, I ate past the point of full and almost made myself sick.

I don't suppose that sounds terribly appetizing, but that's the way it is.

Here be a link to their website: Pasta Mia!

Please be advised. If you go here, you will eat too many.