An Old Vegas Casino, and great food.

So I grew up in North Las Vegas. Not just North Las Vegas but one of the oldest parts of, I could almost literally throw a rock at Rancho High School and Jerry's Nugget. I've been eating at Jerry's as long as I can remember, been drinking there since I was 21, etc.

I introduced my roommate and valued commentator Rabbit to Uncle Angelo's inside Jerry's this last week. It's a great place to eat. Real down to Earth and chill. Great music playing in the background (The Rat Pack makes a few appearances), an attentive wait staff, and prices that are definitely reasonable, I'm surprised I didn't take her there earlier.

We started off with the Garlic Zappoli, which are essentially small fried pieces of dough soaked in garlic butter and fresh garlic nom-i-ness. The helping is so big me and Rabbit feared we would only eat this large bowl of garlic dough and bits and not be able to eat our dinner. Stromboli for our main meal, we had the Chicken Zesto, which is grilled chickens and mozzarella, we had it sans jalapeños. The thing is so big that it was split in two, and Rabbit didn't finish it. Follow all this up with some awesome Tiramisu, and we were stuffed, and still paid like $30.

Over all I always forget about heading out that way since I've moved to the opposite side of the world and now am closer to Sam's Town than Jerry's, but it's worth the trip no matter what part of town you're coming from.

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!

Mmm BBQ

So Wednesday is "Family Dinner Night 1.5" for my house. We catch up with my dad and eat. Normally my dad or I cook, being we both cook rather well. My father is an official "Fattie," being at 5'10" he weights a whopping 173lbs. Those 3 lbs matter. He's been in manual labor all his life and can probably still kick my ass. So in order to keep him happy, we feed him (or let him feed us, he's old and likes to).

This week we didn't want to cook, and started for a Jack in the Box. Along the way I smelt something good while driving down Las Vegas Blvd. So we continue down, down to funky town To Here .. ok so they don't have a website that I can see but they are awesome.

Me and my dad are fans of good soul food and BBQ. My dad has family from Oklahoma, so he calls Southern Roots Rights, while I.. Well hell I figure I can pull the same card, so it's fair. We step up to the walk up window of this not too big a shack and get in line. We're behind two people, one getting his food and this little old black dude who eats there twice a week, at least. At this point we are intrigued. Our ears perk up like a small dogs, and we're in.

The menu? Totally reasonable. Sammiches for $5-$6, meat by the pound, slabs of ribs, it's all there and smells wonderful. Their sides include greats like fried okra, fried pickels, and slaw. Sitting behind the joint is, on a trailer, a smoker the size of a freaking dumpster. Heck it might even be a converted dumpster, but I'm still good for this.
So we order, and we're told about 7 minutes, since the fish is cooked to order.

I ordered the Catfish Po' Boy, my dad the Pulled Pork Sammich.

About 10 minutes later we get our food, mine with slaw and okra, his with slaw (it's a default for the sammiches) and Ranch Beans. Now, these aren't ranch like sauce but ranch like where cows live. As in Ranchers Beans. As in good. We get back to my Dads and open up. The food is reasonable sized, and good. My catfish was fried, and still nice and fall apart in your mouth, with a good flavor. For those of you that have had catfish, you know what I mean. Those of you that haven't, Catfish comes 2 ways: Good flavor or ass. Mine was not ass. The Okra? OMFG. I was pealing the breading off to eat the still firm not over cooked okra, and then eating the breading. I'm not even sure what kind it was, but it was spiced and mouth wateringly good. The slaw was not overly sauced and fit well on the sammich.

Dads pulled pork? I'd punch somebody for it. It had enough sauce to make a mess, but not enough to over power the smoked, and damn good, pork. The beans had some of the smokey flavor and a bit of kick, but they were awesome as well.
If you're over in old North Las Vegas, hit this place up. Do it. Now.

Burgers Part 2

CreAte. Just the name makes you think "Eat your Face." This place has custard, so it gets extra points in my book. It's another very modern place. I've spoken to the owner, who is a great, chill kind of guy, and I like a lot of what they are going for here. They are all for the environment, so the plates, utensils, and cups are all washable, the napkins are recycled, and they recycle what they can. As for atmosphere, it's almost like Starbucks meets Industrial. The walls are decorated, there is a lot of seating, and it's mostly chill to be at.

Walk in and look at the columns of burger choices, and things are happy to start with. I normally go with the Medieval, which is apple smoked bacon, burger, and BBQ sauce. I go sans tomatoes since I believe they are still, at least while uncooked, poisonous death apples.

Rabbit quite often makes her own, using their supplied paper with more circling of choices, to mix and match what ever is filling her pretty little head at the time. This often leads to interesting flavors and happiness, in her pants. Don't ask, she squees and I don't want details, most of the time.

Throw in some sweet potato fries, and fresh ice tea, and I'm good to dance and eat and eat and eat and eat.

The thing that wins this place over (besides the custard, because who doesn't love rich frozen custard!?), is just the pure amount of choices. Seriously this place has some 30+ choice of sauces alone. Throw on the 20+ choices of toppings, something like 8 cheeses, and you can make a LOT of decisions about something horribly simple: Charred Animal Flesh In your Mouth!

Up until I tried the Grind this was my favorite burger joint, and now it's a toss up between the two. CreAte loses out, for me, because it's across town off Lake Mead and Tenaya, way out in North West land, while I'm fairly central.

So far the sweet potato fries are beyond compare, and the staff is always happy and fun. Another great place to nom burgers and be a happy carnivore. Potatoes count as meat, don't forget it.