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.

Looking for something else: Free Drink Challenge

So, I'm looking for a good place for delivery. See, I'm growing lazy lately, and I want people to bring me food. So I'm looking for a good local place that I can get food brought to me at random times without spending $5.00, plus a tip to the driver, to get it.

I'm open to all kinds of food but shellfish (I want to live past this chance). I mean, look at our past? We have BBQ to pho. I'm diversified in my hunger, and you should help me out.

Who can help facilitate this need? Best suggestion, and I'll buy you a beer/well drink one night at a bar.

Across the Pond and around the corner.

We all know I love food that isn't from our own country. Ok, we'll be honest, I like all food, which is why I'm more than happy to share my love of it with you.

This weeks installment on this old hou..s... Wrong show again, sorry! Onto a better start: So I needed a beer, and Rabbit needed comfort food. So we go to where nobody knows my name, but there are way too many beers, and an English Breakfast: Crown and Anchor Pub. Now at this point I'm not 100% sure this is only in Vegas, but honestly? For the Vegas Natives, I think everyone has gone here at least once.

Be warned this place is normally fairly busy so service can be a bit slow, and hectic. But it's worth it. In a room that's dimly lit with beer signs around the room (It is a lovely day for a Guinness, I might add), on a slightly wobbly table (because I seem to always get that table), your food will make you want to bow to the Queen and slap a republican.

I order my beer (a Black and Tan, so really two beers), Rabbit gets her coke/pepsi/normal thing, and we set about reading the menu. I got the Yorkshire Pudding, because I'm used to getting it and it being like a small pot pie, Rabbit got some Mozzarella Sticks, because that's how she rolls, for starts.
Ok the pudding here is it's own dish of meat-loving-goo and a big ass chunk of bread, and a glob of peanut butter/honey mix that all goes together and makes me gyrate my hips at the scary Gun Store employees that were in the same room with us.

For Dinner, I had a British Burger (Stilton cheese makes the difference here), and Rabbit had a Pastie. Now I hadn't had stilton cheese before, turns out it's kind of like bleu cheese, good thing I enjoy that. A Pastie is meat and veggie in a flaky dough bun thing.
And awesome burger and a gread flaky pot pie type thing. At least in my not-so-humble-I'll-punch-a-baby opinion

The food here is always awesome, they have random specials. music, darts, it's an English Pub in Vegas. Go eat there.
Now.

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!

Cafe Verde (or "We Follow your suggestions")

There are advantages to being a small blog, and there are disadvantages. The disadvantages are we don't have enough of a following to quit work and eat for a living. ... give me a second to drool about that idea and have a mild heart attack.

Ahem

The advantages? When you suggest something (Thanks Karen) we can actually do it!

So, Cafe Verde, over off Desert Inn and McLeod. It's not too far from our current place of inhabiting, and we were recommended there, so, there we go.

First, when heading there at 8:00pm, it's kind of creepy and looks like it's going to be a hole in the wall in the bad sense. It wasn't. The phones were ringing almost off the hook, and the poor guy was having trouble making time to take our order (not a bad sign, actually.)

A look at the menu: It's not exactly what I'm looking for (Super cheap but good Pizza), but it's close. A 10" Pizza for under $7.00? This might be ok. Rabbit got a Phillie cheese steak, sans veggies, because that's how she rolls. Add some mozzarella sticks and everyone is a happy monkey, and it's time to go.

Lets start from scratch: everything is cooked to order, that I'm happy with. My pizza was thick, and honestly damn good and better than a lot of the more expensive places I've been to in my life. If only it were bigger for the same price.
The Cheese Steak? It was pretty awesome-tastic. Great flavor, not too much grease. Again, I just wish it were bigger.

The suck part were the mozzarella sticks. It took us under 10 minutes to get home, and already they were cold and dry inside. The cheese didn't taste like it would have been that good super hot, so those went the way of the dog (she sleeps with Rabbit, so cheese farts don't bother me).

Over all? Not a bad joint. The guy up front has a sense of humor, they had college basketball playing (Go Green), and the main meals were good. I want to go back and try a calzone next.

So, keep your ideas coming, I'm more than happy to eat for you.

And again, Karen? As our first suggest-or.. thanks. You're pretty awesome :-D

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.

Big Pizza and Garlic

So a friend was taking me out, because I am awesome, and she adores me. I was trying to get some pho out of her, but she chose pizza, and defeated my will.
And I'm glad she did.
Off to Metro Pizza we went. We went on a Tuesday night, and it was pretty busy, but we had no

wait.

To start, the Garlic Romano Fries. It's this huge serving and salted, garlic-ed, and just yumtastic fries. Between these and the free bread, I was almost done before I even saw a pizza.

My friend ordered, for us, the Four Corners. This is a combo of all of their "East Side" pizzas. On a large we got 2 slices of: Sausage, peppers and onions, sausage and garlic, eggplant and ricotta, and spinach, ricotta, and garlic.

After all the fries I was able to make it through two pieces (I had the egg plant and ricotta, and the sausage and garlic). Both were freaking delicious, even considering I'm normally a "Give me some pepperoni and cheese and I'm good" guy.

This place has a lot of regulars, and considering they have a calendar full of specials and events, it's easy to tell why. They have pizza making classes, as well.

Over all? It's a little pricey, but for the amount of food and quality, I'm ok with that once in a while.
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PS
I'm still looking for a cheap, good pizza where the staff isn't disgusting (Curse you Rebel Pizza), if anyone knows of one, shout it out.