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.

Shhhhh the dogs will hear you

Hush Puppy is a tried and true local classic. Opened in the 70's, Vegas has nom'ed there ever since. They are home to daily all you can eat specials, as well as an ok sized menu of, mostly, fish-type products.

I was told by my family we'd eaten there when I was little, I had my doubts, being, I was little and can't remember it. So me and Ms. Rabbit headed up North on Nellis to this little place and tried our luck.

It's not a large building, and you get squished in pretty tight, but that's a good sign. We went on Friday, which was all you can eat catfish and shrimp. I can't have shrimp, so Rabbit got the shrimpies and I got the cat fish. A helping of alligator tails and hush puppies to start and we were good to go.

The alligator tails were a little chewy, but that's to be expected when eating prehistoric creatures. I'm sure if you were to eat a komodo dragon, after getting over the taste, you'd mention the gamy texture. The hush puppies had to be good, this place is named for them! We ate the basket, slapped a small child, and drooled over the idea of just eating those. They were that awesome.

Rabbit says the shrimp was ok, and I can't judge it without dying so I go with "sure."
The catfish was hit and miss. my first helping was a bit lackluster, but my second helping made me giggle and nom until I was almost sick.
Next to the fried corn-meal, the winner was the fries. They had some magic seasoning on them that made me enjoy them muchly. To be honest the batter on everything was great, and everything was seasoned rather well. I want to go back and try the frog legs and oysters.

I think it was the all you can eat aspect that won me. I love cat fish, and if I can get three helpings like my second helping, I'll forgo lunch and just hit this up.

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!