A Return Thai Trip to Lotus of Siam

Lotus of Siam

953 East Sahara Ave. #A5

Las Vegas, NV 89104

I usually do not like revisiting a restaurant that we have been to before while on vacation, especially in a city like Las Vegas, where there are so many places that are on my wish list, that there is no way that I'd be able to hit them all. I came back here for two reasons though. One being that I have been in a real Thai food phase since the first of the year. The second, and probably most important reason is because Katie wanted to come back to Lotus of Siam. She doesn't really ask for much, so when she request a return trip to a place, I'll usually oblige.

Also joining us on our Thai food adventure is my longtime friend Steve, and his friend, Jason. They both just happened to be in Vegas attending their yearly conference, so we decided to have dinner with them before they had to fly out the next morning. I could kind of sense that they were both new to Thai food, but they seemed pretty excited to give it a try. Maybe they just loved our company.

For someones first time having Thai food, eating at Lotus of Siam is kind of like going from being a high school football player, and going straight to the pros, playing your first game in Cowboy Stadium in front of 80,000 people. Of course if you're on the Cowboys, most people expect you to lose anyways, so there's probably not that much pressure. Sorry about that Steve, I had to slip that in there.

Lotus of Siam has been on tons of TV shows, been written about numerous times, and has a steady stream of taxi cabs coming from the strip dropping off hungry tourists. Owner and Chef Saipin Chutima has owned this place since 1999, and won a James Beard Award in 2011 as best chef in the Southwest. As if all of this was not enough, there are tons of pictures all over the restaurant of all the famous celebrities that have eaten here over the years.

We arrived here on a Thursday evening at about 7:30, and were met with a 45 minute wait. No worries for us though, because we found a dive bar in this desolate shopping center, enjoyed a few cocktails, and listened to a know it all bartender telling some tall tales. Both Steve and Jason really enjoyed this guys company, but we finally got the call on Katie's phone that our table was ready, so we settled up with our new friend.

Lotus of Siam features food from Northern Thailand. I'm by no means an expert on Thai food, but I can tell you that the food of Northern Thailand is generally a little more mild than that from the south. The menu here is pretty hefty, and whether you are into seafood, curries, noodles, fried rice, or one of the northern specialties, you will most likely find something to your liking here. Let's see if that was the case for the four of us on this evening.

Starting things off for us were two appetizers, the first of which were these Fried Wontons ($7.95). These fried pockets were filled with ground chicken, and served with a house made sweet and sour sauce. These were fried well, with the absence of grease, but they needed to be filled a little more than they were. The ground chicken did not shine here. We'd probably forgo these on future visits.

One of my favorite things to try in Thai restaurants is satay, so we definitely needed to try the Chicken Satay ($10.95) at Lotus of Siam. This was an excellent version. The chicken was tender, and flavored nicely, and the peanut sauce here is out of this world. If I could have, I would have asked that this sauce be packed up to go, and I'd use it sparingly when I got it home to make it last as long as possible. This was also served with a cucumber salad, which kind of got neglected at our table.

The real reason I think Katie wanted to make a return visit to this restaurant was because of this Tom Kah Kai Soup ($4.95). She has been trying to find a local replacement for the one served here, with no luck. This Bangkok style soup comes with sliced chicken, mushrooms, galanga, which I learned is a root that resembles ginger, lemongrass, coconut milk, and a touch of fresh lime. A complex soup, but simple in taste, she of course enjoyed this immensely, and is still on the lookout for another version that can equal this one.

Entrees were up next, and we'll start things off with my good friend Steve's meal. He kept things pretty basic here with his choice of Sweet and Sour Chicken ($9.95). This had everything you would expect from this dish, pineapple, tomatoes, cucumber, red and green bell peppers, green and white onion, and it was topped with cilantro. He felt this was a good version, but it did not dazzle him. He'd definitely try something else if he were to come here again.

Katie's meal was probably the best of the night. She could not be happier with this Pad Se-Ew ($8.95), even claiming that this was the best version of this dish she has ever had. Very high praise indeed for this noodle dish that also had eggs, Chinese broccoli, black soy sauce, and some very tender beef. After two trips to Lotus of Siam, she has now found her perfect meal here, and will probably not deviate from it.

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When I knew we would be coming here for a return dinner, I checked out Yelp for their most popular items, and the one that kept popping up were these Garlic Prawns ($27.95). They were mentioned in over 300 reviews, so I had to give them a try. The prawn portion of these was great, with a very good burst of garlic in each bite. Good sized, and they were cooked well. I did not really like the shell portion of these, which was attached to the prawn. The menu states that these are like potato chips, but after eating a few of them, I decided they weren't for me. A very good dish though, and I'm glad I had the chance to try it, even though this did not fill me up too much.

Probably not the best choice for someone having their first Thai food experience, Jason went with the Seafood Pad Ped ($17.95). This seafood combination dish was filled with crab, octopus, shrimp, and other seafood, along with a roasted curry paste, mushrooms, lemon grass, lime juice, and mint leaves. Jason was very game with this dish, which was not what he was expecting. He enjoyed the flavor of the sauce, but found the seafood here not to be of his liking. Maybe he should have started with one of their very good curry dishes, or maybe a pad Thai. He does get points for at least trying everything in his bowl. I have a sneaky suspicion that he and Steve went by In-N-Out on their way back to their hotel after this meal.

Even though I would have liked to have tried a new restaurant on our last night in Vegas, I was more than happy to make Katie happy with a return meal to Lotus of Siam. The Thai food here is pretty legendary, and I really would not mind another trip here when we are back in Vegas. The menu is so large, it almost rivals Cheesecake Factory, and it would take numerous times to try a good cross section of it. For this restaurant being as popular as it is, the prices are more than fair. Service was pretty good on this night, until we straggled after our dinner talking, and it was clear that they wanted to close up shop and wanted us to leave, which is understandable. It's always good getting together with our good friend Steve, and our new friend Jason. Next time you guys can pick the restaurant.

Out of five water lilies, (because lotus is another name for these aquatic plants), five being best to zero being worst, Lotus of Siam gets 4 water lilies.

For more information about Lotus of Siam, go to their website here: http://lotusofsiamlv.com/

High Rollin Barbecue in Vegas

Rollin Smoke Barbeque

3185 South Highland Dr.

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Las Vegas seems to have it all. When people think of the great foods in this desert city, they always think of steaks, seafood, and buffets. Usually barbecue does not cross a lot of peoples minds. In fact it's kind of baffling that with all the big hotels on Las Vegas Boulevard, there's not one barbecue restaurant in any of those hotels that really sticks out.

To get good barbecue in this town, you definitely need to get off of Las Vegas Boulevard. Our best barbecue experience in this desert city so far has been at Ellis Island Casino, which is located right behind Bally's on Koval Road. The ribs were good and cheap, and we loved this locals place. Before leaving for Vegas, I had done a little research and found another spot to try, which was also a few streets over from the strip, Rollin Smoke Barbeque.

Rollin Smoke is located right underneath the Desert Inn overpass, in a very industrial, and small shopping center. There are about 20 parking spots, but plenty of street parking. We arrived here just before 11 am, and achieved our goal of avoiding the lunch rush, which we hear can get pretty gnarly. The restaurant is pretty small itself, but there was plenty of seating when we were here, and they also have patio seating out front, along with another room, which kind of seemed like a banquet room.

The barbecue here is brought to you by two brothers, who proudly serve what they call, "barbeque from Arkansas." I learned that barbeque from Arkansas is kind of a mashup of barbeque from all across the US. The menu here is pretty impressive in selection, and will satisfy almost all barbecue fanatics. Their Smoked Meatloaf and Outlaw Burger were both featured on Travel Channel, they have an all you can eat option, which goes for a very respectable price of $34.99, and there are also plenty of combo plates available. We chose the Pit Special, which included five meat choices, and three sides for $27.99, which easily could feed both Katie and I. We ordered at the counter, and waited for the food to be brought out. Here's our take on the food at Rollin Smoke.

Not to ruin anything, but yes this tasted as good as it looks. For our five meats we chose pulled pork, sliced brisket, spare ribs, hot link, and burnt ends, which were a three dollar up charge. There was not a loser in this bunch. The hot link had a great texture and flavor to it, the brisket was some of the best I have had, the pulled pork was moist and delicious, the spare ribs were meaty and fall off the bone tender, and the rib tips are not to be missed. All meats were smoked, but not over the top where it would become overpowering. They smoke their meats over hickory, and it's apparent that they cook their stuff low and slow. I was also pretty happy that they left their meat bare, and allowed their guests to apply their desired amount of sauce to the meat. The sauces were all pretty good, but with meat this great, you don't want to cover it with too much sauce. This easily could have fed another two people, but I was glad I did not have to share with anyone but Katie.

It's been our experience that when a barbecue place has really good meat, they kind of let their sides slide by the wayside. This was not the case here at Rollin Smoke. Each of the three sides we had were excellent. We selected the corn nuggets, bacon potato salad, and the collard greens. The corn nuggets were a surprise to both Katie and I. They were fried nicely, and then you get an unexpected sweetness from the corn inside. Kind of like a sweet creamed corn inside each of these. The potato salad was very good as well. Plenty of bacon topped this, which is never a bad thing. The potatoes were tender, and the dressing covering them was pretty solid. The collard greens were tasty, with some brisket in them, which added even more flavor. They were not as slimy as greens can sometimes tend to be.

I left Rollin Smoke wishing that they were located closer to my house. I could not get this meal out of my head for a long while. This might be the best barbecue I have had. It's right up there with Lillie's Q and Bludso's in my book, and I will be back here for sure when I am in Vegas. There's also another location of Rollin Smoke, which is a collaboration with Rick from Pawn Stars, and it's located right next door to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, made famous by his TV show Pawn Stars. Service was pretty solid on this afternoon, and they checked on us numerous times, making sure we had everything that we needed during our stay. I thought the prices were more than fair for the amount of food we got. Rollin Smoke might just start making people think of barbecue when they think of Vegas food.

Out of five mule-riders, (because the guys that own this restaurant are from Magnolia, Arkansas, and that city is home to Southern Arkansas University, home of the mule-riders), five being bet to zero being worst, Rollin Smoke Barbeque gets 4.5 mule-riders.

For more information about Rollin Smoke, head to their website here: http://rollinsmokebarbeque.com/

Playing With Fire at Gordon Ramsay BurGR

Gordon Ramsay BurGR

3667 S. Las Vegas Blvd. 

Las Vegas, NV 89109

For the two of you reading this blog that do not know me personally, you might think that food rules my life, and for the most part you would be correct. I do have other interests though. I love watching hockey, I do one Sudoku a day, and since we got Netflix, my TV watching has gotten way out of hand. Okay, it sounds like my life is pretty lame, but this is what I enjoy.

It also might surprise most of you that I am not really into food cooking shows. I have never seen one episode of Top Chef, Cutthroat Kitchen, Chopped, any show about cupcakes, or Hell's Kitchen. I enjoy food shows that feature actual restaurants, places which I can add to my restaurant wish list, and actually visit. These two worlds collided recently though, when we visited a restaurant created by one of the biggest names in food cooking shows, Gordon Ramsay of Hell's Kitchen fame.

Located at the Planet Hollywood Casino, BurGR bears the name of the loud and demonstrative chef, who I hear is really quite nice in real life. This restaurant, as the name would suggest, features burgers, fries, and milkshakes, with a special emphasis on using the best ingredients available. Why the misspelling of the word burger? I learned its a play on Gordon Ramsay's initials, which now makes sense.

Since we were on vacation, and had just woken from a two hour nap, we arrived here at the rather late dinner hour of 9:30, and were sat immediately, which I hear is rare for this restaurant. One of the perks of being in Vegas on a weekday. The decor of BurGR brought to mind an Austin Powers kind of vibe. The wait staff wore outfits that you could easily see in those movies, the walls were brightly painted, and in case you forget who's in charge here, there are plenty of pictures of Gordon Ramsay on the walls and menus here. Tables and chairs were uncommonly low to the ground, which seemed odd, until we finally adjusted to it.

This restaurant is definitely geared towards burger lovers. There are 12 on the menu, including a garden burger, one with chicken, and yet another with a turkey patty. Not in the mood for a burger? You are pretty limited here to a fish sandwich, a hot dog, or one of their two salads offered. Katie and I made quick work of selecting our dinner on this evening, and eagerly awaited our food. This is how it all turned out for us.

We had ordered an appetizer, but our food made it out before, so we started in on our burgers first. Katie had this Blue Burger ($14). This was a simple burger, with just Maytag blue cheese and arugula on it. Katie really enjoyed the juiciness of this burger, but found it to be missing something. She thought the meat was good quality, but this really needed more blue cheese, or maybe a sauce to go along with it. She'd get a different burger next time.

Thanks to a recommendation from my foodie friend Daniele, I knew I would be ordering this Farm Burger ($15) at BurGR. The beef, which is cooked over apple and alder wood, is joined between the bun with an English sharp cheddar cheese, duck breast bacon, and a fried egg. I liked this burger at first, and then it really started to grow on me. The duck bacon kind of tasted like unseasoned pastrami, and the sharp cheddar cheese was kind of a nice deviation from the normal old regular cheddar most restaurants use. The beef was juicy, and along with the yolk from the fried egg, negated the need for any other condiments. The bun was sturdy, and I liked the way it absorbed the yolk and the burger juices. A very enjoyable burger.

Burgers come ala carte here, so we opted to try their Truffle Parmesan Fries ($11). We could tell that these fries were very fresh, and fried well. They were topped with shredded truffle Parmesan and truffle salt. The truffle was present, but did not overpower. These were served with two dipping sauces, a curry ketchup and a truffle aioli. The aioli was the better of the two. Thick and flavorful, this sauce went well with the crisp fries. I had no problem finishing these off.

After a few bites of our burgers, our appetizer finally arrived at our table, served by the manager, who told us how sorry he was for the delay, and we would not be charged for these Piggies in Blankets ($12). These were not what I was expecting when we finally tried them. They are described on the menu as pork belly with cheddar sausage, but they are separate. The cheese sausage variety of these were much better than the pork belly ones, and this is coming from a pork belly fiend. Both are wrapped in buttered dough, and then served with a curry ketchup and pickled mustard seeds. They were way over cooked, and the curry ketchup overpowered the rest of this. This is the first time in all these years of doing this blog that I have not been pleased with a pork belly item. I never thought it was possible, until this evening.

Even with the hiccup over our appetizer, we did enjoy our time at BurGR. The burgers here are pretty simple, and do not really have to rely on the toppings for them to be good. Not the best burger we have had, but better than average, and if you're in the mood for a burger on the strip, this is a pretty good choice. Service was a little on the spotty side, as it took a long while for us to be greeted, and there were some long spans of time when drinks sat empty. Something I'm sure that Gordon Ramsay would yell about on one of his shows. Now back to Netflix for me.

Out of five soccer balls, (because when he was a youth, Gordon Ramsay was a highly sought after soccer player), five being best to zero being worst, Gordon Ramsay BurGR gets three soccer balls.

For more information about  Gordon Ramsay BurGR, head to their website here: https://www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/burgr/

These Tacos are No Mirage

Tacos El Gordo

3049 South Las Vegas Blvd. 

Las Vegas, NV 89109

I had looked this restaurant up on Yelp before we left for Las Vegas, but kind of relegated it to our B-list, because I did not think we would be in this area to try it. After a very filling brunch, we definitely needed to walk a lot to get the food moving, and low and behold, we found ourselves walking right by Tacos El Gordo, so of course we had to stop for a beverage and a taco.

Yelp reviewers rave about this place, calling these the best tacos on the strip, and there are pictures of the line stretching at least twenty people deep outside the restaurant. Usually I'm a little sketchy about Yelp reviews, but Tacos El Gordo has close to 1300 reviews, and still has a 4.5 star rating. That's pretty impressive.

I'm not sure if this is, or is not part of the same chain that started in Tijuana back in 1972. Their website does not list this as one of their locations, even though they have two other Vegas locations listed, along with two in the San Diego area. They might be part of the same family, or they might have splintered off. This location, which is walking distance from the Wynn, has had a kind of weird history as well. They opened in 2010, then closed in 2014, amid some problems with their landlord. They reopened again in 2015, and have been going strong every since.

The inside of this restaurant kind of brings to mind King Taco, which I have eaten at a few times. Ordering is done at a different window, depending on what kind of meat you want. You tell the guy what you want, and he prepares it for you. The menu here is of course heavily dominated by tacos of all sorts, but they also offer sopes, tostadas, quesadillas, mulas, and one of their most popular offerings, fries, with your choice of meat and toppings. After getting your food, you are directed to the cashier, pay for your meal, and then find a table. A little confusing, but we managed.

Since both Katie and I were still feeling the effects of our filling brunch, we only got one taco each here. Katie selected this Taco de Asada ($2.10) as her afternoon snack. Joining the very good beef in this taco was a very generous smear of guacamole, onion, cilantro, and some mild salsa. This was a delicious taco. The beef had a great flavor, while being tender, and it went well with all the toppings on here. Still a street taco, but they were very generous with the meat and toppings here. Really impressive.

I'm always about the pork when having tacos, and this Taco de Abobada ($2.10) did not disappoint. The guy behind the counter shaves this pork off of a cone, which brought to mind the way they make gyros in Greek places. I was surprised at the lightness of the tortilla here. I thought it was going to break apart, but it held its integrity. The abobada pork was not really spicy, but I did detect a little bit of  heat here. Instead of the smear of guacamole that came on Katie's beef taco, this came with a lighter green sauce, which was excellent. Maybe it was a cilantro lime sauce, but I'm not sure. This taco was finished off with plenty of cilantro and onion.

The hype Tacos El Gordo receives is definitely warranted. These are some legit tacos, and I was only upset that I did not get more to eat here. The next time we are in Vegas, this will definitely be a spot that we hit up. I'm looking at trying their carne asada fries next time, along with some other tacos. So happy that we had the good fortune of walking by this joint.

Out of five pharmacies, (not only because this restaurant started in Tijuana, and that's why a lot of people cross the border into that city, but also because these tacos are exactly what the doctor ordered on this afternoon), five being best to zero being worst, Tacos El Gordo gets 3.5 pharmacies.

For more information about Tacos El Gordo, head to their website here: http://www.tacoselgordobc.com/index.html