Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

148
CHAPTER 6 . WHERE TO DINE
but doesn’t explain what the heck anything is (here’s one, just to help you out—
hai gow are steamed balls of dough-wrapped shrimp). Don’t bother ordering
from the menu; instead, wait as steam carts are pushed around the room and
toward you, and the cart pusher pulls the lids off the many little pots, exposing
various tasties within. (Dim sum service stops at 3pm except by special order.)
You could ask for identification, but the answers might scare you—and scare
you off something quite marvelous. (We first tried chicken feet—yep—
to impress a mainland-born Chinese friend, and liked it very much indeed.) So
be brave and just point at something that looks good. Find out what you ate
later. Or never. Sometimes it’s just better that way.
This strip-mall, cheerful, family-friendly (but possibly smoky) restaurant is a
good place to experiment, and is usually full of local and visiting Asians, which
is a stamp of authenticity. Highly recommended are the rice-noodle-wrapped
shrimp, and anything in a dumpling, particularly the pan-fried ones stuffed with
vegetables. For such seemingly small portions, dim sum can be quite filling, so
it works as both a snack and a potentially cheap meal. For some reason probably
having to do with quantum physics, we’ve noticed that whenever we eat dim
sum, alone, in a pair, or in a group of 12, the bill always works out to approximately
$9 a person. Go figure.
In Gold Key Shopping Center, 3055 Las Vegas Blvd. S. & 702/731-3388. Dim sum $1.80–$5; main courses
$9.95–$17. AE, MC, V. Daily 10am–11pm (dim sum 10am–3pm).
Dona Maria Tamales MEXICAN Decorated with Tijuana-style quilt
work and calendars, this quintessential Mexican diner is convenient to both the
north end of the Strip and Downtown. The cooks use lots of lard, lots of cheese,
and lots of sauce. As a result, the food is really good—and really fattening. Yep, the
folks who did those health reports showing how bad Mexican food can be for
your heart probably did some research here. The fat just makes it all the better,
in our opinion. Locals apparently agree; even at lunchtime the place is crowded.
You will start off with homemade chips and a spicy salsa served in a mortar.
Meals are so large that it shouldn’t be a problem getting full just ordering off the
sides, which can make this even more of a budget option. Naturally, the specialty
is the fantastic tamales, which come in red, green, cheese, or sweet. They also
serve up excellent enchiladas, chiles rellenos, burritos, and fajitas. All dinners
include rice, beans, tortillas, and soup or salad. Sauces are heavy but oh-so-good.
For dessert, they have flan, fried ice cream, and Mexican-style pumpkin pie.
910 Las Vegas Blvd. S. (corner of Charleston Blvd.). & 702/382-6538. Main courses $5.45–$8 breakfast,
$6–$13 lunch or dinner. AE, MC, V. Daily 8am–10pm.
Liberty Cafe at the White Cross Pharmacy Value DINER You can go
to any number of retro soda-fountain replicas (such as Johnny Rockets) and
theme restaurants that pretend to be cheap diners, but why bother when the real
thing is just past the end of the Strip? The decidedly unflashy soda fountain/
lunch counter at the White Cross Pharmacy was Las Vegas’s first 24-hour restaurant,
and it has been going strong for 60 years. Plunk down at the counter and
watch the cooks go nuts trying to keep up with the orders. The menu is basic
comfort food: standard grill items (meatloaf, ground round steak, chops, and so
on), fluffy cream pies, and classic breakfasts served “anytime”—try the biscuits
and cream gravy at 3am. They also serve gyros and the like. But the best bet is
a 1 ⁄3-pound burger and “thick, creamy shake,” both the way they were meant to
be and about as good as they get. At around $5, this is half what you would pay
for a comparable meal at the Hard Rock Cafe. And as waitress Beverly says,