Frommer's Las Vegas 2004

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CHAPTER 6 . WHERE TO DINE
more inviting than most others in Vegas. Note that you can get seats at the bar
overlooking the open kitchen, great fun for foodie interaction and not a bad
choice for singles, or for couples looking for an unusual romantic evening.
The cuisine covers most regions of the U.S., though Southern influences
dominate. But the Northern California–Alice Waters example has not been lost;
50 local farmers help supply products. Seared foie gras with peach coulis, candied
walnuts, and vanilla bean–scented arugula is like a quilt, with distinct flavors
that all hang together nicely. Interesting sides include ultra-rich bleu-cheese
slaw, slightly spicy crispy fried tortilla strips, and perfect cornmeal jalapeño hush
puppies, to say nothing of “Grandma’s pickled cucumbers.” A recent visit found
the crispy striped bass fighting it out with the pan-seared honey-glazed salmon
for “best fish dish I’ve ever had.” Desserts are similarly Southern—lemon icebox
pie!—and most pleasant.
There is a nice little wine list with a broad range, especially when it comes to
half-price bottles. They also specialize, unusually, in beer suggestions to pair
with courses, including some fruity Belgian numbers; this is such a rare treat, if
you drink, you must try some of their suggestions.
Note: Rosemary’s Restaurant has a second location, Rosemary’s at the Rio
(& 702/777-2300), in the former Napa space at the Rio hotel. More convenient
for most of you, but also slightly higher priced and with less directly American
classic influenced dishes and more flights of culinary fancy such as goat
cheese stuffed squash blossoms and roasted elk loin.
8125 W. Sahara. & 702/869-2251. Reservations strongly suggested. Lunch $12–$16, dinner $18–$29. AE,
MC, V. Mon–Fri 11:30am–2:30pm and nightly 5:30–10:30pm for dinner.
MODERATE
Cathay House CHINESE Las Vegas actually has a Chinatown—a very large
strip mall (naturally) on Spring Mountain Road near Wynn. There are several
Asian restaurants there, but ask locals who look like they know, and they will
send you instead farther up Spring Mountain Road to the Cathay House (on the
opposite side of the street). This only looks far from the Strip on a map; it’s really
about a 7-minute drive from Treasure Island.
Ordering dim sum, for those of you who haven’t experienced it, is sort of like
being at a Chinese sushi bar, in that you order many individual, tasty little
dishes. Of course, dim sum itself is nothing like sushi. Rather, it’s a range of pot
stickers, pan-fried dumplings, baos (soft, doughy buns filled with such meat as
barbecued pork), translucent rice noodles wrapped around shrimp, sticky rice in
lotus leaves, chicken feet, and so forth. Some of it is steamed; some is fried—for
that extra-good grease! You can make your own dipping sauce by combining soy
sauce, vinegar, and hot-pepper oil. The waitstaff pushes steam carts filled with
little dishes; point, and they’ll attempt to tell you what each one is. Better, just
blindly order a bunch and dig in. Each dish ranges from approximately $1 to
$3; each server makes a note of what you just received, and the total is tallied at
the end. (For some reason, it almost always works out to about $9 per person.)
Dim sum is usually available only until midafternoon.
The standout at the Cathay House was a vegetable bao that included Chinese
glass noodles. Lightly browned and not overly doughy like many baos, it was
slightly sweet and utterly delicious. The shrimp wrapped in rice noodles were big
and plump, while anything that was fried was so good we decided to ignore our
arteries for a while. Cathay House (which features quite a good view through the
windows on one side) also has a full dinner menu, which includes the strawberry
chicken invented by Chin’s; it’s considerably cheaper here.