473656 Fri Dec 28 00:17:48 -0800 2007 5 6 Southwest 0 3241900 In my quest to eat at every restaurant in vegas ( of course I'm BSing...i can't get to them all...but i will try !! ) Since Thanskgiving, hit a few new spots, some of the regular stops and some i've had doubts about, but felt it was necessary to try again. As usual, given my SO's Chinese preference, we spent alot of time on Spring Mtn. the funny thing is our fav on Spring Mtn wasn't a chinese place - some quick comments on the spring mtn places: ICHIZA - what a cool place !! we ordered "off the wall " ...Beef Tongue ( SO loved this ) , Mushrooms...4 kinds...also tasty ( SO thought a little to salty...i didn't think so ) ...i couldn't resist - ordered the sausage and fries....still trying to figure out why they serve this...ahh who cares !?!?! had some eel - also very good....i got a kick out of the fact that some of the items on the wall had no english translation, some were falling on the wall...they are written on paper then taped on the wall...some w/pics, some not....SO wants to try again...i'm game !! Crown Bakery - next door to Ichiza....SO not one for the sweets but she wanted to check it out ...a neat lil place - most of the baked goods are put in little clear plastic bags ...i wondered if they were freshly baked - relatively cheap - picked up some mini-cini's 4 for $2...not bad...chocolate filled sweet roll ...$1.25 ...tasty mousse like filling...butter cookies ...only tried one...i think they could've omitted "cookies" from the description...has a cutsy area to sit enjoy a cup of whatever and chill...i noticed they have shaved ice - you can add red beans and fruit topping...mental note...re-visit in may/june ..is it possible ? can i get some North Shore shaved ice...hey....it's possible...yes ? Cathay House - had to try again given the many who feel this is the top dim - sum spot in the valley...last time we were there late in the day so maybe not the best time for fresh and plentiful dim sum...hit it on x-mas eve...busy...but only a 15 min wait for table approx 11:30... we don't get it...they basically had 3 carts...limited selection, about the only thing we liked ...the minced shrimp balls...even the chicken feet did not impress...the service terrible ( no plate cleaing until the meal was over and a refill on tea...yeah...right ! )and the prices ( always tough for me to figure out ) was high last visit to PPP was $25 for 2...Cathay was $62 for 3....SO and I agreed...it's off our dim sum list ( and we hit dim sum at least 2/ month ...we need to try harbor garden...i think that's the name of it..it looked very busy today when we walked by...and i believe the venetian has a dim sum buffet...need to try that too ) Ding TOng and Yun Nan - saw a few reviews on both so we hit both...funny thing is last time we hit Yun Nan...it was a different place ...and Di ng TOng was not Ding TOng....The highlights...both very reasonably priced...SO loved the Yun Nan appetizer "buffet " ...$4.50 for a plate...you choose from about 8 different items - she chose Pig ears, Beef stomach...gee..another pig part ...can't remember ...surprisingly...liked them all...the pork "pieces" had some bite to them...The ears were a little chewy...but ok....other fav at Yun Nan was a dried beef dish...at first i felt like it was beef jerky-ish but it kinda grew on me...the celery and tofu was also addicting. Ding Tong was very good except the noodle dish was rather dull ...SO told me not to get it...but i can't help it - sometimes i get so tired of white rice !! HOt N Juicy Crawfish ...this month's Spring Mtn winner !!! 1st warning....DO NOT wEAR NICE CLOTHES !! Damn Spicy ( yOu can order 4 levels of spice..SO went with the top dog ) Tried the crawfish, the shrimp, sausage, corn....All good....a little pricey - after 2 pounds of crawfish, SO was still hungry...i gave her the green light to order 2 more pounds to go !!! she called me the next day...she was sniveling....i immediately knew the dogs didn't die, she wasn't watching Beaches...it was the spicy Crawfish !! 4 pounds crawfish, 1 pound of Shrimp, the sausage and 2 soft drinks ( refilled about 10 times !! ) ..cost $65 ...again..a little pricy for a lunch but we loved it !! let's see ...some of the regular stops - PPP for dim sum, late nights at Monterey room for $2.25 pancakes, finally hit Dragonfly ( did a review on that already ) and my newest pizza fav...Patsy Grimaldi's ( already did that review too ) but 2 new ones Louis' Fish Camp at the new Town Square ( sorry , no pics...i try to get pics at the new places ) and i finally hit Bouchon. we hated Louis' !!! It's a low key place - kinda Joe's crab shack - like...interesting...it has 2 bars ( do they really need 2 bars ?!?! ) for a fish place...only 3 or 4 fish selections...they had 2 vegetarian selections - normally, i would not notice this but SO decided to try one....it was terrible Mushroom's, succotash and ...geez i can't remember the 3rd item...it was that bad....we started with the crab cakes and the onion rings...i forget the crab cake price...over $10.... not good...not good at all. the onion rings $7 for 7 rings....are you serious ?!?!? sad to say i ordered .....a hamburger...angus...bone dry....at least the bacon on top was good....i usually give all restaurants a couple visits before i give a rating....i don't think this place is worth the 2nd effort. Bouchon - one of the problems SO and I have on her days off - we usually don't eat our first meal until 2-3 pm...such was the case with Bouchon...the probelm...a limited menu...but not a big issue - we ate at the bar...we loved the beauty of this restaurant...and the patio/ garden is a perfect escape from the hustle and bussle of vegas ( although it was a little chilly ! ) I made a few $$$ on the tables so i couldn't resist....the foie gras pate ( $48 for 5 oz. !! ) ...heavenly !!! ( pic below ) we also had the lamb sandwich ( a little to much onion ) and the ham croquette ( i think that's what it was called ) decent...both came with huge pile of pommes frittes....couldn't finish 1/2 the pile....we agreed...gotta hit this place for BK and dinner !! january - besides the dim sum places mentioned, i'm sure we'll hit orchid's again, my guess Hot n Juicy, i will breakaway from SO to try stripburger, i've got a new haven bud in town so we gotta hit patsy's and settebello's...yummy ! `also have a group of 4 in town so that means one thing...LOS...i prefer going to LOS with a group, a long overdue visit to the Tillerman and maybe...just maybe, a return to n9ne, as to new spots ( new for me ) ..Trotter's place in Pallazzo, Rub at the rio...not sure if i can get in anything else new but i really wanted to try some of the other italian deli's in town besides my usual minuto's and siena...so many places to try !!! Fri Dec 28 00:17:48 -0800 2007 11751 kjs 1 3241901 pics Fri Dec 28 00:20:01 -0800 2007 3241900 11751 kjs 2 3241902 sorry...last pic - not sure why i could not post Fri Dec 28 00:21:26 -0800 2007 3241901 11751 kjs 1 3242588 Thanks kjs. Yeah the foie at Bouchon is da bomb! Also love the Bibb salad although last time it was somewhat overdressed and underherbed. I'm picky though. I feel vindicated on my poor review of Cathay House from November, where I said that there wasn't enough variety and the same ole carts kept rolling around, on a Sunday at noonish. Some responders thought my expectations were too high since I live in L.A. Next dim sum in Vegas will be Chang's, I think. Fri Dec 28 09:22:33 -0800 2007 3241900 10274 Debbie W 2 3242962 have not been to Chang's in about 6 months - we've been there 4-5 times...each time it got worse and this is the place we really want to like because we can walk there from our condo...i also live in LA and from my perspective ...the LA dim sum places are a minor cut about ...it took a few visits to LA by my SO to convince her that some of the monterey park dim sum places are better than our vegas favs...she also agreed that the 2 SF dim sum places we tried were better than the vegas places...but don't get me wrong...the vegas places as a whole are good to very good...i'm finally making a trip to China in February and i'm really excited about the dim sum adventures we will have Fri Dec 28 11:20:22 -0800 2007 3242588 11751 kjs 1 3243132 Nice review. Went to Cathay House on day after X-Mas at around noon, 15 minute wait. I thought the quality was pretty good, most everything was piping hot except for the sticky rice, but the selection was just about average, maybe a bit below average. No cheung fun rice noodles in shrimp or pork, only in beef, and no daan taat custard pies, which are both two of my favorites that I always look for and get. Service was fine for us, refill of tea happens quicker when you take the top off and put it close to the edge of the table for the waiters to see it. But the place was pretty packed, and the dim sum carts took awhile to get back to us for the second round of ordering. I think we saw 5 carts total, 2 steam carts. 11 items, $35 for the 2 of us. It looked like a $2.25/$3.25/$4.25 pricing structure, which is close to normal to LA prices. I think the dim sum place you're thinking of is called Harbor Palace. Walked by it on X-Mas day, the crowd was insane, looking like at least 80 people waiting to get a table. We're staying away from dim sum places on any major American holiday from now on. Lines at each dim sum place was at least 50-100 people in each lobby, looking like a Black Friday shopping sale. Parking lots were horrendously packed. Drove by Cathay House, Harbor Palace, Chang's, all had insane crowds on X-mas day. Never again will I try dim sum on a major American holiday. Lots of cars with CA license plates, so lots of LA residents were visiting over X-Mas. We decided to go back to the Strip and dine at Mon Ami Gabi. No wait, fabulous meal. Sea scallops gratinees may have been the best appetizer I've ever had in my life. How was Ping Pang Pong? Still haven't stopped there yet. We tried to go on the afternoon we arrived, but there was a bit of a wait, so we passed on it. Fri Dec 28 12:36:50 -0800 2007 3241900 13291 Wonginator