Las Vegas for Christmas

After being gone for 10 days I sit here watching football on New Years Day reminiscing about the food I over indulged in while being on vacation in Las Vegas. We stayed at the in laws house and ate most of our meals there. These meals where better than most of the meals we ate out but in this blog I will do my best to cover the off strip locations we dined at.

Lucille’s BBQ is located near the Green Valley Ranch Casino in Henderson, NV. It’s the first Sunday of the vacation and we have 9 adults and three children under 5 that are looking for some good BBQ. Two hundred dollars and two hours latter we have enough food at the house to feed half the neighborhood. The left overs seriously lasted all week. All of the sides where eatable but none other than the coleslaw would I order again. The list of meats included Chicken, Ribs, spicy sausage links and pulled pork. These were all good with the sausage and pulled pork topping the list. Ribs were overcooked and too smoky flavored for some of the family. My daughter tells me the ones I make her are better and I would have to agree with her. She may have to be a judge at the 2008 Rib Throwdown.

Panera Bread Co. is located not more than a few hundred feet from Lucille’s. I have been to Panera for coffee and a bagel in locations from Denver to the California coast and have mostly been please with their products. I really enjoy the Multi Grain Bagel with the veggie cream cheese and get this every time I’m there for breakfast. They also have a good choice of salads and sandwiches for lunch. Every Panera I have been to is the same which is a good and bad thing. It’s sometimes comforting to walk into a place an know what your getting into regardless of what town your in. I do have a gripe that they don’t have soy milk which is a great addition to coffee or a Chi Latte but their biggest problem is the lack of service. Apparently Panera’s employees are part of some kind of union and are only allowed to perform one function while in the work place. Most of the wait staff will be performing their daily duties around the store while the one person at the register helps the patrons in line no matter how long the line. Sometimes I’ve waited as many as five minutes just to order and other times (Denver, CO) have walked out of the store with out getting to place my order.

Claim Jumper, Henderson, NV. - This establishment is esthetically pleasing and I found the wait staff to be friendly and helpful. If you have never been to a Claim Jumper before be prepared for big food. The portions are the largest of any mainstream restaurants I have been to and lacking flavor as are most of these same type restaurants. How else do you cook the same thing for thousands of people nation wide? I did a lunch sized Cobb Salad and had no problem getting full. Salad was crisp and fresh with lots of the traditional type toppings. Too mush blue cheese but nice balsamic vinaigrette.

Spicy Pickle, Henderson, NV. – If you find yourself at the Emergency Care Facility located in the Lowe’s plaza area in Henderson for 3 hours waiting to see a doctor to see if your youngest daughter has an ear infection or not, look down the plaza a ways and you’ll see the Spicy Pickle. This was a great choice to help pass the time and feed the hunger. Had we known we had a three hour wait we most likely would have not eaten so fast. That can cause gas you know!!!! Anyway, this place was laid out nicely and had a simple menu the all looked very good. I had the wise guy sandwich that was your not so typical Italian sandwich. Perfect use of topping served on ciabatta bread (a little tough for my taste). The seven bean soup was salty but the kids’ cheese pizza was perfect for a 1 year old that hasn’t slept much, eaten much, being treated for pink eye, enough snot to keep Kleenex in business through 2008 and oh yeah, has an ear infection.

Firefly on Paradise, Las Vegas, NV. The wife and I finally get a night out for dinner and a show, with hotel (Hilton Honors Points), thanks to the Grandparents. First time in an over a year, yes…….we need to get out more!! The Firefly is a Tapas restaurant located in a strip mall, as is everything these days. For me Tapas is the perfect type of dining. I am the self proclaimed appetizer king and Tapas is basically nothing but appetizers. There are five of us for dinner on this night and they suggest 2-3 choices per person. This would mean you could almost try everything on the menu. Good menu selection all the way around from the stuffed dates to the not so traditional sliders. Watch out for the pricing, it’s easy to get carried away with dishes ranging from $4 to $12 per Tapas plate usually containing 2-5 pieces per plate. For the five of us with drinks came to $140. All of us left completely satisfied and remained presently full the rest of the night. With the exception of the wife and I that decided midnight would be the perfect time to eat a small pepperoni pizza and a pint of Haagen-Dazs while watching Southpark. Told you we didn’t get out much!!!

Ok, so I lied. This next one could be considered "on strip".

California Pizza Kitchen is located inside the Fashion Show Mall. I needed clothes and wasn’t quite ready to give up my alone time with the wife!! I was reluctant to make the stop but as any husband who would like to get some in 2008, I caved. I have been to the CPK more than once but usually in an airport to get something quick. I had no idea they had such an extensive menu. The wife didn’t care for the avocado egg rolls (more for me) but we both really enjoyed our BBQ chicken salads. Would I go back………you bet. More things to try. Too bad the airports don’t carry the full menu.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!! Looking forward to another wonderful year of food in 2008.