Day 4 of our Las Vegas restaurant tour, and we’re beginning to count both calories and hours. Too many of the first, and not enough of the second. So many restaurants, and so little time. Too much to count.
One thing we’ve begun to count ON, though, is great, caring, restaurant operators who become part of our crew after about the first hour on set! Something about the hours we spend with them makes us fast friends.
Like Chef Lance at Sierra Gold. Please don’t count how many chicken wings we put away—but we do know our on-air talent, Christen, managed to work her way through a pretty big selection of their sauces. There are—count ’em—20. We caught it all on video and we think you’ll enjoy that tasting as much as we did!
This is an elegant bar, full of dark wood and gorgeous amber accents, but it isn’t afraid to let down its hair a bit, either. After all, a place that offers the Sierra Gold Zookie, and puts Coo Coo seasoning on its fries, has to be a place you can count on for relaxation and great food! What’s Coo Coo, you ask? Well, you’ll just have to come back for the rest of the story.
Chef Lance was an excellent host, walking us through menu item after menu item: a delectable Arugula and Pear Salad, the Calamari and Shrimp Fry (pictured at top), the Sierra Gold Burger made with Kobe beef, their popular Tenderloin Sliders, and a pizza called the Gilroy that I just wanted to box up and take home.
We began to count how much these local restaurants give back to the community. Chef Frank, for example, really began to warm up as he told us about how his 24/7 restaurant, Shuck’s Tavern, supports the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation by sponsoring meals at Camp Cartwheel. It’s a place where kids can get out of the summer heat and experience the camping experience even though life hasn’t exactly been fair to them.
And, he was a great teacher, leading two of our crew—novices in the art of eating oysters—through their first oyster culinary experience!
We all got treated to really nice seafood in this most unexpected of places, like the slipper lobster tail split in half, dipped in Panko batter and fried, then served with Chohula butter. Yes, it was as good as it sounds. And just wait until you see the ceviche and the spectacular Clam Bake. And we mean spectacular. In the meantime, feast your eyes on his other house specialty, a little mouthful called “The Big Mother-Shucker.” And, yes, he can say it three times fast.
We can’t count the number of times people along the way have told us about why one restaurant or another is their personal favorite, but we can continue to present a few more of them to you.
Count on it—we’ll head back out there each day this week, valiantly tasting and testing to let you know where you can count on the best food in all of Las Vegas!
This series is part of our Raves & Faves restaurant tour of Las Vegas, sponsored by U.S. Foodservice Vegas as part of its commitment to local restaurants. Follow us on Twitter to find out where we’ll be each day!
