I went to this new (6 months) Sichuan restaurant aside a Best Western for lunch on Wednesday. They have started running a food show by guy who was at the forefront of these kind of shows (Martin Yan) on UCF PBS lately. And the shows have all centered around Chengdu. So my interest was already kindled. I would have been here earlier, but, it was always on a Monday and they are closed then. Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province (SW China). The chef here once ran Zen at the Omni Orlando. If that is the one at Champions Gate, I may have seen it. I don't think I ate there. He has developed a pretty robust menu. It features the land and sea and even oddities such as pig intestine and rabbit. Not a ton of freak show material, but enough to make it interesting. They did say something about "changing" the menu, so, let's hope they don't dumb it down too much. They initially tried to hide the lunch special for me, but, I got one and tried the shredded pork with spicy garlic something or other. It came with rice (fried) and soup (egg drop) for $8. That was less than the price of the app (rabbit) I was going to order off the main menu. The pork (strips) was fine. It came with sliced peppers and onions and mushrooms. The fried rice was barely fried. And too fluffy. The soup was good. Not too salty. I also ordered Spicy Dan Dan Noodles with Minced Pork for $7. Either this or the lunch special would have been enough on their own. I powered through like a good soldier though. The noodles were good. The pork was fine. Two versions. Nice heat. Service was a bit anxious. Nice though. The hostess chose to chat with me. The table next to me had a guy who sounded like Javier Bardem and they were ordering everything and enjoying it. No air holes to the forehead. The place seats about eighty and started filling up. The place looks clean and redone. I think it was a diner with a Hollywood theme the last time I was here. It is before that huge police headquarters if you are coming from I-4. I'd go back. They said they do the "American" breakfast for the hotel. I'm not sure if anyone can enjoy it.
*I'll hip you to some Asian places I ate at in Las Vegas this week since we are on the subject. The last four have been on TV. They are all on or just off Spring Mountain Road. It starts at the Wynn. I found it looking for some place called Raku. It has a ton of Asian restaurants. And almost as many rub out joints. Here's the list.
Kapit Bahay, Mian Sichuan Noodle, Takopa, Pho 87, Joyful House, Hot N Juicy Crawish "The Original Location" (Richman), Hobak Korean BBQ (Zimmern). Consult TVFOODMAPS if interested. Kaizen sushi across from the Hard Rock also gets 4.5 stars on Yelp. It was ok.
I also should point out a potential franchise called Bruxie. They do chicken and waffle sandwiches, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment