Category: Dish and Tell

Downtown’s New Jam, There’s a Baby in My Cake, J-Pop Cravings and a Unicorn

When you walk into Paid in Full (7225 S. Durango Dr., Suite 105), the eatery brought to you by chefs Michael Plourde (Suzuya Patisserie) and Jason Olson, make sure to wash your hands. Not only will you want them clean to pick up and devour the smoked salmon takoyaki and get every last ikura (salmon egg) off the plate—but you also want to visit the women’s restroom. Whimsical pink with framed photos of bubblegum-blowing celebs, a disco ball and a unicorn…

Continue reading

Wolfgang Puck’s artisanal bread rises to the occasion

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” James Beard said this, and yet bread still gets a bad rap. While the rest of the world celebrates bread daily, anti-carb diets (and voices in our heads) keep us from the ultimate comfort food, one that has been a nutritious staple for thousands of years. Enter the artisanal breads at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants in Las Vegas, where each loaf…

Continue reading

The Dirtiest Dog in Town, Liberating Fourth of July Eats and Happy-hour Bubbly

Certainly an unsavory name for a street-food outfit, but Dirt Dog, the “Official Hot Dog of Los Angeles” has arrived at 8390 S. Rainbow Boulevard. When founder Tim Cam was a child, he and his brother were eager to try hot dogs that were being sold on the streets of L.A. Wrapped in bacon and topped with grilled onions, peppers and all the sauces, they were tempting, but the boys’ mother wasn’t going allow them to eat hot dogs that…

Continue reading

Giving a Hoot About OWL, Homage to the Egg, and the Key to Your Mondays

It’s been nearly one month since Stephan Galdau opened OWL, located in an industrial business park in the southwest part of town (3990 W. Russell Rd., 702-659-9762). Promising to make his mark in this city with a nongaming, nonsmoking tavern, Galdau delivers a respectable selection of craft beers and an eclectic farm-to-table menu. While the start of OWL wasn’t as smooth as expected—with a broken air conditioner during the hottest week of the year thus far—what has quickly become a…

Continue reading

Merlot, call it a comeback

Like a blockbuster talent absent from the big screen for years, we’re often left to wonder whatever happened to merlot. A superstar varietal during the 1990s, all its stardom seems to have fizzled over the years. So what happened to the generous, plush, dark fruit flavors that everyone was so proud to claim as his or her main squeeze? One widespread urban legend claims that merlot’s spotlight was knocked sideways in 2004 by a certain movie set in Santa Barbara’s…

Continue reading

OneHope in a Bottle

What if ordering your favorite varietal, say, pinot noir from Edna Valley, California, helped educate women about their risk of heart disease? That would certainly make every sip worth the price, wouldn’t it? Crafted in collaboration with consultant winemaker Rob Mondavi Jr., award-winning wines from ONEHOPE(OneHopeWine.com) make a positive worldwide social impact by aligning specific varietals to different causes. Half of the program’s profits goes to make a difference somewhere in the world; for example, providing clean water, supporting our…

Continue reading

Orange Wine: An Old World Rarity

The wine is orange—that would be an accurate observation. But, realize that orange wine is not made from fermented oranges, nor is it laced with Tang. They’re simply white wines made from grape juice left to mingle with its skins for a while, which turns the wine orange, anything from golden to copper to deep amber. More impressive than the rich hue is the wine’s voluptuous and complex characteristics that combine white-wine flavor with red-wine structure, making them excellent for…

Continue reading

A Sunken, Drunken Treasure

It is a known fact that a good, complex sparkling wine undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle under controlled conditions, such as a dark underground cellar. Not the case for this bubbly. Named for its origins, Bisson “Abissi” is actually aged in the deep-sea abyss, nearly 200 feet down, off the coastal town of Portofino, Italy. Ligurian winemaker Pierluigi Lugano, who makes Italian spumante in the classic Champagne method, lacked adequate cellar space to age his wine. So, his creative…

Continue reading