Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
winning choice). All the servings are huge, actually, whether you settle on a burger
($9.95), chicken in a balsamic sauce ($16) or perhaps an omelet at four in the
morning ($11). By the way, kids will adore this place. After all, how often do you
get to eat in a spot all done in the pinks, purples and electric blues of Barbie's
dream house?
DOWNTOWN RESTAURANTS
Honky tonk and old fashioned, yes, but Downtown is a mecca for high-quality,
relatively low-cost eats. The 99¢ shrimp cocktail, bright red and tasting of the
finest ketchup, available at the Golden Gate since 1959, is legendary. If you'd like
something more substantial and, to be blunt, tasty, you have half a dozen choices,
all within walking distance of each other.
$
There's
Aloha Specialties
5
(in the California Hotel, 12 E. Ogden Ave;
%
702/
382-0383; www.thecal.com; Mon-Thurs 9am-9pm, Fri-Sat 9am-10pm; no credit
cards),
a major gathering place for the many Hawaiian visitors who make
Downtown their Vegas hang. Here, the food tastes just like it does in the islands,
meaning that you're going to eat big, cheap, and starchy. Particularly recom-
mended are the Saimin Noodles ($3.75), a Hawaiian specialty somewhat like
Japanese ramen (though this version is made with egg, which makes the noodles
more crinkly). Served in hot
dashi
(a savory bonito broth) and garnished with
green onions and
kamaboko
(steamed fish cake), the small portion is a meal-sized
soup; don't make the mistake of ordering the large version, which has the dimen-
sions of a bowling ball. Also good and surprisingly fresh tasting is the Ahi poke
with lime and a heaping helping of sticky rice ($4.50); and the gooey sweet
teriyaki plate ($5.95). And if you have a sudden craving for Spam—hey, it hap-
pens—this is the place to come, as it's a staple of the menu here. As you're not
going to want to linger over dessert—no matter how many pictures of waterfalls
and plastic orchids they scatter about, it still looks like an old casino coffee shop—
go across the hall to
Laperts Ice Cream
55
(daily 10am-midnight)
and grab a
cone of Hana Road (just like Rocky Road, but made with Kona coffee); or Kauai
Pai (another coffee-based ice cream riddled with coconut, fudge, and macadamia
nuts). Shipped in daily from Hawaii, the ice cream is lusciously creamy and not
overly sweet.
$-$$
Closer to the Strip and within walking distance of the Marriage License
Bureau,
Chicago Joes
(820 S. 4th St.;
%
702/382-JOES; www.chicagojoes
restaurant.com; Mon-Fri 11am-10pm, Sat 5-10pm, closed Mon in summer; AE,
DISC, MC, V)
would be a good place for an inexpensive wedding reception if your
last name was Soprano, and your favorite food was anything “parmigianed.” A red
sauce and garlic-bread joint set in a cozy, little brick house with white lace cur-
tains, red and white checked oilcloth covered tables, and red Christmas lights
strung along the ceiling, it's unabashedly Italian-American. No bucatini or bacala
here, just the Italian fare that's grown so standard it's as American nowadays as a
Big Mac. That being said, the simple food they serve—spaghetti with meat sauce
($5.95 lunch, $7.95 dinner), eggplant parmigiana ($7.95 lunch, $9.95 dinner),
and lasagna ($6.95 lunch, $8.95 dinner), is well prepared; and the setting is so
unpretentious and homey (this may be one of the few restaurants in all of Vegas
