Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
least that taste of ancient Rome with their meals. When the food court was first
opened you were handed a card that was simply marked with your purchase at
each station, allowing you to pay as you exited. That's been scrapped (my guess is
too many guests snuck out without paying), so now you pay at each stand, which
slows things down a bit—allot at least 40 minutes to get and eat your meal.
$-$$
The Center Strip is home to the old-school (and just plain old) Flamingo
Casino, and it has a proudly retro buffet called the
Paradise Garden Buffet
5
(in
the Flamingo;
%
702/733-3333; daily 7am-2:30pm and 4:30-10:30pm; brunch
$
14-
$
16, dinner
$
19; AE, DC, MC, V),
which will give you a taste, literally, of what
Vegas must have been like in the '60s and '70s. The decor's been modernized; its
current look has a sort of “hanging gardens of Babylon” effect—lots of fake green-
ery draping down from ziggurat-like setbacks—but the food's old-fashioned, and
for the most part, good. Be sure to snag a seat by the floor-to-ceiling windows for
the calming views of the koi pond, tropical shrubbery, and coquettish pink
flamingos out back. Stick with the “garden” items and you won't be disappointed;
there's an abundance of sweet fruit and salads of all kinds. The cooked foods are
a bit more hit and miss. At brunch (which is a daily affair and offered instead of
lunch), there's a good make-your-own omelet bar that offsets the rubbery pan-
cakes. Chinese food, too, is prepared to order at brunch and dinner by an intent-
looking man with a big steaming wok, and it's above average, filled with crunchy
vegetables. Italian and Mexican offerings are forgettable and confusingly laid out,
the toppings for the tacos nowhere near the actual tacos and meat (I almost acci-
dentally crowned my taco with mashed potatoes the last time I was there, think-
ing it was sour cream!). Dinner is famous for its seafood spread, which isn't at all
gourmet or unusual, but does feature huge tub-loads of steamed shrimp and
Alaskan King Crab legs, the latter pre-cracked for easy munching. All in all, the
Garden Court is a good value, especially at brunch.
$$-$$$
When you go to Chicago, you're making a mistake if you don't visit the
original Pizzeria Uno. Sure, it's a chain now, but the first one still has the élan and
culinary chops that its offspring often lack. The same could be said of
Café Grand
Lux
55
9
(in the Venetian;
%
702/414-3888; www.venetian.com; daily 24 hr.;
AE, DISC, MC, V),
which may very well be the only chain restaurant to have actu-
ally originated in Vegas (and is the only Strip restaurant that every single one of
my local foodie friends recommend). Created in 1999 by David Overton of the
Cheesecake Factory, it's conceived of as the next step in upscale fast food, formu-
lated for the Venetian, but since spun off to half-a-dozen other locations (with
more in the works). Since the Venetian was its original home, all of the branches
have a distinctly Italianate feel; and here, as with the rest of the hotel, the decor
is worthy of Venice itself, featuring hand-blown glass lighting fixtures, marble
floors and table-tops and walls that are gold-leafed and studded with the kind of
beautiful mosaics you'd kill to have in your kitchen. As at the Cheesecake Factory,
internationalism is the theme and the menu is massive, with 150 choices in
all, ranging from simple burgers ($9.50) and pizza ($8.95-$9.95) to addictive
BBQ duck potstickers ($8) or a sculptural and spicy Jamaican Pork Tenderloin
($16; order it to see what I mean) or a more than serviceable plate of pasta
($13-$17). The salads are huge, with a just wrenched-from-the-ground crispness
