StripSteak- Las Vegas, NV

Our hotel of choice when we go to Las Vegas is TheHotel, part of Mandalay Bay.  I was searching for best Steakhouses in Las Vegas and StripSteak inside the Mandalay Bay was one of them. I looked it up and found out it was one of acclaimed chef Michael Mina’s restaurant. So naturally, I had to try it.

Instead of the usual bread basket, our complimentary starter was duck fat fries. A trio of fries fried in duck fat. One was just seasoned with plain salt, the other with what tasted like truffle oil and parsley and the third was seasoned with what tasted like old bay. There were also 3 different types of dipping sauces, each were to complement the different fries. One tasted similar to a tartar sauce but not as tangy, the other was ketchup, the other was a truffle aioli. The fries came out nice and hot, very crispy. I couldn’t stop eating them, with or without the dipping sauce, they were very good.

For my appetizer I ordered duck. This dish came with a crispy duck thigh and a duck egg, cooked over easy, sitting on top of a light salad. The egg seemed a lot fluffier and the yolk tasted a little more subtle. I’m not sure if it was the way they cooked it or if that’s really how duck eggs are. The crispy duck thigh was definitely crispy. I’m not a huge fan of dark meat but I do love duck. It wasn’t oily or fatty. You could taste the saltiness of the crisp skin and the smokiness of the duck. The flavor was good, but I don’t like eating duck like fried chicken. I do like the skin of the duck to be crispy, but I like the meat to be soft and tender. Good dish, but would I order it again? Probably not.

My first side order was the  potato puree trio. The 3 flavors of the potato puree were lobster, sour cream and onion, and horseradish. The lobster puree I thought would be my favorite, but it was actually my least favorite. It was a little too sweet for me and tasted more of sweet potato than a regular potato. There were little chunks of lobster mixed into the puree but most of the lobster flavor was in the potato. The horseradish puree wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t overpowered by horseradish but you can definitely taste it. My favorite of the three was the sour cream and onion. It tasted like a pureed baked potato. Nothing was wrong with this dish, but I wasn’t enamored by it.

The next side order was the truffle mac n cheese.  I love mac n cheese and really can’t get enough of it. This was good. It wasn’t too cheesy or gooey, but it was OK because it was TRUFFLE mac n cheese! The cheesy sauce tasted like white aged cheddar. It was super smooth, ultra silky. Small elbow macaroni was their pasta of choice so some of the sauce creeped into the little holes for more burst of flavor. To top it off (literally) there was a mount of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It wasn’t a garnish it was there to add more cheesy goodness to the dish. 

We also ordred the  roasted marrow bones. These were served with crispy thing slices of baguette. It didn’t seem as though the marrow had any olive oil or fat drizzled over it prior to roasting because the top was a little dry. The consistency wasn’t as smooth and didn’t spread over the baguette easily. I was really disappointed with the taste and consistency of this dish.







  

 Ed’s entrée  was the 18oz Dry-Aged Bone-In Rib Eye and paired it with King crab legs (not pictured). The king crab legs were steamed nicely. They were perfectly plump and juicy. It was sweet and succulent, everything a King crab should be. It's served plain with no butter.  Not that crab absolutely has to be dipped in butter, but butter just makes it that much sweeter.  He ordered the  rib eye medium rare plus, meaning a little more done than medium rare. It’s still pink in the middle but not red.  The steak came out perfectly cooked and seasoned.



“Never again am I ordering a rib eye. I can’t eat that after eating this.” These were Ed’s exact words after he took a bite of my entrée. I ordered the 8oz American Kobe Filet and paired it with grilled foie gras. How can that NOT be good! Foie gras is made from duck liver. It doesn’t look nor does it taste like your typical liver in a liver and onions dish. It doesn’t have that grimy, pasty consistency. It tasted almost like rib eye fat. It is rich, but not heavy. It was creamy, soft and practically melted in your mouth. You can taste the liver flavor but it was subtle and oh so good! Foie gras is not for everyone though. Did you see the episode of Real Housewives of Orange County when Alexis spit it out? That could be you. But for me, it was love at first bite.  Now if that wasn’t good enough, let’s talk about this beef they call Kobe. The phrase “It’s like butter, baby” describes it perfectly. I had a steak knife, but could’ve cut it with a butter knife. It was so soft, so tender, so simply seasoned. When you have a perfect cut of meat and know how to cook it, there’s not much you need to season it with besides salt and pepper. No sauces needed. It was good as is. Again, perfectly cooked. I got that initial crispy char and then bit into soft mouthwatering steak. Up until now, the only Kobe I was in awe over was Kobe Bryant (sorry Jeff)… I’m not as bougie as Ed. I will still eat a regular rib eye, but would definitely order the Kobe cut if my wallet allowed me to.

As if I wasn't full enough, I ordered two desserts The first dessert was the trio of ice cream. My flavors of choice were  chocolate,  vanilla and the brown butter ice cream. I didn’t taste the chocolate or vanilla. I’m assuming it was kid approved because it was gone. The brown butter… it was delicious. It tasted like vanilla with swirls of caramel and butterscotch. It was rich and decadent but not overly sweet. I would’ve been happy with a big bowl of that. The other dessert was the beignets. I had the option of getting it with a crème brulee or butterscotch dipping sauce. I opted for the butterscotch. They came out hot and were dusted with powder sugar. My first bite was without the dipping sauce. It was just like a thick donut. Not as airy or fluffy. It was a little too dense for my liking. However, that butterscotch dipping sauce, I could’ve dipped anything in that all day. It was thick, hot, creamy and you can really taste the caramelization of the sugar. It had really deep flavor. Ed thought there was a little too rum in it. That’s what I loved about it. Dipped in the sauce, the beignet was good. Without it, it was ok. Not the greatest I’ve tasted.

Besides our main courses, I wasn't too impressed with the rest of our dishes.  I could think of a lot more restaurants that would be worthy of the $300 we spent there.  

Mil Jugos- A little taste of Velenzuela in Santa Ana

The first time I heard of arepas was while watching Bobby Flay’s Throwdown show. It is a Venezuelan dish that is a cross between a sope and pupusa in texture. An arepa isn’t the composed dish but rather the “bun” that holds the filling. It’s either grilled, baked or fried. I really had no interest in eating one until I was told that Mil Jugos had really good arepas. Here their arepas are grilled.

Mil Jugos is located in Santa Ana, CA. We ordered carne mechada,  pollo, queso blanco, and the pabellon arepas. To go with it we also tried the cachapa con pernil (shredded pork) and a couple of their juices.

We ordered the apple and the watermelon juice. They were both freshly made and were blended with just enough crushed ice. In the apple juice, you can still see specks of the peel so you knew they used fresh apples. Although I wasn’t too fond of the apple juice, the watermelon juice was very good. There were too many choices to choose from. You can also do any combination of juices as well.

At the table there are two different types of salsas. One looked like a creamy guacamole salsa. The other, which was the one I used, resembled a really thick pesto. It was spicy but really good. If you use too much of it, it probably would take away from the taste of the filling. We ordered the queso blanco arepa for my son. Queso blanco is normally crumbly, but because it was in between the piping hot arepa, it became creamy. If you like queso blanco, then you would like this arepa. Since I don’t like it in a thick slab form, I didn’t even try it. Apparently, after a bite of it, I found out my son isn’t a big fan of it either. The chicken arepa did not taste at all how it was described.  I hardly tasted any of the garlic, onions or even salt. The chicken was tender but thought it needed more seasoning to it. The carne mechada arepa had shredded beef that was cooked with garlic, tomatoes, onions and red bell peppers. This arepa was very good. The beef was cooked perfectly. It was very soft and tender and seasoned to perfection. It had bold flavor and with a little salsa, it made it even better. The pabellon arepa was my favorite. It was basically the carne mechada arepa but with black beans and crumbled white cheese. The arepas itself had no taste. Just like a tortilla or plain bread, it’s rather bland and unflavorful. But with the meat and the juices soaked in it, it’s like a sponge full of flavor. The arepas kept form and didn’t get soggy from the juices.

I don’t know which I liked more, the arepas or cachapa con pernil. A cachapa is a pancaked turned omelet. It’s made of maize so by itself tastes like a sweet corn pancake. I say pancake turned omelet because it is folded over and inside it’s stuffed with your choice of  filling. Our was filled with white cheese, fresh cream and shredded pork. I love corn. I love it on the cob, cornbread, corn cakes and now cachapa. On its own it has that subtle sweetness and I could’ve eaten it on its own. The cream was a little tangy but was mellowed by that  thin layer of melted white cheese that was soothing to the palate. The shredded pork could’ve been a little more tender, but it was manageable to eat. The flavors of each component didn’t over power one another. You can taste each of them individually yet they all melded well together. This, along with the Pabellon arepa would be on my regular “definite things to order” list.



Top: Left to Right- Queso Blanco,Pollo,Carne Mechado arepas
Bottom- Pabellon arepa, Cachepa con Pernil

Mil Jugos is near the Civic Center so there is a lot of traffic around the area if you are trying to go on a weekday. If you are getting it to go, you wait in what could be an out the door line. If eating in, you’d be lucky during lunch time to get a table right away. We were one of the lucky ones. Parking is few and far in between and it’s also metered. Again, we were lucky to get a spot right in front. I would definitely recommend this place. Good service, great food! They also  serve freshly made empanadas but ONLY on Saturdays. A definite must try.

Fine Dining on Wheels? - The Lobsta Truck

I’ve missed a couple of chances to try The Lobsta Truck, but I found out that it was going to be at the “Too Fat, Too Furious” Best Buy lot in Fullerton, CA I made it a point not to plan anything else for that night. The Lobsta Truck’s menu is simple. There are no fancy names to their dishes, no twists or a fusion of flavors. They sell lobsta rolls, crab rolls, clam chowder, cape cod chips, a couple of desserts and drinks. I didn’t have a barrage of choices thrown at me and I didn’t have to read a paragraph describing each dish. It was simple. I ordered the clam chowder and the lobsta roll.

I’ve had better clam chowder (not pictured), but I’ve also had worse. I liked the sweetness of it and it did have good flavor but it  was a little on the runny side. It wasn’t as thick as I would’ve liked it. It also had way too many potatoes pieces and not enough clams. The only real clam flavor I got was from the soup. This wasn’t bad, but I could pass on spending $4 on it again. 

Lobster isn’t my favorite crustacean. I find that it’s texture is a little tougher and not as sweet as the true king of seafood, the Alaskan King Crab. However, I had to order this over the crab roll because the truck isn't called The Crab Truck. The sandwich was a lot smaller than I expected it to be. It's not served on your typical roll. The chunks of lobster were nestled into a perfectly toasted thick cut of buttered bread. There was a choice of it being served with butter or with mayo.  For those who know me would know that I'd choose butter on anything.

The bread was still warm but the lobster was cold. There were good sized chunks of lobster in every bite. The lobster was sweet and perfectly cooked. It was succulent and juicy (and YES, I am salivating as I type!). I didn’t want to eat the whole thing because there were other trucks on my agenda that evening but I did find myself saying “Ok, just one more bite” at least 3 times. The problem with my roll? There were shells in 3 of my bites. I can understand if little pieces of the outer shell were missed because it was crushed in little specks, but these were the clear shell/bone from inside the claw where the meat is attached. Also, the roll is a little pricey for the size of the sandwich, $12. All in all, even though there was the little mishap with the shells, I would go back and get another, after payday though.