Around the corner from The Earl of Sandwich is one of our favorite breweries, Sin City Brewery. Maybe 10:30 AM is a little early to start drinking beer, but, hey, it was 1:30 PM eastern. Sin City offers 4 draft beers. This time they had their wheat, stout, Oktoberfest, and light lager. I stuck with my usual stout. Brandy tried the Oktoberfest. Would make for a great "session" beer. Though we didn't order one, their version of a Belgian wit beer is probably their best offering.
We followed the Sin City up by hopping in a cab over to Vegas' Chinatown on Spring Mountain Road. If you ever go to Vegas and want to eat awesome food, go to Chinatown! On this day we visited Monta Japanese Noodle House. This was my first time eating real ramen, i.e. not the $0.10 packs you buy at Walmart. Monta is a really small noodle house situated a couple doors down from the popular Raku Japanese restaurant. It sits maybe 25 people (very tightly, I might add). I opted for the Tonkatsu (pork) ramen with extra pork and Brandy went for the Shoyu (soy) ramen with egg. The Tonkatsu was more cloudy, rich, and stock-like (I think it is made from pork bones and fat), whereas the Shoyu was more thin, salty, broth-like. Both were good, although I preferred mine. The noodles were cooked perfectly and the pork slices were to-die-for. We also ordered a small side of fried rice, which was lightly fried with egg and pork. Very different (as expected) from the typical East Tennessee "Japanese" restaurant fried rice. Glad I tried it. (The gyoza looked amazing, too. I wish we'd ordered those.) Perhaps the best part of all was that we were seated at the bar overlooking the small kitchen allowing us the opportunity to watch the chefs make each order of noodles. Absolutely fascinating. There was such an insane level of noodle soup perfection being demonstrated.
On our way to Monta, we noticed a pub we'd been wanting to visit for a couple of years called The Crown & Anchor. Had no idea they had a second location in Chinatown. We walked over there immediately followed our noodles and proceeded to chill at the bar for a few hours watching proper football (i.e. soccer), drinking proper pints (i.e. 20 ounces) of Hoegaarden, and listening to a proper jukebox (i.e. a jukebox with music I like on it, like Rush and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings). Could have sat there all day (literally - it is open 24/7). Oh, and don't forget the $0.25 video blackjack at the bar! You ARE in Vegas...
Once we were ready to go back out later that day, we figured we need a light dinner before we went to the concert. Michael Mina's Nobhill Tavern was located at the entrance to our hotel wing at the MGM. It's a great looking space, so we thought we'd have a cocktail at the bar and try an appetizer. We both ended up with whiskey-based cocktails (mine being better than Brandy's - I think we got the back-up bartender). For the snack, we went for chilled king crab legs with whole grain creme fraiche. Wow! Though they were $18.00, it was great to snack on some really excellent, fresh seafood.
Following Nobhill Tavern, we figured we were in need of a better drink, and we knew exactly where to go. Just a few minutes away in the MGM is Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak. This was one of the first "fine dining" restaurants I ever visited - and it remains one of my favorites today. I went for a glass of Ramey 2006 Claret and Brandy went for a "Black Cherry Fizz." What a hell of a cocktail. I wish I'd ordered one. It tasted like a homemade, alcoholic 7-Up. So good.
We soon realized that the crab had only wetted our appetite and immediately knew what could solve it - Craftsteak's wild mushroom risotto. Their risotto was unquestionably one of the most inspirational dishes for me the first time I had it. It really got me excited about wanting to learn how to make risotto, and ultimately learning about all sorts of different techniques in the kitchen. On this visit, the risotto included hen of the woods mushrooms and butternut squash. I tend to think I make a pretty good risotto. I practice it alot. But it's still a hard dish and I've never perfected it. I was quickly reminded of this when the Craftsteak risotto hit my mouth last weekend. Jesus. It is so good. The rice is perfectly cooked. And the wee little bit of thyme in there just adds such an amazing extra level of flavor. It was a highlight of the trip, for sure. And the best part - it's enough food to split and it's only $15.00!
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