Vegas Baby!

Another new year has come and gone and so has another trip to Vegas!  Vegas is and always will be, one of my all time favorite getaways.  The attraction of a 24/7 lifestyle, unlimited black jack tables, Wheel of Fortune, and the food seem like a great way to spend three days of my life!

This year, we seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time eating, snapping photos of our food, and talking about flavors, ingredients, wine pairings, etc.  We ate non-stop and ordered as many things as we could everywhere we went.  We had some successful meals and some not so successful ones.  Here is an overview of our best Vegas bites from 2017!

searsucker at Caesar's Palace

searsucker is a Brian Malarkey restaurant located in Caesear's Palace.  We stopped here for a late night snack after seeing Elton John's Million Dollar Piano.  Here are the plates we shared (left to right):  house made biscuits with whipped butter and infused honey, sliders with bacon, cheddar, chipotle, and crispy onions, and mac & cheese with Vermont cheddar, wagon wheels, and apple wood smoked bacon.

The best bite of the evening was the biscuits! They were a little dense but super buttery and just yummy!  The whipped butter was salty and the honey added an interesting bite.  I ate my share of the biscuits and part of my husband's as well.  I just can't pass up a biscuit, no matter how hard I try!

The worst bite was probably the sliders.  The meat itself was a bit over cooked and needed some salt, but all of the rest of the components were delicious.  The bacon was cooked perfectly and tasted amazing with the chipotle cream.  

For me, the mac & cheese fell right in the middle, but I think this was my husband's favorite dish.  The wagon wheels were fun to eat and the cheese and bacon together were delicious.  I loved the crispy top, but the dish had an uncooked white wine flavor that had an odd after taste.

Would I return to searsucker?  The answer is definitely yes!  searsucker is known for their short rib, so I definitely would like to give that a try, and of course, order another round of those biscuits!

MESA Grill at Caesar's Palace

If you have had a chance to read some of my other posts, you know that Mesa Grill is pretty much my all time favorite restaurant.  I can't even describe the food without my mouth watering!  It is just something you have to try.  The restaurant may not look like much from the outside, but walk in, order some tequilla and sit down and order the Tiger Shrimp and Roasted Corn Tamale (not shown above), New Mexican Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin, and Grilled Lamb Porterhouse Chops.  

My tequilla drink of choice was a smoked peach margarita.  Fresh peach and lime juice made this one of the best margaritas I have had.  My husband ordered the pork and said that my version is getting very close to the Bobby Flay original.  This pork is so tender and the combination of sweet and spicy just makes your mouth feel good!  My lamb was served with a serrano chimichurri and a chorizo goat cheese tamale (special request).  This is the best lamb I have had.  It tasted like a steak from Maestros - tender, buttery, melt in your mouth!  

Dessert was good, but not super memorable compared to the rest of the meal.  I cannot remember all of the components (I recall rasberry gelato) so I'm not even going to try and describe it.

I will go back to Mesa every chance I get!  If you are in Vegas and you don't go, you are a fool.  THAT Is how good this food is!

LAGO by Julian Serrano at Bellagio

Lago is Julian Serrano's first Italian restaurant.  The restaurant is beautiful with amazing glass and art work throughout.  It overlooks Bellagio's fountains and there is an outside eating area which would definitely be fun in the warmer weather!  The menu is mostly small plates, but they also offer a handful of entrees.  The restaurant is loud and a little difficult to carry on a conversation.  Luckily, I spent so much time eating that conversation wasn't really necessary!

As you can see from the pictures above, I somehow only took pictures of our drinks.   Once I started eating, I just could not bring myself to put the fork down and grab the camera.  Seriously, that is how much I enjoyed the food!

Since the drinks are so proudly displayed, I'll give you a quick summary.  I started with the Cucumber Mist - Grey Goose La Poire Vodka, Pallini Limoncello, Blood Orange Syrup, Fresh Lime Juice, Cucumber Sparkling Soda, Fresh Cucumber and Blueberries. My husband had the Sicilian Gin and Tonic (not featured above).  His drink came with a dried orange peel that tasted exactly like a shortbread cookie.  OMG was it delicious!  

The wine was a recommendation from a waiter - Damilano Barolo, 2011.  The wine was perfect with every plate we shared and it went down so quickly, we ended up ordering two bottles.  

Now, I'm sure you are asking WHY I have a picture of a cup of coffee.  Was the coffee good, sure, but the cup was so cute I just had to take a picture.  And if you life up the cup, there is a cute blue circle underneath!  LOVE!

The meal - UNBELIEVABLE!  I loved every dish!  This restaurant gave my favorite MESA Grill a run for its money.  Completely different food but the same memorable experience.  I picked it based on the menu and my past experience at Julian Serrano's Tapas at the Aria.  Every bite of every plate was a party in your mouth.  You literally just savor every bite and every flavor.  I can't find the words to describe this food.  The best thing I can do is use a line from one of my favorite movies, Big Night, "...when my uncle, in Rome, at this restaurant, makes this, you eat and then, you go [ugh]  and you kill yourself.  You have to kill yourself after you eat this; you can't live!"

Spiced Rubbed Pork with Bourbon Chipotle Sauce

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I’m a fan of Bobby Flay and his Vegas restaurant, Mesa. My first meal at Mesa was Bobby’s Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin in a Bourbon Chile Sauce. I made this last year for Christmas and recently for a birthday celebration for friends. I missed a great photo opportunity to take a picture of the whole tenderloin, which was nicely charred and had a beautiful color from the deep red and brownish-orange hues from all of the warm spices.

Here’s the recipe:

Spiced Rubbed Pork

2 pork tenderloins (about 1 ½ - 2 pounds each)

3 tablespoons paprika (I used sweet, but smoked paprika would be good too!)

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons dry mustard powder

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine all of the spices, then coat the pork with the rub. Heat the grill to approximately 400 degrees. Cook the pork on indirect heat for approximately 40 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. The pork is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees. Take the pork off the grill and let it rest, covered with foil, for about 5 minutes.

Bourbon Sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium red onion, finely chopped 2 cups bourbon

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup apple juice concentrate, thawed (about ¾ of a can)

¼ cup brown sugar

8 whole black peppercorns

1 chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped

Kosher salt, to taste

Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan, over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened. Add the bourbon and let it reduce to a few tablespoons. This takes awhile, so don’t get anxious.

Add the chicken stock, apple juice concentrate, brown sugar, peppercorns and chipotle until the mixture if reduced by half. Again, this does take some time so just keep stirring and be patient!

Strain the sauce and then add it back to the pan. Continue to cook the sauce until it gets to a “sauce consistency.” I’m never sure what that means, so I cook it until it is thicker than a broth but not thick like a paste. Bobby Flay says to add another 2 tablespoons of Bourbon, which I usually forget, but I do tend to add about a tablespoon of butter, which makes the sauce nice and shiny.

Also, I start the sauce when the grill is heating up. That gives me about 70 minutes of total time to make the sauce. Don’t worry if the sauce is ready before the pork, just lower the heat, or shut if off completely, then bring it back up to temperature as soon as you take the pork off the grill.

Accoutrements

I served this with risotto and roasted asparagus (just a little salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon). If I remember correctly, it was served with sweet potato mash at Mesa. I’m not a sweet potato fan, but it does seem like sweet potatoes would be great with this (maybe with a maple bourbon glaze?)! Any kind of roasted veggie would also be awesome!

At Mesa, we drank Fiddlestix Pinot Noir Seven Twenty Eight from Fiddlehead Cellars. The last time I made this meal, I served it with Decoy Cabernet Sauvignons and it was perfect!

Bon Appetit!

Bobby Flay Rocks!

Dinner tonight was inspired by Bobby Flay’s BBQ Addiction. The theme today was Steakhouse at Home. We watched Bobby cook a Rib Eye steak on the grill by first searing the steak directly on direct heat and then finishing it in a cast iron pan on the grill itself.

This is the BEST steak that I have ever eaten at home and to be honest, on the same level as Mastro’s and Ruth’s Chris. The steak was THAT good!

Here is the recipe (my version below):

The thickest Rib Eye steak you can find

Canola Oil

Salt

Pepper

½ stick unsalted butter

Maytag Blue Cheese (optional)

Start your charcoal grill. While the grill is getting hot, let the steak come to room temperature. Before grilling, brush the steaks with canola oil and then heavily salt and pepper the steaks. Use enough salt and pepper so that it feels unnatural; the goal is that the salt/pepper form a crust on the steak.

Grill the steak on direct heat about 2 minutes per side. Remove the steak from the grill and place a cast iron pan on the grill. Cut the steak into large strips against the grain and return the steak to the pan (in the same shape of the steak). Place ½ stick of unsalted butter (cut into ~1 inch chunks) on the top of the steak and cover the grill. Let cook approximately 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the grill and place the steak strips on a serving dish. If you are using blue cheese, crumble the blue cheese on top of the steak and then spoon the butter sauce from the cast iron pan over the steak/blue cheese. Let the steaks sit about 5 minutes, covered, before serving.

What do you serve with the steak? I tried the Grilled Potatoes. I personalized this by using peeled russet potatoes and tossed the potatoes with canola oil, salt, pepper, shallots and italian seasoning to start. Once they finished on the grill, I tossed them again with parsley, olive oil and some finishing salt. I could have cooked them a bit longer on the grill, but they were still SO good!

Enjoy my friends!

Welcome to Madonia’s Kitchen!

I fell in love with food and cooking right after college.  It all started with WTTW - Channel 11 in Chicago.  I would watch Cooking with Claudine (Jacques Pepin and his daughter), Yan Can Cook, Lidia’s Kitchen and even Julia Child back in the early days with my dad in his office.

Once Food Network hit the airwaves, Emeril LaGasse became my favorite TV chef.  Twenty two years later (yes, Food Network started back in 1993), I’m still a fan of the network.  No matter what time of day you walk into my house, Food Network is on.  My tastes and favorite chefs have changed over the years and despite my Italian heritage, I have to admit that my favorite chef has to be Bobby Flay.  Go to MESA Grill in Las Vegas and you will understand why.  Ever since I ate at this restaurant, my entire cooking style has changed.  The chiles have made my stomach a little worse for wear, but you can’t help but love this food.

My goal for this blog is to simply indulge my love for food, cooking, wine and entertaining.  I hope that you enjoy the stories and recipes as much as I do.  

Salute!