A foodie tour of Downtown Vegas
Broadly speaking there are two main tourist areas of Las Vegas – The Strip and Downtown. The Strip is the glitz and glam associated with TV and films. The big hotels, big-name night clubs, buffets and restaurants galore, all at a cost.
Downtown Vegas is where it all began though, and has had a bit of a reputation for being the poor relative, but great if you want to explore the more gritty side of things! In recent years it has undergone a renaissance with the opening of a hipster container park, art areas, and an injection of money to revitalise the area.
This has also meant a growth in lots of interesting independent restaurants, and the area has always had the best dive bars and speakeasies! On a recent trip to Vegas we wanted to get to know the area more, so found a great company called Lip Smacking Foodie Tours. They specialise in walking tours around Las Vegas, calling in on a number of restaurants and bars to try their signature dishes and drinks.
I’d like to point out that this is not a paid or sponsored blog post. The company did not know the FatSteak Club as on the tour or that they would be reviewed. So, with 14 new friends, our guide Allen, a chef himself, and the optional (!) drink packaged added on, off we went on our tour of Downtown Las Vegas.
Stop 1 – Carson Kitchen
We gathered in the courtyard of a converted 1950s hotel, around the renovated lava fire pit. Very kitsch and a perfect start. The head chef explained the concept of their comfort food menu before we went inside to try the signature dishes.
Served family-style out came platters of Devil’s Eggs with pancetta and caviar; plates of roasted young beets with pistachio, orange and goat cheese; bowls of veal meatballs in a sherry foie gras cream, and baskets of crispy chicken skin with smoked honey.
What a start! The addition of mint to the meatballs lifted the richness of the cream sauce, but the true revelation was the crispy chicken skin. A basket of deep-fried perfection, like a light pork scratching, but with intense chicken flavours, a background hint of spice, and smoked honey to dip. The perfect FatSteak snack!
Stop 2 – Therapy
Another hip spot in Downtown, this time featuring more American classics with a twist. The bourbon and blackberry “Smash” cocktail was waiting for us as we arrived into the industrial space.
Continuing a kitsch seventies theme to the food we had Devils on Horseback – bite sized goat cheese and almond stuffed dates wrapped in bacon and fried. Another FatSteak snack in the making!
The chicken meatball and sweet ricotta cheese on crostini didn’t quite hit the mark, both being slightly too sweet for a savoury course.
Talking of sweet out came a quarter portion of the signature dish – Chicken and Red Velvet Waffle Slider. No escape - there was buttermilk battered fried chicken breast sandwiched between waffles made from red velvet cake batter with a red pepper remoulade. A great gimmick on the menu, but once more, too sweet for my palate. Maybe as a hangover cure?!
Stop 3 – The DCR
We needed a break from the food, and the Downtown Cocktail Room made for welcome relief. We passed quickly through the main bar into a hidden speakeasy in the back – Mike Morey’s Sip n Tip. There is a separate entrance tucked down a back alley for direct access.
If you want to know where to go for a serious drinking session – follow the industry. Mike’s bar gets going around 2 am when the chefs and restaurant workers from the area finish their shifts and come to let off steam.
They have a great cocktail list, or if you want to pick from the shelf behind the bar – the cheapest spirits and wines are on the bottom shelf – all one price, mid-range in the middle, and the expensive on top. An easy way to remember!
Stop 4 – Turmeric
After a quick tour around the container park and watching the praying mantis explode with fire (only in Vegas), we finished the night like every good night out, with a curry.
Feeling rather full now, we made room for some fresh, piping hot, garlic naan, straight out of the tandoor. This was followed by a sampler plate of amazingly spiced dishes, leaving a tingle on the tongue. A portobello mushroom stuffed with peppers, spinach and more mushrooms; Gobi Manchurian, a crisp cauliflower floret tossed in a tangy soy-garlic sauce; Chicken pakora with a siracha chutney, and a Masala Shrimp taco. Turmeric’s take on the Mexican street food, serving Kerala spice shrimp on a circle of roti.
Just when we thought we were too full out came dessert! Carrot cake, a mango kulfi and a sticky sweet Gulab jamun.
There was certainly no need to eat any more that evening, but whilst we were downtown, we managed to check out a few casinos, alas no big wins this time. We will definitely be back to explore the food scene on our next trip
