ELV has been a pretty busy boy lately, whipping out articles left and right for a variety of traditional and on-line media. As we said in an earlier post, the national and international media has stopped assigning our dining scene to the warmed-over steam table, and everyone seems interested in Las Vegas again.

Click here to read our take on the current status of our dining scene — written for Real Eats, Barbara Fairchild’s newest, online food ‘zine.

…and because he taught us to cook — both in person and in his seminal La Technique et La Methode cookbooks.

Believe it or not, boning a whole chicken is not that hard. Just follow the master and you’ll be doing it blindfolded in no time.

In the heart of Wall Street

Just thought you’d like to know.

When an American stays away from New York too long something happens to him. Perhaps he becomes a little provincial, a little dead and afraid. – Sherwood Anderson

May the G-Men speedo to victory!

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…would like to wish every one of his loyal readers a happy and super Super Sunday!

Go Giants!

When ELV lies around his humble abode thinking of things he loathes, many things come to mind, including:

- cupcakes,

- country music,

- people who are intolerant of other cultures,

- the Dutch,

- the novels of Jane Austen,

- men who wear shorts in public, and

- reality TV.

But most of all, he thinks about how much he hates sandwich shops.

Especially sandwich shops that want to franchise themselves selling “wraps,” “fresh made ingredients,” “pastas,” and “wholesome” this or that…when anyone with a sixth grade education knows everything is purchased from U. S. Foods or Sysco — and is packaged in such a way to get secretaries, soccer moms, hipsters and the biker crowd to mindlessly pay for pre-packaged dreck because they think they’re eating “light” and “healthy.”

Sandwich shops are loathsome creatures deserving opprobrium on a universal scale — fattening frauds masquerading as healthy alternatives to overeating.  We’ve had so many bad experiences over the years that when we see the words “salads, pastas and wraps” we get a case of the heebie jeebies.

You want a good sandwich? Make it at home. You want slimy meat and stale baked goods? Go to any place advertising “soups, salads, sandwiches and wraps.”

Case in point: Rachel’s Kitchen. Perennially packed with the iPod and Bluetooth crowd, chattering and clicking away while robotically ingesting sandwich “creations” with all of the soul of a spreadsheet. This is food as fuel and nothing else, and on that level it does the job the way all sandwich shops do — by combining pre-made provisions in familiar ways at cheap prices to appeal to customers who think about food the same way they do about washing their clothes. Sandwich shops depend on this “food is only fuel” crowd to fill their coffers, and daily besmirch a holy creation.

Case in point #2: Rachel’s unsmoked,  “smoked” pressed turkey sandwich — one bite of which told us all we needed to know about this filling station of a lunch spot.

Case in point #3: One chipped tooth on our hard-as-a-rock chocolate chip* cookie — which told us all we needed to know about this franchise-seller.

You have been warned.

RACHEL’S KITCHEN

3330 South Hualapai Dr.

Las Vegas, NV 89117

702.459.6789

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

* Giving new meaning to the name.

Critics are like pigs at the pastry cart. – John Updike

Click here to read our most recent interview in Business Insider about Vegas’ top tables for high rollers and other well-heeled gourmands.

As our loyal readers know, we could’ve easily listed 50, but the author, Matthew Kassel, wanted to keep the list within the range of lucky dice rolls.

FYI: this is the fourth interview/article we’ve done in the past couple of months for a national or international ‘zine about the fine dining scene in our humble burg. Each of them, including The Guardian in the United Kingdom, have wanted to know where the best and most expensive tables in in town are. No one was asking such questions two years ago.

Does this portend a possible resurgence of our fine dining scene? Are better times ahead? Can ELV look forward to more food and wine bacchanalian nights in his future — in the manner to which he has become accustomed?

Hope springs eternal.

Looking for some great last minute takeout for this Sunday — to munch on during that football game you might have heard something about?

Then you can’t beat one of Chris Herrin’s magnificent muffalettas (and macarons) from Bread & Butter…

…or some good ‘cue from Memphis Championship Barbecue…

…or a New York-sized pie from Anthony & Mario’s Broadway Pizzeria (within a stone’s throw of ELV’s humble abode)…

…or a sack of cheeseburgers and a Chili Mac from Steak ‘n Shake (In Sight It Must Be Right).

As usual, you’ll have to scroll down to the 36:18 mark to watch ELV stuffing his pie hole, and listen to him expound on our town’s best sandwich in the cheesy, meaty, spicy, overstuffed tones for which he is known!