Gonna be in town for work next week and am hoping to get a few dinner recommendations. Looking to spend around or under $60ish before drinks and tip.

I'll be at Cosmo and am already planning to go to Sage at Aria one night, but still have 2 or 3 open dinners (gonna play Sunday by ear bc I plan to drink and watch football in a sports book most of the day so may not feel up for anything but a quick informal dinner). I don't want to have to cab anywhere so suggestions in the Cosmo or very close by would be appreciated.

Had dinner at Twist and Chada Thai this past weekend. My report:

Twist: We had the 4-course prix fixe, with wine pairings (which were basically full glasses, BTW). Everything was excellent, and the attention to detail was what you would expect from a restaurant of this stature. I'll be thinking about the seared shrimp and the foie gras/chanterelle soup. The grand dessert they do (five small desserts) was certainly good but none of them wowed me. $550 out the door for two.

Chada: Thanks Gobbo for this rec. It is as advertised: better than Lotus. Here we had four items: fried oysters, papaya salad with shrimp, crab curry, crispy beef. I don't know how they made those fried dishes as perfectly crispy as they were. I left full but could have sat there and kept eating. $110 out the door, which included a bottle of wine.

Agree with you eco74 that the multidessert course at Twist does not live ip to rest of menu. When I was there though, the white truffle soufflé was out of this world.

Excited to try Chada. For those that have been to both, how does Chada compare to Pok Pok in Portland?

Very different experiences imo, though I've only been to Pok Pok once. Both are excellent.

In my limited sample at Pok Pok, wife and I got the papaya salad, laap muang (pork salad -- spicy with lots of offal), and the fish sauce wings. Loved everything, but the wings were insanely good. This was 2010.

I've had a bunch of things at Chada, but I haven't been there since September. It's fancier for sure than Pok Pok. I can't imagine disliking either though.

Must have dishes at Chada:

Fresh oysters, Pad Kra Pow with crispy pork belly (off menu meat option, just ask for it and they'll provide), Moo Khum Waan.

The duck panang is great if you love panang. Salmon dry tom yum is a great tangy finish to the meal. If you like soup, their Tom Kha Kai is the best I've ever had. Lots of other great dishes. Also, they make their own coconut sorbet and it is cheap and delicious as an end to the meal.

How fresh could oysters be in the desert??

CQ,

Where do you think oysters at restaurants come from and how do you think they get there?

What historical time period are you living in?

Honestly I don't know much about oysters but now that I've thought about it they come from places like Alaska, PEI, New England. So yeah, I understand now.

Their mommies and daddies loved each other very much?

Pok Pok
http://munchies.vice.com/videos/fara...andy-ricker-2/

Love love love their rib eye pad kra pow, can't wait to try pork belly! TY.

I was kind of underwhelmed w/ the duck panang, but several other opinions differ so def recommend anyone try for themselves.

The crab curry is one of my favorite dishes on the menu along with the beef kra pow, as long as you are ok with spice. Soo good.

The main thing that is great about the duck panang is what eco74 said: it's perfectly crispy. Apparently what they do is take an already roasted duck breast and deep fry it just long enough to make the fat perfectly crispy. The texture is amazing but I recommend eating it quickly so the panang doesn't soak in and take away from the crispness.

I also have to restate how good the coconut sorbet is. I will probably get it every time I go now because it's just such a perfect end to the meal.

The duck panang is the best curry dish I've ever had.

I think I can safely say I am very ****ing excited to eat at that Thai joint.

Then I'm excited for your trip report.

For me, the duck was good, but the panang curry itself was only a "B." Panang is my go-to favorite order whenver I go to a new thai place, and this wasn't the best I've had.

Again though jmo, maybe I'll even try again next time to see if I got a weak batch.

Is it the same crispy duck panang as at LoS?

I think the panang at Chada is made with coconut cream instead of coconut milk so it's a bit thicker.

I was last in Vegas for March Madness and had a great meal at é. 19 crazy courses, two of my favorites were the mussels which required two spoons to eat (aftermath of which is pictured below) and the "girl scout cookie" dessert, a chilled chocolate shell containing a liquid chocolate broth, which, after cracking the shell oozed all over the cookie crumble and fresh mint.





I enjoyed it so much I immediately called my wife and told her I'd bring her out at our first opportunity to dine there. So we are rolling in next weekend and have a res for é. That leaves us with two nights for which we need to make dinner plans. Was planning to hit Ichiza for vittles and honey toast, but just heard they've been racking up health citations. Any recommendations for honey toast sans vermin issues?

Also wondering if anyone has nice/bad things to say about Spago. Dined there solo on a whim one night after a 2/5 session at Caesar's. I was hesitant as the front of the restaurant looked like an Applebee's but when I saw the menu in the back of the restaurant I decided to give it a shot and was pleasantly surprised by the tasting menu. However, this was two or three years ago.

Finally hoping to get recommendations for good Mediterranean and the best tasting menus in town. On strip preferred, but willing to travel for really good food.

If you like seafood Milos at Cosmo is a good Mediterranean option

"Also wondering if anyone has nice/bad things to say about Spago. Dined there solo on a whim one night after a 2/5 session at Caesar's. I was hesitant as the front of the restaurant looked like an Applebee's but when I saw the menu in the back of the restaurant I decided to give it a shot and was pleasantly surprised by the tasting menu. However, this was two or three years ago."

My wife, who is pretty low maintenance, ate at Spago's with a friend last year and is still annoyed about it. Mostly about the service, which was aggressively lousy. Could be a one off obviously. She said the food was OK, but nothing special. Not as good as Maggiano's, which is obviously a chain type experience.

YMMV, of course.

MM MD

Big lulz at "not as good as Maggiano's"...definitely YMMV.

Don't know if she ate at the Spago Jr. out front or the real one in back. Anyway, I've been to the real one for lunch and the original in Beverly Hills for dinner a number of times. It's legit, to me. Is never going to be my first choice in Vegas, but I wouldn't consider it a bad choice either.

Yeah, I suspect they were so unhappy with the service that the rest of the experience sort of didn't matter. I agree the BH one is more than fine.

MM MD

Don't really like Spago at all. Frankly tend to not like Puck restaurants I've noticed. Haven't eaten a full meal at Cut yet.