Grand Lux Cafe - Venetian and Palazzo

VERDICT: This is one of the few decent places on the strip to eat that won't cost you an arm and a leg.

One of the things that I hate about going to the strip is the horrible restaurants.  They are horrible in that they are either very poor quality or they are extravagantly expensive...or both.  That's why I always recommend people go to the Grand Lux Cafe.  They aren't cheap, but at least you get better quality food for your money.  Owned by the same group that brought you the Cheesecake Factory, the Grand Lux has a large menu, but not the phonebook menu with ads that you get at Cheesecake Factory.  The food is a little more upscale I find as well.  

  I love the Asian Nachos (Crispy Fried Wontons Covered with Chicken in a Sweet-Hot Peanut Sauce. Topped with Wasabi Cream and Melted Cheese).  I almost always get the amazing Shaking Beef (Southeast Asian Inspired! Pieces of Beef Tenderloin, Red and Green Onions Sauteed with a Mildly Spicy Marinade. Served with Steamed White Rice).  Also, take advantage of A Box of Warm Homemade Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies, because they are amazing.  You have to order them at the beginning of the meal, because they do bake them fresh.  I always eat them later at home anyway.

Roberto's

VERDICT: 24 hour restaurants are always a plus on this blog.  This restaurant comes with a delicious high-grease warning though.

I think that every city has a late night Mexican restaurant that every club hopper knows about and reveres.  This is that place.  It's the grease.  Drunk people love grease.  I have to admit after a night of drinking, nothing cures a hangover better than super greasy Mexican food.  Don't ask me how it works.  My standard hangover cure used to be Taco Time, but there is only one Taco Time in Las Vegas and it is too far away for me.  Also, I don't really drink very often anymore. 

Oh man!  Let's talk about Taco Time for a second.  Their food is not spectacular as a whole, but the crisp meat burritos, the taquito before taquitos were in vogue, are pure deep fried heaven.  I love Taco Time and miss it.  I love Taco Time so much that one day I even ended up in the emergency room vomiting blood apparently from Taco Time related food poisoning and I still went to Taco Time.

Greg was driving around one day and I saw that they were putting a Taco Time in my neighborhood.  I screamed like a woman getting a free car on Oprah.  It scared Greg, but he immediately understood that it was not an overreaction.  I was so excited to have Taco Time again.  I went it and the manager took my order.  I ordered a crisp meat burrito and mexi-fries.  He then snorted and said, "You know mexi-fries are just tater tots."  My shoulders immediately slumped.  Of course, I knew that mexi-fries were just tater tots (with fancy mexi-spice).  I love tater tots.  I loved them even before Napoleon Dynamite.  It was a sure sign that this Taco Time wasn't going to last, not if the manager is berating one of their better products.  When I got my crisp meat burrito, it was frozen in the middle and the mexi-fries were undercooked.

It went out of business within 2 months.

Anyway, Roberto's has it's own kind of atmosphere.  They have pictures of a lot of the food they have on a menu.  What gets me is that even on the pictures, they are still displayed on styrofoam plates.  I just figured that if they were going to have appetizing pictures maybe they could have a better display.  Even McDonald's has pictures of Big Macs on a cutting board surrounded by fresh vegetables on their menus, as if that's believable.

There are a lot of Roberto's in Las Vegas.  The problem with Roberto's is that they don't really have health food.  In fact, I would go so far as say that they have unhealth food.  I watched them prepare my carne asada nachos (the best thing on the menu).  Not only do they deep fry the already cooked tortilla chips, they also take out a ladle and dip it into the deep fat fryer and pour it on the chips!!!!  Now, that's flavor!  The healthy bonus, given as if an apology for all the grease, is the spicy carrots in their salsa bar.  They are delicious and help soak up the grease.

Many Roberto's are 24 hours!

Phở Little Saigon

VERDICT: OK, but 24 hours, so always a plus.

This place is a little cafeteria-like, odd, and dirty.  It needs a hosing off.  That being said, if you are craving Phở (Vietnamese noodles) at 4:00AM, this is the place.  I really don't expect Vietnamese restaurants to be too clean especially when they have really low prices and a huge selection.  I've only ever had the plain Phở, and am always jealous of one of my friends who gets the #96 or #ninety-something which is a sampling of food in a bowl with a salad at the bottom.  Clearly, I don't know Vietnamese food at all.

Atmosphere:  Dirty cafeteria feel with pictures of food with numbers on the wall that are peculiarly out of place and don't match the numbers in the menu. 

24 hours!!!
3775 Spring Mountain Rd
221-2111 
http://www.usmenuguide.com/pholittlesaigon.html

Krung Siam

VERDICT: Typical Thai, but the only Thai open 24 hours! Really it is only open until 6:00AM.  That's close enough to 24 hours for me!

A Thai Restaurant open late in Las Vegas?  You would expect to find this in Las Vegas, but really late night restaurants off the strip are rare, unless they are a crappy pub serving deep fried sandwiches with fries.

This place rocks at 4:00 AM!  Their Tom Yum soup is delicious and flavorful.  We ordered our spiciness at a "5" out of "10" and we could have gone higher.  Thai food can get very spicy...so much so that even spice lovers can shy away from going all out, but they seem to tame their spiciness for gringos.  If you like jalapeños, I suggest a "7".  If you like habaneros, might as well go to "10".

Thai beef jerky is a must have for anyone.  It thick pieces of meat that they deep fry!  What they take something great and make it greater?!?!  I know....yum.  It's flavor is greatly complemented with a pinch of sticky rice, the traditional way to eat Thai beef jerky.

They have a typical Thai selection with prices around $9 - $15, which is typical for Thai food.

Atmosphere: Well, when I went at 4 in the morning, they were blasting Thai karaoke even though nobody was singing.  By blasting, I mean we had to shout over each other.  We asked them to turn it down, which they did happily from a volume of "10" to a volume of "9.5".  It is otherwise clean and cozy.

The sign reads open until 6:00 AM.  Who wants Thai food for breakfast anyway?

3755 Spring Mountain Rd
735-9485
24 hours!