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cApitAL tALEntRising Washington journos tout Vegas roots

The g-word Downtown's midlife crisis

Our fifth AnnuAlbig dish on the city’s best dining deals

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4 | Desert Companion | July 2013

editor’s note

To a theater near you

next month

in Desert Companion

time for your

checkup: it’s

our health and

medicine issue

It was the summer of 1992. We were punk rock slacker vegans who lived on brown rice and rode bikes ev-erywhere. One night during our usual wheelings around the city, we stopped in front of the Huntridge Theater. Something was different.

“I thought this place was, like, a Mexican movie theater or something.”

“How come it says Apocrypha on the marquee?”

“I dunno. Sounds cool. Let’s check it out.”

Flailing on stage was a brawny mass of hair, biceps, bandanas and blazing guitars: power metal band Apocrypha. Transfixed, we squeezed in among the seething mass of head-banging stoners and obediently submitted our ears for a nightlong rite of cleansing aural bru-tality. (Turning his guitar into a mol-ten wand of pure shred that night was guitarist Tony Fredianelli, who’d later go on to play for alt-rockers Third Eye Blind.) At the end of the show, the band tossed out vinyl copies of their album. Its cover art featured an evil sorcerer in his candlelit study, contemplating a mysterious scroll. Yeah: Apocrypha was that kind of band.

Rock ‘n’ roll inside a crusty old moviehouse? Little did I know I was witnessing the birth of an era — well, an era by Vegas’ humble cultural stan-dards, anyway — and inaugurating a ritual of my youth. For roughly the next decade, the cavernous theater hosted hundreds of rock concerts, from Gwar to Lindsey Buckingham to Green Day to the Beastie Boys — not to mention local acts, community gather-ings, art shows and film festivals. In a town tuned to shiny adult pleasures,

the Huntridge offered something for teens besides playing Mortal Kombat in Commercial Center or getting drunk in the desert to caterwauling three-chord punk bands.

Historic Huntridge Theatre? I guess so. But historic implies a self-conscious stateliness the Huntridge happily scoffed at in its rock ’n’ roll adoles-cence. I admired its refusal to be pre-cious about itself (particularly in a city that really would do well to embrace some preciousness about its own his-tory). Sure, the building was accepted on the National Register of Historic Places; the state shoveled preservation money into it over the years — per-haps more out of pity than pride. But the highest purpose was use the damn thing. Out came the orchestra pit, which made more room for the mosh pit. And who had use for seats when this was a place for dancing? Out, too, came the seats. The Huntridge strayed far afield from its heyday of film pre-mieres and Hollywood stars hamming it up in the ticket booth — which is perfectly fine. The venue’s evolution is an ad hoc, shirtsleeves version of what preservation wonks call “adaptive re-use.”

Now a trio of entrepreneurs dubbed Huntridge Revival, LLC is hoping to reopen the venue after nearly a de-cade of disuse (page 13). They’re new-generation urbanites whose big-ticket plan has inspired kudos from longtime locals and downtown cognoscenti — and sour gales of criticism from skep-tics who are acting like some alien mothership is coming to suck up the building with a tractor beam, making off with their memories.

Will Huntridge Revival recapture the glory of the Huntridge? Will they respect the legacy? God, I hope not. I hope they do better. Maybe in its next incarnation, the Huntridge can be a neighborhood anchor and another jigsaw chunk of cultural development downtown — one a healthy distance from an East Fremont district that is, for both better and worse, evolving from crack alley to culinary hotspot to corporate investment vehicle at warp speed (page 64). The Huntridge’s era as a first-run movie theater is a fad-ing footnote. Its stint as a raw rock venue was sweaty, dirty, smoky — and a perhaps necessary phase that’s now over. Keep that gorgeous tower, but let’s ditch finicky, arthritic fogeyism that denies an interesting proposal a fair shot. This thing sounds cool. Let’s check it out.

Andrew KiralyEditor

With the support of Caesars Foundation, more than 1,700 individuals

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contentsdesert companion magazine // desertcompanion.com

DEPARTMENTS

13All Things to All People

For its next act ... By Andrew Kiraly

24Media

The neon story machine By Steve Friess

30Technology

Awesome, Inc. By Andrew Kiraly

34Dining

DEALittle meals By Molly Michelman

58Guide

From rock to theater to dance, your guide to culture

64End note

A mindful renaissance By Joshua Ellis

6 | Desert Companion | JULY 2013

07.2013

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FEATURES

on the coverPhotography by Brent Holmes

42Dealicious MealsOur fifth annual foodie fest of great meal deals all around this oh-so-delicious city

JULY 2013

MEALSDEA

LICIOUS

DEALITTLE MEALSCheap eats for tykes with taste

PLUS

AWESOME, INC.Fresh minds in design, tech and commerce

CAPITAL TALENTRising Washington journos tout Vegas roots

The g-word Downtown's midlife crisis

OUR FIFTH ANNUALBIG DISH ON THE CITY’S BEST DINING DEALS

A fluffy bite of donut heaven from Glaziers

VISIT THESMITHCENTER.COM TO SEE THE FULL LINEUP TODAY. 702.749.2000 | TTY: 800.326.6868 or dial 711 | For group inquiries call 702.749.2348

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An Evening with Lyle Lovett and His Large Band — 8/16Chris Isaak Tour 2013 — 8/14

Dixie’s Tupperware Party — 8/1 - 8/4Clint Holmes: Music That Inspires

At Cabaret Jazz — 8/2 - 8/4An Evening with

Willie Nelson & Family — 8/13

Buddy Guy withspecial guest Quinn Sullivan — 8/22 Jimmy Connors: What it Takes to Win — 8/23

The Symphonic Rockshow Featuring Brody Dolyniuk

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Publisher Melanie Cannon

editor Andrew Kiraly

Art director Christopher Smith

GrAPhic desiGner Brent Holmes

sAles And mArketinG mAnAGer Christine Kiely

nAtionAl Account mAnAGer Laura Alcaraz

Account executives Sharon Clifton, Robyn Mathis, Carol Skerlich, Markus Van’t Hul

mArketinG AssociAte Lisa Kelly

subscriPtion mAnAGer Chris Bitonti

Web AdministrAtor Danielle Branton

contributinG Writers Jim Begley, Cybele, Chantal Corcoran, Scott Dickensheets, Joshua

Ellis, Steve Friess, Alan Gegax, Daniel Hernandez, Mélanie Hope, Debbie Lee, David McKee, Molly Michelman, Christie Moeller, Molly O’Donnell, Brock Radke, Lissa Townsend Rodgers, Mark

Sedenquist, Kristy Totten

contributinG Artists Bill Hughes, Hernan Valencia, Sabin Orr

Editorial: Andrew Kiraly, (702) 259-7856; [email protected]

Fax: (702) 258-5646

Advertising: Christine Kiely, (702) 259-7813; [email protected]

Subscriptions: Chris Bitonti, (702) 259-7810; [email protected]

Website: www.desertcompanion.com

Desert Companion is published 12 times a year by Nevada Public Radio, 1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89146.

It is available by subscription at desertcompanion.com, or as part of Nevada Public Radio membership. It is also distributed

free at select locations in the Las Vegas Valley. All photos, artwork and ad designs printed are the sole property of

Desert Companion and may not be duplicated or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The views of

Desert Companion contributing writers are not necessarily the views of Desert Companion or Nevada Public Radio. Contact

Chris Bitonti for back issues, which are available for purchase for $7.95.

ISSN 2157-8389 (print)ISSN 2157-8397 (online)

Mission StatementDesert Companion is the premier city magazine

that celebrates the pursuits, passions and aspirations of Southern Nevadans. With

award-winning lifestyle journalism and design, Desert Companion does more than inform and

entertain. We spark dialogue, engage people and define the spirit of the Las Vegas Valley.

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DesertCompanion.Com | 13

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Hear more Brenda priddy discusses “car spy photography” on “KNpR’s State of Nevada” at desertcompanion.com/hearmore

The Huntridge has been a lot of things: movie theater, concert venue, art gallery, even house of worship. Its latest incarnation is no secret to anyone who’s driven by the weatherworn hulk lately: a monu-ment to dashed hopes since it shut its doors in 2004. Now, three downtown luminaries are hoping to usher in a new act. Businessmen Michael Cornthwaite, Joey Vanas and Rehan Choudhry are hoping to complete a purchase of the property under some novel terms. They’ve put down a $50,000 deposit on the theater, and hope to crowdfund $150,000 more by July 17.

“The crowdfunding element is our way of asking the bigger-picture question of, how much do people want this? How much do they want to be involved?” says Cornthwaite, owner of the Downtown Cocktail Room. “If they do care, is it a group of 20 people, or a group of 20,000?”

Call it money-where-your-mouth-is market re-search. Meeting that $150,000 benchmark, they say, will help them better court a dozen or so prospective, unidentified investors to buy the theater from the cur-rent owners, the Mizrachi family. Total price tag: $4 million. They estimate a full restoration to be in the neighborhood of $12 to $15 million.

Those donating money to the campaign (thehunt-ridge.com) get some perks for their patronage, whether they’re a “friend of the Huntridge” at $5 (a digital poster) or a “Huntridge angel” at $25,000 (lifetime VIP parking). While Huntridge Revival, LLC is a private, for-profit company, donors who kick in at least $10 get to vote at planned monthly programming meetings. Bigger donors get more votes.

If it’s an unusual approach, it fits a venue with an un-usual — and sometimes troubled — history. Opened in 1944, the Huntridge Theater was originally a first-run moviehouse known for its handsome Streamline Mod-erne tower and film premieres that saw live bands and star appearances from the likes of Frank Sinatra and Marlene Dietrich. These days, it’s remembered largely for its decade-plus run as a gritty, rough-hewn rock ’n’ roll venue that hosted everyone from Sonic Youth to the Beastie Boys, giving Las Vegas a storied slice of rock his-tory.

“There will definitely be live music, definitely per-

forming arts, definitely a lot of community-driven pro-gramming (in the next incarnation),” says Joey Vanas, managing partner of First Friday. “We want it to be the kind of place people can go every day and there’s some-thing happening.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time that big dreamers have set their sights on the Huntridge. That said, Corn-thwaite, Vanas and Choudhry are realistic. “If we don’t raise the money,” says Cornthwaite, “then we’re three guys who took it in the shorts.” It’s a calculated gamble with hopes of a cultural jackpot.

“I live just a few streets away from it, and I think the Huntridge represents possibility,” says Vanas. “Every time I drive by, I don’t think about how sad it is that it’s in such a state of disrepair. I think how amazing it’ll be when it’s turned back on. It’s not the nos-talgia that resonates with me, but the poten-tial and the possibility.” — Andrew Kiraly

continued on pg. 14

C U L t U r e

For its next act ...

Hear more Hear a discussion of the Huntridge revival campaign on “KNpR’s State of Nevada” at desertcompanion.com/hearmore

Keep up with Desert Companion events, news

and bonus features at desertcompanion.com.

b U s i n e s s

Tea parTydon’t get richard

sheffield started

about lapsang

souchong. “it’s

wonderful,” he

says. “it smells and

tastes like a burn-

ing campfire.” no

wonder: lapsang

souchong tea is

smoked over a

wood fire.

if the word “tea”

brings to mind

stale bags of

lipton, you haven’t

been steeped in

the latest intel. the

tea biz is booming

worldwide — and

las Vegas is brew-

ing itself a role in

this blossoming

market. not only

do we host the

World tea expo,

but local entrepre-

neurs are start-

ing to tap into an

emerging market

of “tea foodies.”

“tea foodies are just

like regular foodies.

Staging a movement: from left, Rehan Choudhry, Joey

Vanas and Michael Cornthwaite

Staging a movement: from left, Rehan Choudhry, Joey

Vanas and Michael Cornthwaite


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they’re people who enjoy

cooking with and exploring

tea,” says sheffield, co-own-

er of sheffield spice & tea

co. (9875 s. eastern ave.,

877-4237). “but the wider

public is also starting to

discover the health benefits

of tea, too.” When he and his

wife cheryl opened in may,

they expected a sales mix

of 75 percent spices and 25

percent teas. surprised by

the demand for tea, they’ve

since expanded their tea

selection to comprise nearly

half their inventory.

carolyn Johnson of indie

tea concurs. she’s a bou-

tique blender who sells

her varieties at more than

30 stores across the u.s.,

including seven in south-

ern nevada. “We started

as a little baby company in

2009, and we’ve quadru-

pled in sales each year,” she

says. the secret: position-

ing tea as a “whole lifestyle

brand,” which means using

it for more than just sipping;

indeed, indie tea works tea

into everything, including

hot cocoa blends, spice

rubs and even body lotion.

oh, and you can drink it,

too. — A.K

There’s a whale of a tale — sea monsters! ocean leviathans! — at Las Vegas Natural History Museum’s “Sea Trek” exhibit

through Aug. 31. Info: lvnhm.org

One of the celebrated perks of living in Las Vegas is easy access to dirt-cheap food — buf-fets, graveyard specials and comped meals abound. But which beer-budget items can truly satisfy an eater with champagne tastes? Taking the spirit of our DEALicious Meals issue to its most miserly ex-treme, we crawled local casinos for their cheapest eats. Here’s a taste of what we found.Gambler’s Special ($7.77). Cheap steak din-ners usually involve a wan hunk of flesh with gray vegetables to match, but this not-so-secret, off-the-menu special is shockingly up to snuff. The eight-ounce sirloin steak has a crusty char, a side of shrimp is plump and well-seasoned, and the mashed potatoes are as smooth as suede. The side salad is perfunctory at best, but you didn’t come for the iceberg, did you? (Mr. Lucky’s in the Hard Rock, 4455 Paradise Road, hardrockhotel.com) Hot dog (75 cents). New York City’s fa-mous dirty-water dog can’t hold a candle to this Vienna frank. It may not have the snap of a good grilled hot dog, but once it’s smothered in a slew of fixings (ketchup, mustard, relish, chopped onions and sauerkraut), you won’t notice the difference. To find it, look for a jewel-box-sized food cart near the sports book. (South Point hotel-casino, south-pointcasino.com)

Frozen margarita (99 cents). Cheaper than a Slurpee but just as cloying. The upside is that you don’t have to drink it out of one of those plastic bong-shaped vessels that screams “tourist.” For some semblance of a legitimate cocktail, add a squeeze of fresh lime to cut through the corn-syrupy sweetness. (Available at Station Casinos, sclv.com)Spaghetti and meatballs ($4.49 after 10 p.m.). Lady and the Tramp would howl in disap-proval. A generous portion for the price, but who really wants a large helping of watery sauce and limp noodles? The only saving grace is a side of light and moist mystery meatballs (“It’s chicken and pork and some other stuff,” a server informs me.) Still, if I wanted a late-night fix of carbs, sauce, and cheese, I’d sooner grab a slice of pizza. (Courtyard Café, 4500 W. Tropicana Ave., orleanscasino.com)Orange Julius (free — but tip your server!). While trolling casinos for free drinks is not a recommended pastime, it’s worth noting that the complimentary beverages at the Wynn are the best on the Strip. This is basically a Creamsicle in slushie form. The only complaint is that it’s a little short on the orange flavor. It’s by no means sophis-ticated, but it’ll sustain blackjack players while they split their tens. (Wynn, 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. S., wyn-nlasvegas.com) — Debbie Lee

D i n i n g

any cHeaper and THey’d pay you To eaT iT

on THe ToWn

High steaks: Mr. Lucky’s Gambler’s Special

proFiLe


Bobby Deanbingo and keno man, storyteller

PHOTOGRAPH BY bill hughes

If it weren’t for an impending bank

debt, Bobby Dean would never have gone

into the casino business. Forty-three years

later, he hasn’t had regrets. A throwback

to the era of the “company man,” Dean

has spent the last 35 years at a single ca-

sino, overseeing its keno and bingo rooms.

He’s been at Palace Station since before

it was Palace Station, back when Frank

Fertitta Jr. was getting it up and running

as Bingo Palace.

Neither Dean’s 68 years nor spinal ste-

nosis have slowed him down, as he swiftly

navigates the casino floor in a walker. “I

enjoy the work,” he says, “much more

than I ever did.” Blessed with formidable

memory, he remembers the exact day his

parents moved to Las Vegas from Wichita

Falls, Texas: Oct. 15, 1953. Then-small Sin

City was hardly today’s retail magnet:

“You’d have to go to L.A. to get what you

needed to build a barbecue.” Classes at

Dean’s elementary school would sched-

ule recess so the students could watch

A-bomb tests.

“It’s OK to get pissed off” at losing, he

says, but let go of grudges. Dean had a

friend who’d blow his money at the craps

table, shrug, then say, “Well, I’ll go paint

something Monday.” Dean paraphrases

the wisdom of pioneering aviatrix Pancho

Barnes: “You can be unhappy if you want it,

but choose happy and keep living.” But not

too happy: “Back in (the ’80s), the whole

casino got a little crazy. New Year’s Eve, we

actually poured champagne on the keno

counter. They were pouring a champagne

toast for everybody in the building. We had

a little problem with keno audit. It didn’t

come out right at the end of the shift.

Somebody must have had a second glass

of champagne. Finally we decided that

wasn’t the greatest idea in the world when

people are trying to count money.”

Going into full-time casino employ-

ment was the last thing on Dean’s mind

in 1970. He was studying at UNLV, fixing

airliners at McCarran International Airport

and becoming rated as a flight instructor.

Then he needed to make a payment on his

truck, stat. Serendipitously, a keno writer

at the Hacienda was a no-show and Dean’s

destiny was set. Until that fateful day,

Dean had spent several years bouncing

between engineering classes, part-time

jobs and overseas duty during the Viet-

nam War. “Not being too smart and not

realizing that the Army has more planes

than the Air Force,” he says, he enlisted

with the latter and found himself support-

ing the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing out of

Takkhli Royal Air Force Base in Thailand.

The 355th’s F-105 Thunderchiefs would at-

tack North Vietnamese infrastructure and

interdict supplies in the morning and Dean

would patch them up in the afternoon. “I

enjoyed the Air Force fighters because

they were small planes,” Dean explains.

“You get to know the whole thing.”

The reluctant casino returnee discov-

ered he enjoyed working for Hacienda

owner Judy Bayley, but the “First Lady of

Gambling” died on New Year’s Eve in 1971

and the Hacienda fell under the control

of Mob patsy Allen Glick. “I didn’t like the

philosophy there at all,” Dean recalls. “This

was starting to feel like a noose” — he

holds his floridly patterned necktie up

like a hangman’s knot. Glick’s underlings

“didn’t particularly trust the people in the

keno game,” whom they suspected of

stealing. Deliverance, in the form of Bingo

Palace, presented itself on Dec. 1, 1976.

Dean credits wife JoAnne, whom he

married in 1976, with talking him out of

becoming a table game executive and

running the bingo hall along with the

keno room, being an avid bingo player

herself. While he acknowledges that bingo

is “small potatoes” in the casino world, it

does draw its share of colorful characters

— like the man who brought his teddy

bear to every session. “He didn’t play

bingo,” Dean explains. “His teddy bear

did.” — David McKee

Do you have an IRS

TaX PRoBLeM?

DIVORCED? SEPARATED? WIDOWED? BAD MARRIAGE?

IRS may owe you!

Richard A. Perlman, Enrolled AgentLicensed by Department of the Treasury

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Tarina Tarantino, Jubilee heart pendant necklace, $675, tarinatarnatino.com

Sephora Disney Collection: Jasmine A Whole New World Perfumed Body Shimmer, $45, sephora in town square, miracle mile and the Forum shops at caesars

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Sequin knicker short, $60, topshop, Fashion

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Baby, you’re a fireworksummer was never about subtlety. don’t be afraid to sparkle and shine this season!by CHristie moeLLer

L a s V e g a n s i n s t Y L e

amber nicHole millerBrand spokesmodel, lingerie, swimsuit and fitness

model

Your personal style? Body-conscious, sleek,

sassy and fashion-forward. But on my days off,

I’m quite casual, either in jeans and a tee or work-

out clothes. I’m both sporty and girly. I never

leave the house without Christian Louboutins or

Converse on — depending on my mood.

Favorite swimwear designer? Definitely Beach

Bunny — because of the fit. Bottoms are always

difficult to find in the perfect cut, but Beach Bun-

nys are the best for your booty. “Crunch butt” or

rouched styles are a must. I also love Luli Fama

and Syrup.

Favorite beach? My favorite beach has to be in

Cabo because there are a lot of private areas, so

you can go top-optional. In Vegas, I love to swim

at Lake Mead. The second summer hits, you’ll find

me there every weekend on my boat and wake-

board — but I have my top on there. Ha!

Your secret to staying swimsuit-ready? By eat-

ing fairly healthy and working out at least three

to four times a week — even if it’s just sit-ups and

jumping rope at home.

Your best tip for women shopping for swim-

wear? You really need to pay attention to fit and

be aware of your body type. I think a lot of wom-

en pay so much attention to the top fitting sexy,

they forget about the saggy bottoms. Be aware!

Nobody likes to look at a saggy butt. You need to

play up your body shape! CM

Swarovski Coquette gunmetal sunglasses, $375, swarovski in the Fashion show mall, grand canal shoppes at the Venetian

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Home

Outdoor living is

hotter than ever,

and not just because we’re in Vegas. Across the country,

Americans are extending their living space to include their

yards. The key to doing this well? Blur the lines between

the interior and exterior, so that the design and décor flows

naturally from one to the other. Pay particular attention to

your outdoor kitchen. In the same way the kitchen is the

heart of your home, your outdoor kitchen will also become

a central gathering spot. It should be relatively close to your

indoor kitchen and mimic it in style. Choose your materials

carefully. They should complement your indoor space

while being resistant to the elements. Stainless steel is

ideal for appliances and relatively easy to clean.

Today, options for built-in cook stations abound. A

sink, a refrigerator and storage space is nice, but if you

like to entertain, why not a beer tap or a pizza oven?

Newer hybrid grills that cook with gas, wood and

charcoal are perfect for serious chefs, as are fresh veg-

etable gardens. Done that? Consider taking it a step

further: The next big food trend includes backyard

ponds with organically raised fish. CC

Color us excited about this development. For decades, homeowners associations have been fairly restrictive about the colors they let homeown-ers paint their homes’ exteriors. But recently, many have been changing up their palettes in response to residents’ desires for deeper, richer shades.

“They’re still painting earth tones, but the trend is to go darker,” says Jimmy Zades, owner of CertaPro Painters. “We’ve also been seeing some palettes with a little bit of red, some different blues and things like that.”

Rob Groucutt, a sales rep with Sherwin-Williams, agrees. He’s the liaison between HOAs and the paint store, and helps build color schemes for HOAs.

“With HOAs that have their original paint job from six or seven years ago, you see more off-whites and, I guess, safer palettes — for lack of a better word. Now, the trend

seems to be colors of more depth, darker Southwestern tones and to want to pop out architectural accents.”

If you’re thinking of slapping on a fresh coat, Zades has a few tips. First, avoid red. Red pigments don’t fare well in the Vegas sun, which is why older homes still sporting the faddish pinks of the ’80s look almost white today. If you do opt for red, be prepared to repaint sooner. Also keep in mind that while the dark colors are lovely and stylish, they’ll likely lead to higher energy bills. Plus, painting a dark color over a light color will require more paint, so the initial project might cost a little more as well.

Finally, all of this isn’t to say that you can go ahead and paint your home neon green. HOAs still have their rules. Before you head to the paint store, contact yours.

—Chantal Corcoran

THaT’s so yardcore

THe laTesT flames

Want to add value

and appeal to your

home? We’re not

blowing smoke when

we say invest in a

fire pit or a fireplace.

This is expected to

be one of this year’s

most popular trends

in outdoor living,

according to the 2013

Residential Landscape

Architecture Trends

survey, conducted by

the American Society

of Landscape Archi-

tects. Ninety-seven

percent of landscape

architects from

around the country,

specializing in resi-

dential design, agree

that backyard flames

will be the big trend

in 2013. The survey

also indicates that,

in this still-uncertain

economy, we want

to hang out in our

yards: Outdoor living

spaces, like kitchens

and entertainment

areas, are expected

to be just as popular

as gardening and

landscaping. If this

seems like too much

work, skip it and get a

hammock — although

you’ll be in the minor-

ity (24.1 percent), and

I don’t imagine you’ll

be able to snooze

with all that party-

ing going on in your

neighbor’s yard. CC

H o m e t r e n D s

Painting the town

L i F e s t Y L e

o U t D o o r L i V i n g

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The neon story machineWhy are former Las Vegas journalists finding such success in Washington D.C.? Our city breeds a talent for telling good stories

By steve Friess | Illustration by Hernan valenCia

A decade ago, if you asked which Las Vegas journalists had gone on to national prominence in Washington D.C., there was basically one answer: Major Garrett. He was a bit of a technicality, too, because Garrett had been a Review-Journal reporter way back in the pre-Mirage, pre-boom era of 1980s and only reincarnated himself in 2000 as the TV journalist he’s known as today.

Yet in recent years, the once rarely traveled path from Nevada to the nation’s capital and broader media notoriety has become a well-worn — and much shorter — highway.

Turn on MSNBC on any given day and you’re likely to see former R-J and Sun scribe Molly Ball deciphering the latest political moves. Open any newspaper in the country and you’ll inevitably run into the trenchant investigative work of Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter Adam Goldman, formerly of the Vegas bureau of the Associated Press — and one of the AP scribes whose phone records were seized in a recent Department of Justice leak probe.

Tune in to a White House news conference and there to pester press secretary Jay Carney

alongside Garrett is another ex-Vegas AP staffer, Kathleen Hennessey of the Los Angeles Times. Log on to POLITICO and you’ll see what former R-J reporter Mike Zapler, in his job as political editor, has deemed the agenda-setting stories of the day. Some of those might be mine.

The list goes on — and for good reason: Las Vegas is that special news town that draws in young, adventurous journalists and feeds their ambitions generously with an endless parade of jaw-dropping stories. Some of those yarns have serious national implications, from the Harry Reid-Sharron Angle race for Senate to


the housing market collapse to the challenges of the fastest-growing school district. Others — the tiger attack on Roy Horn, O.J. Simpson’s robbery trial, the spectacle of a mob attorney and now his wife occupying the mayoralty — are simply too riveting for the nation to ignore.

“It made Washington seem like a cakewalk by comparison,” says Ball, a staff writer for The Atlantic who lived in Las Vegas from 2004 to 2009 and whose husband, former R-J cops reporter David Kihara, is managing editor for the website of WJLA, the ABC affiliate in D.C. “I can’t imagine a better molding and shaping experience for a young reporter. There were so many stories that nobody can do them all, and so much talent that everyone must be on their A games.”

Young pioneersThe diversity of the journalists who have made the leap from Las Vegas to Washington is dramatic. Emily Richmond, the Las Vegas Sun’s longtime education expert, is now a mentor to schools reporters across the nation from her perch as public editor of the Education Writers Association. Sam Skolnik, who covered courts and Las Vegas City Hall from 2006 to 2009 and wrote a book on gambling addiction after falling victim to a massive round of layoffs at the Sun, remade himself as deputy editor of the National Law Journal. Kate Bennett, whose various Nevada identities from 1999 to 2010 included Sun gossip columnist, TV anchor and editor-in-chief of Vegas Magazine, is now fashion editor of Washingtonian

magazine and editor-in-chief of its spinoff, Washingtonian Bride & Groom.

What they all have in common is an ability to marvel at their Las Vegas lives as formative to their professional identities. “I immediately felt that Las Vegas journalism had a pioneering spirit,” Bennett says. “If you wanted it, you could make it. I had never been to the town before and I became an insider in a matter of weeks.”

In fact, several of these journalists had never set foot in Vegas before considering jobs here. Neither Ball nor Kihara had ever visited, even though Ball’s uncle is, as she puts it, “the slightly famous professional poker player Barry Greenstein.” Zapler, who had been covering Nevada for the Sun from Washington, D.C., came out with his dad in part to take a look at the proposed nuclear waste dump site of Yucca

media

Adam GoldmanVegas gig: Gambling reporter for the Associated PressD.C. gig: Investigative reporter for AP

focusing on national security; won a 2012 Pulitzer

for exposing the New York Police Department’s secret surveillance of Muslims. ClassiC Vegas: Goldman was first on the scene after the white tiger Montecore attacked Roy Horn at the Mirage in 2003. He corralled audience members for eyewitness accounts that helped to debunk the resort’s shifting versions of what happened. “It was insane,” he says. “I don’t think I had ever heard of Roy Horn before that happened.”

Emily RichmondVegas gig: Education reporter for the Las Vegas SunD.C. gig: Public editor, Education Writers AssociationClassiC Vegas: “I got to go cover a career and technical program where people were

learning how to handle large-scale hydraulic systems. That’s the backbone of the Cirque du Soleil set for ‘O’. ... That’s really about Las Vegas.”

Molly Ball & David KiharaVegas gigs: R-J political reporter and crime reporter, respectivelyD.C. gigs: She’s staff writer for The Atlantic, he’s managing editor at WJLA.com.ClassiC Vegas: Together they broke the story of cocktail waitress Chrissy Mazzeo accusing then-Rep. Jim Gibbons of attacking her in a parking garage weeks before Gibbons’ 2006 election as governor. “There was a lot of disapproval from the political establishment that we would report such things,” Ball says. “Then, the police report came out with all the details. Everyone saw this was a story.”

Kate BennettVegas gig: Sun gossip scribe, TV anchor, Vegas Magazine editor-in-chiefD.C. gig: Fashion editor at

Washingtonian Magazine and editor-in-chief of its offshoot, Washingtonian Bride & GroomClassiC Vegas: “I used to spend time with Siegfried & Roy and pet their elephant and hold their baby white tigers. I walked with Wayne Newton with his penguins on his ranch.”

Mike ZaplerVegas gig: R-J Las Vegas City Hall reporterD.C. gig: Political editor, POLITICO

ClassiC Vegas: “One day Oscar Goodman shows up on the steps of City Hall and announced he was going to run for mayor. I knew right

away it was gonna be a fun race.” At the time, then-County Commissioner Jay Bingham was considered a shoo-in. Bingham dropped out, later citing a previously undisclosed heath condition.

Kathleen HennesseyVegas gig: General assignment for AP bureauD.C. gig: White House correspondent, Los Angeles TimesClassiC Vegas: She and her parents were eating at Settebello in Henderson when Celine Dion and her entourage came in. “Nobody paid that much attention. So by the end, we could tell it seemed like she wanted some attention. She definitely made a grand exit —

she kept saying ‘Goodbye!’ and ‘Goodbye again!’ And nobody really was noticing.”

Steve Friess & Miles SmithVegas gigs: Friess was a former R-J education writer and longtime national freelancer; Smith was executive director of KSNVD.C. gigs: Friess covers technology for POLITICO; Smith is a producer at WJLAClassiC Vegas: In 2005, for Condé Nast Traveler, Friess and Smith stayed at 15 Vegas resorts and ate at 20 restaurants in one month. “I would leave for work from the Mirage and come home to Caesars Palace,” Smith recalls.

Sam SkolnikVegas gig: Courts and City Hall reporter for the Las Vegas SunD.C. gig:

Freelance, recently stepped down as

deputy editor of the National Law Journal; author,

“High Stakes: The Rising Cost of America’s Gambling Addiction” ClassiC Vegas: An inveterate Texas Hold ‘Em player, Skolnik spent plenty of free time in casino poker rooms. “The Strip had a really fun vibe, especially when I happened to be winning and I was playing tourists because they’re there to have fun, so they’re not as upset about losing.”

Bright past, brighter future

Former Vegas reporters reflect on breaking news in the neon

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Mountain that he was covering from afar. Goldman swooped in for his first time from Birmingham, Ala., where he covered the crime beat, and was dazzled.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, how do you cover this?’” he says. “I was dating someone, and I took the job without even telling her.”

In some cases, friends and colleagues were baffled at their decision to go. With the exception of Skolnik, an inveterate poker player, and Goldman, who casually bets on sports, none were particularly given to the piece of Vegas that most Americans think of first. But that was sort of the point — that this was a city that had some very serious news that needed attention beyond its flashy exterior. “I don’t gamble and a big entertainment nightlife scene has never been high on my criteria for a place I wanted to live,” Richmond says. “But I was intrigued by what was happening in this community, and this was an opportunity to see from the inside.”

‘people HaD to Deal witH You’The head-spinning pace of growth presented unusual opportunities for young reporters, Zapler says. Staffing at the local newspapers barely grew even as the city’s population exploded, an imbalance that gave any hungry journalist in Las Vegas an outsized berth to roam. “In any other big city, you’d probably have three or four people covering City Hall. I walked in there and on Day One I’m covering City Hall of this boom town and getting front page stories. Everybody read your stuff, you had a lot of clout, people had to deal with you. You learned how to handle yourself. That was where I really learned how to be a reporter.” For folks like Hennessey and Goldman, too, it was important experience in learning how to write and report a localized story for a national audience.

Along the way, the experience has proved critical in pressure-filled moments. The night of the Boston Marathon bombings, for instance, former KSNV Channel 3 Executive Producer Miles Smith (disclosure: my husband) was in the control room overseeing an 11 o’clock newscast that the top management at WJLA in Washington, D.C. would later praise as among the best half-hour programs they’d ever aired. Smith, who had won four Electronic Media Awards in Vegas for breaking news, felt well-prepared for that moment. “In a place like Las Vegas, you do everything and learn how to do everything,” says Smith, who worked in Vegas from 2001 to 2011. “For a city of its

size, Las Vegas had so much big, breaking news that you kind of got used to it.”

The rough-and-tumble of the Vegas media crucible also provided important lessons, too. Because the city continued for much of the last decade to have two robust, competing newspapers, journalists who came here learned more about vying with colleagues for stories than reporters emerging from one-newspaper towns. Some, like Hennessey, recall that fondly, noting, “It had just the right amount of cutthroat competition.”

Others, like Ball and Goldman, were targets of barbs that their later success would prove to be a function of jealousy and pettiness. In 2006, for instance, Ball was mocked as one of the town’s worst reporters by Las Vegas CityLife on account of some minor story errors. “I wasn’t happy about it, but it’s part of journalism and part of covering a beat like politics, people are going to say really nasty things,” Ball says. “I knew I was not the worst journalist in Las Vegas. I didn’t let it bother me.” Goldman, for his part, routinely swapped harsh emails with a prominent columnist who delighted in pillorying him.

grounD zeroThere are many explanations for this surge in Vegas-trained journalists in D.C., not the least of which is, as Hennessey noted, it’s where the jobs are these days in a rapidly changing and financially challenged media industry. But, also, once they’ve arrived in

the capital, their intimate knowledge of increasingly visible Nevada politics becomes a clear asset as the Beltway tried to understand Harry Reid’s ascent, John Ensign’s fall, the impact of the changing ethnic and racial makeup of the electorate and more. Hennessey, for instance, understood the irony of President Obama hunkering down to prepare to defend his economic record in a 2012 debate with Mitt Romney at Lake Las Vegas, simultaneously the epitome of Vegas’ bubble hubris and crash devastation. After her piece describing that contrast moved on the AP wire, The New York Times and others followed with similar perspectives.

The economic crash did figure in many decisions to move on, and several of these reporters lost their homes and savings to foreclosure or short sales “just like everybody else,” as Bennett puts it. That sudden shift in Vegas’ narrative from limitless growth and prosperity to a notorious financial disaster area was difficult to navigate personally and professionally; Skolnik lost his job in a slew of Greenspun Media Group layoffs, for instance. Looking back on it, Goldman feels he let readers down by not scrutinizing the questionably, highly risky economic underpinnings of the boom. “I regret that,” he says. “I should have taken a more critical look at how over-leveraged the casinos were.”

Bennett also found it harder to feel good about publishing a luxury magazine amid such widespread devastation. “When you watch the rise of something as we did and see what happened, I took it personally,” Bennett says. “I watched fine dining places figure out how to make burgers and fries, I watched people toting coolers of beer as they checked in to the Bellagio. It became hard to see what it was and see what it was turning into.”

Some just found Vegas a better place to be young and childless than older with families. But all who made this leap look back on their time in Nevada with fondness. The lessons from those stints resonate today in important ways. Goldman, now a married father of two, credits Vegas with showing him “how to deal with big corporations who have spokesmen who protect the interests of their companies.” Says Bennett: “I learned about ethics, reporting and sourcing — I learned about journalism every day without taking journalism masters classes.” And Ball, who also had her second child this spring, gave the town a lion’s share of credit for her success: “Almost everything I learned in journalism, I learned in Vegas. And it got me here.”

Las Vegas is that special news town that draws in young, hungry, hard-working journalists and feeds their ambitions with an endless parade of jaw-dropping stories.

Prints provided byHosted by Prizes provided by Event sponsors

photo contest

FOCUS ON

NEVADA

Hundreds attended the Desert Companion “Focus on Nevada” Photo

Showcase Issue Party at Alios Gallery on June 6. It was a celebration of

eye-catching photography from the “Focus on Nevada” Photo Contest

and a collection of images from Desert Companion past and present.

To view more images from this event and others, go to www.desertcompanion.com/dcscene. To learn

about upcoming Desert Companion events, find us on Facebook at facebook.com/desertcompanion or

follow us on Twitter @desertcompanion.


stechnology

Awesome, Inc.These innovators in tech, business and sustainability aren’t just creating a buzz — they’re making Las Vegas a better place to live

By anDrew Kiraly | Photography Bill HugHes

Seems like you can’t hop onto the In-ternet these days without reading yet another mythic overnight-success story about some mop-haired twentysomething selling a novelty app for umpteenbazillion dollars to Yahoogle-book. Indeed, as the flow of venture capital meets the rise of bedroom software whizzes to fuel what looks like another tech bubble, we’ve perhaps forgotten that technology is about more than clever Vine videos and grainy Ins-tagram snaps of sandwiches — and business is about more than boasting the biggest bottom line. The designers, developers and entrepre-neurs profiled here flaunt “killer apps” of a dif-ferent kind — ones that solve problems, build community and inspire change.

Conversation starter: niHongo masterCall it Taylor’s Big Japanese Vacation. In 2011, the software engineer planned to spend three weeks exploring the country that brought us sushi, ninjas and Playstation. Aim-ing to brush up on his high school Japanese, Dondich cobbled together a crash course with the usual suspects: Rosetta Stone, online tu-torials, books and apps. “Over six months, I studied my heart out,” he says. “And I had a fantastic time in Japan. But while I was able to get my point across in conversations, I still struggled.” Dondich suspected there was a bet-ter way to learn a language — a way that didn’t involve boring solo cram sessions in front of a computer or textbook. “Learning a language on your own is a very isolated experience that becomes very tedious very quickly,” he says. “If you’re not in a classroom setting, it’s likely you’re going to lose interest and drop off.”

Dondich sat down at the computer and put to work a language he was fluent in — software code — to create a new language-learning plat-form, sinking in $70,000 of his own money to kick it off. In August 2012, the Las Vegas na-tive launched a beta version of his Japanese language-learning website Nihongo Mas-ter. (“Nihongo” is the Japanese word for the Japanese language.) “I took some of the best

things I saw from the tools out there and tried to make language-learning a more social and more entertaining experience to help motivate language-learners,” he says. No more lonely cram sessions: Nihongo Master (nihongomas-ter.com) employs many of the hallmarks of the social media age to teach language: community, collaboration and competition. Member pro-

files are decorated with cartoon achievement badges for acing quizzes or completing gruel-ing drills. Teams with names like “Ice Cream Sailors” and “Imperial Voltron” vie to outrank each other. Learners post shout-outs and good-natured digs on each other’s profile pages. If Facebook gave birth to an anime baby obsessed with Japanese, it’d be Nihongo Master.

Speak easy: Taylor Dondich of Nihongo Master

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With about 11,000 registered users so far, Nihongo Master is already generating rev-enue, says Dondich, thanks in part to his commitment to running a lean operation, comprising him, a full-time Japanese teacher and a handful of contractors. Which isn’t to say Dondich isn’t thinking big about his next phase as he begins the process of courting in-vestors. “People are asking for (a similar sys-tem for teaching) French, German, Italian, even Yiddish,” he says. “We’re also looking at our system’s possibilities for teaching English as a second language.” Translation: Dondich is on the verge of a big success.

DeClaration of warDroBe: ComBatant gentlemenVishaal Melwani was expected to car-ry on the family tradition. His family owned and operated the 17 Gianni Versace stores in Las Vegas, and Melwani was in line for the throne. But when it came time to take on the mantle, Vishaal rebelled — politely: He chose the class-room over the dressing room, enrolling in law school. That didn’t last. “I spent my time in the classroom reading fashion blogs,” he says with a laugh. “I dropped out within the first year.” Besides that, in the meantime, he also got tan-gled in a torrid affair: “I really fell in love with tailoring denim.” His latest venture in couture is menswear website Combatant Gentlemen, which he launched in May 2012.

If jeans seem a bit, well, basic for a mens-wear website, that’s kind of the point. Com-batant Gentlemen (combatgent.com) focuses on core alpha-male closet standards, on cloth-ing as a tool — to snag that promotion, score a date, make an impression. Melwani’s unlikely inspiration: broke friends. “I saw a lot of them coming out of law school, friends who were strapped with debt, expecting these huge paychecks that would pay off their loans in the first year.” Of course, that didn’t happen. “They could barely pay their rent, and they’re sharing business clothes!” he says. Their chal-lenge became how to live a GQ life on some-thing closer to a Reader’s Digest budget. “So, we said, let’s create a brand that focuses on that guy, the guy who wants to get ahead and get the job done. Let’s focus on the basics — the business basics.” At the website, downtick-et dandies can score things like a two-piece wool suit for $160 and “Daily Grind” woven shirts for $25. Since the site’s launch, Melwani says he’s served more than 150,000 customers.

But Melwani’s Vegas-based business is more than a url and a few servers. Combatant Gentleman is now getting into the manufac-


turing side as well. The team recently relo-cated nine factory production machines to the Stitch Factory downtown, where Melwani ex-pects to be able to put out up to 300 pairs of a jeans a week and employ at least 20 people. “If we can make great denim in the U.S. cheaper than in China, why not do it in here?” he says. Originally bootstrapped with $125,000 in friends-and-family money, Combatant Gentle-men is wrapping up its first round of $1.8 mil-lion in venture capital funding, Melwani says. “For me, having grown up in Las Vegas — and having seen the economic devastation that oc-curred — I feel like this is my chance to be like a baby philanthropist. It’s a great place to help get people back to work.”

CHarity Ball: wHat gives?It was a Vegas Spring Break trip that turned into a long medical nightmare for Traci Menga and her husband Robert. In March

2002, they had driven to Las Vegas from their home in Agoura Hills, Calif. to visit her hus-band’s parents. Sure, Robert had a history of health problems related to depression, but they considered themselves prepared. When he woke up in the middle of the night, com-plaining of not feeling well, they figured they were in for a routine trip to the hospi-tal. Instead, the couple endured a drama that would turn into a three-year medical ordeal that would tie them to Las Vegas. Accord-ing to Menga, her husband reacted badly to a prescribed sedative, which set off a chain of events that led to kidney failure and, eventu-ally, his death in November 2005. But Menga’s memories aren’t of the countless, emotionally wrenching hours spent in the hospital. Rather, her memories are of the caring presence of people and organizations who were there for her during her husband’s illness.

“I had people I didn’t even know sitting

with me in the critical care unit, offering their support — people from Big Brothers Big Sisters, peo-ple from Nathan Adelson Hospice to help me through grief counsel-ing,” says Menga. “When I moved to the place I thought of as Sin City, I never realized there was a com-munity here. That’s what brought me to creating What Gives.”

Think of What Gives (what-givesdeals.com) as Groupon with a conscience. In addition to dishing out bargains — say, a $100 Restau-rant.com gift card for $30 — the site lets users pick what nonprofit gets a slice of the sale. But any comparison to deal-dishing giants like Groupon ends there.

“When we launched the site, we thought we’d be fighting to attract the deal-surfers,” says John Bam-forth, the site’s technology advisor. “We found that those aren’t our people at all. Our people are edu-cated and engaged, and when they purchase a service, they want it to benefit the community.”

Menga sold her family’s motor-cycle dealership in California and moved to Las Vegas, sleeping on the floor of her in-laws’ home while she built the business. “I could have been fully funded if I were in California, Chicago or New York, but I scoffed at the idea,” she says. “I decided to launch in Las Vegas because Las Vegas gave back to me

when I needed it.” For the next eight months, she spent countless hours and $150,000 of her own money building the website, which launched in January 2012. She’s since offered nearly 200 deals for 120 different merchants, and raised money for groups such as Aid for AIDS of Nevada, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and the Animal Foundation. Menga hopes to amplify that giving power — and score some big-name retail partners — with a new web platform she hopes to unveil soon. She’s got three investors on board, and is waiting for a few more to close the funding gap.

“I can’t imagine sitting in a rocking chair someday, thinking how I once had a great idea that I never pursued,” she says. “I’m pursuing this idea and I want it to give back to the community.”

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mated videos, there’s something odd about the DesertSol home. It’s not the shape or the size. It’s something else. It takes a second to put your fin-ger on it. Then you realize: The house looks situ-ated. It looks perfectly in place. You kind of ex-pect otherwise. The laundry list of features that make the DesertSol home wildly efficient are so advanced — and yet so common-sense — that you really couldn’t blame its student designers for wanting to make the house stand out proudly against the desert like a Southwest version of a Jetsons dream home. But the reclaimed Douglas fir and weathered steel is part of the point — a reflection of the home’s commitment to existing in harmony with the Mojave.

“If you age the material already and work that into the design, that’s what the house is going to look like both now and in 10 years — meaning the house is timeless,” explains Jinger Zeng, project engineer for the UNLV Solar Decathlon Team.

The home, currently under construction on the UNLV campus (solardecathlon.unlv.edu), is part of an international competition put on by the U.S. Department of Energy that chal-

lenges college students around the globe to design and build a solar home.

“What makes our design so powerful is that it’s integrated,” says Zeng. Among the wonky stuff: new-school, high-efficiency photovol-taic solar panels; a ductless heat-pump sys-tem; LED lighting; a “tight-envelope” design to decrease energy load; and a home automa-tion system that turns off lights and tweaks the thermostat as needed. (Also, it looks cool — imagine the home of a hipster Jawa.)

The secret to that integrated design is an-other kind of integration: An unprecedented collaboration that literally spans the UNLV campus, engaging 60 students in disciplines from architecture and engineering to business and communications. But this is no ivory-tow-er project. “The competition really challenges us to use commercially available products in-stead of custom-built ones, to educate the pub-lic about what products they can use to make their homes more energy-efficient,” says Zeng. “It’s about a lot more than putting solar pan-els on top of your house. It’s about making the

whole house energy-efficient.”The team is also raising money to complete

the house and transport it to Irvine, Calif. for the final competition in October. They estimate the house will cost $320,000 to build. It’ll cost an additional $430,000 to ship the house — and the students — to California for the showdown.

This is the first time the UNLV Solar De-cathlon team has made it to the finals, some-thing they ascribe to their unprecedented col-laboration. They’re also encouraged by a new contest criterion: affordability. They joke that in previous contest years, German students won handily with a $5 million home essen-tially covered in solar panels. The new afford-ability measure encourages these idealists to pursue realistic solutions.

“Hopefully the public will look at this and think, ‘I can get this dishwasher, or get a house with this kind of insulation,’” says Project Manager Alexia Chen. “One of the goals of this contest is for us to learn, but also for the pub-lic to learn — and be inspired to imagine what they can do with their own homes.”


d

HEAR MOREShould we require restaurants to put nutrition information on their menus? Hear

a discussion on “KNPR’s State of Nevada” at desertcompanion.com/hearmore

dining

1. Dog deal. At Buldogis, I spied teen customers happily spending their allowance on a spicy “Smoked Dog” with slaw, caramel-ized onions, cheddar and garlic mayo and a “West Coast Dog” with pico and avocado mayo (each $4.95). For a dollar less, my older son wolfed down the “Naked Dog,” and my younger son tried the smaller “Puppy Dog” ($2.45). Need more flavor? Request kimchi or banh mi slaw for 75 cents. Adults: You’ll be more than satisfied when you order the “Beef Bulgogi Dog” or spicy pork “Angry Dog” from the Korean/American fu-sion choices under $6. (2291 S. Fort Apache Road #102, buldogis.com)

2. Localized deal. Presto Neighborhood Café is run by two young and enthusiastic UNLV alums with a “local food” focus. They sug-gested the kids’ all-beef meatball sliders on mini-brioche with celery or sliced apple for $4.95. “Berry Good 4 U” ($5.99) is also popular with

Presto’s younger guests — a strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, banana, and almond milk beverage. Personally, the sweetest deal is to split the canoe-shaped pide (Turkish flatbread) for under $5 per kid — a dish intended for two. Adults: Just try to pass up a $4.25 scoop of the seasonal salads. I barely made it out of the parking lot before devouring the Is-raeli couscous, wild mushroom and lemon truffle salad. (4950 S. Rainbow Blvd. #150, prestocafelv.com)

3. Psychedelic deal. Rambo’s Kitchen is a mellow spot with a kid-friendly atmosphere harried parents will recognize: It feels as though you’ve shown up at your neighbor’s house for breakfast before they had a chance to tidy up. Weekends before noon, pay $3.50 for any two items: egg, bacon, sausage, toast or two mini-pancakes. Smaller ap-petites can get away with $2.75 for four French toast sticks. Adults: Pick

DEALittle mealsGot hungry little ones clamoring for noms? Skip the Happy Meal. Tykes will love these tasty eats — and you’ll love the price

By moLLY miCHeLman | Photos by Brent HoLmes

Oh my dog: Buldogis serves up franks that kids will frankly love.

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three of the following for $4.99 on weekends: two eggs, two bacon strips, toast, two sausage patties, two pancakes. Bonus: Wear tie-dye, get 10 percent off. (6085 S. Fort Apache Road, ram-boskitchen.com)

4. Can’t-resist deal. I’m a sucker for the relaxed and unpretentious Sprouts Farmers Market. The “Bunch-a-Lunch Combo” ($4.99) provides your budding frugalistas with a sand-wich of the day (pastrami, turkey, whatever) and a quarter-pound of potato or macaroni salad and a bag of chips and a bottle of water. Adults: Pull yourself away from the extraordinary bulk aisles and get your own half deli sandwich and daily soup to go for $4.99 — it’s more than enough to satisfy your stomach. (3365 E. Tropicana Ave., 4020 S. Rainbow Blvd., sprouts.com)

5. Adventurous deal. I stumbled upon Parsley Mediterranean Grill and, after piling in the lovely, savory, crunchy shawarma, I noticed the kids’ menu. The same homemade ingredi-ents are available in a shawarma plate (chicken or steak) with fries and a kids’ drink for $4.75. (Remind any potentially hesitant young ones that the Avengers ate the same thing after sav-ing the world.) Adults: Spend $7.95 for the sha-warma salad and nod enthusiastically when offered the spicy pickled carrot sticks. (6420 S. Pecos Road and Riviera Hotel Food Court, pars-leyfmg.com)

6. Gluten-free deal. Lazy Joe’s Fish & Chips was recommended by a buddy whose child has been on a gluten-free diet for more than 10 years. They’ve got a casual, East Coast vibe, but they’re no slouches when it comes


Flat-out good: Rambo’s Kitchen’s

mini-pancakes


dining

to the menu. Codfish (fried with gluten-free breading) or gluten-free chicken fingers and fries for kids 12 and under ($3.99) are a treat for anyone who has to avoid gluten. Adults: The whole-belly clams are flown in from Ips-wich, Mass., but too pricey for the premise of this article. However, the website boasts a “cur-rent coupon” area (15 percent off at last check), which makes the clams affordable. Fish and chips (with fries, coleslaw, hush puppy) are a practical alternative for $7.49. (7835 S. Rainbow Blvd., lazyjoesfishandchips.com)

7. Boulder City insider deal. A B.C. native told me she brings her boys to Vinny’s Pizzeria. Locals seem to favor the tiny spot, known for its warm, child-friendly and teen-tolerant staff. For only $3.99, kids get spaghetti, tortellini or ravioli (and a breadstick!). Tack on $2, and pat yourself on the back for order-ing your child a side salad. If, for some reason, you have six kids with you, the “Big Jumbo” cheese pizza (24 inches, thin crust, serves six to seven people) is just $21.49. (That comes out to $3.58 per kid!) Adults: If the kids won’t share, try the $4.25 slice and drink special, offered all day long. (Note: Sort-of-odd business hours, so check the website before showing up.) (1632 Nevada Highway, vinnyspizzeriabc.com)

8. Las Vegan vegan deal. Specify “veg-etarian” or “vegan” on ANYTHING they make at Veggie Delight — and be pleasantly surprised. My hamburger-loving boy sat on the outdoor patio and ate every bite of the vegan crispy chicken sandwich for $5.50 and drank every sip of an enormous fresh mango smoothie for an-other $3. Adults: Conveniently, I didn’t know it was cash only. I had to mooch the meal off of my dining companions, which totaled about $8 per adult for the three entrees we shared, includ-ing lemongrass “beef” (you’d never even know it wasn’t). (3504 Wynn Road, veggiedelight.biz)

9. Kosher deal. After my kosher-keep-ing friend stopped laughing at my quest for in-expensive kosher options, she pointed me to Sa-baba Grille and Restaurant. Two bucks will take care of your kid, as a falafel ball is only 50 cents, and a pita pocket is 60 cents. If those tastes are too extreme, kosher hot dogs are $2.95 without the fries. (As the menu says, “It’s Kosher, so you know it’s good.”) Adults: Go for the Baba Salad, a “tangy mélange of crushed sesame and egg-plant” in pita for $6.95. (3220 S. Durango Drive, sababarestaurant.com)

10. Wellness deal. Hunks of carrots,

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celery, noodles and one giant Matzo ball over-flowing to make this a decadent serving of Jew-ish penicillin from The Bagel Café. The $7.95 cup comes with a bagel and cream cheese, which should serve as tomorrow’s breakfast. Your sniffling kid will be stuffed and ready for a nap with just the cup. Adults: Try the over-stuffed quarter-pound egg salad half-sandwich for $6.95 on a bagel with a side of coleslaw, macaroni, pasta or potato salad and a pickle. (301 N. Buffalo Drive, 11011 W. Charleston Blvd., thebagelcafelv.com)

11. Drive-thru deal. Any article on kiddie grub worth its salt better include a PB&J. I never thought I’d utter “drive-thru” and “healthy” in the same sentence, but Sun-rise Coffee serves a $3.25 organic peanut but-ter-jelly-and-banana sandwich that makes it a reality. Items are made to order, and Sunrise encourages you to call ahead to avoid a wait. Should time permit, skip the drive-through and sit inside. On a recent afternoon visit, nearly every patron was quietly working at a laptop, with a few chatting in the peace-ful side patio. Adults: Hit the drive-thru for “Morning Crunches,” multigrain bread with organic peanut butter or almond butter slath-ered with granola, sliced bananas and honey for $3.45-$3.95. (3130 E. Sunset Road, sun-risecoffeelv.com)

12. Meaty deal. Henry’s American Grill is probably as close as you’ll find to a diner in these parts. Henry’s offers an “Awe-some Burger at an Awesome Price” — $4.50 for a quarter-pound hamburger. The sweet po-tato puffs come highly recommended, and are a good value at $2.79 ($2.50 for waffle fries are

an option, too). Adults: Have a burger. Sneak some of your kids’ fries or potato puffs. Bring a designated driver, stick to the budget, and en-joy a 16-ounce domestic beer for $3.75. (237 N. Stephanie Street #A, henrysamericangrill.com)

13. Sugar rush deal. How about an end-less bowl of happiness? At I Love Yogurt, you’ll not only love the yogurt, but you’ll also enjoy the zany, retro vibe. Frozen yogurt is every-where, but here, children can chow down on a $3.99 all-you-can-eat cereal smorgasbord of Quik, Boo Berry, Franken Berry, Fruity Peb-bles, Count Chocula, Cap’n Crunch and others, served with milk. Adults: Everyone is a kid at this spot. Let your bowl runneth over. (11700 W. Charleston Blvd., 6430 N. Durango Drive, 2591 Anthem Village Drive, ilvyogurt.com)

14. Empty calorie deal. Feeling com-pletely irresponsible about the nutritional in-tegrity of your family’s diet? We’ve all gotta cut loose sometimes. Head over to Ronald’s Donuts

(and pick up a dozen donut holes for $1. The top two rows of the completely no-frills donut case are vegan — and you cannot tell the difference. Adults: As long as you’re being a questionable role model, spend an extra buck or two (cash only, by the way) and freeze two dozen in small plastic bags. They defrost quickly and delicious-ly. 4600 Spring Mountain Road, 873-1032)

15. Summer survival deal. It’s blazing hot, and you have no choice but to feed your children ice-cold sugary treats. Oh no! The Pur-ple Penguin Snowcone Shack has a small, $2 solution to your problems. They’re only open from April-September, so your kids will think you’re a hero for at least 6 months of the year. Adults: The line may be long. Treat yourself to a $3 medium with Tiger’s Blood, tamarindo or pickle juice flavor. (1500 Horizon Ridge Park-way, 10490 Decatur Blvd., purplepenguinsnow.com)

dining

Killer cereal: I Love Yogurt’s breakfasts

of champions

Slush fun: a snowy treat at Purple Penguin

SpEciAl AdvERtiSing SEctiOn

CHef Profiles

2013

Jason HugHesMaSteR MixologiSt

DavaLos tequiLaInnovative Beverages LLC633 s. 4th Street, Suite 7Las Vegas, NV 89101-6631 702.203.7227www.davalostequila.com

Wes KenDRICKexecutive cHef

taBLe 34600 E. Warm Springs Road702.263.0034usmenuguide.com/table34

If you have ever been to an event where Davalos Tequila is being served, you can’t

miss Jason Hughes, with his outgoing personality and impressive mohawk, he

is the mind behind some of the Davalos inspired cocktails including Señor Davalos

Poohbear and the Davalos Fuzzy Grapefruit. Jason was born and raised in Las

Vegas and has traveled around the world to some of the biggest parties the world

has to offer including Oktoberfest and Brazil’s Carnival. Being a proud member

of the Las Vegas Chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild (USBG), Jason has

been regular Competition Mixoligist where he has competed in Bols, Domaine De

Canton and Shake It Up! Through the USBG, he has taken Advanced Mixologist

courses and is working on his Masters accreditation. Davalos Tequila is excited

to have Jason serving his unique Davalos blend of drinks to you. ¶ The success

of Davalos Tequila starts with your satisfaction. Derived from over 100 years of

experience and three generations, Davalos Tequila was brought to reality in 2007.

The Davalos family has been farming the highlands of Jalisco for more than three

generations, producing the highest quality Weber Blue Agave. The 100+ acre estate

has been providing award winning tequila makers with the base of their product

for many years. Finally after years of providing for other distinguished companies,

the family made the decision to come full circle and showcase their superior

product in the purest and most refined form, traditional 100% Agave Tequila.

We are committed to producing and delivering the highest quality products at

a reasonable price. Our goal is to carry on the legacy of the Davalos Estate while

striving for continuous improvement, the rich history and tradition is present in

every Davalos product. Please enjoy responsibly.

Chef Wes Kendrick’s creative

philosophy begins with the

freshest seasonal ingredients.

As a hands-on chef, Wes

oversees every aspect of his

cuisine, from receiving and

inspecting each product, to

production and cooking, and

finally chatting with guests to

ensure complete satisfaction.

This attention to detail has

earned him recognition from

Zagat, Michelin Guide, a spot

on Rachel Ray and high marks

from local food critic Heidi

Knapp-Rinella. ¶ “Las Vegas

residents are very discerning

and it’s important to be

consistently at the top of your

game” – Chef Wes

CHefProfile

CHefProfile

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BRaD BuRDsallcHief eggiNeeR

egg & i/egg works4533 W. Saraha Ave.9355 W. Flamingo Road2490 E. Sunset Road6960 S. Rainbow Blvd. 10839 S. Eastern Ave702.485.5585theeggworks.com

RanDall RICHaRDsexecutive cHef / owNeR

tHe painteD ponY2 W. St. George Blvd. #22 St. George, UT 84770435.634.1700 www.Painted-Pony.com

Brad Burdsall is the admired Chief Egginer at The Egg & I and the Egg

Works restaurants in Las Vegas.¶ After earning his Bachelor’s Degree in

Hotel Restaurant Administration from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Brad

bought his first restaurant, The Egg & I in 1998. Since then he has opened

Egg Works, Egg Works 2 and Egg Works 3. He recently opened his fifth

restaurant, Egg Works 4, in Henderson. Brad’s restaurants have been Zagat-

rated since 1999 and have been featured in USA Today and Food Network’s

Rachael’s Vacation.¶ In addition to bringing Egg Works to new parts of the

valley, Brad has been working on his own production lines, Habla Diablo

and Fog Fields. Under the Habla Diablo label you can find his hot sauces

line: Habla Diablo Original, Habla Diablo Chipotle and Habla Diablo Verde.

He has also produced his own Habla Diablo Bloody Mary mix. These items

are currently available at all his restaurants. The Fog Fields production line

will consist of salad dressings, country gravy mix, Hollandaise sauce and a

spice line. These items will come to the market by the end of this year.

Brad’s recipe for success and growth in the restaurant industry is a solid

business foundation accompanied by a passion for food, excellent service

and happy employees.

FResH | loCal | oRganICNestled in the heart of Historic

Downtown St. George, Utah,

The Painted Pony’s menu

and atmosphere celebrate

the mix of traditional dining

favorites and culinary

creativity that come together

in Contemporary American

dining. ¶ Executive Chef

Randall Richards cultivates

from his own one acre organic

garden as well as the local

Downtown Farmers Market to

design and create a seasonally

driven menu.

open 7 Days a WeeKLunch: Mon – Sat 11:30 to 4 p.m.

Dinner: DAILY at 4 p.m.

(Mountain Time Zone)

CHefProfile

CHefProfile

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Baguette Café's curry chicken

sandwich

our DeaLicious meaLers

Jim Begley, Daniel Hernandez, Andrew Kiraly, Debbie Lee, Molly O’Donnell,

Brock Radke, Lissa Townsend Rodgers, Kristy Totten

photography

Christopher Smith & Brent Holmes

DEALICIOUS

D E S E R T C O M P A N I O N

JuLy 2013

okay, so the economy’s improving, but it’ll be a long

time before we’re all eating gold-dusted money-

burgers like we were before the bust. In the meantime, our fifth annual

DEALicious Meals is here to tide you over. From spare-change street

food to fine dining deals on the Strip, our annual guide to the city’s tasti-

est food finds will keep you full for months to come. Happy eating.

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Complimentary fries AT STRipSTeAK

A wise person once said the best things in life are free. In consideration of StripSteak’s complimentary duckfat fry trio, that couldn’t be truer. While this is somewhat heartier than your typical amuse-bouche, your mouth will nonetheless be very happy with the combination of fries and dipping sauces. Being a Maryland grad, I’m particularly fond of the Old Bay fries in the truffle aioli. While it's not the pairing from the kitchen, my combo will not be denied! JB Mandalay Bay, michaelmina.net

75-cent double chocolate donut AT AL’S DOnuTS

Yes, Al’s Donuts is next door to a dive bar and behind a 7-Eleven, but this ain’t foie gras. Don’t let a little snobbishness come between you and rich, chocolatey bliss. Dunkin’s might be cheaper, but Al’s are still only $.75 apiece and always taste like they were just made. Plus, the dudes behind the counter are at least as sweet as the orbs of vice they’re pushing. You can’t get that extra fix at Dunkin’s. MO1220 E. Harmon Ave., 735-3039

$1 chocolate chip cookie AT SunRiSe COffee

The fact that after 5 p.m. every-thing in Sunrise Coffee’s pastry case is only $1 sweetens an already magical experience. You doubt that an end-of-day pastry can be compared to astounding, wand-waving enchantments? Clearly you’ve never tried their chocolate chip cookie. Lightly crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside and lip-smacking deli-cious all the way through, their cookie will have you questioning

your previous junk-food choices and saving your empty calories for happy hour. MO 3130 E. Sunset Road,

sunrisecoffeelv.com

$1-$5 Thai food festival AT CHAiyA MOnASTeRy

Hidden away in a residential area near Rainbow and Wind-mill, Chaiya Monastery hosts an off-the-radar monthly Thai food festival right in their park-ing lot. Food selections run the gamut from Thai standards such as satay and pad Thai to more unusual, including roti (crepes slathered in condensed milk) and an irresistible tod mun goong (fried shrimp cakes). Imagine a Bangkok street food market, just with a lot more Hangover 1 and a lot less Hangover 2. JB 7925 Virtue Court,

chaiyacmm.org

$1.69 lengua and cabeza tacos AT TACOS MexiCO

I once ate pig tongue at a hipster luau in Brooklyn — and it was the worst thing I ever put my teeth into. Cow tongue is different, though. And cow face is good too. Yes, this is a tongue and cheek recommendation. But, you know, literally. These meats, deep in the recesses of the taqueria menu, tend to turn Americans off, but they happen to be the tenderest, tangiest beefs, and Tacos Mexico serves them round-the-clock for only $1.69 each. DH Multiple locations,

tacosmexico.com

$2.50 carnitas AT yAyO TACO

Yayo Taco is back from its hiatus, which means juicy tomatillo Ser-

79-cent donuts AT GLAzieR’S

Visit Glazier’s supermarket on any given morning and your

nose will inevitably lead you to the shop’s in-house bakery

department. There, under a rainbow neon sign that reads

“Jelly’s Donuts,” cloudlike puffs of pillowy dough come

filled, frosted or in the form of Frisbee-sized fruit fritters.

If the choices are overwhelming, stick to the classic glazed

donut. A single bite could bring even the most fanatical

Krispy Kreme devotee to her knees. DL

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rano verde, cilantro, and onions smothering the tastiest pork pieces ever to be roasted. The corn tortillas these tiny piles of paradise come on might seem like throwaways, but after they absorb the inner essence, they become clutch. It’s true that as a street-food staple, carnitas sometimes seem omnipresent. Why go elsewhere though, when this egalitarian delicacy has been perfected for $2.25? MO 4632 S. Maryland Parkway,

yayotaco.com

$2.50 tripa tacos AT TAqueRiA eL pALenque

Tripe isn’t exactly a staple of Ta-cos for Gringos 101, but Taqueria el Palenque is shelling out prob-ably the valley’s most approach-able version. Perfectly fried, the meaty morsels aren’t nearly as mineral-y as found elsewhere — surprising given the very authentic surroundings — while the frying endows each bite with a bit more texture, balancing its typical chewiness. Order it on a housemade tortilla — completely worth the upcharge — and experience one of the best tacos in town. JB 2722 E. Lake Mead Blvd.,

504-3216

$2.99 falafel AT KABOB KORneR

Aside from the dated décor, the only thing cringe-worthy about Kabob Korner is the name. For $2.99, you can get five beautifully crisp golden balls of falafel that, when tucked into a soft pita with veggies and sesame sauce, may make you weep with joy. This little spot on Fremont might become an-other cut-crystal “place to be” un-less people start doing the logical thing and dropping in. Let’s face it: You can’t eat a chandelier. MO 507 Fremont St., 384-7722

$3 ice cream cookie sandwiches AT SweeT ADDiCTiOn

Longtime Las Vegans might fall in love with the southwesterly Sweet Addiction for its use of throwback Thrifty ice cream, but its the combination of your favor-ite smooth and creamy delight with fresh-from-the-oven cook-ies — and the whimsy of creating your own flavor partners — that makes this neighborhood shop a must-try. You knew when you were a kid that money can’t buy you love, but three dollars will bring you joy. BR 5165 S. Fort Apache Blvd. #160,

sweetaddictionlv.com

$3 Asian fusion tacos AT DRAGOn GRiLLe

Fusion tacos remain as popular as when Kogi took the food truck movement by storm. The latest renditions are available

from a new valley entrant — Dragon Grille. Assemble your own tacos by choosing from meats and sauces layered atop rice in a corn tortilla. Kalua pig and beef brisket are among the protein options, while toppings include a sweet Korean Galbi-

SHRIMP COCKTAIL

MiX vs. Du-par’sSometimes it’s the atmosphere

and not the food that makes the

meal. So when you stare into your

$2.99 tulip glass of Sea Monkey-sized shrimp at

Du-par’s (inside the Golden Gate Casino), remind

yourself that you’re not there to sample pristine seafood.

It’s all about experiencing classic Vegas. Eavesdrop on locals

and soak up the scene while you pick at your prawns and nibble

on saltines. But for those who prefer something a little more re-

fined, consider Alain Ducasse’s shrimp cocktail at MiX. The Derrida

of fine dining deconstructs one of our city’s most iconic dishes

and then reassembles it with horseradish cream, tomato syrup and

candied lemon. You will see the once ho-hum dish with a new set

of eyes — at least, for the few seconds before you devour it. DL

Du-par’s inside the Golden Gate hotel-casino 1 Fremont St., du-pars.com

miX inside Mandalay Bay hotel-casino 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S., mandalaybay.com

Contemporary upstarts take on classics

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Du-par's shrimp cocktail

Sweet Addiction's ice cream cookie

sandwiches

Tacos Mexico's lengua and

cabeza tacos

cue and spicy Asian sweet chili. Without a constant location to pin them to, you’ll have to work to track them down. It’s worth it. JB dragongrille.com

$3 fried stuff AT yOnAKA

The latest new/exciting Japanese eatery in town, Yonaka specializes in brilliantly colorful, brightly flavored and creatively configured raw fish dishes, way beyond sushi. But the appetizing list of fried dishes, ranging from three to seven dollars, brings even more bang for your buck. Crispy Brussels sprouts with lemon and chili will recalibrate your taste for this wayward veg-gie, and juicy nuggets of fried chicken with jalapeño, mint and basil are so good, you better start with two orders. BR 4893 W. Flamingo Road #A,

yonakajapaneserestaurant.com

$3.50 chicken karaage AT fuKuMiMi

It’s easy to miss Fukumimi, a small storefront on the face of an aging battlestar-class strip mall that commands a corner of Trop and Eastern. (Fukumimi’s the blip on the north flank of Baskin & Robbins). Just a bit peckish? The $3.50 deep-fried karaage appetizer will tide you over with its four tender fried-chicken chunks and crisp green salad. Bigger appetites should dive into the noodle menu, which features generous bowls of ramen tonkatsu ($7.50) with various twists and tweaks. The signature fukumimi bowl ($9.50) — loaded with extra pork slices — will unleash its own battlestar on your hunger. AK4860 S. Eastern Ave. #2,

631-2933

$3.76 tacos and wine AT STAKe OuT

Ah, the classic American taco night, with a hard shell barely containing ground beef, toma-toes, lettuce (iceberg, of course), cheese, taco sauce and, if you’re lucky, sour cream. It might not be auténtica, but taco night isn’t about auténtica. It’s about com-fort. The same can be said for Stake Out, a homey spot where on Tuesdays you can still get two tacos and a glass of wine for $3.76. A better deal? Not outside your childhood home. MO 4800 S. Maryland Parkway,

798-8383

$4 calamari tacos AT CuRBSiDe CAfé

Years ago, Curbside Café owner Doug Porter had a west-side brick-and-mortar seafood joint.

Since transitioning to mobile dining, he hasn’t forsaken his roots, offering a duo of memo-rable seafood tacos — blackened mahi mahi and fried calamari. While mahi mahi is somewhat common, calamari tacos are a rarity and a nod to Porter’s past. Lightly breaded and mixed with pico de gallo and salsa blanca, these tacos boast a noticeable heat without overwhelming the subtle squid. JB curbsidecafelv.com

$4 ceviche and $5 coconuts AT COCOS fRiOS

With summer’s oppressive heat upon us, we’re all on the lookout for refreshing meals. For coconuts and ceviche, look no further than the trailer in the tire store parking lot on Nellis south of Owens. Seriously. The ceviche ($4 and up) is not overly acidic and well-balanced, while coco-

NACHOS

Nosh & Swig vs. Casa Don JuanNachos are one of those foods that lend themselves to variation —

whether that means choosing jalapeños over green chiles or reimag-

ining in Asian, Southern or seafood versions. Casa Don Juan serves a

classic plate of nachos in a classic Mexican restaurant, right down to

the Frida Kahlo mural and weekend mariachis. A heap of tortilla chips

is topped with a pile of beef, chicken or pork with cheese and sour

cream (customize with more of the chips or either of the salsas that

automatically come to your table). Nosh & Swig specializes in fusion-y

twists on comfort food served on small plates in an urban-minimalist

setting. Their Nachos O’Brien is an Irish-styled rendition — a pile of

house-made potato chips are heaped with peppered beef and Dublin

cheddar cheese. It’s not as spicy as the trad version, but with a bit

more stick-to-your ribs gusto. LTR

nosh & sWig 3620 E. Flamingo Rd., noshandswig.com

Casa Don Juan 1204 S. Main St., casadonjuanlv.com


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Casa Don Juan's nachos

$3.50 pepperoni slice AT pOp up pizzA

Secret pizza? The real secret is that the savory, saucy, spicy

pepperoni slice at downtown’s Pop Up beats the Cosmo’s

Brooklyn-style hands down. Vegan pie’s great, but there’s

no better measure than the classic. The toasted outer layer

of golden mozzarella gives way to a sweet and salty tomato

gravy, only surpassed by the crisp meaty goodness flown

here from Chicago on the regular. Italian nirvana for $3.50.

This Plaza joint better change its name to Permanent Pizza

soon. MO

insiDe the union pLaza, popuppizzaLv.Com

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nuts ($5) and their accompanying water are a perfect summertime snack. Pay no attention to the passing traffic and you may find yourself transported to a tranquil beachfront resort. JB 1395 N. Nellis Blvd.

$4.95 chicken gumbo AT weeziAnA

The stand-alone food court that hosts Weeziana, along with

other nichey micro-eateries, is like a cheap foodie United Na-tions. Here, peddlers of curry, kimchi, hot wings, tacos and po’ boys come together to solve Las Vegas’ lunch problems. For operating out of a glorified cubicle, Weeziana manages a broad menu of sandwiches, fish baskets, gumbos and desserts (including from-scratch corn bread), but my favorite quick lunch is their spicy, chunky and satisfying $4.95 chicken gumbo. Bump it up two bucks for their seafood rendition, which features fat shrimp and crab legs. AK 6475 W. Charleston Blvd.,

822-4626

$4.99 curry plate AT KABA CuRRy

It’s a simple build-your-own situ-ation at Kaba and it begins with lumps of white rice and ultra-savory, slightly sweet Japanese curry gravy for $4.99. Add your favorite tasties for a dollar or two more, stuff like hamburger steak, fried chicken cutlet, potato croquette or Filipino egg rolls. Sprinkle on a 50-cent topping or two (kimchi, corn, cheese?) and commence shoveling into your face. Try not to grin too much while you’re eating. BR 6475 W. Charleston Blvd. #160,

kabacurry.com

$5 appetizers AT zenSHin

Wade through the classic locals’ casino gauntlet of jort-clad chain-smokers, and you’ll be rewarded with Zenshin, an un-derstated sushi restaurant hidden in the southwest crevice of the South Point. Its daily 2-6 p.m. happy hour slashes appetizer prices in half. Skip the standard sushi and instead cast your line for well-executed apps such as $5 hoisin pork belly buns, Asian corn dogs, garlic edamame and a delicate and flavorful salmon poke. Quench the wasabi burn from a $5 cocktail menu rife with stripper names and innuendo: Strawberry Bangkok, Blushin’ Jasmine, Monkey Jacket. AK Inside the South Point hotel-

casino, southpointcasino.com

$5 meatless eats AT VeGGie HOuSe

You can totally pretend this is just a solid, good value Chinese restaurant. Order appetizers for $5, devour a $6.50 lunch special with broccoli shrimp or fish with hot bean sauce, or share a few entrees that rarely reach the $10 tipping point (we recommend spicy crispy beef or pineapple duck). It’s not that important that

$4-$6 burgers AT BADGeR CAfé AnD DiSpenSARy LOunGe

Within a half-mile of one another on east Tropicana are

two of the town’s best bargain burgers — at Badger

Café and Dispensary Lounge. Both have an outstanding

dive ambiance — Dispensary has a waterwheel and

lawn furniture, while Badger is replete with Wisconsin

paraphernalia — and each serves a damn fine burger

with the proper char on their handmade patties. Make an

afternoon of it, walk off some calories and you can decide

on your favorite. JB

1801 e. tropiCana ave., baDgerCafe.Com

2451 e. tropiCana ave., theDispensaryLounge.Com

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Badger Café's burger

no meat product is served at Veg-gie House, because you won’t be able to tell the difference in the delicious dishes coming out of this creative kitchen. BR 5115 Spring Mountain Road,

veggiehousevegas.com

$6 PB&J dessert AT RepuBLiC KiTCHen

This school lunch mainstay gets a French makeover at Republic Kitchen, where the childhood and, uh, aging-bachelor staple is cut into mini-sandwiches, deep fried like French beignets, sprin-kled with powdered sugar, topped with whipped cream and served with chocolate and strawberry dipping sauces. Un-nostalgic, this $6 remake is decadent: nutty and sweet, crunchy and soft. It also inspires frequent requests from friends to trade. DH 9470 S. Eastern Ave.,

republickitchenandbar.com

$7 bar bites AT View wine BAR & KiTCHen

Let’s get the happy hour tractor beam out of the way first: The charming View Wine Bar offers $2 “draft” red or white wines and $3 Stella Artois during the early eve-

ning hours. But stay for lots of well-priced and tasty dishes, including a killer “farmers market” salad with fried goat cheese nuggets for $7, roasted chicken with pesto for $12, and one of the most buzzed-about new burgers in town for $13. BR Tivoli Village, 420 S. Rampart

Blvd., viewwinebar.com

$7-$12 savory stuff AT CHOCOLATe & SpiCe BAKeRy

Of course the pastries, custom cakes and artisan chocolates are sublime at Megan Romano’s neigh-borhood sweet spot; no surprises there. The shock comes when you stop in for lunch and realize 1) the basil tomato soup, roasted veg-etable frittata, heirloom tomato and mozzarella napoleon and honey maple ham on brioche are as good as it gets, 2) that everything is between seven and 12 bucks and 3) this place still hasn’t been discov-ered by the west side masses. BR 7293 W. Sahara Ave. #8,

chocolatenspice.com

$7.50 noodle soup AT CHACHA

This new pan-Asian fun starts at $7.50 and only goes up to $11.95, if you want to “splurge”

BANANA CREAM PIE

Elements vs. Du-par’sOh, fluffy delicious and sticky sweet, a cushiony soft meet-

ing place between banana pudding and marshmallow fluff.

Du-Par’s pies are legendary, but their banana cream is among

the best. A luxurious pillow of whipped cream tops rich

banana filling, golden and thick with slices of banana. The

crust is flaky and somehow remains unsoggy despite the

moistness of the pie. However, if you’d like that banana cream

taste, but are looking for something a bit less dense, Ele-

ments Kitchen & Martini Bar offers a white chocolate banana

cream pie martini. It’s made with Cruzan banana rum, crème

de banana liqueur and Godiva white chocolate. The white

chocolate adds a bit of sweetness and density to the banana,

while rum gives a bit of caramel and brown sugar — think pie

crust. Elements’ suburban location, low-lit décor and mature

clientele are the opposite of Du-Par’s Fremont Street vintage

diner-shininess and tourist-heavy crowd, but both will satisfy

your sweet tooth. LTR

eLements kitChen & martini bar 4950 S. Rainbow Ave., elementskitchenandmartinibar.com

Du-par’s 1 Fremont St., du-pars.com


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Elements' banana cream pie martini

Republic Kitchen's PB&J dessert

on the mouth-blasting delight of kimchi seafood ramen in a spicy vegetable broth. The lower end of ChaCha’s noodle soup selection doesn’t skimp on bold flavor, including rich roasted duck over chewy egg noodles, beefy pho with rare steak and well-done flank, or mixed veggie udon in a Japanese curry-tinted broth. Every noodle culture is well-represented here, and you get it all for cheap. BR 2021 W. Sunset Road,

noodlechacha.com

$7.99 Lasagna Explosion AT MOnTeSAnO’S

It began as an accident. One day Steve Montesano divided his famous lasagna into thick, hefty portions — yet still had a sliver left over. He cut that piece into bites, breaded, fried and served them to staff with homemade meat sauce. And thus the La-sagna Explosion was set off. A $7.99 antipasti, it’s their regulars’

favorite: rich, melted ricotta with hot pasta in a golden brown crust. So if Montesano’s friendly atmosphere or generous charity events haven’t drawn you, go now and try this. DH 9905 S. Eastern Ave.,

montesanos.com

$7.99 Green Goddess AT RAinBOw’S enD

You know when a vegetarian’s like, “It’s so good, you won’t miss the meat?” One sandwich will make you a believer: the Green Goddess. Rainbow’s End has been doing organic since Whole Foods was Safer Way. At $7.99, this wrap is a steal: myriad fresh-ly sliced veggies topped with cheese and wrapped in a locally made pita. This might sound like something you could do at home, but this sandwich tastes like it’s been blessed by a goddess. MO 1100 E. Sahara Ave. #101,

rainbowsendlv.info

$7.99 pad Thai AT MR. CHOp-CHOp

Mr. Chop-Chop is a like an urban legend in a way. People are always talking about it, but who’s been? Once you order your first $7.95 pad Thai at this weird little spot tucked away near a Wal-Mart, you start talking about it like Bigfoot. A spicy-as-you-like concoction of al dente noodles layered with chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, and carrot and onion shoots, this dish will make you feel like a pad Thai virgin all over again. MO 5075 S. Pecos Road,

mrchopchop.net

$7.99 meatball parm AT CuGinO’S

Cugino’s means “cousin’s” in Italian, and since its owners arrived here from New York seven years ago, it has been embraced like family. Everything is made from scratch, providing a freshness rare around the UNLV campus. The prosciutto

sub is their signature, the chicken and broccoli rabe is a hit, but the meatball parm at only $7.99 is their Mona Lisa: a toasted Italian roll with saucy meatballs and melted mozzarella. Bravo, paisanos. DH 4550 S. Maryland Parkway,

cuginositalian.com

$8 cevapi AT pRinCe ReSTAuRAnT

Prince Restaurant is essentially an ethnic social club, providing a valu-able tie to the motherland for the valley’s surprisingly robust Serbian population. The menu is awash with Eastern European specialties, the best of which is the housemade cevapi, or miniature sausages. The cevapi ($8 regular, $10 large) are served on a browned, buttered housemade bun alongside kajmak, an addictive amalgam of butter and cream cheese. Slather kajmak onto the bun and you’ve got a smoky, creamy concoction worth seeking out. JB 6795 W. Flamingo #A, 220-8322

BEEF WELLINGTON

Gordon Ramsay Steak vs. Hugo’s CellarWant to recapture the glory days of Continental cuisine? Salvation

awaits at Hugo’s Cellar, in the basement of the Four Queens Hotel.

The restaurant’s traditional Beef Wellington, complete with foie

gras and Bordelaise sauce, looks like it hasn’t changed since the

old school hideaway first opened (and neither does the wait staff).

You’ll wish you’d dressed like Don Draper to complete the experi-

ence. For a more modern take, head to Gordon Ramsay Steakhouse,

where the British-themed space-age décor hints at your meal to

come. Ramsay understands and honors the basic Wellington for-

mula (meat + buttery pastry = ecstasy), but adds some twists in the

form of English mustard and parma ham. Rule-breaking, typical of

the bad-boy chef, never tasted so good. DL

gorDon ramsay steak, inside Paris-Las Vegas, 946-4663

hugo’s CeLLar, inside the Four Queens, hugoscellar.com


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Gordon Ramsay Steak's Beef Wellington

$7-$11 sandwiches AT BAGueTTe CAfe

Everything here is so good, it’s infuriating. Why? It’s only

open Monday through Friday, even though it’d be the

perfect quiet weekend morning munch. The fragrance of

strong coffee and fresh croissant lures you in, then difficult

decisions abound: Prosciutto on panini or baguette? Or

curry chicken or caramelized eggplant? Bleu or brie or

both? Never has sandwich selection been so deliciously

frustrating. If it didn’t smell so damn good in here

maybe we could concentrate. BR

8359 W. sunset roaD, 269-4781

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Baguette Café's prosciutto sandwich

$8-$9 pides AT pReSTO CAfé

Turkish cuisine doesn’t run rampant in Vegas, so stumbling across pides at Presto Café is a welcome surprise. This staple mimics an open-faced Stromboli, with your choice of toppings nes-tled in light, buttery crust. The Italian robustly combines more common ingredients of house-made meatballs, mozzarella and pomodoro sauce, while the less traditional Blanco melds ricotta cheese, white garlic sauce and pistachios. Either is a welcome introduction to the cuisine of Istanbul (not Constantinople). JB 4950 S. Rainbow Blvd. #130,

prestocafelv.com

$8.49 wood-fired half chicken AT ViVA LAS ARepAS

Think El Pollo Loco, minus the bottled charbroil flavor. Viva Las Arepas started as a shack, sling-ing cheap, late-night grub to a mostly intoxicated crowd. Today, the sunny brick-and-mortar Venezuelan spot offers day- and night-time diners the same satisfying gluten-free cornmeal arepas ($4-$6), plus pork spare

ribs ($8.99 with two sides) and salty fire-roasted chicken ($8.49 for a half with two sides) that doesn’t smack of franchise. Pair with a tart passion fruit or guava-like soursop drink. KT 1616 Las Vegas Blvd. S. #120,

vivalasarepas.com

$8.50 spicy ramen bowl AT RAMen SORA

Warning: The ramen you are about to discover is highly addic-tive. Turn back now. Ramen Sora has two things that Monta does not: spicy broth and thicker noo-dles. Soup-slurpers have a choice of three broths: soy-sauce-based shoyu, salt-based shio and miso,

the familiar, cloudy bean-paste. Each bowl is loaded with tender pork slices, bamboo shoots, green onion and soft-boiled egg. Spicy ramen ($8.50) is crowned with a scoop of tongue-tingling ground pork guaranteed to leave you fiending. KT 4490 Spring Mountain Road,

685-1011

$8.95 lamb chops AT CuBA CAfé

The waitress is going to recom-mend the lamb chops ($8.95 for two), and seriously: Get the lamb chops. They’re tender, moist, perfectly grilled, mildly sweet, and will make you curse those misled teenage years you wasted

so foolishly on veganism. Served with an herby concoction that will dominate conversation for at least 10 minutes. Next, check out the croquetas ($3.95 for

three) — also meat! — which are something like a tiny ham and cheese corn dog, but better. KT 2055 E. Tropicana Ave. #1,

cubacafelv.com

$8.95 pork-stuffed pocket bread AT CHinA MAMA

Thankfully, the cooks at China Mama possess more finesse than the menu writ-ers. Although the dishes may not sound appetizing in print (spicy pig ear, anyone?), they’re undoubtedly drool-worthy on the plate. Pork stuffed pocket bread ($8.95 for four) is a lesser-known but equally desir-able cousin of the doughy bao sandwich. The thin, unleavened bread is toasted on both sides and topped with sesame. It’s buttery, but unassuming, and sets stage for the savory

$8 bulgogi waffles AT 28GO

The Transformers, Voltron and Robotech murals might not

scream culinary avant garde. But they should. 28GO’s menu

is Asian-fusion — fused with American. Their amazing grilled

hot dog topped with kimchi and homemade Korean ketchup

is a hit. The short rib sliders are a multicultural revelation.

My fave, though, is the $8 bulgolgi-stuffed waffle. Tangy

marinated tenderloin in a crunchy syrup-catching vessel:

It’s a high-tech super-dish made to thwart the evils

of dull cooking. DH

4632 s. maryLanD parkWay #12,

28gotherestaurant.Com

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filling: fluffy pork crumbles with fragrant green onion and cilantro. KT 3420 S. Jones Blvd., 873-1977

$9-$11 broken rice plates AT pHO BOSA

This stalwart Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall added traditional pho to the menu when it moved closer to the Strip, but the criminally inex-pensive com tam hay bun (combo plates with “broken” jasmine rice) are the sweet spot. Priced from $9 to $11, these massive meals offer elaborately flavored proteins galore—from grilled pork chops to Korean-style short ribs—plus a puffy, exquisite shrimp cake and a few extra trimmings. BR 3355 Spring Mountain Road #35,

phobosa.com

$9-$17 deli meats AT CARDenAS MARKeTS

You’re under the impression you can’t get a delicious, satisfying meal for your family of four for 20 bucks. You can do better. Get out of the drive-thru line and stop at one of these giant markets,

beeline it to the deli counter and behold: grilled chicken to shame El Pollo Loco, the best carnitas in town, or barbacoa-style beef, plus salsas and side dishes to boot. Shop it up Cardenas style. BR Multiple locations,

cardenasmarkets.com

$9.50 blue crab sliders AT 28GO

The menu at 28GO is crazy fu-sion, all sorts of wild and playful Asian flavors and presentations. Start your exploration with blue crab sliders ($9.50), totally ap-proachable and utterly tender cakes of panko-crusted crabby goodness on a tomato disc with wasabi-lime aioli and over-the-top balsamic glaze. You’ll be holding onto the sweet Hawaiian roll for dear life and loving every second of this adventure. BR4632 S. Maryland Parkway #12,

28gotherestaurant.com

$9.99 vegetable combo AT BLue niLe

We all remember mom’s fussy dinner-table adage not to fill up

on bread. Well. You know what I’m going to do to your mom? I’m going to take her to dinner at Blue Nile and split the $9.99 vegetable combo with her. Plenty for two, it’s a generous sampler of Ethiopian standards — spicy lentils, sauteed spinach, seasoned green beans, mashed chickpeas, crisp salads laced with jalapeños — and I’m going to soak up all that rich flavor with unreasonably huge swatches of their spongy, juicy injera bread. I’ll stare her down. I’ll eat my bread in grim, silent defiance, a rebel champion of irresponsible deliciosity. AK 4180 W. Desert Inn

Road, 485-1158

$10 curries AT CHADA THAi & wine

Chada is simply the most exciting new restaurant in Vegas, making the low prices for its authentic, dynamic Thai dishes tough to beat. Big plates hover between 15 and 20 bucks, soups and curries go for 10 or less, and a long list of snacks will keep you busy forever. Try tamarind chicken wings or a plate of braised and fried pig parts (both

TATER TOTS

Love Grub Truck vs. Republic Kitchen & BarThese are not the frozen tots of your youth — pale, soggy,

zapped in a microwave (although the directions specifically

called for baking!). Although plain, Republic Kitchen & Bar’s

tater tots ($6) are perfect — crispy, golden, perfectly salted,

fluffy inside but crunchy outside, with a bite that’s like chomp-

ing on a crinkle-cut potato chip. Good news: You’re a big kid

now and can have seconds. Bad news: You’ll want thirds. Try

them with Sriracha sour cream for a potato-skin experience.

Sloppy tots are for lovers, friends and drunks on First Friday.

love Grub Truck’s mobile specialty piles tots high with nacho

cheese, black beans, pico de gallo and chicken. Don’t dismiss

them because the cheap cheese sounds dubious. The panacea

that is greasy food after a night of drinking has the power to

cure any skeptic. Best shared, if you can manage. KT

Love grub truCk thelovegrubtruck.com for locations

repubLiC kitChen & bar 9470 S. Eastern Ave., republickitchenandbar.com


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Ramen Sora's spicy ramen bowl

Republic's tater tots

$10 short rib grilled cheese AT fAT CHOy

Bacon does not in fact make everything better. In the case

of Fat Choy’s grilled cheese, a filling of luscious braised

short ribs puts the standard breakfast strips to shame.

Gooey provolone and onion jam lend a cheesesteak-like

quality to this popular sandwich, while the rib meat —

braised in a bath of soy sauce, rice wine and rock sugar —

adds the signature Asian flair that put chef Sheridan Su on

the map. DL

insiDe the eureka, 595 e. sahara ave., fatChoyLv.Com

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BOnUS How about some

STEAlicious Meals? learn to make some classic Sin City recipes in your own kitchen at desertcompanion.com

$8), crab and ginger lettuce wraps ($9) or amazing chili-mint charbroiled pork ($8). BR 3400 S. Jones Blvd. #11A,

chadavegas.com

$11 lamb sliders AT SHAKeSpeARe’S puB

Classic British pub fare, this $11 appetizer was introduced by Shakespeare’s Pub and Grille’s former owner — a Scotsman. The new regime kept it on, even though customers tend to shy away from lamb. But why? Hath not a lamb luscious flavors, just like beef? Be it not rich in essential proteins? If you braise it, does it not become succulent and savory? Served on a roll with gravy, does it not become dramatically good? They doth protest too much. DH 790 Coronado Center Drive,

837-7900, shakespeares-pub.com

$12.99 half tray meatball pizza AT MeATBALL SpOT

Firebrand chef Carla Pellegrino’s fun and friendly Town Square eatery specializes in two things — crispy, chewy, almost-deep-dish pizza and tender, tasty, home-style meatballs. Order the best of both worlds with a half tray pie ($12.99) saturated with tangy tomato sauce and golden brown mozzarella, plus loads of the Spot’s classic pork-beef-veal meatballs, each bite offering plenty of spice mingling through finely ground meat. One slice is a meal within itself. BR Town Square,

6605 Las Vegas Blvd. S. #145,

meatballspot.com

$13 vegan farmer’s toast AT HOney SALT

Thanks to Kim Canteenwalla of Honey Salt, even the most

militant vegans can now find a place among foodies and ladies who lunch. The chef’s farmer’s toast — an open-faced sandwich made with hummus-slathered artisan bread and a confetti of colorful vegetables — is a thoughtful and artfully composed option for the often-neglected ethical eater. Finish with a glass of “green goddess juice” on the side for a virtuous (but still tasty) end to your meal. DL 1031 S. Rampart Blvd., 445-6100,

honeysalt.com

$14 lomo saltado AT inKA GRiLL

A recipe dating back to Peru’s 19th-century trade boom, the most popular dish at Inka Grill is both delicious and historic. Named “jumping loin” for the way Chinese immigrants tossed soy-sauce marinated beef in a wok with onion, bell pepper and tomato, lomo saltado, served with fried potatoes and rice, is a marriage of indigenous Andean ingredients with Far East cook-ing. It seems pricey at $14, but is cheaper than a flight to Lima, and just as transportive. DH 9400 S. Eastern Ave.,

inka-grill.com

$20.13 three-course lunch AT MiLOS

While East Coast expats often grieve over the dearth of good bagels in this town, Canucks are a more fortunate bunch. As part of Costas Spiliadis’ Milos three-course lunch, legend-ary St-Viateur bagels are flown in direct from Montreal. Silky slices of Nova Scotia smoked salmon and all of the accouter-ments (sharp rings of red onion, mouth-puckering capers, and cream cheese for schmearing) are also included. It’s a plate that any carb fiend, Canadian or not, will relish. DL Inside The Cosmopolitan, milos.ca

$22 all-you-can-eat sushi AT SuSHi HOuSe GOyeMOn

All You Can Eat sushi is not for everyone; however, under the right circumstances, it can be quite the windfall. This is true of the spread at Sushi House Goyemon, where high-quality

fish is being served alongside Japanese staples. Besides the sushi, don’t miss the seared pork belly or innovative desserts. And here’s a secret: If you’re dining there after 11 p.m., you can even order Monta’s renowned shoyu ramen. Just keep that secret between us — they’re busy enough already. JB 5255 S. Decatur Blvd.,

sushihousegoyemon.com

FRIED CALAMARI

Honey Salt vs. Ferraro’sFried calamari is our collective appetizer Achilles heel, is it not?

Everybody’s got it. It’s almost always the same, almost always

mediocre at best. But we keep trying. Why? Maybe because

we remember the time we shared it with wine-lubed friends at

Ferraro’s happy hour, all crunchy and a bit chewy and delicious

with a squeeze of lemon (the squid, not the friends). It was only

eight bucks, so we got another plate. But wait, is that ... is Hon-

ey Salt’s version completely different? It’s $14 on the afternoon

menu, but there are Ipswich clams in there, too, plus roasted

shishito peppers and a luxurious lemon aioli for dipping. All of

a sudden we’re not settling for fried calamari, we’re craving it,

thanks to neighborhood favorite restaurants old and new. BR

honey saLt 1031 S. Rampart Blvd., honeysalt.com

ferraro’s 4480 Paradise Road, ferraroslasvegas.com


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How quintessentially American is Willie Nelson? Here’s

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flavored fireworks will shoot off in your pants. Willie Nel-

son performs 7:30p Aug. 13 at Reynolds Hall in the Smith

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Want your event in our Calendar? Submit your event with a brief description to [email protected].

07.2013

Jesus: Who was he? Raving

prophet, son of God, or just a

hippie who made the Romans

really, really mad? Scholar

and writer Reza Aslan’s new

book, “Zealot: The Life and

Times of Jesus of Nazareth”

gets to the bottom of the man

who launched Christianity and

invented the beard. Reza Aslan

speaks 7p July 22 at Clark

County Library’s Main Theater.

Free. Info: lvccld.org

Fun fact: The members of

soul-drenched, heart-gripping

roots-rock powerhouse Ala-

bama Shakes originally met in a

high school psych class. Phew!

Just think: They were thiiis

close to being a soul-drenched,

heart-gripping roots-rock pow-

erhouse firm of marriage and

family therapists.

The Alabama Shakes perform

8p July 19 at the Pearl inside

The Palms hotel-casino. Tickets

$54.65. Info: palms.com

Science: Where would we be

without it? Scurrying from cave

to cave while clutching our loin-

cloths, as fighter jets piloted by

evolved cats patrolled the skies,

that’s where. In his exhibit “E’ry

Day Science,” Miguel Rodri-

guez’s six large-scale sculptures

explore the relationship between

science and society. “E’ry Day

Science” is on exhibit through

July 26 at the Clark County Gov-

ernment Center Rotunda Gallery.

Info: clarkcountynv.gov

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For more information visit www.ClarkCountyNV.gov

keyword: water quality702-668-8674

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ART POW WOW PHOTO EXHIBIT

Through July 7. Pow Wow Portraits, a photo

essay by photographer Lamar Marchese,

comprises 24 large-format color digital

prints from the 2012 Snow Mountain Pow

Wow hosted by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe.

The exhibit coincides with the 25th annual

Pow Wow to be held this year on the Paiute

reservation. Free. Clark County Library,

Rainbow Branch, lvccld.org

THE PERFECT FUTURE IS SANITARY ...

THE SANITARY FUTURE IS PURRRFECT!

Through July 12. Jesse Smigel’s vision-as-

caricature of the future proposes that

all humans live on spacecraft and are

addicted to antibacterial hand sanitizer.

The installation of sculpture and paintings,

including an iron lung for an animatronic

house cat, narrates a dark comedy about the

collision of the present-past with the future.

Free. Winchester Cultural Center Gallery

SU LIMBERT/SIERRA SLENTZ

Through July 14. An interactive installation

created to captivate imaginations and draw

participants into a magical world where

understandings of home and safety are ex-

plored. P3Studio will be altered into a large-

scale forest diorama featuring a five-foot

bear covered in a mosaic of ceramics. Guests

will create tiny homes in the workshop area

to help shape the village nestled within the

forest. Free. P3Studio at The Cosmopolitan of

Las Vegas, cosmopolitanlasvegas.com

OUR LAS VEGAS: A CULTURAL

ANIMATION PROJECT

Through July 18, Mon-Thu, 7a-5:30p. A col-

laborative exhibition featuring representative

work from artists with studios and galleries

inside of Emergency Arts who will be par-

ticipating in the “Our Las Vegas” spring exhi-

bition at Emergency Arts. Free. Las Vegas

City Hall Chamber Gallery, 229-1012

MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ: “E’RY DAY SCIENCE”

Through July 26. A sculpture exhibition

centered in the wonders and weirdness of

science and society. Miguel Rodriguez will

bring his Neo-Pop aesthetic to six large-

scale sculptures consisting of stand-alone

pieces and installations that consist of many,

many small “clones.” Themes of Human

Anatomy, Evolution and Light and will draw

analogies to The Civil Rights Movement,

overdependence on agricultural technology

and collective consciousness. Free. Clark

County Government Center Rotunda Gallery,

clarkcountynv.gov

GGW

Through July 26, Mon-Fri, 9a-4p; Sat, 10a-2p.

Local artist Wendy Kveck uses painting,

August’s Foodie Affair

Three courses. Two days. This August, discover how to craft a decadent three-course meal from the very beginning. From how to choose the perfect meats and produce to prep and cooking techniques, this hands-on class puts you in the care of expert chefs for a delicious summer experience.

Day 1:

Develop three-course menuPick up selected items from

a local grocery storePrep items

Prepare dessert

Day 2:

Prepare coursesReview techniquesEnjoy your meals

LasVegasCookingExperience.comFor registration and information call702.754.4400



performance and video to examine images of

women from art history and contemporary

media as cultural signifiers of excess and

desire, anxiety and fear, regret and loss. Her

hybrid figures often incorporate food imagery

and references, creating literal, over-the-top

representations of Woman as Consumer and

the Consumed. Free. CSN Fine Arts Gallery,

Cheyenne Campus, wendykveck.com

WHITE ROSE EXHIBIT

Through Aug. 22. Chronicling the student

resistance group that peacefully opposed the

Nazi regime during World War II. The exhibit

includes 47 panels of photos, text and biog-

raphies depicting the actions of White Rose,

the members of which were executed in 1943

when their activities were uncovered. UNLV

Lied Library, unlv.edu

DOROTHY AND HERBERT

VOGEL COLLECTION

Through Sep. 28, Mon-Fri 9a-5p; Sat 12p-5p. In

2010, UNLV was the recipient of fifty contem-

porary works from the celebrated collectors

Dorothy and Herb Vogel. The Vogel Collec-

tion has been characterized as unique among

collections of contemporary art, both for the

character and breadth of the objects and for

the individuals who created it. Free. Sug-

gested donation: $5 adults; $2 children. UNLV

Barrick Museum, barrickmuseum.unlv.edu

ART IN MOTION: THE KINETIC WIND

ART OF MARK WHITE

Through Sep. 30. Mark White’s kinetic wind

sculptures were designed to encourage

self-reflection. They are precisely balanced to

respond to the lightest of breezes, yet strong

enough to withstand 100 mph winds. Free

with general admission. Springs Preserve

FIRST FRIDAY

July 5 & Aug. 2, 5-11p. Celebrate Downtown Las

Vegas’ unique brand of arts and culture with

exhibits, open galleries, live music and DJs,

food trucks, vendor booths and special activi-

ties for the kids. Free. Arts District; hub at

Casino Center Blvd between Colorado St. and

California St., firstfridaylasvegas.com

DANCE TWISTED CHERRY BURLESQUE

July 11, 11p. Twisting together neo-burlesque,

cabaret and the art of magic to entertain,

amaze and tease you. Music, magic, drama,

comedy, talent and, oh yes, glitter! Onyx

Theatre, onyxtheatre.com

USA BALLROOM DANCE

July 20, 7p. What did Fred and Ginger have

that you can’t learn? USA Dance Las Vegas

Chapter #4038 is dedicated to the promotion

of ballroom dancing and presents this dance as

a way to introduce it to a new generation. Chil-

dren aged 13+ only. $10, $5 members/military/

students/ages 13-25. Charleston Heights Arts

Center, 800 S. Brush St., usadancelasvegas.org

HERENCIAS MEXICANAS

July 27, 6:30p. The anniversary concert of Ballet

Folklorico Izel in which they will be presenting

the colors and excitement of traditional dance

from all over Mexico. Special appearance by

the folkloric group WA-KUSHMA from Chula

Vista, California. $10 in advance, $12 concert

day. Winchester Cultural Center Theater, clark-

countynv.gov

MUSIC JETHRO TULL’S IAN ANDERSON PLAYS THICK

AS A BRICK 1 & 2

July 5, 7:30p. Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson will be

performing both his composition Thick as



a Brick in its entirety for the first time since

1972, and his new album, Thick as a Brick 2, for

his world tour which began last year in the UK.

$45-$88. Reynolds Hall in The Smith Center,

thesmithcenter.org

JOE TORRES SEXTET

July 14, 2p. Joe Torres is a true legend of Latin

jazz and had the first hit record in the genre.

His new band is himself on vibes and percus-

sion; Rocco Barbado, tenor sax; Cocho Arbe,

piano; Jiovanni Cofino, baby bass and standup

bass; Leandro Mena, drums; Noybel, voice.

$10 in advance, $12 concert day. Winchester

Cultural Center Theater, clarkcountynv.gov

MESHUGGINAH

July 21, 2p. The self-proclaimed “crazy musi-

cians” play klezmer, the wild, exuberant music

known as “Jewish Jazz.” The musicians in-

clude: Lee Schreiber, violin; Dr. D. Gause, clari-

net; D. J. Sinai, voice and piano; Ginger Bruner,

tuba and bass guitar; Brett Barnes, drums.

$10 in advance, $12 concert day. Winchester

Cultural Center Theater, clarkcountynv.gov

LUCKY DIAZ & THE FAMILY JAM BAND

July 24-25, 10:30a. Spinning tunes that make

grown-ups smile even as the lyrics speak

directly to kids, this family band has won awards

and wide acclaim from People Magazine, USA

Today, Zooglobble, Parent’s Choice (Gold

Award), NAPPA, Cool Mom Picks and more. . $3.

July 24 performance at Charleston Heights Arts

Center, 800 S. Brush St.; July 25 performance at

the Historic Fifth Street School Auditorium, 401

S. Fourth St., artslasvegas.org

THEATER 2 GALS & A SHOW

July 10, Noon. As a singer, Laura Manning’s

specialty is writing original comic lyrics and

music. Dancer Leigh Christiansen brings not

only her legs, but her comic sense and a

dead-on Phyllis Diller impersonation. Laura

and Leigh combine their talents to present

a delightful romp through jokes, witty

songs and dance. Free, tickets required.

Winchester Cultural Center Theater,

clarkcountynv.gov

HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT

REALLY TRYING

July 10-13, 17-20, 24-27, 8p A hilarious satire of

big business from the authors of Guys & Dolls,

the show follows the rise of J. Pierrepont

Finch from lowly window washer to high-

powered executive, tackling such familiar but

potent dangers as the aggressively compliant

“company man,” nepotism, the office party,

backstabbing coworkers, caffeine addic-

tion and true love. $12 advance, $20 at gate.

Thomas & Mack Center, unlvtickets.com

XANADU

July 12-28, Fri-Su, 8p. A hilarious roller skating

musical adventure about following your

dreams despite the limitations others have

set for you. Original hit score by pop-rock

legends Jeff Lynne and John Farrar. $25/$20

season ticket holders. Las Vegas Little

Theatre, lvlt.org

LAS VEGAS IMPROVISATION PLAYERS:

CLEAN-BURNING COMEDY

July 27, 7p. Inspired by suggestions from

the audience, the Las Vegas Improvisation

Players will create on-the-spot hilarious new

scenes, songs and poems in a format similar

to the popular TV program “Whose Line is it

Anyway?” Keeping the comedy swift, fun

and clean, the show provides an enjoyable

evening for the whole family. $10. American

Heritage Academy, 6126 South Sandhill Road,

lvimprov.com

LECTURES, SPEAKERS AND PANELS VITO COLUCCI’S ROGUE TOWN

July 7, 2p. As part of the Summer Mob Series,

the author shares the true stories of his

involvement with bringing down the Mob in

Connecticut, which became the basis for his

new book. Free. Main Theater, Clark County

Library, lvccld.org

ZEALOT: THE LIFE AND TIMES

OF JESUS OF NAZARETH

July 22, 7p. Book signing after event. Scholar

and internationally acclaimed bestselling

author Reza Aslan provides a bold and fresh

perspective on Jesus as man, revolutionary

and historical figure. Join Aslan as he balances

the Jesus of the Gospels against historical

sources. Free. Jewel Box Theater, Clark County

Library, lvccld.org

SAME-SEX DYNAMICS AMONG 19TH CENTURY

AMERICANS-A MORMON EXAMPLE

July 30, 2p. Join the conversation with gay

Chicano historian D. Michael Quinn, who

specializes in cross-national social history, as

he discusses several examples of long-term

relationships among Mormon gay and lesbian

couples and how they flourished in the early

years of the church. Free. Jewel Box Theater,

Clark County Library, lvccld.org

FAMILY & FESTIVALS RAINFOREST ADVENTURE

Through Sep. 8. Go on a multi-sensory

expedition of the world’s tropical rainforests.

Delight in a wide variety of hands-on exhibits,

role-play as scientists, climb a 9-foot kapok

tree, explore a gorilla’s nest, study plant and

animal life, visit a village and even weave on

a loom. Free for members or included with

general admission. Springs Preserve,

springspreserve.org

THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM’S 22ND AN-

NIVERSARY PARTY

July 13, Noon. They really know how to party

at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.

Celebrate with them by joining in events such

as games and activities, food trucks, free ice

cream and even a shark dissection. Tickets are

half price all day! Regular prices: $10 adults;

$8 students/seniors/military; $5 children ages

3-11. Children 2 and under free. lvnhm.org

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA PUPPET

SHOW

July 17, 10:30a. Tears of Joy Theatre presents a

family-friendly adaptation of the classic book

by Jules Verne. The performance includes

some of the most exciting scenes aboard the

Nautilus and under the sea. $3. July 17 event

is at Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S.

Brush St.; July 18 event is at the Historic Fifth

Street School Auditorium, 401 S. Fourth St.,

artslasvegas.org

THE DRAGON KING

July 31, 10:30a. Master puppeteers Tanglewood

Marionettes tell the story based on Chinese

folklore about a wise grandmother who

journeys to the bottom of the sea to seek the

king and the answer to why he has forsaken

the land above. With colorful sea creatures

and an exciting adventure, the production is

a heart-warming tale that will enthrall young

and old alike. $3. Charleston Heights Arts

Center, 800 S. Brush St., artslasvegas.org

RTC VIVA BIKE VEGAS 2013 GRAN FONDO

PINARELLO

Sep. 21, time tbd. Registration is open for the

sixth annual RTC Viva Bike Vegas, the non-

competitive ride that takes you through the

Strip and Red Rock Canyon. Choose between

103, 60 or 17-mile courses. After the ride, meet

at Town Square for a celebration that includes

live entertainment and a children’s bicycle

rodeo. Proceeds benefit local charities. $85

early registration, $65 jerseys. Town Square

Las Vegas, vivabikevegas.com

FUNDRAISERSGATSBY GAMBLE

July 9, 5:30p. Revisit the Roaring Twenties

with live jazz, hors d’oeuvres created by a

surprise celebrity chef, Jazz-era inspired

cocktails and lots of photo ops. Benefits

the Three Square Food Bank. $75 tickets,

$250/hand poker tournament buy-in.

The Crown Penthouse at One

Queensridge Place, 9101 Alta Drive,

oneqrp.com/one-queensridge-poker-tournament


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Fremont or the Strip by demolishing their flophouses and quietly encouraging Metro and the casinos’ security to keep ’em moving. And why not? After all, nothing kills the buzz of being a venture-funded master of the startup universe quite like looking out the window of The Beat coffee shop and seeing

an aging, shirtless crackhead on the other side of the glass, waving his arms and shouting nonsensical profanity at the empty air.

In all fairness, the gentrifiers of Downtown seem to have become more aware of these issues in recent days. When the Downtown Project purchased the John E. Carson residential hotel at the corner of 6th and Carson in April, the residents were provided with moving supplies and a month’s free rent

at the nearby Dragon Hotel. It was a humane and thoughtful way of handling the transition ... and a marked and welcome change from the treatment of the inhabitants of the Town Terrace apartments, who were given summary eviction notices when the Downtown Project purchased the property in 2012. (Spokespersons for the Downtown Project have said that the evictions were a result of miscommunication, and they were ultimately rescinded when residents complained to the press.)

But much of the gentrification of Down-town still seems to be happening without any real accountability. Nobody seems to be thinking very hard about the consequences of tearing down inexpensive housing or low-cost businesses in favor of hip apartments or trendy boulangeries. Or if they are, they aren’t really talking about it, at least in public.

It’s a complicated situation. I’m both chief technical officer of a Vegas tech startup and — unlike a lot of the Downtown tech people — a longtime resident of the city, and that makes my feelings about the issue even more am-biguous. And as a lot of people involved in the Downtown tech scene have reminded me at parties and networking events, sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.

Maybe so. But what if you happen to be one of those eggs? All those poor scum who beg for change on the mean streets of Downtown may be winos and crackheads and lunatics, but they’re still human beings. They still oc-cupy a place in the world. Much as we might hope otherwise, they won’t just disappear. They have to be somewhere. If it’s not Down-town, the last refuge of the down-and-out, then where? North Las Vegas? Midtown? The suburbs?

Part of both individual genius and collec-tive scenius is mindfulness, awareness of one’s place in the world and the consequences of one’s actions. Tony Hsieh’s Downtown is an exciting and vibrant place, full of hope and po-tential, and I’m truly hopeful that it will suc-ceed, and bring not only new industry and new economies but new social and cultural oppor-tunities to the city. But I also believe that, in urban development as in medicine, the pri-mary directive must always be Hippocrates’ dictum: First do no harm.

We must be mindful. As we build this bright new future for Downtown, we have to ensure that it benefits everyone, prosperous and poor alike, those who are arriving and those who have always been here ... especially those who have nowhere else to go. Otherwise, Downtown’s vic-tory will be a hollow victory indeed.

a minDful renaissanCe(continued from page 64)

end note

tThe musician and cultural critic Brian Eno once coined the term “scenius” to describe the burst of collective creative energy that occurs when you put the right people together in the right place at the right time. There was scenius in Florence, Italy at the end of the 15th century, and in the expat bars and cafes of Paris in the 1920s. While sce-nius was flourishing in the New York music and art world in the 1970s, Silicon Valley was producing its own high-tech version, exploding out of the garage where Jobs and Wozniak built the Apple computer and architectured the personal computer revolution.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has been cultivating scenius here in Las Ve-gas via his Downtown Project, Delivering Happiness movement and Ve-gasTechFund startup investment fund, all of which seek to draw in the kind of brilliant tech startup entrepreneurs who would normally congre-gate in more traditional locales like Palo Alto or New York. The process is ongoing, but if you take a walk down East Fremont Street, you’ll al-ready see the impact of his efforts: new businesses, new co-working and hacker spaces with lots of power outlets and high-speed Net access ... and a whole lot of new, hip, young, super-bright nerds, their startups fueled by energy drinks and unbounded enthusiasm.

If you’re the kind of person who gauges urban progress purely by the financial bottom line, this influx of geeky new blood is an unqualified suc-cess. Developers can’t build the foodie joints and artisanal cocktail bou-tiques fast enough. After decades of single-industry cultural stagnation, Las Vegas is finally seeing the rise of Richard Florida’s mythical creative class, right smack in the middle of an area that has long been one of the most economically depressed in the city.

A lot of the tech crowd who’ve been moving into Downtown have publicly likened the experience to colonizing a new planet or a new frontier: a blank canvas to paint a bright future upon. But the unpleasant reality is that Down-town isn’t a blank canvas. It’s a canvas that has showcased a lot of bright futures over the decades, futures that faded away and rotted as the fortunes of the city moved slowly south along Las Vegas Boulevard. Once-prosper-ous casinos became seedy hangouts for down-market locals and homeless people looking to get out of the relentless desert heat. Motels where young couples once cuddled on their Vegas honeymoons became flophouses, long-term housing for transients and addicts and lonely pensioners.

So far, the strategy of the new Downtown tech elite has largely been to entirely ignore these existing inhabitants, or to push them further down

64 | Desert Companion | JANUARY 2013

end note

64 | Desert Companion | july 2013

A mindful renaissanceBy Joshua ellis | Photography by brent holmes

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LOCATED AT WORLD MARKET CENTER LAS VEGAS / OPEN MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, 10AM TO 5PM / LVDESIGNCENTER.COM

CREATE ENDLESSLY.LAS VEGAS DESIGN CENTER SUPPORTS THE PERFORMING AND DECORATIVE ARTS AS THE

EXCLUSIVE DESIGN & HOME FURNISHINGS PARTNER OF THE SMITH CENTER.

Horses 4 Heroes uses horses to empower, engage, inspire, and entertain the men and women in our community whose daily sacrifice keeps us safe and free.

Las Vegas-based Horses 4 Heroes is the nation’s premier equestrian services non-profit organization for military personnel, veterans, First Responders and their families. We also serve at-risk youth, foster children and teens, and adult men and women who need a hand-up, not a hand out. Via our large and growing community of equestrian facilities in 44 states and Canada, we provide affordable (sometimes free) recreational, instructional, and morale-boosting health & wellness programs for all ages and riding levels and we support all breeds and disciplines. Together, we are making equestrian dreams come true for these heroes.

Join Volunteer Donate

Horses4Heroes, Inc . www.Horses4Heroes.org 888.987.4376 (9US-HERO) 702-645-8446

A non-profit 501 (c) (3) orgAnizAtion Wells fArgo is proud to support Horses 4 Heroes efforts in mAking, equestriAn dreAms come true.

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