|
Friday, November 01, 2002 Mini Reviews
NASCAR CAFE Sahara, 2535 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 737-2891 Overall: B- Category: American $$ It helps if you like NASCAR, because this cafe serves essentially bar food but there are cars all over the place to delight racing fans. Choose carefully, though, and there are some pretty good things to be had, including bar-food favorites such as the O Rings and the chili con queso, plus the better Points Leader Chicken Pasta and Jarrett BBQ Chicken and Ribs.
JAPENGO Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas, 101 Montelago Blvd., Henderson; 567-1234 Overall: B+ Category: Asian $$$ Japengo is a gorgeous, high-concept kind of place, but some of the food concepts need a little bit of work. We can recommend the black-bean-marinated rack of lamb and the Five Glaze Washu beef skewers, though the artfully conceived Vietnamese shrimp spring rolls and pan-seared grouper could use a flavor boost.
VENETIAN RISTORANTE 3713 W. Sahara Ave.; 871-4190 Overall: C+ Category: Italian $$ The Venetian has been around for a lot of years and is a Las Vegas landmark, but things aren't quite what they used to be. The sauce -- the heart of any Italian restaurant -- is a good one, though, and lends deeply steeped flavor to the cheesy lasagna and the homemade sausage pizzaola. And the prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella was pure of flavor and jazzed up by roasted red peppers.
-- HEIDI KNAPP RINELLA |
This Week's Headlines >> |
