Friday, Feb. 15, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.
Muriel Stevens' dining column appears Fridays. Her shopping and travel columns appear Wednesday. Reach her at (702) 259-4080 or [email protected].
When Memphis Championship Barbecue founder Mike Mills added a blues lounge to his third local restaurant, at Santa Fe Station, 4949 N. Rancho Drive, he added a new dimension to local barbecue.
Featured in the Blues Lounge every Thursday through Saturday is local blues favorite John Earl and the Boogie Man Band -- a righteous group if I ever heard one.
Starring in the restaurant is the Memphis Championship Barbecue sauce that Mills adapted from his mother's recipe. Mills learned the fine art of pit barbecue from his daddy long before barbecue became mainstream. He was manning the pit when I dined at Santa Fe Station. It is Mills' pit skill that helped him recently win the Spirit of Barbecue Restaurant Award by National Barbecue News. NBN is the largest publication "devoted entirely to the art of barbecue."
The barbecue enjoyed at Memphis Championship Barbecue restaurants is the same zesty fare that earned Mills his title as "The Legend of Barbecue." The barbecue history of the family is chronicled on the first page of the large menu.
The same menu is available throughout the day. Take a few friends and have a veritable barbecue feast for four with Mama Faye's Down Home Supper ($49.99). Included are a rack of St. Louis ribs ($2 additional for baby back ribs), one- half pound each, pork, beef brisket and hot links, one whole chicken, baked beans, cole slaw, french fries, creamed corn and rolls.
All sandwiches include a choice of two sides. In addition to pork, barbecued beef, smoked chicken, Memphis hot links and catfish sandwiches there is a pulled chicken sandwich that's just fine.
A variety of entrees, rib plates, a daily fish special, a host of appetizers, chili and soups and salads are offered. All are moderately priced. The barbecue sauce and Mill's Magic Dust seasoning mix are available at the gift shop.
Takeout as well as catering is available. Just about everything on the menu is available for takeout. Call ahead to any Memphis Championship Barbecue location.
More Memphis Barbecue: NYC restaurateur Danny Meyers, whose Union Square Hospitality group owns Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Tabla and 11 Madison, has been consulting with Mills about pit barbecuing. Chef Michael Romana and other USH chefs have come to Las Vegas to learn the lowdown on pit barbecuing. Meyers' latest restaurant, (not yet open) Blue Smoke, will take barbecuing and smoking to the next level with such dishes as smoked foie gras and smoked osso buco.
Carlos Silva, a MCB working partner, said Mills often consults with such noted chefs and restaurants.
Palms continues Hawaiian buffet: The success of the Palms' Wednesday night Hawaiian Buffet convinced owner George Maloof to include it as a weekly feature. Good idea, George.
I visited the Hawaiian feast Wednesday ($15.99) and couldn't get in, the lines were so long. I did manage to get through just to view the stations and was impressed not only by the selection of island foods, but by the buffet staff who kept everything neat and tidy and replaced the swiftly depleted trays as soon as they could get through the crowds.
Among the many foods are Szechuan beef, dim sum, mushrooms in oyster sauce, Singapore noodles, egg roll and a Mongolian stir-toss station. At the carving station diners can choose Peking-style duck, barbecued duck, Cantonese fried chicken, sticky orange spare ribs, and honey-glazed five-spice brisket. Ono yams, Kalbi beef, huli huli chicken, teriyaki chicken or beef, oxtail stew, steamed clams, oysters on the half shell and much more.
I guess I'm not the only one who passes up Hawaii's favorite poi (fermented taro root). The poi tray was still full. No one was passing up the fine array of meats and seafood. Lomi lomi (massaged) salmon looked just as it should. How do I know? I spent many months in Honolulu while taking Chinese and Japanese cooking classes.
Part of my education included going to neighborhood luaus (the hotel luaus were a joke) that were fund-raisers for churches and community centers.
Much time was spent finding kids who would trade my yucky poi for their ophiis. Ophiis are chewy, wonderfully briny tidbits that are pried off rocks and such. Their flavor is wonderful. Kids love poi, hate ophii. I was happy to trade. I didn't expect to find ophii at the Palms buffet, but I did hope for haupia. Haupia is a delicious fresh coconut pudding made firm enough so that the squares can be eaten out of hand. Did not notice it among the many lovely desserts, but later learned from Food and Beverage Director Andre Portal that it's one of the first things to go. Coconut cakes and pies are also popular.
Portal says that buffetgoers often stop him to tell him how much they enjoy this buffet. That said, plan to come early and beat the crowd and to get a piece of haupia. Fantasy Market Buffet dinner hours are 4-10 p.m.
Commanderie de Bordeaux in Las Vegas: Wine Institute of Las Vegas founder Gil Lempert-Schwarz is a happy man. After a few years of intense lobbying and several meetings with prominent members of the Bordeaux wine world, he has been officially sanctioned to charter a chapter of of the Commanderie de Bordeaux in Las Vegas.
Admittedly only available to those who revere the wines of Bordeaux, it is a coup for Lempert-Schwarz to have succeeded in bringing a chapter here. There are only 55 chapters worldwide and only 4,500 members.
An inaugural dinner will be held March 13 at a yet-unannounced location. It promises to be a grand event.
Las Vegas chefs and eateries gain recognition:
Kudos to Caesars Palace Executive Pastry Chef John Hui, who was recently honored with the Western Regional Chef Professionalism Award at the 2002 American Culinary Federation Regional Conference in Tucson, Ariz. Hui will compete with three other regional winners during the ACF National Convention in Las Vegas, July 21-25. The national winner will be awarded a gold medal, gold plaque and $2,500.
Sunset Station's Capri Ristorante was the recipient of the International Press Association's first Five Fleur di Lis award of 2002. Capri Ristorante Chef Blas Flores received the association's coveted President's Award for "his masterful culinary creations." IPA, 3,500 members strong, adopted the fleur di lis emblem as "the highest recognition a restaurant can receive."
According to William Singer, president of IPA, "Chef Blas Flores continues to create incredible gastronomic delights accompanied by service that makes one feel like royalty."
archive
