Max Jacobson

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A bite to remember: Our food critic ranks the 10 best dishes he ate in 2008; Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008; Despite lots of glitzy local openings, 2008 wasn’t a banner year for Vegas restaurants. But in this down economy, it seems fitting that lower-priced entrees such as sandwiches and Asian dishes ranked high on my yearly list. Nothing here costs more than $20.
Mixed vintage: The Grape’s wine and food alternately pleases and dismays our critic; Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008; There’s no denying that the wine bistro, a yuppified version of the gastropubs now springing up in major American cities, is having its day. Which brings us to The Grape at Town Square.
Oh, Mama!: China Mama serves some of the finest Eastern cuisine this side of the Great Wall; Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008; The new China Mama, a boxy, freestanding place with lime-green walls and garish red light fixtures that resemble Slinkys (if they had been made out of Lucite), does the best xiao loong bao in Vegas, and maybe anywhere between here and New York City.
Cauldron creations: North Las Vegas’ Los Molcajetes is one of the Valley’s best Mexican restaurants; Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008; It’s been long reported, and oft lamented, that the state of authentic Mexican cuisine isn’t sufficiently robust in our town. Last year, I toured northeast Las Vegas in search of one great Mexican dinner, and failed in my quest.
Small-town sensations: Boulder City is more of a foodie’s paradise than you’d think; Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008; The charming little hamlet of Boulder City has a historic downtown, lots of resident cheerleaders and, believe it or not, more than its share of decent places to eat.
Small wonder: Raku serves up the best Japanese food this side of Tokyo; Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008; My first reaction to Raku, a Japanese pub restaurant on the western edge of Spring Mountain’s Chinatown, may have been undeservedly restrained.
Waistbands beware: You’ll find the city’s best deep-dish pizza—and calories—at Pie Town Pizza; Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008; Transplants love to bring their native comfort foods with them, as witnessed by the proliferation of restaurants in this Valley from places such as Hawaii and Chicago. I can say that in general, most of them are shadowy approximations of the originals, Xeroxed Xerox copies without a soul, poseurs with faded flavors, made with dodgy ingredients.
Steele yourself: The variety of options at this new tapas restaurant are pretty intimidating; Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008; Seafood paella Velazquez is surprisingly good, even if it does take a full 20 minutes to arrive. The rice is moist and chock-full of shellfish and chorizo. Cuban bites are like sliders in the form of three pint-sized Cuban sandwiches.
A (too) sweet time: The food rocks at Thai-themed Basil 'n Lime, but you may want to tell them to leave the sugar off; Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008; I had two very different experiences at Basil ’n Lime, a charming newcomer on the west side, advertising “Authentic Thai Cuisine” on its outside sign. If you’re not Thai, you’re not a favorite to get much of it, even though the kitchen is capable of producing it.
Erin go blah: McFadden's is short on ambiance and authentic pub food, but, oh!--that Reuben; Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008; The food at McFadden’s, a self-styled Irish pub that originated in New York City before expanding into a national chain, is quite good, although only marginally Irish.
The next big thing: Peru's popular dishes get their due in Henderson; Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008; Some have been touting the cooking of Peru as “the next big thing.” I don’t know if this is true, but I can say that Mi Peru, a South American grill housed in the Henderson space once home to Barbecue Masters, serves the best Peruvian food I’ve yet eaten in Vegas
A new dynasty: Noodle Exchange increases the Gold Coast's reputation for Chinese food; Thursday, Aug. 7, 2008; Who would have imagined the Gold Coast casino would be a hotbed for authentic Chinese cooking? Now the recent opening of Noodle Exchange has thrust it into the forefront of Chinese dining in Vegas, and customers are slowly getting the message.
High-concept classics: Espee's Gourmet Tamales puts a spin on an ancient formula; Thursday, July 31, 2008; When I was a university student, my anthropology professor claimed that the first takeout food in North America was the tamale, or tamal, as it is called in the Nauhatl language of southern Mexico.
Ciao Bella!: La Focaccia may just be the best restaurant we've discovered this year; Thursday, July 24, 2008; You mightn’t know it to look at me, but I occasionally work out at Las Vegas Athletic Club on South Eastern Avenue, and a mere stone’s throw away is one of Vegas’ truly great Italian restaurants, the unassuming La Focaccia.
Food by the Yard: A vast, eclectic menu means no one goes hungry at the Yard House. Oh, and there's beer.; Thursday, July 17, 2008; The network of overhead pipes above you carries the world’s largest selection of draft beers, up to 250 delicious brews. And the menu seems almost as encyclopedic, as if the world’s largest selection of dishes were on hand to accompany them.
A change does Marche Bacchus good: French restaurant only improves under new ownership; Thursday, July 3, 2008; For wine lovers in Las Vegas, Marche Bacchus, a small, comely wine store and bistro located in the bucolic Desert Shores community, has been a touchstone since the first day it opened.
Kan can cook: Kan’s Kitchen offers great Chinese dishes; Thursday, June 26, 2008; You don’t come to Kan’s Kitchen for a romantic date. This is one of those “turn up the lights and eat” establishments where Cantonese can be heard across the room, but almost every single dish I tried here was delicious.
Ay caramba!: Caminos de Morelia is a fresh face in a storied building; Thursday, June 19, 2008; The free-standing structure that houses Caminos de Morelia, one of our newer Mexican restaurants, is simmering with history. For years, it belonged to Lou and Angie Ruvo, a couple who operated a seminal Vegas Italian restaurant called The Venetian, the only place in town I knew of to eat pork neck, a dish I sorely miss.
Martini mania: Town Square’s Blue Martini is an instant smash, and it’s easy to see why; Thursday, June 12, 2008; Most of us in my field like to think of ourselves as knowledgeable in terms of predicting trends, as well as the potential success or failure of a concept when we are faced with it. But nothing can explain the frenzied response that has characterized Blue Martini, a new restaurant and lounge at the Town Square mall.
From across the world, right next door: Lily's offers Persian dishes that you may not be able to pronounce and you certainly won't forget; Thursday, June 5, 2008; The food here is as authentic as any Persian cooking I’ve eaten in this city. Isn’t Iran on the shores of the Caspian? You could’ve fooled me.
Middle East melange: Amena offers the moistest falafel balls in Vegas - that's a good thing; Thursday, June 5, 2008; Two restaurants using the buzzword “Mediterranean” to describe their respective cuisines sit in a modest upper Charleston Boulevard mall. Both of them serve food that is more Middle Eastern than anything else, but that label still carries a stigma as far as owners are concerned—or so it would seem.
Bella Bistro: Gina’s Bistro is notable for both its food and its namesake chef; Thursday, May 29, 2008; Opening a restaurant is a lifelong dream for many new Americans; usually places that represent the cooking of their native lands. Gina Linzi, who came here eight years ago to work as a bus girl at New York-New York’s Il Fornaio, has realized that dream. After a climb to that restaurant’s position of general manager, she struck out on her own to open a comely Italian bistro on the city’s west side. And it’s a real charmer, like Gina herself.
Bayou 'cue: Two New Orleans-influenced joints should have Las Vegans rejoicing; Thursday, May 22, 2008; Down-home cooking has never had it better in Sin City, with the advent of two places tinged by the Crescent City, New Orleans. One is an authentic N’awlins-style café, where po’ boys and file gumbo rule. The other is a barbecue shack serving some of the best ’cue in town, as well as side dishes that would make a Cajun grandmother weep with joy.
Sea (Stone) change: Boca Park’s newest Asian restaurant continues the high standards of previous tenants; Thursday, May 15, 2008; Jin Myung is hoping three will be the charm for her difficult and expensively constructed location, now home to Sea Stone, an Asian fusion and sushi restaurant. The space started life as Tre, run by the Maccioni family of Le Cirque fame, and later morphed into Hannah’s, Vietnamese/Asian fusion from Hannan An of Crustacean, before surfacing in its current incarnation.