To celebrate our two-year anniversary of living in Vegas, I wanted to pick a restaurant that connected our adopted city to our former L.A. home. So happy we chose Best Friend at the Park MGM. It’s the out-of-this-world Korean fusion restaurant from L.A. chef Roy Choi whose Kogi food trucks put him on the map. The eatery’s signage—a fun salute to those tacky yellow strip mall signs—instantly brought a smile, and after walking through the separate bar + merch area, we were led into a spacious dining room filled with dazzling iconic L.A. images + waiters funnily dressed-down in L.A. casual wear. We decided to go all in for the pricey-but-worth-it Chef Menu. The complimentary buttered Hawaiian Rolls segued perfectly into the Banchan Sampler, the signature Kogi Tacos, the spicy Slippery Shrimp, Kimchi Fried Rice, and the like-butter Garlic Chicken + Kalbi platter. And then…the one-two dessert punch: the Medjool Date Cake, served with toffee + caramel ice cream, and the Mango Cheesecake with sorbet, and guava whip, both of which were seductive + captivating. Afterwards, it was real nice to walk through the hotel’s commendably smoke-free casino, with the taste of a terrific meal lingering in our mouths + minds.

There are many vegetarian + vegan choices here in Vegas, and Saffron, the Vegetarian Eatery in the totally happening Chinatown, goes to the top of this list.

Expect innovative + deeply satisfying fine cuisine in a gorgeously stylish + massive dining room which completely envelops its patrons. I’m ready to move in!  The restaurant’s location—in a non-descript strip mall—belies the magical elegance you’ll experience once you walk through the door, and that’s part of the fun.

Our waitress knowledgeably helped us curate our dinner when we asked her to make sure that none of the dishes we wanted were too similar. How could we not start with the Cha Lai Money Bags which she suggested? The eatery is donating all proceeds from this cinematic-looking appetizer to @chailaiorchid and @daughtersrisingthailand to “save the elephants + end trafficking and exploitation in Thailand.”

Next, we moved on to the dreamy Floating Gyoza Dumplings with pan-seared sweet potato, shiitake mushrooms + more.  Our two entrees—the Singapore Noodles with tofu, vegan fish sauce + curry spice,  plus the Saffron Red Curry with eggplant, chickpeas + more—were both home runs. Saffron puts so much care into the food they prepare; this relatively new Vegas gem did not disappoint in any way.

*Note: We arrived late to eat, so the ambience photos are from closing time.*

3/7/2021

Coming up on nearly two years of living in Vegas, we’ve started to explore restaurants in the southwestern part of town. Like Locale Italian Kitchen on Blue Diamond Road in the Mountain’s Edge area. It’s a stylish + moderately priced Italian eatery where the food is imaginative + soulful.  We started with their Poached Pear Salad (with candied pecans + goat cheese) and moved on to the Pan Seared Salmon (with roasted tomato purée, fried leeks + crispy brussells sprouts) + Red Snapper Putanesca (with sautéed spinach, capers, olives + tomatoes) + a side of smashed fried potatoes. Both entrees were distinctively flavored, with the Putanesca the most striking. Why stop there? The creamy pudding with a salted caramel topping was as sublime as it sounds + we floated home on the 215 to Summerlin North, knowing that we’ll definitely return.

3/2/22

As one of rock’s most in-demand vocalists (Apocalyptica, Deadland Ritual + Scars on Broadway, in addition to his own solo recordings) Las Vegas native Franky Perez brings the magic with his impressively throaty + evocative pipes.

With the Franky Perez Band, the singer-songwriter-guitarist-percussionist has been gigging at venues around town, including the Chrome showroom at the Santa Fe Station Hotel and Casino. His current show combines a soul + blues-rock revue of cover tunes with his own rock presentation of self-written songs. Perez will be back there twice this month (March 11 + 18).

Performing two sets at the Chrome this past Saturday + over the course of two hours, Perez mixed soul firepower + singer-songwriter introspection. His tight four-piece band with standout lead guitarist Christian Brady was pumped up with three horn players and, for the revue part, two sexy female dancers to further light up the stage.

Perez, looking Rat Pack-esque in a shiny dress shirt for the first part of the show, opened with blues standard “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” which he recorded for the “Sons of Anarchy” soundtrack (his version currently has over 4 million Spotify streams). You could immediately feel Perez’ power + charisma as he dug his heels in deep, as he also did on smart choices like “Hard To Handle,” “Mr. Pitiful,” “The Letter” + show-stopper “I Know I’m Losing You.”

Perez also shined on his own material, particularly the hard-hitting bluesy “Run Down Nasty” (from his 2020 album) and his 2021 single “The Great Divide,” a moving + timely acoustic-driven love song with lines like “Love like we’ve never loved before/Kiss like we’re going off to war.”

Perez ended the night with a perfect one-two punch: a high-energy cover of his favorite song, Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds,” which also served to underline Perez’ Vegas roots, and a fierce cover of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Whipping Post.” Meanwhile, look for Perez to release a new solo album later in 2022.