Sin City is home to a lot of restaurants and bars, but there are tons of hidden gems that the majority of Las Vegans aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's food players to share their recommendations for a weekly feature dubbed Dining Confidential.
Mike Minor [Photo: Border Grill]
Mike Minor helms the kitchen that serves up Mexican regional cuisine from Oaxaca and Michoacán. As executive chef of Border Grill at Mandalay Bay, Minor studies the cuisines made famous by co-owners Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. Minor shares his fave places to dine when he’s not whipping up Mexican fare.
“On my days off and after work, I enjoy eating out at various restaurants around town. As a chef, I try to pick off the path spots to get away from the Vegas scene and relax incognito-style while I'm out of the kitchen. Some places I like to go include the following:
“I absolutely love eating sushi. One of my favorite place to go is Sushi Loca located in Centennial Hills. The restaurant has great decor and ambience, but most of all I enjoy indulging in their specialty rolls. Some of my favorites include, I Did Your Girlfriend with tempura calamari, crab, cucumber on the inside and lobster, spicy soft shell crab with crunch sweet and spicy sauce on the outside; the Natural Viagra with tempura shrimp, cucumber on the inside and spicy tuna, eel, avocado with eel sauce on the outside; Fat Ass with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, white tuna, crab, avocado and special sauce; Who's Your Mama with deep-fried assorted chopped fishes with white fish and cream cheese; and Don't Touch Her Mustache with spicy tuna, crab, tempura shrimp, avocado and soy paper.
“At Mon Ami Gabi in Paris Las Vegas, I always order their delectable steak frites, which has exceptional favor and just melts in your mouth. I also order their escargot served in a garlic-herb butter, which also make for great dipping sauce for the bread.
“I also love China Poblano. The restaurant is an interesting mix of Chinese and Mexican, and is the only place you can get dim sum and tacos at the same time. I absolutely love the dim sum-style pork buns and the house made noodles are killer. It's the perfect place to grab a late night snack after a long day at work.
“Frankie's Tiki Room is also one of my favorites. It's not far from the Strip and it's definitely worth it, even though it may looking unusual from outside. It's a great place to kick back and relax to start the night off. I always get started with the Tiki Bandit made with various rums, pineapple juice, passion fruit syrup and blue Curacao.”
· All Dining Confidentials [~ELV~]
