| rev:text
| - Even as I type this I have no idea where my clicky-finger will land: 3 stars or 4 stars? Which way will my 3.5-star experience tip?
After two bad experiences at HHaGG - the first being a disgustingly greasy meal at the Imperial Palace location, and the second being a weird situation at this location that would be a review unto itself (short version: social networking liaisons sometimes lie, and we didn't bother staying long enough to order food) - I really didn't think I'd give this Hash House a chance.
But, husbands who've had good experiences here with friends can be persuasive, so on Christmas Eve morning we came in for brunch.
It's still a bit boggling to me that vegetarians pretty much *have* to visit HHaGG during breakfast/brunch. The dinner menu only offers a mushroom sandwich. The morning menus offer that, or a feta/spinach/egg dish, or the quesadilla. It may be a great mushroom sandwich, but really? That's it? In a "Twisted Farm Food"-themed restaurant the best HHaGG can do is a single sandwich on the dinner menu? No egg concoctions, no waffles, nothing? (And again, it's not like these options are plentiful on the breakfast menu, either. Bizarre.)
Oh well, here I was at brunch specifically to try the quesadilla, which was advertised as being filled with potatoes, eggs, cheese, and chiles, served with a chile (as in pepper) cream sauce on top, and placed on a bed of mashed potatoes. Intriguing.
But first I had to try the Kiwi Strawberry Lemonade. It was refreshing and perfectly balanced between sweet and sour (and so pretty, at least until you stir up the three sections), although at $4.95, I'd probably be just as happy next time with paying a little less for strawberry lemonade and being able to get refills for $1 each.
Our food arrived and, per the Hash House motif, my "quesadilla" was about as long as from my fingertips to my inside elbow. Golly!
"I can't believe that entire dish is only $12.95," said my husband, who thinks this kind of value should nudge me toward four stars. True, you could easily make three still-ample servings from this single quesadilla.
But... sorry honey... I have to go with three stars.
Yes, the service was very good (this time). The booths were comfortable. The view is still as clear and nice as it was when this was the Red Cup Cafe, TVs aside. The value, as stated, is great (assuming you don't go nuts with the special beverages), and I understand that "farm food" implies a heaviness to the meal, so I shouldn't take off points for that. Furthermore, I'd recommend this Hash House to anyone (well, anyone who isn't a vegetarian), just because the concept is fun and the chain does have so many fans.
But the taste? To me? Not so amazing. Once the novelty of size and interpretation wore off, the execution left me feeling like flavor is not what Hash House is bothering to build its buzz on.
If you do order the quesadilla, first be aware that the potatoes inside are going to be mashed. (You may not expect that, since only the potatoes underneath are specified as mashed.)
Next tip: eat from the middle. If you start daintily eating from one end, you'll be full before you get past the part that is best described as "mashed potatoes inside a semi-fried flour tortilla.") All of the eggs and cheese are in the middle of the quesadilla.
Next: brace yourself that the "chile cream" on top is going to look like it came from a glass jar of store brand nacho cheese dip. And honestly? It didn't taste unlike this, either. Not bad, but not the "perfect finishing note" the waiter described it as.
Bonus tip: wipe off the hot sauce drizzle from one side of the plate with one of your extra napkins. Otherwise, you may be like me and keep putting the fork down on the plate, thus getting sauce on the fork, and thus getting sticky sauce on your hand. (Pilot error or design flaw? Debatable, I guess.)
Oh, oh, one more note on the quesadilla: You love discovering a fistful of sliced jalapenos lumped together inside your "mashed potato wrap with surprise pocket of eggs and cheese in the middle," right? I like chiles, but I had imagined something a little more subtle than, after too many bites of bland mashed potatoes, suddenly having a mouthful of jalapeno slices once I hit the egg/cheese center.
Dicing. It's a good knife skill. And scattering - something else a chef can do with his hands.
The quesadilla wasn't a bad dish; it just wasn't what I expected, nor, even after adjusting my expectations and staying open-minded, is it something I'd eat again. Yes, it's a great value for what you get, but what you get isn't tasty enough to justify buying it in bulk.
So, the quesadillas are off the menu for me, and I dare not try the feta/egg dish because that's what I had at the Imperial Palace location, and my stomach still twists and burns at the thought. I guess that leaves me with the mushroom sandwich.
Or, it leaves me with all of the other delicious places to eat in Las Vegas instead.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)