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| - Driving to the library I noticed a white banner advertising the opening of another new restaurant on W. Sahara Ave (same strip mall as Swish). So I decided to give The Las Vegas Grille (former site of CJ Texas BBQ) a try on my way back.
The restaurant looks spacious, tables are not crowded together, and the chalkboard menu looks beautiful, and there is a big smoker near the cashier. It is a barbecue restaurant with a menu that can be categorized into the following major groups: barbecue meats, handmade sausages, meatballs, and sandwiches made from barbecue meats or meatballs, salads, side items, and desserts.
The lady at the counter plus all the staff at the restaurant were all very nice. As this was my first visit, it took me awhile to look at the entire menu, but they were patient and offered suggestions to help me decide on what to try. I was thinking about the St. Louis BBQ Ribs, but ultimately went with the 4 Meats 3 Sides Combo, which consisted of Beef Sirloin, BBQ Chicken with Pineapple Ginger Jerk Sauce, Applewood Roasted Herb Crusted Pork Loin, and Handmade Sausage (Artisan's Bratwurst) for the meats, and Bavarian Potato Salad, Rainbow Slaw and Rotini Pasta Salad for the sides. Before I was done with my meal, I also ordered all three of their meatballs (Arisan's Fusion Meatball made with beef and pork, Sweet & Sour Hawaiian made with pork, beef and ham, and finally the Southwest Green Chile Meatball made with chicken and turkey).
As long as I can remember, I have always enjoyed charcuterie items, from Taiwanese and Chinese sausages to artisan German and Italian sausages and hot links from the South. After culinary school and having had the opportunity to attend a master's class on charcuterie taught by CMC Fritz Sonnenschmidt (master chef, author and leading authority on the subject), I learned to appreciate it even more. And out of all the items I ordered, I would say that their Artisan Bratwurst was my favorite. It is also very healthy, as far as cured meat products goes, as they do not use nitrites, nitrates or MSG in their curing process, instead they utilized a high heat smoke curing method. The result is sausages that have a nice flavor, good smokiness, and not overly salty.
The Applewood Roasted Herb Crusted Pork Loin was also very good. It has the nice smoke ring, indicative of true barbecue, and the pork was still juicy and packed with flavor. Undoubtedly, it would be great in a sandwich as well.
The BBQ Chicken with Pineapple Ginger Jerk Sauce has nice flavor, but was a little on the dried side. The White Oak Roasted Beef Sirloin was okay, it definitely has the smoky flavor, but was otherwise too much on the well done and dried side for me to appreciate or enjoy it.
The meatballs were pretty good. Served as it, it is too salty for me (but my personal preference leans towards less salt), but serve it in a sandwich it will be just right.
I like restaurants that strive to serve healthier and more natural foods, and this place definitely does that! Although they do not make their own breads, they do sourced them from a local artisan bakery (Great Buns Bakery), which makes a good pretzel bread.
Overall, it is a good barbecue restaurant that can be even better with more fine tuning. And personally I would be here just for their sausage sandwiches, which currently is available in the following selections: Artisan's Bratwurst, Italian Fennel Sausage, Keilbasa Polska, Kids Beef Frankfurter, Mediterranean Sun-dried Tomato, and New Mexico Chile.
Food: 3/5 Some items are super good, while others were okay.
Price: 3/5 Reasonable.
Ambiance and decor: 3/5 Spacious arrangement, minimally decorated restaurant with a giant shinny barbecue smoker right inside the restaurant, staffed by friendly restaurant personnel.
Location: West side, just down the street from the car dealerships on W. Sahara Ave.
Parking: 4/5 Plentiful parking.
Cleanliness: 5/5 New, and kept in pristine condition by the restaurant staff.
A-OK!
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