WEEKEND OF FOOD
August 4, 2007
We ate at the terra rossa. home of hell's kitchen season 2 winner, heather west. my cousin, his girlfriend and i had the pleasure to chat with her and have a pic with her. she is such a sweetie.
Red rock casino is located west of the strip. it is a 15min drive from the strip. the quickest way is to drive south to charleston blvd. and make a left. i am a local to a take the 215 west exit charleston blvd.
Red rock casino is located west of the strip. it is a 15min drive from the strip. the quickest way is to drive south to charleston blvd. and make a left. i am a local to a take the 215 west exit charleston blvd.
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i took my cousin and his girlfriend here over the weekend. we ate here for lunch. i ordered the warm brisket salad, salad greens with creamy smoked tomato dressing, crisp tortilla chips, and queso fresco. topped with a mushroom peppered relish and tender sliced brisket. wow that was yummy. mt cousin ordered the sliced brisket sandwich. wow i took one bite and i melted. the bread was so soft, tender sliced brisket, and the best bbq sauce smothered on the bottom. wow that was the best beef sandwich i ever had. YUM :)
As I head across the floor at the stunning new Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, I am nearly overwhelmed by the scents of vinegar, smoke and charring meats. The line ahead is already buzzing with a similar anticipation. We're all about to indulge at Salt Lick BBQ, the pride of Driftwood, Texas, and the best barbecue this state has ever seen.
Thurman Roberts, Sr. started the restaurant in 1960 with his wife, Hisako, now 95, and the restaurant has come to us after a nationwide search of more than 50 barbecue joints by the Fertitta brothers, owners of Station Casinos and Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa. The original idea, says Scott Roberts, the current owner of the restaurant, was to replicate wagon train recipes. As a result, the foods at Salt Lick BBQ are disarmingly simple.
There is no tomato, for instance, in the house barbecue sauce—it's vinegar, cumin, sugar, mustard and sweet peppers, so that, says Roberts, "the sauce caramelizes instead of scorches."
Salt Lick barbecues with green oak, not hickory ("too woody," says Roberts) or mesquite ("too bitter"), and slow cooks their meats with practiced expertise. The brisket, for instance, a ruddy roast as black as coal on the outside, is fall-apart tender, thanks to a 24-hour burn.
Other meats are exemplary. The turkey is smoky, moist and tender, a feat rarely managed anywhere, since smoke typically makes a bird notoriously dry. The enormous pork ribs may only cook three hours, but they have a correctly woodsy appeal, and that telltale pink smoke ring that no barbecue purist can live without. The smoked link sausage, made from beef and pork, is wonderful in a sandwich, served with the vinegary house cole slaw.
Satisfying appetizers such as shrimp diablo, bacon-wrapped prawns cooked in a sauce made from pickled jalapeño and onion, are addictive.
I should mention that this is quite a handsome place, a huge, sprawling restaurant with lots of stone, blond wood and cowboy furniture. It's already the busiest eatery in this casino. The first Wednesday alone, Roberts told me, he did an almost unthinkable 1,400 covers.
As I head across the floor at the stunning new Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, I am nearly overwhelmed by the scents of vinegar, smoke and charring meats. The line ahead is already buzzing with a similar anticipation. We're all about to indulge at Salt Lick BBQ, the pride of Driftwood, Texas, and the best barbecue this state has ever seen.
Thurman Roberts, Sr. started the restaurant in 1960 with his wife, Hisako, now 95, and the restaurant has come to us after a nationwide search of more than 50 barbecue joints by the Fertitta brothers, owners of Station Casinos and Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa. The original idea, says Scott Roberts, the current owner of the restaurant, was to replicate wagon train recipes. As a result, the foods at Salt Lick BBQ are disarmingly simple.
There is no tomato, for instance, in the house barbecue sauce—it's vinegar, cumin, sugar, mustard and sweet peppers, so that, says Roberts, "the sauce caramelizes instead of scorches."
Salt Lick barbecues with green oak, not hickory ("too woody," says Roberts) or mesquite ("too bitter"), and slow cooks their meats with practiced expertise. The brisket, for instance, a ruddy roast as black as coal on the outside, is fall-apart tender, thanks to a 24-hour burn.
Other meats are exemplary. The turkey is smoky, moist and tender, a feat rarely managed anywhere, since smoke typically makes a bird notoriously dry. The enormous pork ribs may only cook three hours, but they have a correctly woodsy appeal, and that telltale pink smoke ring that no barbecue purist can live without. The smoked link sausage, made from beef and pork, is wonderful in a sandwich, served with the vinegary house cole slaw.
Satisfying appetizers such as shrimp diablo, bacon-wrapped prawns cooked in a sauce made from pickled jalapeño and onion, are addictive.
I should mention that this is quite a handsome place, a huge, sprawling restaurant with lots of stone, blond wood and cowboy furniture. It's already the busiest eatery in this casino. The first Wednesday alone, Roberts told me, he did an almost unthinkable 1,400 covers.
warm brisket salad
sliced brisket sandwich
when i go to a new italian resturant. my test dish is chicken marsala. to me if you disappoint me in that dish. i won't go back. that is the only italian dish i eat. i am not a pasta person.
Red rock casino is located west of the strip. it is a 15min drive from the strip. the quickest way is to drive south to charleston blvd. and make a left. i am a local to a take the 215 west exit charleston blvd.
they had the best chicken marsala i have ever tasted. it was not on the menu. i had it custom made for me :) my cousin ordered,risotto with sheddered leeks, spicy sauage, and chanti reduction sauce. YUMMY. ashley ordered seabass with tomato sauce. YUMMY. for dessert they did not have sugar free goodies. i asked the server if i could have the sugar free coconut cream pie from the buffet. HEE HEE ask and you shall receive. yes i gave him a good tip.
the highlight of the evening was Heather West, winner of the recent second season of FOX's hit reality series "Hell's Kitchen," is the Senior Chef at Terra Rossa, Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa's Italian restaurant. we got to meet her in person and took a pic with her.
She stood out among her competitors on the show, which put 12 chefs through culinary boot camp with world-renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay, and in the end, she was awarded with the ultimate culinary prize, the opportunity to be senior chef at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, the brand-new off-strip luxury resort in Las Vegas.
Fans dining at Terra Rossa will be able to watch Heather in action in the restaurant's open kitchen. In the coming weeks, she will bring her own style to Terra Rossa as she begins to develop specials for the menu. The 26-year-old from Port Jefferson, NY, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and, previous to her current position, was a sous chef at Almondito's in the Hamptons.
Terra Rossa is Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa's Italian restaurant, which offers authentic Tuscan and Italian-American dishes, including homemade pastas, wood-fired pizzas, fresh fish and an extensive antipasto table. The dedicated wine room hosts an impressive collection of 1,500 bottles of premiere Italian and California wines.
Red rock casino is located west of the strip. it is a 15min drive from the strip. the quickest way is to drive south to charleston blvd. and make a left. i am a local to a take the 215 west exit charleston blvd.
they had the best chicken marsala i have ever tasted. it was not on the menu. i had it custom made for me :) my cousin ordered,risotto with sheddered leeks, spicy sauage, and chanti reduction sauce. YUMMY. ashley ordered seabass with tomato sauce. YUMMY. for dessert they did not have sugar free goodies. i asked the server if i could have the sugar free coconut cream pie from the buffet. HEE HEE ask and you shall receive. yes i gave him a good tip.
the highlight of the evening was Heather West, winner of the recent second season of FOX's hit reality series "Hell's Kitchen," is the Senior Chef at Terra Rossa, Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa's Italian restaurant. we got to meet her in person and took a pic with her.
She stood out among her competitors on the show, which put 12 chefs through culinary boot camp with world-renowned Chef Gordon Ramsay, and in the end, she was awarded with the ultimate culinary prize, the opportunity to be senior chef at the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, the brand-new off-strip luxury resort in Las Vegas.
Fans dining at Terra Rossa will be able to watch Heather in action in the restaurant's open kitchen. In the coming weeks, she will bring her own style to Terra Rossa as she begins to develop specials for the menu. The 26-year-old from Port Jefferson, NY, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and, previous to her current position, was a sous chef at Almondito's in the Hamptons.
Terra Rossa is Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa's Italian restaurant, which offers authentic Tuscan and Italian-American dishes, including homemade pastas, wood-fired pizzas, fresh fish and an extensive antipasto table. The dedicated wine room hosts an impressive collection of 1,500 bottles of premiere Italian and California wines.
