Category: Dining

The popular Texas-based Whataburger fast-food chain opened in Corpus Christi in 1950 and now has upwards of 1,000 locations in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and the South. It opened its first outpost in Nevada, its 15th state, in early February on the Strip in front of the Waldorf Astoria at City Center in the space formerly occupied by Bobby’s Burger Palace, though the two-story building is new.

Actually, several Whataburgers opened around Las Vegas starting in the 1970s, but slowly disappeared and were completely gone by the early ’90s.

The two-story restaurant also houses Parry’s Pizzeria & Taphouse. Parry’s is a chain that launched in 2007 in Colorado and now boasts 23 locations in the Southwest. It serves NY-style slices from 14 pies, 10 styles of never-frozen wings cooked to order, strombolis, and “Italian nachos,” along with cocktails and more than 100 beers on tap, with several local breweries represented.

This is the ultimate late-night play; both outlets are open 24 hours, 365 days a year.

You walk into the big ground floor of the standalone building and order from both the Whataburger and Parry’s Pizza menus at the same counter, unique in our fast-food experience.

Two huge screens are above the ordering-serving wall, probably 25 feet across and eight feet high. Ten more screens fill the walls around the room, all broadcasting sporting events.

Directly across from the order counter is Parry’s downstairs bar, with its triple-digit taps.

On the second floor is another bar, also Parry’s — a little more subdued and, dare we say, classy. You can take your food upstairs or the bartenders will order for you if you’re drinking; it’s delivered by food runners.

The whole front wall and part of the north-side wall on the second floor are sliding-glass doors. Two regular in-swinging doors on either end of the two walls open up to the outside and there’s an L-shaped deck with tables and couches. The view directly across the Strip is of BLVD, the new shopping and entertainment complex replacing the Hawaiian Marketplace and Cable Shops. You really get a feel for how massive this place will be: three stories, with 700 feet of Strip frontage, 400,000 square feet of shopping, and a 110,000-square-foot dining and event rooftop. No opening date has been announced, but it’s making major progress and we suspect the developers are shooting for November 2024 in time for the second-annual F1 race.

Even if the sliders are closed (primarily when it’s windy), you can go out on the deck, sit on the couches, and have a bird’s-eye view of center Strip.

We were trying Whataburger for the first time (a first try of Parry’s pizza will have to wait for another visit). We were frankly surprised by the number of people eating and waiting in line to order.

Then we saw the menu: breakfast served 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. with 30 items, from a breakfast burger and pancakes to a honey-butter chicken biscuit and taquito with cheese ($1.99-$7.99); then all-day burgers, patty melts, chicken strips and sandwiches, three salads, fries and onion rings, even a “secret menu” (veggie burger, grilled cheese, breakfast ranchero breakfast), all in the $1.79-$13.90 price range; and a dozen condiments (buffalo, honey bbq, jalapeno, spicy ketchup). All in all, the burger menu is much more extensive than other chains and with the Parry’s partnership, this place has something for everyone.

We weren’t particularly impressed with the burger and the fries were mealy and limp. Oh well. We were there more to check out the building, bars, balconies, and the bustling scene. And we will be back for the pizza, beer, and BLVD view.

As part of its retrofitting with coin- and token-operated slots and $5 blackjack tables, Slots A Fun is giving the Stage Door a run for its bargain money by serving $2 Heinekens, hot dogs, and shrimp cocktails, all at the bar.

You can never go wrong with $2 Heinies in bottles or cans, we like to say.

And the $2 shrimp cocktail isn’t too shabby either. It comes in a two-cup setup, with the tartar sauce at the bottom of the big cup and six medium shrimp and a bed of lettuce in the smaller top cup.

Initially, we were a little unimpressed, counting only five shrimp, 40¢ apiece. But one was hiding under the lettuce, bringing the price down to 33¢ and putting this deal over the top as a new Top Tenner.

Included in the decision are: 1) Slots A Fun is easy to get to if you come in the back way on Sammy Davis Jr. Drive, parking in the Circus Circus lot or garages; 2) parking is absolutely free; 3) the previous Top Ten shrimp at the Fremont dropped out after another price raise; and 4) it’s a two-minute walk across the street to Fontainebleau, which is a must-see if it’s your first time. (By walking through Slots A Fun, perhaps playing a few quarters or tokens, and getting a shrimp cocktail at the bar, you’ve done your duty for parking gratis at Circus.) And 4) the soundtrack of quarters and dollar tokens crashing down into the metal hoppers of the old-time slot machines hasn’t been heard around here for a long time and if you’re at all nostalgic for Las Vegas the way it used to be, this is the place to experience it.

When we heard a renowned shop that at least one food journal named as serving the best sandwiches in the world was coming to town, we couldn’t wait for it to open. It took eight months, then one more for us to get there.

All’Antico Vinaio means “At the Ancient Wine Merchant” and describes the location of the first shop that opened in Florence, Italy, in 1989 across from a wine bar. In Las Vegas, it’s located at the unfinished UnCommons mixed-use district in the southwest valley. It’s the brand’s third location in the U.S.; the other two are in Manhattan and Venice, California.

It occupies a surprisingly cramped storefront, with seven workers in constant motion behind the small counter, especially the two beefy people operating the meat slicers, one on each side of the counter — back and forth, back and forth, slicing and stacking cold cuts and stopping only to change meat.

And the word is out about All’Antico; customers were lined up all the way back to the door when we were there on a Monday afternoon. You can eat at a couple of two tops and a dozen or so stools against high tables at windows overlooking the street, but it’s pretty cramped; two tables are outside the windows on the sidewalk as well.

The sandwiches are made with freshly baked schiacciata (skia-CHA-tah), a chewy Tuscan flatbread. In the photo below, the sandwich maker is preparing our three-sandwich order from a half-loaf.

Between the bread are meat, cheese, and vegetables, all lined up neatly in the long display case.

The sliced meats include capicollo, two kinds of prosciutto, lardo (Italian fatback), pancetta (salt-cured pork belly), and sbriciolona (fennel-seed salami), with various cheeses like gorgonzola, mozzarella, stracciatella (mozzarella soaked in cream), and other soft cream cheeses (pecorino, nduja, truffle, pistachio), along with fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, spicy eggplant, and grilled vegetables.

Prices start at $12 for the Caprese (mozzarella, tomato, and fresh basil) and go up to $20 for the lardo-gorgonzola-truffle-honey combo. The signature sandwich is the Favoloso: sbriciolona, pecorino cream, artichoke cream, and spicy eggplant. Signs on the countertop advertise two or three daily specials.

We got the Caprese, Favoloso, and Paradiso with mortadella, stracciatella, pistachio cream, and pistachio ($18). The total bill with tip came to $51.

Pricey for three sandwiches, yes, but these are huge; each can easily feed two and the three we brought back to the office satisfied appetites for more than two days. Also, with the specialty bread, the authentic Italian ingredients, and the experience in the small shop, this is a true taste of the birthplace of the Renaissance.

We were pleased that All’Antico isn’t part of the Sundry food hall at Uncommons, which is directly across the street, so we didn’t have to contend with a hostess, QR codes, and ewallets. Instead, you get your food the old-fashioned way: by walking in, waiting in line, and telling the people behind the counter what you want face to face; they make it for you as you watch and wrap it up; you take it to the cashier, pay, and you’re back out on the street with a big bag of food.

To get there, from Durango Road just west of the 215 Beltway and directly across from Station’s Durango Hotel-Casino, turn onto Maule and take your first left. Drive to the end of Helen Toland Street, park in the P2 garage, and All’Antico is right across the street on the corner. There are a few street-parking spots if you can grab one.

We highly recommend All’Antico Vinaio. It’s unique not only in Las Vegas, but all over the world, except New York, L.A., and Florence itself, as well.

Last month we wrote about the good chicken fingers at Tender Crush, one of the outlets in the Rio’s Canteen Food Hall. This month we tried Tony Luke’s at Canteen. Billed as “The Real Taste of South Philly,” it’s been operating there since 1992 and now has outlets in several states. The Rio’s is the first in Nevada and farthest west. Hours are 11 a.m.-10 pm (11 p.m. Friday and Saturday).

Sandwiches

There are a dozen cheesesteaks and hoagies on the menu, made with steak, chicken, or pork, plus a veggie option. The cheesesteaks come with choice of American cheese, Kraft Cheez Whiz, or mild provolone. The roast pork comes with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe or spinach. We’re not from Philadelphia, but we think that’s the way they’re supposed to be made. They’re $13-$15, but extras might push that up. For example, a traditional cheesesteak is $13, but if you want mushrooms, it’s $2 additional (the peppers are standard). We tried the traditional cheesesteak with mushrooms ($15). We also had the steak hoagie ($14).

Verdict

In Philly it’s “Pat’s or Geno’s.” In Vegas we make our cheesesteak comparisons with Capriotti’s. We still like Caps, but it’s close. We didn’t get the hoagie; it’s a cheesesteak with vegetables and Mayonnaise. We weren’t thrilled. Paying for the add-ons is buzz kill, but it’s a food hall after all. 

This makes it two for two thumbs up at the Canteen (tenders and cheesesteak). Our next target? Either Sushi or Ramen (we can’t decide).