Category: Las Vegas Advisor

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Angie’s (Bargain) Lobster

Angie’s Lobster, with seven restaurants in Phoenix, has come to Las Vegas.

Angie’s is well known in the Valley of the Sun for its $9.99-$10.99 lobster rolls, made possible by Angie’s owning a wharf in Maine, buying lobster and seafood right off the boats, and processing it all in its own plant nearby. Then, Angie’s ships the product to Arizona, and now southern Nevada, in its own reefer trucks. The owners opened their first shop in Phoenix in 2021 after selling Salad & Go, which has 150 locations throughout the Southwest.

We wonder if this is the future of “fast food.” It’s definitely fast and amazingly inexpensive, but it’s several cuts above Carl’s Jr. and KFC; it is lobster after all.

Also, it’s completely cashless. You walk in and go right to one of three ordering screens, which are pretty easy to navigate. The first screen shows you the meals that come with fries and a drink for $12.99. If you want a la carte, you change the screen with a tab on the top nav. Other tabs take you to the drinks and add-ons. If you want a receipt, it’s digital, so you have to input your phone number or email address.

Angie’s menu also features shrimp, snow crab, and cod rolls from $6.49 to $10.99, along with two breakfast rolls (eggs and bacon, eggs and lobster) and French toast ($3.19-$7.99).

We went twice, once when it first opened just to see, the second time to try everything by feeding the office. We were unimpressed with the snow crab roll. We also got four lobster rolls, two chilled, two warm (for $1 extra). Even if you’re eating at Angie’s at one of six tables inside or six outside on the patio, 32 seats altogether, there’s no real reason to get the warmed-up lobster (by the time we got the food back to the office, both were room temperature). We also tried the scallop roll, clam roll, and a side of fried cod ($2.99).

Even with the big order and a busy room at lunchtime, we were in and out of the place in 13 minutes flat. Very efficient and, as we say, fast. The only time you see anyone is when they call your name to pick up your order at the window.

The lobster was a bit mushy, but tasty. The cod was big, firm, and moist, though mostly tasteless, like most whitefish. The clams, however, stole the show. Big, juicy, and tasty, they melt in your mouth — again, surprising for fast food. The scallops are small, but definitely scallopy. Melted butter and tartar sauce come in small sealed plastic bags. The only thing missing are lemon wedges. But the house-made lemonade is an adequate substitute.

For the six rolls a la carte, side of cod, and lemonade, the bill came to just over $63 including tax.

Angie’s is located on the south side of Blue Diamond a half-block east of Decatur.

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Humo Barbecue

In our extensive survey of Las Vegas barbecue restaurants a couple of years ago, one of the 10 we reviewed was Braeswood, which billed itself as Tex-Mex BBQ. We loved the smoked carnitas and Creole rice. Unfortunately, Braeswood was locked in a Coke-Pepsi competition, being directly across South Main Street from the uber-popular Soulbelly Barbecue, and didn’t survive. We were sorry when it closed last April.

So when we learned that another south-of-the-border ‘cue joint had opened in Henderson around a year ago, we had high hopes for it and finally got around to trying it.

Humo Barbecue (pronounced “umo”; the “h” is almost always silent in Spanish) is on Sunset Road about a mile east of the airport runway viewing area near the corner of Sandhill. Appropriately meaning “Smoke” in Spanish, Humo is situated in perhaps the most nondescript strip mall you’ve ever seen. The good news is there’s free parking as far as the eye can see.

Humo occupies two storefronts in the center and was crowded with large tables of las familias Latinas on a late Sunday afternoon.

It’s typically colorful, with a wall mural and a couple of interesting signs, two touting the “Mexicue.”

The menu features ribs, brisket, pulled chicken and pork, burnt ends, and barbacoa (one meat/two sides $19, two meat/two sides $26), along with baked potatoes stuffed with brisket, pork, or barbacoa ($16) and tacos ($3), salads and sandwiches ($14-$15), sides such as Hatch-chile mac ‘n’ cheese, chorizo refried beans, potato salad, and street corn, and for dessert flan and churro-banana and bread pudding ($6).

We tried the burnt ends and barbacoa. We don’t often see burnt ends in Vegas, but they’re indicative of the kind of smoking process a barbecue uses; from the fatty end of the brisket, they’re generally cooked longer than the lean meat in order to render the fat, so they’re infused with the smokiness that barbecue aficionados live for. These weren’t that. They weren’t bad, just not up to what we consider the standard. The barbacoa was beef (it can also be lamb and goat) and again, it was okay, just not enough cumin, garlic, and oregano for our taste, so it was bland, plus a bit greasy. For the sides, we got the chorizo refried beans, which were excellent — creamy, mildly spicy, and light — as was the mac ‘n’ cheese, in which the Hatch chiles were plentiful and definitely jazzed up the dish.

For a barbecue place called Smoke, the smoke is mild at best and lacking at worst. We can say that there was plenty of food, enough for two full meals. Still, the bill came to $34 including tax and tip, not a bargain by any means. All in all, we give Humo an A for effort, a B for quality, and a C for value. We wouldn’t go out of our way to return.

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Buffet Update – November 2024

south point

Cosmopolitan – Wicked Spoon: Daily Brunch is now 8 a.m.-3 p.m. instead of 8 a.m.-2 p.m. for $47 on weekdays and $54 on weekends.

Excalibur – The Buffet at Excalibur: Weekend Brunch is Friday only instead of Friday – Sunday. Same time 7 a.m.-2 p.m. for $37.99. Now Saturday & Sunday is Mimosa Brunch 7 a.m.-2 p.m. for $43.99.

South Point – Garden Buffet: All buffet prices went up by $1-$3. Breakfast is now $19.95, Lunch is now $24.95, Prime Rib & Champagne Brunch is now $33.95, Prime Rib Dinner is now $33.95, and Seafood Dinner is now $52.95.

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“Lite-Brite” at Illuminarium


Lite-Brite is a “magic-screen” toy created by Hasbro in 1967, consisting of colored plastic pegs that fit into a panel on a light box. Recommended for ages 4-15, Lite-Brite users create art with the pegs; when the images are complete, the box is turned on to light them up.

Hasbro teamed up with the Illuminarium, the immersive digital “museum” at Area15, to present “Lite-Brite: Worlds of Wonder,” which opened on June 5. The show features a room-size magic screen divided into three “worlds”: enchanted ocean, forest with dinosaurs, and outer-space city. Having seen the “Space” digital show at the Illuminarium (reviewed in LVA 9/22), we went back for “Lite-Brite: Worlds of Wonder” to see what the new show has to offer.

Like “Space,” you’re ushered into an anteroom for an orientation to the Lite-Brite gestalt from a talking box on a stool.

And like “Van Gogh,” “Leonardo,” “Arte Museum,” and the other immersives we’ve reviewed, “Lite-Brite” is a 60-minute experience (it reruns after an hour) in the huge Illuminarium room, with the giant animations covering the walls and floors all around you. Of all the digital shows, this one is by far the best for kids, who chase the images of giant birds and mammals, sea creatures, dinosaurs, spaceships, and the like and interact with the pixels that follow them on the floor.

Kids of all ages participate in two different games, Save the Dinos and Creature Creator, the only immersive that’s this interactive.

For us adults, it gets a bit monotonous, especially if you’ve seen one of these shows before. The games go on for five-six minutes at a time twice within the hour, far too long; the second time one of them comes on, it helps clear the room for the next set of visitors who show up every 15 minutes.

The soundtrack is intense — spacy orchestral music, from the highs of synthesized piccolos during the future-city segments to the basso profundo of basses and cellos for the deep underwater portions. The room is nice and cold on a very hot summer afternoon, but we were never so happy to walk out into 115-degree sun (bring a sweater if you don’t want to freeze).

Tickets start at $35 for adults and $30 for children and seniors, with family and group packages available.

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$5 Burger & Beer (18Bin)

A smashburger and a beer for $5? It’s not quite a Top Tenner, but it’s a good one in the Arts District.

A burger and a beer for $5? That has to be a bargain, right? Maybe not if the burger is a slider and the beer is Red, White, & Blue (wait, we like RWB), but that’s not the case here. You get a smashburger (the latest burger rage) that’s slightly larger than a regular McDonald’s burger, with cheese, pickles, and chipotle mayo. You might want another, so go ahead and order it; there’s no limit. It comes with a choice of a 16-ounce Michelob Ultra or 18Bin Blonde Ale. The deal runs Mondays-Thursdays from 11 am to 3 pm.

A Cool Place in the Arts District

Located in the Arts District at 107 E. Charleston, 18Bin is one of multiple bars/restaurants clustered in the area, including Berlin, Artifice, Taverna Costera, and Pepper Club in the English Hotel. While many of these bars are artsy types that don’t have TVs, 18Bin does and they’re tuned to sports when the games are on. The bar and tables are inside, with a big courtyard with seating outside. 

Bar
Dining
Patio

This is a busy hang on weekend nights, but mostly quiet during the day when the special runs. The full menu includes bar snacks, soups, salads, and sandwiches, with several vegetarian options; we had a decent ceviche for $13. 

The Verdict

This is an excellent lunch play and a reason to check out the Arts District, but it’s also a drinking play. The 18Bin Blonde is $9 by itself, so ordering the special gets you a $5 beer and however many hamburgers get lined up in the process. If you linger after the special, there’s “Yappy Hour” (bring your pooch) Mon.-Thurs. from 4 to 6 pm, with 50%-off beer, wine, and select appetizers. On Tuesdays starting at 7 pm, it’s all-you-can-drink margaritas and $3 tacos.

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Tacotarian

Our trip to Power Soul Café inspired us to finally check out Tacotarian, the vegan taco brand that, since launching here in 2018, has opened four locations in Las Vegas and one in San Diego. It has garnered some attention; in 2023, Tacotarian was named one of the 25 best vegan Mexican restaurants in the country by VegNews and placed #52 on Yelp’s Top 100 Taco Spots nationwide.

One venue is on S. Fort Apache way over by the big bend in the Beltway, another is way down on Blue Diamond near Silverton, the third is way out in Henderson, and the flagship is downtown in the Arts District on Casino Center Blvd. a couple of blocks south of Charleston. That’s the one we visited.

As you’d expect from a flagship eatery in the Arts District, this is a trendy spot — bright, open and airy, and full of Mexican colors, with greenery and a merch corner.

It’s also big, so it can seat everyone when it gets busy, which it does, especially for lunch. You order and pay at the counter and your meal is delivered to your table.

Tacotarian bills itself as flexitarian (sometimes vegan, sometimes not), so it’s not the usual vegan menu that relies heavily on Beyond Beef or Impossible products using such plant proteins as pea, mung and faba beans, and brown rice. Though they do include some of those, they also create their own proteins, with jackfruit (like a giant fig), seitan (made from gluten, the main protein of wheat), Gardein-brand chicken and fish (made of textured vegetable protein, a.k.a. TVP, soy concentrate, and flour), non-dairy cheese, plantains, even hibiscus flowers — essentially, meat-free versions of familiar taco fillings and flavors.

cauliflower ceviche

The food is pretty typical for a Mexican place, whether vegan, flex, or meat-based. The menu has antojitos, such as chips and salsa, nachos, guacamole, and elote ($5-$16), veg soup and salads ($6-$17), a couple of dozen different tacos ($4-$6, with a three-taco platter, the most popular choice, at $18), burritos ($11-$20), and desserts ($6-$9).

The difference is, as we say, in the proteins. For example, the carne asada is made with seitan, the barbacoa with jackfruit, and the chorizo with soy. You can also get alcohol at the Tacotarians — beer, margaritas, and specialty cocktails — unusual for a vegan restaurant.

We know this food isn’t for everyone, including ourselves. We’ve been through our soy, seitan, TVP, and Beyond Beef experiments, so none of that interested us. What did was the cauliflower ceviche ($6.99), marinated in lime juice, topped with cucumber, avocado, and pico, and served with plentiful chips. Not quite the real thing, but close enough in flavor and enjoyment. We also tried the Baja taco ($3.99), with avocado fried in beer batter, cilantro-lime slaw, and guacamole. Again, since we weren’t concerned with protein, it was a good regular taco to us.

The bill with tax, without tip, came to $11.90, which we thought quite reasonable for both the quantity and quality of the food. The meal, in the end, was tasty, filling, and affordable, a good one-off lunch.

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Power Soul Café

Promoting itself as the “world’s first certified gluten-free fast-food restaurant chain,” Power Soul Café is the brainchild of Las Vegan Dina Mitchell, who for 15 years was in charge of the west coast expansion of Tropical Smoothie Cafes, a franchiser with 1,500 locations nationwide. She wanted to branch out from smoothies and add healthy food items to her own brand and came up with Power Soul.

Three locations have opened this year, the flagship on Warm Springs Rd. near Durango in the southwest valley, one in Henderson (1469 E. Lake Mead Parkway), and the third right around the corner from our office at Valley View and Spring Mountain. We stopped off on a hot summer afternoon to see what it was all about.

It’s different. There’s no dining area or any seating neither outdoor nor indoor. You order from a walk-up window; scan the giant QR code for the menu or read it through the window behind the point of sale. The all-glass front allows you to see the food being prepared and it’s handed through out to you. You can also order in advance and pick up from self-serve refrigerated lockers, which are convenient, especially since the cafés are open 24/7.

The menu consists of two dozen smoothies ($7.49), acai bowls ($12.99), chicken nuggets ($5.99-$10.99) and vegan chicken strips ($5.99), eight pizzas ($12-$15), and various breakfast waffles and egg sandwiches ($3.99-$8.99). The online ordering system allows you to filter for keto and vegetarian and 60 or so allergens to avoid.

We ordered at the walk-up window and got a Soul Colada smoothie and an Ah-Sigh-Ee (for how acai is pronounced) bowl. Both were tasty and refreshing when we got them back to the office, though at 109 degrees out, it would’ve been unpleasant to consume them in the car or standing around the Chinatown parking lot. Nor would we have wanted to do that between December and March, especially with the potential for sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia (brain freeze) from these products. When it’s nice out, you can do so; otherwise, it’s best to have somewhere you can eat them, because you can’t do it at or in Power Soul.

The total bill came to $24.20 with tax and a $2 tip. It might sound a little steep for a smoothie and bowl, but they were fresh, healthy, filling, and satisfying.

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Capons at Fountainebleau


Josh Capon, a New York celebrity chef with a number of restaurants under his belt, is renowned on the East Coast for his Bash Burger, a perennial people’s-choice winner at the New York City and Miami Wine and Food festivals. Which is why we found ourselves at Fontainebleau yet again, to sample the burger at Capons in the Promenade Food Hall.

As an aside, we’ve been to Fbleau way more than we would have expected when it opened. But we can say this: The easy in and out of the parking garage and the free four-parking for everyone provide all the incentive we need to try what we can there, without spending two arms and three legs.

First, the name is pronounced “KAY-pons,” not kuh-PONE’s, the way we suspected.

The menu consists of three burgers — Capons Classic with lettuce, tomato, pickles, cheese, and secret sauce ($15), the Smoke Show that adds onion-bacon jam and onion straws, and the Blackjack with truffle aioli and potato sticks (both $16). There are also chicken sandwiches ($14-$16), chicken “tenderonies” with a choice of four sauces ($15), waffle fries and onion rings ($7), a dozen varieties of scooped gelato, soft-serve shakes, and sundaes ($7-$12), and a few adult beverages ($9-$10).

We sampled Capons Classic, which might not look like much, especially in the photos, but it’s made from a custom beef blend and the patty is extraordinarily juicy, with very fresh lettuce and tomato, a sauce somewhat like In-N-Out’s, and a bun that holds up fine, even under the onslaught of ooze. And this bad boy is good for a meal and a half, even without fries. We brought home half for later.

We also had to order a Topo Chico (“Little Mole”). We rarely see this sparkling mineral water in Vegas, but we’ve always liked it in Mexico, sourced and bottled in Monterrey since 1895. It’s $7 and worth it, at least to us.

The total bill came to $27.14, including tax and a $3 tip.

Yes, pretty steep for a burger and bottled water from a food hall. We’re not soft-pedaling that. But we do like Fbleau and Capons is among the few food items there that are (mostly) affordable for the likes of us non-jetsetters.

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Double Helix Wine & Whiskey Bar (Prime Rib Special)

The price of prime rib keeps going up, but good specials keep showing up, sometimes in places you wouldn’t expect. 

Double Helix Wine & Whiskey Lounge

On Sundays and Mondays, Double Helix at Town Square has a prime rib special for $24.99. Though salad and rolls aren’t included, it comes with mashed potatoes, a vegetable, and—get this—a shot of bourbon. The prime rib is a good cut, served with a horseradish sauce (not straight). The vegetable was sauteed spinach on our visit. It looks a bit skimpy without a salad, but it’s a full meal and the quality is a notch above the typical casino special.

The Shot

What makes this one especially noteworthy is the accompanying shot of bourbon, a nice touch that we haven’t seen before. The brand is whatever’s being featured that month. For us, Old Forester Rye. It’s not a full shot, more of a flight tasting, but it works well with the dinner.

The Venue

Double Helix is something of a Vegas insider’s hang, a good place for sipping wine and whiskeys while sampling small plates. It’s also cigar-friendly. The restaurant is located in the middle of the Town Square complex, closer to the west side, so best to park in the back lot bordering the freeway.

The Verdict

We liked this special and rate it one of the better prime rib options in town. There were a couple hiccups—we had to ask for a steak knife and remind the waiter to bring the bourbon—but overall and considering the price, this is a good value that can fit well with a comedy night at Wiseguys, a Pop Stroke outing, or a shopping trip. The restaurant is open 11 am-10 pm Sundays and 3:30-11 pm Mondays.

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Lucky House

[Editor’s Note: This is a guest review from friend of LVA George Antanakos.]

The closing of Chinglish out at Charleston and Rampart did away with the best dumplings and dipping sauce in the city and sent me on a hunt for dim sum outside of Chinatown.

Enter Lucky House Seafood Restaurant. Located on Durango just south of Flamingo, it opened early this year and as soon as I walked in, I knew it was authentic: Several gorgeous golden-brown roasted ducks hang near the entrance. Also, it’s a great sign when I’m one of the only non-Asians in the place and it was busy on a random Wednesday at 2 p.m., not exactly prime time.

We ordered up the dim sum and tried a couple of other dishes. We found the truffle and regular siu mai ($6 and $7, respectively) above average, but couldn’t tell the difference, so the regular is the play. The true dim sum stars at Lucky House are the shrimp; the har gow and shrimp-and-chive dumplings were sublime.

We also ordered the “roasted pork” entrée, which is actually pork belly. If you like juicy fatty belly with perfectly crispy skin, this is the dish for you. The kung pao chicken was the big surprise. It’s usually a disappointment, even in Chinatown, but at Lucky House, I tried unsuccessfully to recall another kung pao that even came close. I’m not easily impressed, but this is a must-eat version.

The bill came to $78.03 with tax, but not tip.

All in all, Lucky House is an excellent option and a hidden gem, especially if you don’t want to fade the traffic and parking issues in Chinatown.