"vegas" news and stories

• Even garlic is going green -- and adding nice mellow flavor as it does.
• "Zinfandel's like Beyonce"... and these wines are Zin's sexy backup singers.
• For the Vegas-bound, here are tons of great new restaurants.
• If you're thinking more about China than Vegas, try out Yu Garden -- a taste of Shanghai without the 12-hour plane trip.
• What is this, chopped liver? Why, yes, it is actually.

Las Vegas is a town known for doing things in a big way. Well now they're giving sustainability the royal treatment. There's a proposal on the table to build the world's first vertical farm. Not just any vertical farm either, but 30 storys of it.

This $200 million project would be able to feed 72,000 people for a year and would grow everything from apples to winter squash. Of course, all of the products would be distributed directly to the casinos and hotels, who will be funding the project in the first place. The farm could potentially make up to $25 million a year, plus $15 million in potential tourist revenue. That means that it would eventually recoup the enormous start-up costs, especially with it's projected $6 million per year operating costs.

With our world population growing exponentially, and 60% of that population living in or near urban centers, vertical farms could be the wave of the future. If this experiment proves successful, every city in the world could one day be able to feed its citizens fresh, locally grown produce. Here's hoping that this Vegas happening won't stay there.

[via nextenergynews.com]

Source

On the dining out scene: Guy Savoy, a Michelin three-star chef, has opened up a restaurant in Caesar's Palace in Vegas. SIV re-visits a very old classic, Dan Tana's, and gives it only half a star! No matter, the place has enough of its own star - the clientele. There are lots of Kosher delis out there, but Sassi is a Kosher Israeli restaurant that serves Mediterranean and North African food.

In the kitchen: Cookbook author John T. Edge makes southern home-style food. Regina Schrambling makes three pudding cakes from rum, coconut, key limes, and Valrhona cocoa.

There is no Wine of the Week. Instead, SIV tries Plantation Rum Guyana Old Reserve 1990 as the Spirit of the Week. It's $36 for a bottle and pairs well with...a good book.

[photo: Guy Savoy from the Los Angeles Times]

I hate buffets, but I have to say that if there were ratings or rankings for buffets, Vegas buffets would be at the bottom. They are the worst.

I won't necessarily go into why I hate buffets in general (and it's not just the typical sub-institution-quality of the food), but I do wonder what the appeal is of such monstrosities to people who go to Vegas. Is it just the sheer volume of food? The spectrum of different cuisines (though not too much variation in method - everything is fried)? Is there some social aspect of the "salad bar" that I've been missing?

Now, many people I know say that I must have been going to very bad buffets, and that there really are some good buffets in Vegas. The question is then, "Where?" Where are the good buffets in Vegas? Does such a thing really exist?

I am doubtful. It's still a buffet.

Before the jump (into 2006) we saw how food trends go from introduction to assimilation into the mainstream. Nicole showed us a few predictions of foods that will take off in 2006, and Sarah Gilbert gave us the ratings on last year's most popular trends.

But there are a few trends that either only started or hung on for dear life through the end of 2005. These are the bottom five food trends (trend, not people) I hope to see completely suffocate and fizzle out in 2006.