Din Tai Fung opened in Aria, in the former café, in October, and the extraordinary dinner was fit for royalty:īlack pepper Wagyu beef, baby back ribs, braised beef noodle soup, crab and pork xiao long bao (the signature soup dumplings), chocolate xiao long bao, truffle and pork xiao long bao, shrimp and pork spicy wontons, shrimp rice cake, cod dumplings, chocolate buns, vegetable buns, kale, pork chop fried brown rice, lychee slush with boba, orange green tea and Old Fashioneds with Japanese whisky.Įverything was outstanding, including our server, Susie, who was like a sweet and caring auntie, and friendly GM Kevin from Seattle. Cantonese dim sum in my life, and I’d never heard of Din Tai Fung even though there are more than 150 global locations, the vast majority of them in Asia. I can’t say that I’ve had a lot of Taiwanese vs. While the new restaurants in Las Vegas exemplify culinary excellence, we aren’t lacking here in Spokane, and I am thankful for that as I list some of my favorite Asian restaurants in the area, so please keep reading until the end. This Running Tab column isn’t all about Las Vegas, however. In fact, Charles and I dined at six new restaurants, and new Asian restaurants ruled the roost, from Taiwanese dim sum and global street food small plates to the latest offering from the celebrated David Chang of Momofuku fame. That said, hotels are hurting for businesses, so there are deals to be had.ĭuring this recent visit, live entertainment was nearly nonexistent, but restaurants were still open, operating and busy. I’m far from wealthy – I’m a longtime print journalist, after all – but Las Vegas was home from 2008 to 2019 before moving to Spokane, and when I return to the Entertainment Capital of the World, I stay with Charles in his new home in Henderson near the Las Vegas Raiders corporate headquarters.

Some casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip were bustling, others (no longer open 24/7 for the time being) were like ghost towns, but the good news is that face masks were worn by everyone everywhere I went on the Las Vegas Strip and downtown with my brother, Charles Chareunsy, and hand sanitizer and disposable face masks were abundant. Restaurants in Las Vegas at the time were at 25% capacity, and reservations were required everywhere, including at local, 24-hour watering holes, so I didn’t get to go to Born and Raised on Eastern Avenue. 12 was, of course, unlike any other due to the continuing coronavirus pandemic. My socially distanced holiday stay in my previous hometown of Las Vegas from Dec.

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