Tag Archives: Oh Andros

The Best Things I’ve Eaten in 2016

Posted on by LeAnne Notabartolo

I KNOW it has been some time since I posted, but in my defense, it IS LeAnneuary and I have been trying to learn to use my new photo editing software with marginal success. I was holding off on posting this to edit all the pics and make them look perfect but that may not happen this year, let alone this month. So without further procrastination. Here’s the list of my fave bites of this year.

My dining this year consisted of a lot of tried and true places and dishes with several new places disappointing me. Here is the short list of the Best things I’ve eaten this past year. There were a few standouts as per usual, but on the whole, it was not a year of eating dangerously.

All pictures here are mine and mine alone, except where noted. Some taken with my phone and others with a “big camera”. Many are not watermarked (see above learning curve issues). Each of the things on the list this year are items I would go back to that particular place and order on its own  In no particular order…

Sugarcane – the Tobacco Rum Old Fashioned – Ab Fab – the tobacco bitters are unusual and don’t taste the way you think they might. GO and have it. Trust me. Photo by Friend Lebette.

Tobacco Rum Old Fashioned at Sugarcane in the Venetian/Palazzo Restaurant Row.

Egg Ravioli at Herringbone in the Aria – Chef Geno Bernardo knows what he is doing when it comes to pasta. This is ravioli for breakfast! Inside this lovely pocket of pasta is a perfectly cooked poached egg.

It’s ravioli for breakfast? Hell YEAH!

John and I consider Valentine’s day to be “Amateur Night”, so we almost always stay in and I get out of my comfort zone in the kitchen and make something I don’t usually tackle. This year it was a 3″ thick Ribeye cooked en sous vide and  it came out beautifully! The model linked below is the one I have; watch for sales!

Made at home with the Anova Immersion Circulator

Steak tartare at Bazaar Meat at the SLS – I love a good tartare and this one is exceptional. It comes to the table presented as seen on top. They prepare it tableside and it is glorious! It’s a splurge worthy place, so plan accordingly.

This is the prep for the tartare.

The finished product.

Paccheri Carbonara at Cafe Martorano in Fort Lauderdale – Sister Nancy turned 50 and the party was in Ft. Lauderdale, so I went (of course!). Literally around the corner was Cafe Martorano – the original that launched the Vegas location. I am not a fan of this shape of pasta and of course I am that asshole that asks for something NOT on the menu from time to time. I asked if this could be prepared with a different pasta and I was told no, but I ordered it anyway. Sorry Steve for doubting you! This was PERFECT! Sorry too about the sucky picture!

Seemingly simple, but utterly subtle and delicious. Paccheri Carbonara.

Mashed Potatoes at Carnevino at the Palazzo – Yes, it’s a side dish, but Nicole Brisson takes these humble spuds and makes them amazing super heroes of the table. I don’t even want to know how much butter and other wonderful goodness goes in, I just want to eat them. I seriously considered NOT sharing them with the rest of the table.

Mascarpone and a poached egg make these mashed potatoes a winner.

Truffle Frites at Lionstone Brewing in Geneseo, IL – Stout braised brisket, saison beer cheese, chipotle cream and Lionstone relish top your basic truffle fries. Think of them as the happy bastard child of poutine and nachos. You’re welcome!

Truffle Frites at Lionstone Brewing

Fried Conch at Oh Andros – Nassau, Bahamas  – If and when you get to Nassau, get off the beaten path and find this place. It will be packed. It’s cash only and you may very well be the only tourists. Service isn’t fast because it is all cooked to order, but it is VERY friendly. I love conch, I know it is not sustainable and I only eat it occasionally and fried is my favorite way to enjoy it. This was so big, it was hanging off the plate, and did you notice that OTHER whole fish there? Yeah…WAY too much food. Bring a friend and share!

The biggest Fried Conch I have ever eaten. NO, I couldn’t finish even half of it!

And lastly…

Sheep Ricotta Tortellini at Aureole – Chef Johnny Church has recently taken the helm at the newly renovated Aureole and the menu is amazing. I THOUGHT I was done with foams and all things molecular gastronomy, but this dish proved me wrong. Perfectly cooked tortellini with duck confit, fava beans and a parmigiana foam. ridiculously good.

Filled with sheep ricotta and topped with duck confit? Sign me up!

Up next more info on Aureole and a fab meal I enjoyed there recently AND my wonderful birthday dinner at Bouchon!

 

 

 

 

Traveling with Friends and Conch   

Posted on by LeAnne Notabartolo

If you are lucky, you have a few good friends that you can do anything with, including going on vacation. My friend Laurie earned a trip with the Pampered Chef to Atlantis in the Bahamas and invited her girlfriends, me, Lynn and Janet, to go along with her. We had a great time and I ate my weight in conch while I was there. Traveling with friends is very different than traveling with family. Your family knows what you like to do on vacation, but perhaps your friends don’t.

My idea of a vacation is getting out and seeing EVERYTHING; trying the local cuisine, beer and cocktails and talking with the locals. I don’t sleep in and I stay up late, just like at home. I like to walk around and eat stuff I can’t get at home. That’s what I do when I vacation with John. Laurie likes to sit on the beach or at the pool. Lynn and Janet both go with the flow. I rarely sit on the beach or, heaven forbid, a public pool. This vacation was a combination of all of that. Atlantis has a huge water park and is close to Nassau so we toured, walked, swam, parasailed, rode the rapids and ate…and ate…and ate.

Fried Conch, Conch Fritters, Conch SandWISHes

Here in Vegas I can get nearly anything, but Bahamian cuisine and lovely fried conch is something that is not readily available. I can get scungilli salad, but fried conch, conch fritters, conch sandWISHes? Good luck! I ate all of that and more while I was away. If you have never had conch, it’s sweet in the way crab is, but toothsome the way calamari is. I prefer it fried, but I’ll eat it in scungilli salad too. One thing I re-learned about Nassau is that I don’t like their beer. At ALL. And we tried “Sky Juice” a bizarre concoction of gin, milk and sweetened condensed milk, that on the surface sounds gross, but somehow it works.

One of the oddest things we did was hire a cab to drive us all around Nassau and point out the interesting things about the city. We had a good driver, Alfred, who showed us the sights. Government buildings, Fort Charlotte, “The Fish Fry” and local flora were all included for the ride. I would highly recommend doing this in any foreign city to get the lay of the land and figure out what you want to visit.

One of the Highlights Was Eating at Oh Andros

For me, the highlights of the trip were parasailing (something I was able to check off my Bucket List) and eating at Oh Andros. Oh Andros is located in “The Fish Fry”, an outdoor mall of sorts, featuring restaurants, bars and shops that serve mostly locals, but tourists are welcome. If you plan to go, just know it’s all cash only, so be prepared. Oh Andros serves authentic Bahamian food and when we arrived the joint was packed with locals. The pics below do not do justice to the food for several reasons, mainly, I had my little camera and you can’t see how big the plates were for scale. Each entrée came with rice with pigeon peas and two other sides. The plate was a standard 10” round. Pile it up 5” high and you get the picture. Everything was properly seasoned and there was WAY too much. If you are in a hotel and not an apartment with ability to reheat leftovers, I recommend sharing a plate with a friend. We had NO IDEA we’d be getting that much food.

Fried Conch and pan fried pork chop.

Fried Conch and pan fried pork chops.

Spicy grilled grouper - there were FIVE filets on this one plate!

Spicy grilled grouper – there were FIVE filets on this one plate!

Slipper tail lobster, cracked and fried

Slipper tail lobster, cracked and fried. No joke, it was an entire lobster!

Fried conch and pan fried whole snapper

Fried conch and pan fried whole snapper. One of the pieces of conch was literally the size of my hand.