The premier! The introductory! The initial! Restaurant review... of FIRST Food and Bar.

I have been putting off writing this because it is my first review and I'm nervous.  However, I chose to review First Food and Bar because a) I love it, b) I've been there hundreds of times, c) well, the name of course.  One's first review should be of a place called First, it just makes sense.  Anyhoo.

My good friend Francesca introduced me to this place and I highly recommend it.  If you're looking to go, and you should, it is on the second floor of the Palazzo in the Shoppes.  I almost always sit at the bar, and if I'm lucky, my favorite bartender ever, AKA The Best Bartender Ever, Michael will be working.  All of the bartenders there are great, don't get me wrong.  But Michael is AMAZING!  I prefer not to order and just let him make me whatever he wants to make me.  He has this uncanny knack for making exactly what you want, whether you knew you wanted it or not.  His drinks are creative, exciting and delish.  One of my favorite Michael-Specials was a Thai Basil drink in a martini glass.  He used gin to make it, which I thought I hated, but Michael knows how to mix drinks to make even the scariest alcohols accessible.  He even made Absinthe taste pretty good in a drink he made for my boyfriend Trencher the other day.  Absinthe!  I know!  As you can probably tell, I can't say enough about Michael and his amazing drinks.  Go on Sunday and have their brunch.  Sit at the bar and let Michael do his thing.  I guarantee you'll have a great time!  They always have a great DJ playing great throwback jamz and the food is excellent.

Which reminds me... I should probably tell you about their food at some point.  It's really, really good.  I think their POV is "American with a twist", if that gives you any idea.  One item I've had a million times is their Doritos Crusted Mac & Cheese.  It is only $7.00 for a pretty good portion, and it's soooo good.  The mac & cheese is what you'd expect good mac & cheese to be, and the Doritos on top give it a nice crunch and a little something extra.  (NOTE: Do not, I repeat, do NOT, have the mac & cheese as your only meal and then go drink wayyyyy too many free vodka sodas at Eagle.  You will have a bad night, and so will your boyfriend.  I mean, I'm assuming.  Ahem.)  Trencher and I love to share their tater tots, which for a couple of extra dollars you can add asiago cheese to.  The asiago is sharp and adds a nice saltiness to the already excellent tots.  Those two items alone make a great meal, but they have sooooo much more to offer.

Order their sliders and you get four (FOUR!) nice size cheeseburger sliders with carmelized onions, tomato and lettuce.  Those and the tots are enough for two people to share, and we do.  Often.  Pretty much anything on their breakfast menu is amazing as well, from the Croque Monsieur to the not too sweet Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes... Ahhh... I have never had a bad meal there.  If you want to have some great food, fun drinks and a lot of fun, go to First.  (If Michael's there, I suggest walking The Strip after your meal before you drive.  Walk it off, people.  Be safe.)

P.S. They do have one very funny item on their menu that I will warn you about.  I suggested First to Trencher for our second date.  The server, who I didn't know, recommended their watermelon salad to us, and Trench ordered it.  Fortunately I had ordered their (excellent) Rigatoni so we both had something to eat.  Because the watermelon salad is tiny, my friends.  TINY.  Get it as an appetizer, but not as your meal.  It will not fill you up!

Thank you for reading, my next review will be of The Griddle... Hopefully it will be posted this week.  Have a great day!!!

First. Post. Ever.

Hi everyone! (And by "everyone", I mean the one person that may be reading this... me. If I'm the only one reading it, do I really need to introduce myself?) Anyway.

My name is Courtney, and I'm The Broad. I moved to Las Vegas in February 2009 after being born and bred in Orange County, California. I came here with no friends, a little bit of money and a dream... a dream of food. Okay, so the actual reason has to do with my job, but it doesn't pertain to this blog so it doesn't really matter. I did, and continue to dream of food. I am very pleased that along with the right job opportunities, Vegas offers many, many food opportunities. Anyone who lives in Vegas, has visited or has just seen a commercial or two knows that we are chock full of good restaurants.

A few months after I moved here my mom came out to visit, and she and I went to a concert at Rio. A gentleman, or rather, sleazy weird guy, was hitting on both of us, which was pretty irresistible. (As you can imagine.) One way he wooed us was by telling us that he too had just moved here from Orange County and found Vegas to be "a cultural and culinary wasteland". Well. I strongly disagree with that statement, and it got me thinking: pretty much every big name chef has a restaurant here, as do a lot of mom and pops from other countries, bringing their regional flavors to us. I should make it my mission to try them all, slowly but surely. From the big guys to the smaller guys and everything in between, I will eat my way through Vegas. Let no crumb be left behind! I will conquer!!!

That was over two years ago and I have yet to even make a small dent in the culinary 'wasteland' that is Las Vegas. So, here I am. With a wonderful amount of encouragement from said mom and my boyfriend (thanks for the help on the website, sir!), I am here to do just that. Initially I'm going to review some places I really enjoy going to because I've been there many times and I think you should go too. Eventually my goal will be to choose places at random, push myself out of my comfort zone and see what else Vegas has to offer. Fortunately for me I like most foods and am very easy to please, so this should be easy (right?). However, there are cuisines and flavors I've never had the pleasure of experiencing, and I'm hoping that one day I will be familiar with them too. Even in a cultural and culinary wasteland, I vow to eat some culture. :)