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Las Vegas on $10 per meal? You bet your life savings! Local food writer Max Jacobson gets frugal and dishes on the city’s best spots to fuel up without blowing your slot change
Where there’s money, there’s great food, and Las Vegas is no exception. But blow too much on the details (sustenance included) and you’ll be caught short at the blackjack table right when Lady Luck is about to show you her pearly whites. Fortunately for you, Sin City is plump with cheap grub—and we’re not talking foot-long hotdogs, casino buffets, or questionable shrimp cocktails.
Even the Strip has occasional bargains. But for the true culinary gems, head into the city’s numerous neighbourhoods. What you’ll find is a dazzling array of ethnic haunts and locally owned restaurants matching those of any U.S. city in quality and variety. A few places are best reached by car; others aren’t far from your favourite casino.
BREAKFAST
Fausto’s Mexican Grill
(229 N. Stephanie St., Henderson, 436-5059)
If you’ve been out all night gambling, Fausto’s 5 a.m. opening time is the perfect nightcap. Even at that ungodly hour, day labourers are already eyeing the huge breakfast burritos
(US $3), which they anoint liberally with salsas and pickles from the condiment bar, and the best huevos rancheros in town
($5.25 with a drink).
Prices here are almost criminally low, and the food is wonderful. On weekends, there is menudo, the famous beef tripe soup that Mexicans traditionally use as a hangover cure
($5). If you can take it, ask for some diced green chilies to heat things up.
Egg Works
(9355 W. Flamingo Rd., 368-3447)
This freshly updated version of a longtime local favourite called The Egg and I is a light, airy place equipped with flat-screen TVs and panoramic windows facing the mountains to the west.
The specialty here is omelets, under the menu heading Scramble Works — four-egg affairs with skillet potatoes and the excellent house banana nut muffins
($7.75
-8.25). But no one should miss the delicious buttermilk biscuits, smothered in sausage gravy
($7.50), or the cinnamon raisin French toast served with sautéed apples, whipped butter and warm syrup
($6.50).
To totally spoil yourself (yet remain under $10), go for the blackened prime rib Benedict. Just under the wire at $9.95, it’s so rich it should be outlawed.
Original Pancake House
(8620 Cheyenne Ave., 396-8220; 4833 W. Charleston Blvd., 259-7755)
Although a chain founded in 1950s’ Oregon, the terrific sourdough starter used in the pancake batters, fabulous bacon, fresh squeezed juices and fragrant coffee make these franchises hard to beat. Have freshly squeezed juice, coffee and bacon with pancakes, however, and you’ll go a few dollars over budget.
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