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Acting on a recommendation from TraderJoesLV, WineWench and I took a trip over to Town Square to indulge in Happy Hour at Brio Tuscan Grille. Happy Hour is Monday thru Friday from 3pm – 6pm, and from 9pm – Close Sunday thru Thursday. Seating at the bar was available both indoors and out, but since our record mild-weather wave seems to be ending, we opted to sit in the cooler, darker indoor side. Once seated, we perused the wine and $2.95 Tuscan Taster Bar menu. Brio has a small but reasonably priced wine list, with all but a select few available both by the glass and by the bottle. We expressed an interest the 2007 Kaiken Reserve Malbec, and our server was happy to open a fresh bottle for us to sample. We kept the bottle. One of the problems with living in the desert seems to be that almost everyone serves red wine too warm. When we mentioned this to our server he was happy to put our bottle in the bar cooler while we decided what to order. When our appetizers arrived, he presented our wine to us in a chilled stone cooler that’s normally used to keep white wines chilled, a nice touch. We started off with a Carpaccio Plate and a Sausage, Pepperoni & Ricotta Flatbread. The Carpaccio was thinly sliced, well chilled beef with crisp field greens, capers, a very good mustard aioli and fresh Parmesan cheese. The Sausage, Pepperoni & Ricotta Flatbread was very thin, very crisp, and loaded. Both were excellent and quickly consumed. We then chose the Spicy Shrimp with Eggplant, and I went to the main dinner menu to order the Gorgonzola Lambchops appetizer, which is not available on the Tuscan Taster Menu. The Spicy Shrimp with Eggplant was the hit of the day, grilled shrimp on top of Romano-crusted eggplant covered in an absolutely delicious pepper cream sauce. WineWench is not a big eggplant fan, but she happily ate her share of this one. The Gorgonzola Lambchops ran a close second, four tender lamb chops grilled medium rare with Gorgonzola crust, sauteed spinach and a red wine veal sauce. WineWench is not a fan of lamb, so these were all mine, and I took full advantage. Good food, good wine and a bill that totalled less than what we’ve paid for wine alone at other establishments are all reasons why we’ll be going back to Brio for Happy Hour very soon. ...And This Is Why We Drink™ This past Friday, WineWench and I were trying to decide where to go for Happy Hour. We like to go out in the late afternoon, have a bottle of wine (or two), sample a draft beer (or five) and try out the happy hour appetizer list. This has served us well at places like The Yard House, The Blue Martini, Fado Irish Pub and others. We decided to try The Rhythm Kitchen, a New Orleans themed bar and restaurant located at the south end of the Las Vegas Valley just off of the I-215 Beltway at Decatur Boulevard. We prefer to sit at the bar, which allows us to talk to the bartender when they aren’t busy, as well as to other patrons. Heather, the bartender, was happy to fill us in on the various libations available and also offered suggestions from the happy hour menu. We started off with a bottle of Row Eleven Pinot Noir ($39) and appetizers, Blackened Alligator Tail and Calamari. Normally we shy away from ordering Calamari since neither of us care for the heavy breading, but Heather let us know that they also offer the Calamari sauteed in a butter-lemon sauce so we gave it a shot. The food arrived and we dove in. The alligator tail was nicely done, and well spiced, served with a mild sweet and a slightly tangy dipping sauce. Winewench is not the most adventurous foodie, and at first balked at the idea of eating alligator, so I went first. The alligator was a tad chewy, and the taste was midway between chicken and shrimp, but overall very good. Winewench finally relented and gave it a try, and decided that while it was not her favorite, it was still good. The Calamari was excellent, very young fresh specimens in a delicious sauce, served with a outstanding homemade marinara that was chunky with onion, tomato, and pepper. After finishing the Calamari I ate the remaining marinara by itself, it was so good. Next I ordered a cup of Gumbo for me and an order of Shrimp Brochette for Winewench. Since we were about out of wine I asked for a bottle of ‘06 Four Vines Old Vine Cuvee ($36). The Gumbo was good, but not great, lacking that bend-you-over-and spank-you spiciness that I normally associate with really good Gumbo. Heather told me to ask for more heat next time, and the chef would be happy to kick it up. The Shrimp Brochette was another matter. Six large shrimp, well-seasoned, wrapped in crisp bacon and served with a sublime beurre blanc sauce were outstanding. I managed to score a small taste from Winewench, otherwise she pretty much kept them all for her. Definitely worth a return trip. The last item we tried was the Charbroiled Oysters, six large, freshly shucked oysters, smothered in garlic and shredded parmesan cheese, and very lightly broiled, served on a halfshell. Now I’m not a big fan of raw oysters, due to a bad-oyster incident a few years ago, but these were delicious, warm, just slighly cooked, and very flavorful. Best of all was the happy hour price of $4. Overall a great experience. Reasonably priced wines and good food, excellent service. We’ll be going back. ...And This Is Why We Drink™ One of the best parts about living in Las Vegas is that there’s always a tasting going on somewhere. Saturday May 30th was Lee’s Discount Liquors 3rd Annual Beer Experience, held at the Hilton Hotel. There were about 85 breweries serving about 300 brews to about 1500 happy drinkers. The pouring started promptly at 1pm and went straight through to 5pm. Among our favorites were the Sam Adams Imperial Series, just about everything from Unibroue, and Firestone Our top pick was Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. This stout pours like motor oil and tastes like every type of chocolate you’ve ever loved with a smooth bourbon finish. It ain’t cheap, but it’s well worth it. ...And This Is Why We Drink™ Yes, it’s been a bit since I posted my last saga, but OH it continues. I’m going to post my conversions just for March in a timeline so you feel my frustration. March 2nd – Receive letter stating the short sale was declined. OK whatever. March 4th- Get a call from Keith wanting to know when I was going to make a payment on my 2nd Mtg to bring it current. WHAT! Countrywide holds the 1st and 2nd. So OH yes, let me send you money for my 2nd when you’ve already processed the foreclosure documents on the 1st. I may be the Wine Wench, but I’m not always drunk. March 4th – Talked to Nicole. You can disregard the letter dated 2-19-09 about the short sale being declined for insufficient offer as they will re-open it as soon as they get the additional documents again, which I had sent on December 19th. Although these documents had NOTHING to do with the offer amount. So I re-faxed them within 2 minutes. March 6th – Talked to Enice, no they never got. So I re-faxed and was told they wouldn’t show in their computer for at least 2 – 3 business days. March 10th – Talked to Sheri. Yes they received the documents, but it’s pending to be assigned to a Negotiator again, check back on the 13th, although it can take up to 15 business days to be re-assigned. OK, they have the sale scheduled for March 18th, but it may not be assigned to a Negotiator until March 20th. Again WHAT! March 13th – Talked to Shantay – It was assigned to Gary on March 10th but he just looks at the documents and then moves it to another person and he has another 10 – 15 business days to review and pass along. Remember the sale date is March 18th. But now I find out that I can call on the 16th and request a postponement, but not before the 16th. March 16th – Talked to Stephanie – Sale date is postponed but the new Negotiator, Randy has not looked at the documents yet, which Gary sent on. March 20th – Talked to Shantay – Appraisal was done on February 5th. Another WHAT! I’ve been asking since January and this is the first time I heard about it. Plus, the appraiser was suppose to call to get in, but just did a drive-by. Now the next Negotiator has 7 business days to review it before it can go to the next step. March 25th – Talked to Anthony – No nothing in the system and they don’t have 7 days but 10 – 15 business days. Said that he doesn’t know where some people get their days from. Well isn’t that great. But that I’ll have their final decision on April 1st. Isn’t that appropriate, April Fool’s Day March 31st – Talked to Dafney - She said that the appraisal was given to the Gary on March 13th, not March 20th. She said they can’t tell me the amount, but now there were 2 appraisals with one at 2.2 MILLION. Hell, I’ll beg, borrow and steal to keep the property now since we bought it for $550,000. But I know it was wrong and he probably just added a zero. Wait, I have a couple more things from Dafney. On February 5th when they did the drive-by appraisal, she said that it would have come in higher if he could have gotten in. WAIT, both myself and my Realtor were available to let him in 24/7 . OH, and now she said that no it’s not 10 – 15 business days as I was told by Anthony on the 25th, but 15 – 20 business days. So on March 20th it was 7, then on March 25th it was 10 – 15 and now on March 31st it’s 15 – 20. O.K. now I think I’ve talked to everyone at Countrywide and not a single person knows what’s going on and can’t seem to read what’s on their screen. They should just replace their entire staff with Blind Monkeys. And now it’s time for another drink. As the saga does continue ...And This Is Why We Drink™ Long ago we had our backyard xeriscaped, and one of the plants our landscaper used was Mexican Evening Primrose. This plant is very pretty with bright pink flowers, but it propagates like crazy, and is almost impossible to eradicate. After may years of pulling, chopping and gallons of Roundup™, we finally gave up and decided to enjoy the flowers wherever they appeared, which was pretty much everywhere. This year there suddenly appeared a small black beetle that has an apparent fondness for the plant, and also multiplies in great quantity. It has pretty much wiped out the Primrose, leaving just haggard, chewed stumps. Now WineWenchLV misses the Primrose…
...And This Is Why We Drink™ |
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