FOOD HALLS I am a huge Anthony Bourdain fan. I watched every episode of his television career. I love living in the city of Las Vegas. The best part of living here is hands down, the food. Yet, recently a trend has been emerging here in our town that I’m not that big of a fan of. Gourmet upscale food halls have been opening all over the place, and it’s a trend I’d like to see stop. They are fun to walk through and peruse their offerings. If I pay upscale pricing, I want and also feel I deserve upscale service. Bourdain is responsible for the rise of food trucks on our food scene. Those that operate those things work hard, and I know they churn out many fantastic food and dishes. I am an avid cook, and if I am going to go out to a meal, I have some admittedly food-snobby preferences.
My husband and I recently visited the Block 16 Food Hall at The Cosmopolitan. It was a busy weekend night with many tempting offerings, so it does beg the patrons to tour all it had to offer. The busiest stand was Aunt Haddie B’s chicken sandwich stand. We didn’t have time to wait in that line, so we avoided that stand. The food looked delicious, though.
We decided to saddle up to the bar at Tekka Bar: Handroll and Sake. The name the stand draws its name from an ancient gambling destination in Japan dating back over 100 years. “Tekka Bar” translates to “old gambling place.” Tekka bar has a signature Tekka Tuna roll featuring the restaurant’s notable spicy sauce next to an eclectic sake program. The tuna roll was tender with just enough spice, not overpowering. Hand rolls are made fresh to order, highlighting the freshest seafood. It was an excellent experience. We then shared a decadently sloppy sandwich from Lardo’s; it was a grilled mortadella sub alongside an order of their legendary dirty fries. It was a good yet sloppy end to our visit. All the food we sampled was good; this old-fashioned nerd prefers a meal where you get served because the prices were about the same as a good sit-down experience.
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