Food and Loathing

Wolfgang Puck was the first big-time celebrity chef to open a restaurant in Las Vegas. His empire has expanded all over The Strip. But now Puck has opened a place in The Arts District: 1228 Main. Puck's culinary director for Las Vegas, Dustin Lewandowsky, joins Al, Gemini and Rich to talk about how the place morphed from bakery to pasty shop to coffee to breakfast to lunch and dinner - all before it even opened! Also: Al heads back to Fine Company in Summerlin, Gemini gets an huge salad at Leone Cafe, and Rich goes for the bargain prime rib at the honest, straight-up, non-elevated coffee shop at Jerry's Nugget.

NOTE: Do not adjust your ears. The episode is a bit muffled, which we discovered after recording. We (meaning me, Rich) will resolve it for next week.

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That Girl is actually the founder of "Girls Can Grill," Christie Vanover. Her longtime Vegas presence gets some big-time national exposure, as she's a contestant on the new season of Discovery's "Barbecue Brawl." Al and Gemini recorded this episode at Little Avalon, the coastal cuisine casual joint in Village Square, the shopping complex at West Sahara & Fort Apache. Also: Gemini shares her trips to Urth Caffe, Garagiste and and Carson Kitchen. Al gets us up to speed on more places at The Sundry, the new food hall in the southwest valley. In the news: The Summer of Sangria arrives at Jaleo and yet another honor for Pizza Rock's Tony Gemignani.

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Al, Gemini and Rich share their experiences before and during the big game, including the NFL's signature charity event, Taste of the NFL, which benefits GenYouth and its "End Student Hunger" fund. Rich spoke to some of the superstar chefs that took part. Al and Gemini got to "Toast by Tostitos," which featured, well, Tostitos. Gemini got to 00 Pie & Pub, while Rich split his Super Bowl watching between the Sand Dollar Downtown and the bar at Barry's Downtown Prime. And Al shares reaction to one local restaurant's public disappointment with Guy Fieri's Super Bowl event.

But the centerpiece is an extended interview with the Golden Tiki’s Adam Rains, who shares a feast from their new food menu and tells us about U2’s recent visit. Other interviews this week include Chef Lorena Garcia, Patrick Anthony Munster, Olivier Dubreuil, Andrew Pollard, Chef Carla Hall, DJ Flores, Rashad Jennings, Locale Italian Kitchen's Andy Hooper and the first broadcast interview with Whataburger CEO Ed Nelson about their first Las Vegas location.

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Al and Gemini podcast from Wineaux, the new wine bar in UnCommons. Chef Shawn McClain and Sommelier Nick Hetzel share how they came together for this project and what it's all about. Also: Al takes a deeper dive into the new iteration of Esther's Kitchen, while Gemini explains This Mama's House, which popped up at 00 Pie & Pub. Also: lots of pizza news, a whiskey experience and, yes, it's true! Vegas Unstripped is back.

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