Las Vegas, NV – Munchbar (Caesar’s Palace) – Introducing the Follow Me Foodie Quickie VIDEO

So you just experienced the FIRST ever Follow Me Foodie Quickie!

How fitting that we shot the first “Quickie” series in LAS VEGAS! YES WE DID! I’ve been holding back on my Vegas posts because I was waiting to share this with you! The Follow Me Foodie Quickies are not part of the Follow Me Foodie webisodes (see a webisode here), instead they are shorter, briefer, snappier Follow Me Foodie moments. It’s my way of giving you a quick taste of what’s to come and settling your craving for the Follow Me Foodie webisodes. Good things come to those who wait 😉

Restaurant: Munchbar
Cuisine: American/Modern American/Pub food/Bar/Late Night
Last visited: January 24, 2011
Location: Las Vegas, NV (Caesar’s Palace)
Address: 3570 Las Vegas Blvd S
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 4
Service: n/a
Ambiance: 4
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• American comfort food with twist
• Some breakfast items
• Executive Chef Bryan Ogden
• Casual/fun
• Sports bar
• Voted “2010’s Best Late-Night Eats”
• Homemade/made in house sauces
• Late night munchies hot spot
• Affordable
• Great for drinks/cocktails
• Playful atmosphere
• Location in Bellevue
• Open Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. – 4 a.m.
• All other days 11 a.m. – 2 a.m

**Recommendations: Tiny Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with standard sauce as well as creamy Poblano sauce for dipping, Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos with Yam Fries, Burgers (I’d ask for the Munch Burger, but replace the “fancy sauce” with “creamy Poblano sauce” again, it’s worth the extra charge if any!)

To any new readers I may attract with this post – Welcome! I’m a food blogger from Vancouver, BC and I was invited to try out Munchbar in Las Vegas. It was my first visit, so everything is based on my first time experience and what I tried. As usual, I abide by my “honesty is the best policy” rule. Since there is a VIDEO (yay!), I can make my written portions a little shorter now… yeah right! Like that’s even possible! 😉 However, it takes a while for me to collect my thoughts which is hard to do in a “quickie”, so for more details with the food, it’s always best to follow up by reading my posts as well.

Munchbar is a casual yet contemporary sports bar and late night hot spot located in the Caesar’s Palace hotel in Las Vegas. The food is American comfort food with a twist, and I know the concept is quite popular nowadays, but not everyone does a good job with it. The food is basic, but playful and it takes your favourite foods growing up and makes it appeal to adult tastes. The ingredients at Munchbar are fresh, yet simple enough to attract a mass market, so I could see this place expanding quite rapidly. Surprisingly it’s very affordable considering it’s in a hotel, which makes it an easy place to come back to and I was pleasantly surprised with the whole experience.

I’m actually pretty excited about the Munchbar Bellevue location that just opened late January. It’s a 6300-square-foot restaurant and bar with the same sort of food and pop-art decor as their Las Vegas location. However next door is their sister property Piano Bash, which sounds like a “new age karaoke bar”. Piano Bash serves a different menu and they’re aiming for an interactive atmosphere featuring dueling piano shows as well as embarrassing singing. I’m very curious to check both out!

From my “foodie” perspective, I wouldn’t go out of my way with a 2.5 hour drive just to go to Munchbar for the food, but more for the overall atmosphere and experience. Although I’ll say Munchbar is not only a place that’s good for munchies, because there’s still care in the food and it would taste good even if you weren’t drunk… and I wasn’t.

Special thanks to the crew: Justin, Mel, Allen, Kevin at Threesixtyphoto.com and Steve from SteveTan.net – best there is.

On the table:

**Tiny Grilled Cheese Sandwiches – n/a

• Creamy tomato dipping sauce $10
• I’ll admit, it did sit a while before I got to eating one, so it’s not fair for me to “rate” it since the cheese had gotten a bit cold and it wasn’t as ooey gooey.
• The name is a bit deceiving because I was expecting mini grilled cheese sandwiches rather than 2 regular grilled cheese sandwiches cut into quarters.
• 2:1 ratio of cheese to bread. Awesome! The bread is nice and thin and likely buttered intensely before being fried to a perfect crisp.
• I’m guessing it was sharp white cheddar cheese. It was good, but nothing really gourmet or special. It’s similar to the one I had at Meat & Bread, but that was more gourmet.
• The tomato dipping sauce was the unique part, and what makes the dish “Follow Me Foodie Approved”. It’s nice and tangy so it contrasted the heaviness of the cheese. It was almost like a sour cream/yogurt based sauce with the flavours of ketchup. I loved it!
• If you liked grilled cheese sandwiches dipped in ketchup as a kid, you’ll like these, since it’s a “grown up” spin off.
• Follow Me Foodie Twist: I think these would taste great with the creamy Poblano sauce as well.

Naked Wings – 4/6

• Choose two styles: thai bbq, italian, three hot friends, plain $14
• I don’t normally hit the wings, but they came recommend. Also “Naked Wings” did catch my eye and I was curious to check out their sauces since they are all made in house.

• Naked Wings – Thai BBQ
  
  • Enjoyable! It wasn’t just the standard Sweet Chili Thai sauce, and I couldn’t see the chili flakes, although some of that sauce could have still been used.
  • They were a tad dry, but crispy and I picked up the BBQ sauce before the Sweet Thai Chili, however I could still taste both.
  • Initially it’s quite sweet, syrupy and sticky and it seems like a sweet honey based BBQ sauce, but then the kick comes afterward from what I think is Worcestershire sauce rather than the chili sauce. I really enjoyed the sauce as you can see from the video!

• Naked Wings – Thee Hot Friends
  • The menu is playful and how could I not check out his “Three Hot Friends”?
  • So was I turned on? It didn’t blow my mind, but they were good… it was one hot friend.
  • They were flavourful hot, and not just hot for the sake of being hot. They reminded me of buffalo wings with a thicker version of Frank’s Hot Sauce drizzled on top.
  • It wasn’t a sharp Tabasco hot sauce, but a well rounded spiciness that was a bit sweet and I liked it!
  • I like spicy and this one did linger a while, but it didn’t have me calling for water either.
  • Again, a little dry, but that might depend on who’s cooking. It’s still crispy and good though.

The Pizzadilla – 2.5/6

• Fresh flour tortilla, pepperoni, creamy tomato cheese sauce, basil $13 With chicken $15
• It’s a very popular item, but I didn’t really see why. It works as a quick appetizer while you’re deciding what else to order.
• It was something I could imagine making at home for a football game… if I watched football.
• It’s very basic, but it is exactly what it sounds like… pizza toppings and flavours, but served in quesadilla form. The Pizzadilla!
• It’s decently filled with cheddar and mozzarella cheese and some round slices of pepperoni. The peperoni may have had a little heat, but I wasn’t sure because I was still tasting the spice from his “hot friends”.
• I could see it as a munchie, reminded me more of a pizza, could have been crispier, and I probably would appreciate it more if I was a bit tipsy.

**The Munch Burger – 4/6

• Melted cheddar, “tomatoes, pickles, onions”, shredded romaine, “fancy sauce”$14.95
• 100% Certified Angus Beef  – all come with bucket of hand cut fries –
• The burgers are huge here, and they’re huge for everyone… I walked around and did my own observations.
• It was a very good burger and it was nice and smoky with charred flavours.

• It’s definitely a meaty burger with predominantly beef flavours coming through the most.
• The patty is substantial and it’s pretty moist, with a slightly pink middle and I would have requested medium rare if they do that here.
• I liked the soft thin bun, but the crispy fried onions and the rest of the ingredients get a bit overwhelmed by the amount of meat. It’s a very thick patty!
• The “fancy sauce” was just that In-N-Out Burger Thousand Island like sauce. I find this gets a bit overplayed and that’s why I suggested getting this sauce replaced with their creamy poblano sauce which was delicious! I’d pay the extra for it too.
• Fries – The fries are good here! They taste like gourmet McDonald’s fries, but crispier, with the skins on, and made with very fresh oil.

**Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos – 5/6

• Creamy poblano sauce, shredded cabbage $17
• All come with a bucket of hand fries
• This was my favourite of everything I tried. Very West Coast, very Californian, very San Diego and very delicious!
• This is something I would typically order on my own. It’s definitely a more “refined munchie”, but I’m pretty obsessed with finding good fish tacos especially after watching the movie I Love You Man.
• Yes, it is a bit pricier, but the high quality ingredients and large piece of mahi mahi is well worth it.

• The tortillas are the American style mini soft tortilla shells rather than the authentic Mexican version, but they’re still good and served warm. I think there’s 6 tortilla shells.
• The fish is big and it’s a firm, flaky, juicy, and tender white fish with smoky and charcoal flavours and a hint of lime.
• The fresh crunchy cabbage (no dressing),  fresh tomato salsa and creamy poblano sauce makes for a really refreshing fish taco, and the balance of smoky and tangy sauce is really well played.
• The poblano sauce is almost like a cooling tangy sour cream, but lighter and thinner in texture. It has tons of flavour and some smoky sweet notes and reminded me of smoky zesty avocado sour cream dressing. Remember to use it for your Tiny Grilled Cheese Sandwiches as well!
• I could have used a corn salsa too, but that’s another story.

**Sweet Potato French Fries – 4/6

• Roasted garlic mayo (Ordered alone, or substituted for additional charge)
• These are actually yam fries. They’re crispy, flat and thick cut, well seasoned and pretty delicious for what they were. I’d gladly pay the extra to get them substituted, but I generally do really like yam fries.

Munch Punch Bowl – n/a (The virgin version is 3.5/6)

• Shared table-side in a 48oz scorpion bowl, milagro añejo tequila, fresh lime, pomegranate, liqueur, pineapple, agave nectar $26
• I had this alcohol free since I was on the “job”, so it does come virgin as well.
• It’s almost like a sweet grapefruit juice, but tangier from the pomegranate and pineapple. I think there’s some Sprite in it because it is a bit carbonated.
• It’s very light and refreshing and not to sweet, sugary or syrupy, although I doubt it’s made from any fresh fruit purees.
• My friends did go back on 2 occasions to order it with alcohol and they did say it was a bit different both times. The amount of alcohol used is a bit inconsistent and sometimes it’s much more of a “man’s punch” rather than a fruitier “girl-friendly” drink.

Crunchy S’mores Sundae – 4/6

• Crushed graham cracker, charred marshmallows, chocolate ice cream, chocolate-nutella sauce $8
• Yummy!! I love ice cream so anything with ice cream starts off as good… unless the quality sucks.
• This is MASSIVE! Totally worth it.
• It tastes like McDonald’s soft serve ice cream, but much thicker, richer and creamier.
• I loved that it had finely ground graham cracker crumbs throughout the ice cream and not only as a topping because I liked the gritty crispy cookie crumb texture it brought.
• There ARE actually marshmallows at the bottom, but they’re big ones and I didn’t get to them in the video. I still think smaller charred marshmallows or a caramelized marshmallow cream topping/sauce would have worked better.
• The larger marshmallows just don’t melt and  instead the marshmallows harden from the coldness and get a bit chewy and almost like candy, so you lose that marshmallow “s’mores” quality.
• The chocolate nutella sauce tastes like equal parts chocolate melted with nutella, so no surprises there.
• My friends also went back for this and said that they didn’t get as much chocolate-nutella sauce… so again a bit inconsistent… however that’s only one example.
• It’s not like my version had tons of sauce either though, and it is layered and I actually prefer it with a bit less sauce since it’s sweet enough already. (I have Follow Me Foodie spies everywhere… lol j/k… well sort of)

• Follow Me Foodie Tasty Twist: I’ve been doing this at McDonald’s since Kindergarten, but if you’ve never dipped fries in soft serve ice cream, you’re missing out. It’s delicious. You get the savoury and salty contrast and warm and cold contrast.
• I actually think it works better with the McDonald’s fries though… and it has to be dippable soft serve ice cream.

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