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Spanish Inquisition, Part Dos - Madrid — Being John Curtas
(Dinner at 7? What are we, savages?) If Barcelona was a failed first date that makes you question whether there will be a second, Madrid was an inscrutable beauty who revealed just enough of herself to leave you lusting for more. One week was hardly enough time to get to know her seductive neighborhoods, and […]
Spanish Inquisition - Part One — Being John Curtas
As a first time tourist in any country, I’m usually an easy lay. Buy me a drink of good, indigenous hooch and I’ll lift my skirt. Seduce me with the tastiest local vittles and I’m yours for the asking. Show me your historical sites and I’ll show you my…er…uh…you get the idea. With Spain though, […]
The Best Restaurant in Town — Being John Curtas
Quality is always inversely proportional to quantity. – Lionel Pôilane There are passion restaurants and there are money restaurants. Passion restaurants are imbued with a feeling — a personal connection between staff and client — which is palpable. The people behind them are to the kitchen born, and can’t imagine themselves doing anything else. Restaurants […]
EATING LAS VEGAS 2023 - The 52 Essential Restaurants — Being John Curtas
(Grumpy gastronome grades great and egregious grub) Remember reading? When one had to digest actual words on a printed page (or screen) when researching restaurants? Nowadays, attention spans are shorter than a housefly’s, and the written word is deader than Duncan Hines. Sad but true, and a reality it is time to face. So rather […]
Peter Luger Steaks Its Claim — Being John Curtas
“You’re not being rude enough,” was the first thing I said to our waiter (Tony) as he was cheerfully guiding us through the menu and drink order. He just smiled and shrugged, “That’s not the way we do things around here,” and then kept on being more solicitous than a billboard lawyer at a fender-bender. […]
Best New Restaurants 2023 — Being John Curtas
(Riayn’s 00 pies will get your attention) It’s been a banner year for new restaurants, but most of the growth has been confined to the ‘burbs. (Face it: the Strip is now more boring than an Elon Musk boondoggle.) Whether the engine is a booming economy, pent-up demand or big money finally stepping into the […]
Summertime Blues - Top 10 Things We Love to Hate — Being John Curtas
I was going to do my usual “My Summer Sucks” post about how much I loathe July and August in Las Vegas, but since the whole world is turning into a listicle, I thought the coward’s way out was easier. Of course we call this a “Top Ten” list because, 1) that is the most […]
Paris 2023 - Lunchtime in the City of Light — Being John Curtas
(Ed. note: It seems half the people we know are heading to Paris this year (Can you say: “pent-up demand”?), so we thought we’d suggest a few places for them to eat, particularly for those looking for the classic over the au courant.) DEJEUNER ALL DAY – Lunchtime in the City of Light Lunch kills […]
Steer and Loathing in Las Vegas — Being John Curtas
Any freak…can walk into the Circus-Circus and suddenly appear in the sky over downtown Las Vegas twelve times the size of God, howling anything that comes into his head. No, this is not a good town for psychedelic drugs. There I was, standing at the entrance, of my own free will, and not on drugs. […]
April in Paris — Being John Curtas
The trouble with Paris is the human body is only designed to eat 4-to-5 meals a day. And early Spring is the perfect time to provoke your appetite for this moveable feast. The air is crisp but not cold. It may rain a little but there is revival in the air, and spring in everyone’s […]
Late-Stage Las Vegas + The List — Being John Curtas
(Changing the game at 1228 Main) Writers take their muses wherever they find them. The inspiration for this post came from James Reza — longtime Las Vegan, once my editor; now a thoughtful observer of all things Vegas — in a tweet about the possibility of the Oakland Athletics moving to town: Demolishing a historic […]
The Making of a Gourmet — Being John Curtas
(France, 1998) “To be a gourmet you must start early, as you must begin riding early to be a good horseman. You must live in France; your father must have been a gourmet. Nothing in life must interest your but your stomach. With hands trembling, you must approach the meal about which you have worried […]
How To Walk Into a Restaurant — Being John Curtas
(Man-purse optional) Entering a restaurant really is an art form in itself. The confidence, the charm, the way new arrivals move across the space — there’s a real elegance to someone who knows how to do it. – Edward Chisholm, “A Waiter in Paris” Taking your table at a restaurant is probably something you take […]
The List - February 2023 — Being John Curtas
(When influencers attack!) If you have an appetite for life, stay hungry. Such has been my mantra for 50 years. Half a century of searching for the best things to shove down the ole pie hole. And apparently, I’m not done yet. Our new podcast — Eat. Talk. Repeat. — is keeping me busy most […]
Hail, Britannia! Part Two — Being John Curtas
Man does not live by meat alone. Even if English cuisine is challenged by finding green things to eat, it more than makes up for it with its seafood. The British Isles take a backseat to no one in the flavor of their fishes and the succulence of its shellfish, and if you happen to […]
Hail, Britannia! Part One — Being John Curtas
For a Francophile like moi to admit he was enchanted by London is quite a leap. “London? Really?” numerous friends smirked, questioning my sanity. “Somehow we can’t see you hanging out in a Hugh Grant movie, quaffing down warm ale by the pint,” one of them scoffed. “What are you gonna eat? And drink?” others […]
Major Awards - 2022 — Being John Curtas
2022 was the year that wasn’t. Everything was supposed to come together this year, remember? The Covid insanity had passed, the economy was starting to boom again, demand was pent up and the party-as-a-verb crowd was raring to go. Instead we had inflation, supply chain teeth-gnashing, water woes and travel nightmares. We started the year […]
Pizza My Mind — Being John Curtas
Ed. note: We got thrown out of the Las Vegas Pizza Festival last Saturday. Here is the story: Human beings are funny creatures, by turns fiercely independent and slavish devotees to never thinking for themselves. No other creature goes to such lengths to assert its individuality (e.g. tattoos) while mindlessly going along with the herd […]
Las Vegas Book Festival - This Saturday — Being John Curtas
I look great, don’t I? Especially when photographed at distance, through a mayonnaise jar. Wait til you see me in person this Saturday at noon, at the Las Vegas Book Festival. Thankfully, I’ll be on a stage, far away — just me, a microphone and three people (Lotus of Siam’s Penny Chutima, Rosa Ristorante chef/owner […]
Of Cabbages and Kings...and Pizzas and Pia Zadora — Being John Curtas
‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things: Of shoes – and ships – and sealing wax – Of cabbages and kings And why the sea is boiling hot – And whether pigs have wings.’ – The Walrus and the Carpenter, Lewis Carroll (And all the little oysters stood, and waited […]
10 Years Ago — Being John Curtas
(June 27, 2012) My little toe hurts. Really hurts. As in, when you put any pressure on the top of it (right behind the teensy tiny little toenail) it feels like an electric shock is shooting through my foot. I don’t call it a “pinkie toe” because I’ve always hated the term — too infantile […]
My Summer of Suck — Being John Curtas
The only things worth talking about are sex and death. – Jean-Paul Sartre I’m supposed to be in Italy right now. Should have been there a week already. But something sinister grabbed me by the lungs three weeks ago and hasn’t let go. All the tests say I’m healthy enough to kayak the Colorado, but […]
Letter of the Month - So You Want to be a Food Writer... — Being John Curtas
Ed. note: Every week we get e-mails, DMs, texts, etc. asking for our favorite (fill in the blank) __________, steakhouse, sushi, dim sum parlor, high falutin’ French, you name it. We’re always happy to send advice along, but none of those make us think the way Jessica recently did: Dear Mr. Curtas, For the last […]
Happy Thanksgiving - What a Year It Has Bean — Being John Curtas
ELV note: Anyone who knows us, knows that Thanksgiving is our favorite day of the year. It is a distinctly American holiday that, despite every retail and marketing effort to the contrary, has yet to be co-opted by capitalism and bad taste. Thanksgiving is all about food, family and friends and that’s it. As much […]
We Got the Munchies for the Golden Steer — Being John Curtas
Ascot on! Knives up! Martini at the ready: the “legendary” me* shows Steve Chu and the Munchies crew around the iconic Golden Steer Steakhouse. on their tour of “Classic Vegas.” The above video just dropped today with more on their way, as Munchies documents how Stevie made his way around the Vegas Valley (to many […]
52 Things I Know I Know...and Some I Wish I Didn't Know — Being John Curtas
(Wagyu coming soon to an Outback near you) 1) I know that Main Street Provisions ought to be my favorite restaurant but isn’t, and this makes me sad. There, I said it. 2) I know the only seafood worth eating on the regular is at Japanese restaurants. 3) I know that chicken parm in any […]
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things — Being John Curtas
Eating is like sex: sometimes you do it as a form of art, and sometimes you do it to satisfy an urge. – Me It’s time I shared a little secret with you — one I usually keep to myself: As open-minded as I try to remain when eating out, I do play favorites. Sometimes […]