May 20, 2013

Impress Your Friends With Seasonal Items

SPRING IS APPROACHING and it’s time to go after the seasonal items that have been missing for a while. Go to local farmers markets and get the inside scoop. Take advantage of crops that aren’t readily available to the masses.

Have your neighbors over and make them jealous that you scooped them on the good stuff. It’s guaranteed to impress them. It’s a great time for vegetables and fruits like asparagus, artichoke and strawberries, and let’s not forget about the refreshments.

It’s time to break out the bartenders books and remember how to make a Margarita, a Hurricane, or just enjoy your favorite gin with a boutique tonic water. Blood oranges and berries are good bet for Spring, especially if you want to try your own hand at cocktail invention.

You can’t go wrong adding Rum or Vodka which are perpetually in season. Rye Whiskey and all manner of fruits and nectars work nicely together this time of year. Don’t forget about grapefruit, which goes nicely with Tequila! The key to this season is color. Make sure its plentiful both on your plates and in your glasses (and those of your guests).

Whatever your plans, change things up a little. With a nod to the changing of the seasons, life deserves a good kick start to follow mother earth as she defrosts and the sun makes its annual pit stop between the ski slope and the pools and beaches of summer.

The featured blogger for this post is Station Casinos Vice President of Food & Beverage Mark LaVoie

Table for Two? Our Las Vegas Valentine’s Day Dining Guide

HE SAID. SHE said.

He said: There’s nothing sexier than a woman who can cook.

She said: There’s nothing more romantic than a man who knows how to treat a women.

We’ll, here’s our Valentine’s Day dining blog post for him and her, you and yours.

Before we get to our romantic restaurants, amorous entrees and dreamy desserts for Valentine’s Day in Las Vegas, here’s a few other ideas for the Valentine’s-gift-impaired:

Now the menus.  A quick explanation about the first group below: our buffets have special Valentine’s items available at all Feasts and Festivals from Feb. 6-14. The Cabo and Pasta Cucina specials are being served on Valentine’s Day at all casinos with those restaurants. (Reminder: Pasta Cucinas are at Aliante, Boulder, Palace, Sunset & Texas Station while Cabos are at Aliante, Boulder, Palace, Red Rock, Santa Fe & Sunset.) Lastly, the Grand Cafe V-Day special is at all cafes but not at Red Rock (menu below) and Green Valley Ranch. After those, we dig into the menus at individual restaurants at each casino.

Have a question? Let us know below!

VDay Specials at buffet, Cabo, Grand Cafe & Pasta Cucina (multiple locations)

Buffets

Cabo

Grand Cafe

Pasta Cucina


VDay Specials at individual restaurants (alpha by casino name)

MRKT at Aliante

Broiler at Boulder

Amigo's at Fiesta Henderson


Fuego at Fiesta Henderson

China Spice at GVR

Hank's at GVR



Tides at GVR

Terra Verde at GVR

Broiler at Palace


Grand Cafe at Red Rock

Hachi at Red Rock

TBones at Red Rock


Terra Rossa at Red Rock

Charcoal Room at Santa Fe

Sonoma Cellar at Sunset


Austin's at Texas

When It’s Time To Celebrate, Bring Out Your Best!

 

IT’S THAT TIME of year when excitement reigns. Many of us are in a state approaching nirvana going into the holidays and the New Year.

Our deepest hope as we celebrate is to be filled with that extra sense of family and community. However, the excitement can also occasionally get overwhelming when the whole season is not put in proper perspective.

The key to conquering the holidays is to keep focused, and stop unwanted stress from creeping in. Easier said than done in the modern world, but quite attainable if you keep one very important question in mind throughout the festivities: If not now, when?

Most of us experience ups and downs throughout the year, preferably more ups than downs. The end of year holiday season is truly the appropriate time to celebrate fully. In other words, don’t hold back! Bring out your best!

If now is not the time to put out the best silverware, when might be the right time? If now is not the right time to crack the special bottle of wine you’ve been saving, when is the right time? The culmination of a year of hard work, and the end of another year of growth and bonding should not fade lightly. It is to be celebrated with vigor!

It is my sincerest hope that our Las Vegas hotel guests celebrating the holiday season with us (and at home) are filled with the spirit of the season and the luxury of proper perspective throughout. If not now, when?

The featured blogger for this post is Station Casinos Vice President of Food & Beverage Mark LaVoie.

Christmas Day Special at the Grand Cafés

THIS VIDEO IS from our Star Chef competition, where chefs from our Grand Cafés held a cook-off to determine the menu item featured as a special for Christmas. So watch here; eat there on December 25.

Christmas Special at the Grand Café

 

Italian, originally from Boston and the Room Chef at the Palace Station Grand Café, Lenny details his winning dish of “wicked” Chicken Piccata, which you can order at all the Grand Cafes (except Red Rock, they have a different special) on Christmas Day. Click that little image, up and to the left, for Lenny’s full special meal for $9.99.

Available on Christmas at the Grand Cafés at Boulder, Santa Fe, Texas, Sunset and Palace.

Check out our Holiday Dining post
with Christmas and New Year’s menus from many of our restaurants.

Christmas Day Special at Cabo Mexican Restaurants

THIS VIDEO IS from our Star Chef competition, where chefs from our Cabo Mexican Restaurants held a cook-off to determine the menu item featured as a special for Christmas. So watch here; eat there on December 25.

Christmas Special at Cabo

 

Chef Raul from Cabo Mexican Restaurant at Palace Station won the judges over with his Stuffed Skirt Steak with a creamy chipotle sauce (click on menu above). Watch as Raul describes the winning dish in our Star Chef competition and order it any of our Cabos this Christmas. Bueno Chef Raul!

Available on Christmas at Cabo at Aliante, Boulder, Red Rock, Santa Fe, Palace and Sunset

Check out our Holiday Dining post
with Christmas and New Year’s menus from many of our restaurants.

Eat, Drink, Eat Some More With Our Holiday Dining Guide

FIRST OFF, MERRY Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Now, like grandpa might say while dozing off in his recliner: Let’s Eat!

A couple of notes about our Feast & Festival Buffets for the holidays. The specials items for Chanukah are available Dec. 20 for dinner, then Dec. 21-24 & 26-28 for brunch, lunch and dinner. While the special Christmas meal at the buffet is Dec. 24 (Xmas Eve for dinner) and Dec. 25 all glorious day. Pricing, with Boarding Pass card, for the Christmas buffet goes like this:

  • Fiesta Henderson and Fiesta Rancho for $11.99
  • Aliante, Boulder, Palace, Santa Fe, Sunset and Texas Station is $12.99
  • Green Valley Ranch and Red Rock $18.99

Xmas Buffet Items

Chanukah Buffet Items

NYE/NYD Buffets


Click on the images above here to see the special buffet items … oh look, we’re having Yule Log! Also got the New Year’s Eve and Day buffet specials where we’re having seafood then champagne.

He loves the holidays: Read our VP of Food & Beverage’s first-ever blog post!

Our Las Vegas Christmas dining guide continues below with special menus at our steakhouses, cafés, Mexican (Feliz Navidad) and Italian (Buon Anno!) restaurants, and more.

The videos below are from our Star Chef competition, where chefs from our Grand Café, Cabo and Pasta Cucina restaurants held a cook-off to determine the menu items featured as specials for Christmas. So watch here; eat there on December 25.

We’ll keep adding to the list of menus here and if you have questions, let us know below!

Christmas Special at the Grand Café

 

Italian, originally from Boston and the Room Chef at the Palace Station Grand Café, Lenny details his winning dish of “wicked” Chicken Piccata, which you can order at all the Grand Cafes (except Red Rock, they have a different special, see below) on Christmas Day. Click that little image, up and to the left, for Lenny’s full special meal for $9.99.

Available at Grand Cafés at Boulder, Santa Fe, Texas, Sunset and Palace.

Christmas Special at Cabo

 

Chef Raul from Cabo Mexican Restaurant at Palace Station won the judges over with his Stuffed Skirt Steak with a creamy chipotle sauce (click on menu above). Watch as Raul describes the winning dish in our Star Chef competition and order it any of our Cabos this Christmas. Bueno Chef Raul!

Available at Cabos at Aliante, Boulder, Red Rock, Santa Fe, Palace and Sunset

Christmas Special at Pasta Cucina


Like the specials above, we held a Star Chef competition to determine the Christmas Day special at our Pasta Cucina Italian restaurants.

Unlike the specials above, we had some technical issues with the video so we can just tell you the menu to the left here won the day and is on the Christmas Day menu at all our Pasta Cucinas!

Available at Pasta Cucinas at Aliante, Boulder, Palace, Sunset and Texas


Holiday Dining Specials at Red Rock

 

Xmas Terra Rossa

Xmas Tbones

Xmas Grand Café


NYE Tbones

NYD Tbones

NYE Hachi

NYE Terra Rossa


All restaurants at Red Rock

Holiday Dining Specials at Texas Station

 

Xmas Oyster Bar

Xmas Austins


All restaurants at Texas

Holiday Dining Specials at Aliante Station

 

Xmas MRKT

NYE/NYD Cabo

NYE/NYD MRKT

NYE/D Pasta Cucina at Aliante


All restaurants at Aliante

Holiday Dining Specials at Palace Station

 

Xmas at Palace


All restaurants at Palace

Holiday Dining Specials at Green Valley Ranch

 

Xmas Tides

Xmas Terra Verde

Xmas Sushi + Sake


Xmas China Spice

Xmas Hank's

NYE Tides


NYE Hank's

NYE Terra Verde


All restaurants at GVR

Holiday Dining Specials at Fiesta Henderson

 

Xmas Amigo's

Xmas Fuego

NYE Fuego

NYE Amigo's


All restaurants at Fiesta Henderson

Holiday Dining Specials at Santa Fe Station

 

Xmas Charcoal Room


All restaurants at Santa Fe

Holiday Dining Specials at Sunset Station

 

Xmas Sonoma Cellar


All restaurants at Sunset

Holiday Dining Specials at Boulder Station

 

Xmas The Broiler

NYE Pasta Cucina at Boulder

NYE Broiler


All restaurants at Boulder

Feast On Our Las Vegas Thanksgiving Dining Guide

A MOMENT OF sincerity to start our 2011 Thanksgiving dining blog post. Ehem, we are thankful for those of you who choose to have a Thanksgiving meal in Las Vegas with us, sincerely. It’s a pretty special day for family and friends and we think it’s pretty special that you dine at one of our restaurants on Thanksgiving. We’re thankful for you.

OK, now let’s talk turkey (and ham, and prime rib) by starting with our Thanksgiving buffets. Click on the image here to the right to see some of the special menu items we’re offering at the Feast and Festival Buffets on Nov. 24. Pricing (with Boarding Pass card) breaks down like this:

  • $11.99 for Festival Buffet at Fiesta Henderson and Fiesta Rancho
  • $12.99 for Feast Buffet at Aliante, Boulder, Palace, Santa Fe, Sunset and Texas Stations
  • $18.99 for the Feast at Green Valley Ranch and Red Rock Resort

What else, buffet hours are pretty much all day from like 8am to 9pm. What else, what else: we have special menus at many of our restaurants below and will keep adding them as we go. Click to enlarge menus and you can crave through them using the buttons down the bottom.

A few words about the videos below. Our Food & Beverage Team held three “Star Chef” contests, where chefs from Grand Café, Pasta Cucina and Cabo prepared dishes that were judged with the winning meals appearing as a special on Thanksgiving. So, you can see it here and order over there on Turkey Thursday.

One more, if you need a room, check here for availability and room rates on Thanksgiving Day/Weekend.

If you have questions, let us know below, and thanks again.

Thanksgiving Day Special at Cabo Mexican Restaurants

 

So here’s the Star Chef competition from the chefs at our Cabo Mexican Restaurants. What we like most about Chef Manny’s, who works at Cabo at Red Rock, winning Shredded Turkey Enchiladas dish (click on the little image up to the left here) is that it’s from his mom’s recipe. Thanks chefs!

Cabo at Aliante, Boulder, Red Rock, Santa Fe and Sunset

Thanksgiving Day Special at the Grand Cafés

 

The Star Chef competition amongst our Grand Café chefs was a real wishbone pull, but when all was said and test-tasted Chef Ray’s, from Santa Fe Station, Slow-Roasted Turkey Breast with Chestnut Stuffing was judged top bird. You can order the winning dish at all our Grand Cafés (except at Red Rock, see below) for $9.99 with Boarding Pass on Nov. 24 from 11am to 11pm.

Grand Café at Boulder, Santa Fe, Texas, Sunset and Palace.

Thanksgiving Day Special at Pasta Cucinas

 

Well, we had some technical difficulties taping at the Pasta Cucina Star Chef competition. To the point, you can order Chef Jeremy’s winning Roasted Basil-Rubbed Turkey Breast at all of our Pasta Cucina restaurants on Thanksgiving Day for $14.99. Video shows Jeremy, who cooks at Pasta Cucina at Palace Station, and his top turkey dish, but we can’t take our eyes off that pumpkin cheesecake cannoli. Enjoy!

Pasta Cucina at Aliante, Boulder, Palace, Sunset and Texas


Thanksgiving Day Specials at Red Rock

Terra Rossa 12-9pm

Grand Cafe 11am-9pm

Tbones 3-9pm

 


All restaurants at Red Rock

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Texas Station

Austins 3-9pm

Oyster Bar 12-9pm

 


All restaurants at Texas

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Green Valley Ranch

Terra Verde 12-9pm

Sushi + Sake 5pm-Close

China Spice 5-10pm

Tides 11am-10pm

 


All restaurants at GVR

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Sunset Station

Oyster Bar 12-9pm

Sonoma Cellar 2-10pm

 


All restaurants at Sunset

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Fiesta Henderson

Amigo's 2-9pm

Fuego 1-8pm


All restaurants at Fiesta Henderson

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Aliante Station

MRKT 3-9pm

 


All restaurants at Aliante

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Boulder Station

The Broiler 11am-10pm

 


All restaurants at Boulder

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Santa Fe Station

Charcoal Room 3-9pm

 


All restaurants at Santa Fe

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Palace Station

The Broiler 12-10pm

 


All restaurants at Palace

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Fiesta Rancho

Garduno's 12-7pm


All restaurants at Rancho

Thanksgiving Day Special at the Grand Cafés

Thanksgiving Day Specials at the Grand Cafés

 

A quick few words of explanation about the video here. Our Food & Beverage Team held a “Star Chef” contest, where chefs from Grand Cafés prepared dishes that were judged with the winning meal appearing as a special on Thanksgiving. So, you can see it here and order over there on Turkey Thursday.

The Star Chef competition amongst our Grand Café chefs was a real wishbone pull, but when all was said and test-tasted Chef Ray’s, from Santa Fe Station, Slow-Roasted Turkey Breast with Chestnut Stuffing (click on little image for poster) was judged top bird. You can order the winning dish at all our Grand Cafés (except at Red Rock, sorry) for $9.99 with Boarding Pass on Nov. 24 from 11am to 11pm.

Grand Café at Boulder, Santa Fe, Texas, Sunset and Palace.

 

See all of the 2011 Station Casinos Thanksgiving Specials. 

Thanksgiving Day Special at Pasta Cucinas

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Pasta Cucinas

 

A quick few words of explanation about the video here. Our Food & Beverage Team held a “Star Chef” contest, where chefs from Pasta Cucinas prepared dishes that were judged with the winning meal appearing as a special on Thanksgiving. So, you can see it here and order over there on Turkey Thursday.

Well, we had some technical difficulties taping at the Pasta Cucina Star Chef competition. To the point, you can order Chef Jeremy’s winning Roasted Basil-Rubbed Turkey Breast (click on little image for poster) at all of our Pasta Cucina restaurants on Thanksgiving Day for $14.99. Video shows Jeremy, who cooks at Pasta Cucina at Palace Station, and his top turkey dish, but we can’t take our eyes off that pumpkin cheesecake cannoli. Enjoy!

Pasta Cucina at Aliante, Boulder, Palace, Sunset and Texas

 

See all of the 2011 Station Casinos Thanksgiving Specials. 

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Cabo Mexican Restaurants

Thanksgiving Day Specials at Cabo Mexican Restaurants

 

Quick story behind the video here. Our Food & Beverage Team held a “Star Chef” contest, where chefs from Cabo Mexican Restaurants prepared dishes that were judged with the winning meal appearing as a special on Thanksgiving. So, you can see it here and order over there on Turkey Thursday.

So here’s the Star Chef competition from the chefs at our Cabo Mexican Restaurants. What we like most about Chef Manny’s, who works at Cabo at Red Rock, winning Shredded Turkey Enchiladas dish (click on the little image up to the left here) is that it’s from his mom’s recipe. Thanks chefs!

Cabo at Aliante, Boulder, Red Rock, Santa Fe and Sunset

 

See all of the 2011 Station Casinos Thanksgiving Specials.