FLOUR AND BARLEY

3545 Las Vegas Las Vegas Blvd. S. (702) 430-4430, 11 am to 12 midnight 7 days a week.

Located on the Linq behind the Flamingo Hotel and Casino is a large, reasonably priced restaurant.

It has a large interior and a very large patio.

We sat on the patio and ordered a litre of their house red. 

The menu has a nice variety of choices.

We decided to split the arugula and kale salad - it was amazing, the ingredients were unique and included artichokes, mushrooms and pine nuts.  It was large and easily split.  The flavours were fabulous!

My wife had the grilled salmon with broccolini and roast potato in a lemon caper sauce.  It was a large meal but very tasty.

I chose the shrimp scampi in a garlic lemon sauce with spaghettini.  The shrimp were large and very tender.

This was a good meal and good value in a nice location on the newly developed linq.

 

http://www.flourandbarley.com/

BECCO 

355 W 46th Street, New York, Hell's Kitchen New York, New York (212) 397-7597

Located on restaurant row in the Theatre District of Manhattan (West 46th Street).  Becco is part of the Bastianich chain owned by the famous television chef Lidia Bastianich and her son Joe.  It was opened in 1993 and since then has been a staple in the theatre district.

It is composed of many intimate areas just below street level.

We made our reservation rather early, since we were booked at a jazz club nearby for 8:30, but we were in no hurry.  We enjoy good Italian food and had lots of time.  We were ushered into one of the rear rooms that had a large skylight and was almost like eating al fresco.

It was early, so the restaurant was quiet, however it did not take long to fill up.  Our table was prepared with nice linen napkins, an incredible bread basket that included a variety of very fresh breads (the breadsticks were our favourites).  There was also a nice variety of spiced olives and a rich herbed butter in olive oil - very unusual but very tasty.

The wine selection here was outstanding and large.  All wines were priced the same $29.  This alone was worth the visit!  

We selected a wonderful Valpolicella Ripasso, it was smooth as silk.  There were so many good wines on this list - it was hard to choose.

In viewing the menu, we saw that there was a price fix available for $23.95, which included salad and a choice of 3 different pasta varieties available that evening.

We decided to go a la carte and chose caesar salad and a main from the extensive menu.  Only a portion of which is shown below.

Caesar Salad

My wife selected the calves liver. The liver was pan seared with bacon, caramelized onions, crispy polenta, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was was melt in your mouth perfectly cooked.

I chose one of the evening's specials veal scallopini done in a butter, wine and sherry sauce with capers and lemon.  It was divine and very rich in flavour.

It was accompanied by a garlic and olive oil spinach side dish.

We completed our meal with a strawberry cheesecake (I could not believe they did not have a tiramisu or tartuffo).  We did however eat the cheesecake so fast I forgot to take a photo of it.  We completed our dessert with delicious Cappucino coffees. 

By the time we left, the restaurant was jammed to capacity!

We really enjoyed our meal here - however it was much too hurried, we barely had time to savour each course and the bill arrived on our table.  I would recommend they retain an area in this large restaurant for those not in a hurry for a Broadway show.

http://becco-nyc.com/

 

CANALETTO 
Venetian Grand Canal Shoppes 3355 Las Vegas Boulevard S, Las Vegas Nevada, (702) 733-0070, Open 11:30 to 11:00pm every day except Friday and Saturday ti 12:00am
We visited Canaletto after a web search of many of the restaurants on the strip.  We found that a lot of restaurants in Vegas were way overpriced and selected a few before leaving home that seemed reasonable, this was one of them.

It is located in the heart of Mark's Square in the Venetian Canal Shoppes in the plaza level.

We had made a reservation and were seated at the edge of the indoor patio with a view of the plaza.  It was quite a glamorous setting.

A nice basket of bread arrived accompanied by olive oil.

We ordered a bottle of Chianti (reasonably priced compared to most Vegas restaurants).  It was smooth and had a nice flavour.

We began with an appetizer of calamari fritti (one of my favourite appetizers).  They where soft and perfectly cooked and were accompanied with a choice of white or red sauce.

My wife ordered the calves liver with polenta and really enjoyed it.

I ordered the chicken with spinach and a hot sauce that turned out to be very hot.  The chicken was enormous and was nicely coated and grilled, but the meat was a little dry.

We ended our meals without dessert since they were so substantial. Instead my wife had a nice cappuccino.

I followed with a double espresso.

Our meals were wonderful and reasonably priced in a location that was lively and pure Vegas.  The service was very spotty but the restaurant was very busy.


http://www.ilfornaio.com/?page=138&restaurant_id=3164

SCADDABUSH KITCHEN AND BAR 

382 Yonge Street, in the Aura Condo, Toronto, (416) 597-8838, Mon-Wed and Sun. 11:00 am to 1:00 am, Thurs. - Sat. 11:00 am to 2:00 am,  

Having been by the new restaurant Scaddabush a couple of weeks ago we decided to try it on a Sunday evening.  It is a large and complex restaurant with many seating choices.  

We examined their menu - which is quite large and selected some choices.

We decided on a nice Ripasso wine to start.  It was nice and smooth.

Having reviewed the appetizers we decided on sharing a plate of fried calamari.  The coating was good but they were quite chewy.  

For his main Mark decided to try their chicken avocado BLT on freshly baked flatbread, tomato, pickled red onions, romaine, piccante aoli and house fries.  He really liked it but found it was a lot of food.

My wife had the grilled tomato caper salmon with a white wine sauce, parsley butter potatoes and green beans.  It was delicious and nicely cooked.

I decided on the pasta (which is made in house daily).  I decided to try their pasta called Zucca which was a butternut squash ravioli with grated Grana Padano cheese, hazelnut butter cream sauce, roasted squash and fried sage.  They were melt in your mouth delicious and it was quite a large helping.

The service here is efficient and friendly and the atmosphere is upbeat.  Our server was personable and efficient and when I mentioned that the calamari were very chewy he talked to the manager, who then took it off our bill.  This was a nice touch and an indication that they are concerned about their reputation and customer service.  The wine was reasonable and the prices for the food were also in line with the market.  Worth returning to to try other selections on the menu.

http://www.scaddabush.com