Food and Loathing Restaurant Guide -- Ep. 13: Feeding The Raiders

My friend Rick Moonen served as this week’s guest co-host. He kicked things off by bringing us up to date on the work he’s been doing as Master Development Chef for Perry’s Restaurants, including the creation of the company’s new concept, Carve American Grille. We then went into a great conversation about whether seafood belongs on pizza, and whether cheese belongs with seafood.

While Rick didn’t have a problem with either of the above, our producer Rich Johnson shared a horror story about a shrimp pizza he had at a Shakey’s in Beaverton, Oregon when he was a child. (He then told us about some pizza he had in Estonia, although we didn’t get the name of the place.)

From there, we moved into our segment about where we’ve been.

Rick began that conversation with some positive words about the new La Neta Cocina y Lounge in Downtown Summerlin.

He also gave a shoutout to Mariana Alvarado from Masazul, who provided the tortillas he enjoyed at La Neta.

And while we were on the topics of places he’s been eating, Rick had some very kind words for Al Solito Posto in Tivoli Village.

I told a story about my visit to Fremont Street's Vegas Test Kitchen, and played an interview with Jolene Mannina running down which restaurants were currently operating there. Rick and I then went into a bit of details about our experiences with Test Kitchen’s ceviche and taco concept, Black Pearl.


I also shared some details on my visit with Rich and our wives to SenorFrog’s, to see what my old friend Chef Paco (Francisco Cortez) has been doing at the tourist spot, since taking a corporate position there about a year ago.

For the center segment of this episode, we switched to a conversation about feeding the Las Vegas Raiders, with the founder of Honest Hospitality, Gary LaMorte.  

There’s not a lot you can look up from that section, but if you’re in the mood to see the video Gary and I recorded together many, any years ago at the Double Down Saloon, you can watch it on YouTube.

Gary also mentioned his work with The Mina Group on InternationalSmoke.

And Gary mentioned that The M Resort is the team’s pre-game Saturday night hotel.

I asked about a film called The Game Changers, about athletes and veganism. (Gary did not seem terribly convinced by its premise.)

When we returned from that interview, we played an interview clip with Melinda Sheckells and John Katsilometes discussing the Wynn FieldClub in Allegiant Stadium.

I then went on to discuss the launch party for Chef Stacey Dougan’s plant-based line of cannabis edibles, AYÉ, before tasting some AYÉ kale chips with Rick.

Rich took us out of this segment, by getting in the mood for his road trip with a blast from his own past --- some maple bars from Pinkbox.

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