1. Track #1: Las Vegas Showgirl Museum, Paradise Palms
One of the eye-popping displays at Grant Philipo’s Las Vegas Showgirl Museum (Image: Vegas 411)
What the world needs now is more fantasy, glamour, and beauty. You’ll find plenty of this at Grant Philipo’s Las Vegas Showgirl Museum. Open since 2006, it’s housed in a private two-story mansion on the east side of town.
There’s no shortage of sequins, rhinestones, feathers, priceless jewelry, and memorabilia at the museum. It contains the largest collection of Bob Mackie-designed costumes in America, and its most valued costume, says Philipo, is “the million-dollar gown of Lynette Chappell,” known as Siegfried & Roy’s “Evil Queen.”
Philipo describes himself as “Showboy, Singer, Show Producer, Director, and Set & Costume Designer.” He’s the ultimate insider, the museum’s head curator, and a masterful storyteller. Let Philipo guide you through two eye-popping floors that embody the history of original Vegas showgirl (and showboy).
The mansion contains a chunk of the museum’s 40,000-plus artifacts; the rest is stored in warehouses around town. “My mission is to educate people about this vanishing entertainment art form—and to make it again reappear!”
2. Track #2: Taru Rockin Sushi and Sake House, Chinatown
It’s worth stepping into the elegant and gorgeously lit Taru Rockin Sushi and Sake House in Chinatown, located in the same row of restaurants as Sparrow + Wolf and Lamaii.
Taru’s extensive menu makes good on its boast of using “the freshest ingredients by partnering with local and international suppliers.” A stellar example is the Hidden Dragon Roll: deep-fried shrimp, avocado roll with fresh salmon that’s “torched with dynamite chili sauce and eel sauce.”
I also fell in love instantly with the Geisha Roll, a no-rice roll with spicy albacore. And their Yakitori Skewer combination—including a loaded mashed potato and mushroom delight—took us even higher.
Since we often dine on the late side, a restaurant like Taru that’s open daily until midnight is now in our regular rotation.
3. Track #3: Luv-it Frozen Custard, near the Arts District
The still-thriving Luv-it Frozen Custard has been open for 50 years (Image: Vegas 411)
Summer may be over. But why accept that depressing reality when you can head to Luv-it Frozen Custard—a family-owned-and-operated Vegas institution since 1973 where it’s always summer?
Simply look for the unmistakable red, white, and blue structure adjacent to the Arts District on E Oakey Blvd, off Las Vegas Blvd. Outside, you’ll find a line of people blissfully in denial about the colder weather and ordering Luv-it’s custard, which is richer than ice cream thanks to the key addition of egg yolks. It comes in cones, cups, sundaes, and shakes.
I went with a simple scoop of their “flavor of the day”—”Death By Chocolate”—which immediately hit my sweet mainline. Next time, I plan to gleefully surrender to their wide menu by ordering the “Scotch Jimmie,” consisting of butterscotch, sliced bananas, and chocolate sprinkles, or maybe the “Banana Fudge Kumble,” with crushed Oreos.
4. Track #4: Rang’s Cocina Moderne, W Charleston Blvd
The signature pasta dish Aligue with Garlic Shrimp at Rang’s Cocina Moderne (Image: Vegas 411)
Looking for a true food adventure in Vegas? Then Rang’s Cocina Moderne, a cozy and stylish off-Strip indie eatery on W Charleston Blvd, is your place. It opened five months ago and is a total gem.
Chef Rang Tan hails from Manila, and she and her husband Benedict have created a world-class, moderately priced restaurant with an astounding menu that lovingly merges Spanish and Italian fare with subtle Asian flavors.
“Because of my mixed heritage,” she says, “I grew up eating Filipino, Spanish and Chinese food. From an early age, I learned that there can be magic in uniting ingredients and culinary techniques from different corners of the globe.”
Start with the addictive sweet potato, carrot, and ginger soup, as well as the marvelously light chorizo potato croquettes with aioli. We also couldn’t pass up the toasted baguette with smoked salmon, goat cheese, prosciutto, pesto, arugula, and balsamic glaze. Our entrées were the Fish Florentine—a tender codfish served with pommes Anna and a heavenly spinach cream sauce—plus their signature Aligue with Garlic Shrimp, prepared with crab fat (the dish’s “secret weapon” ingredient).
Chef Rang left behind her flourishing catering business in Manila and was drawn to Vegas in 2021 during the pandemic. “We were still all locked down in our homes in Manila during the time when we saw news that people in Vegas started going about with their normal lives,” she explains. “We saw a bigger opportunity to share our passion for food in Vegas because businesses started to open earlier, and people were freely living their day-to-day lives.”
5. Track #5: Ppang Co. Bakery, Chinatown
The doors at Ppang Co. Bakery Cafe lead to a soaring 5000-square-foot modern space (Image: Vegas 411)
My culinary antenna always goes up for new dessert spots, and I was immediately impressed by the newly opened Ppang Co. Bakery. You’ll find it on Jones Blvd in Chinatown in a 5000-square-foot standalone building with a soaring exposed ceiling.
Their outstanding sweet delicacies (French and Korean) are baked daily on the premises, according to friendly owners and twin brothers Aaron and Andrew Lee. It’s a welcoming modern space with couches and relaxing jazz music piped in. The brothers told me they were inspired by the popularity of cafés in Korea and wanted to create a similar vibe here.
I enjoyed a “bengo chocola” onsite and took home a coconut croissant, blueberry pastry, a cream-filled biscuit, and their “infamous Korean bread” with soybean cream inside and powder outside.
Comments
0 comment