Mundo - Las Vegas

I was just in Las Vegas over the weekend for a little getaway vacation. A friend of mine found this great deal on Travelzoo for this restaurant called Mundo,  which is an upscale "Latin Chic" Mexican restaurant. It was not far from the strip and we figured it would not be a bad idea to go and check it out. I looked over the reviews and most everyone that had been there raved about the food. The restaurant was also listed as the "best Mexican food in Las Vegas" by City's Best Last Vegas in 2010.  So after being thoroughly convinced that we were getting our moneys worth, we purchased the deal on-line for $55.00. The deal included a 3 course meal for 2, that included a specialty cocktail of our choice. Regular value was $118 dollars.   


Upon my arrival at Mundo I was pretty impressed with the whole vibe of the restaurant. I loved the overall updated contemporary decor of the place.  It was definitely not the typical look that you would expect from your average Mexican restaurant. Upon being seated we were immediately given a plate chips with salsa. They offered some freshly made guacamole to go with the chips which we gladly accepted. The guacamole cost extra but it was definitely worth it!! Very tasty!! I had to stop myself from eating too much chips and guacamole because I still had the appetizers, the main course and the dessert to look forward to! 


Chips, Salsa and Guacamole

Once we were given our menus our first order of business was to select drinks and our appetizer. I decided to go with a nice Mojito and for the appetizer we selected the Skirt Steak Skewers covered in a chimichurri glaze with a jicama green apple slaw.  OMG, can I just tell you that I was blown away by the Skirt Steak Skewers. The steak was tender and the glaze was phenomenal. It was zesty and super flavorful! I could have eaten the skewers for my main course!! The slaw and the side of avocado was equally just as good. After tasting this first course, I was definitely excited and eagerly looking forward to the next 2 courses.



Mojito



Skirt Steak Skewers (YUMMY)

Next was the main course. I had decided to go with the Prime Fillet Mignon. I was torn between selecting Fillet or the Chilean Sea Bass. However it had been a while since I had a good fillet so I decided to stick with that. The Fillet also included a side dish, so I chose to go with the Mexican risotto with chile poblano, corn and cilantro. My friend decided to go with the Fillet Mignon Chile Relleno. 

Prime Fillet Mignon

Mexican Risotto



Fillet Mignon Chile Relleno

 Since I had already been blown away by the appetizers, I have to say that I was super excited to try my entree. My fillet was a perfect medium rare just as I had requested it. I was actually quite surprised at how perfect it was, because you cant really tell from the photo, but it was a fairly thick fillet. Both sides of the fillet were seared perfectly with just the right amount of seasoning. As you can see from the plate, there were also 3 different types of sauces, each with its own distinct flavor and spiciness. But once mixed together, it made for an amazing trio of taste! Oh, and lets not forget about the risotto!! Of course I love me some rice and this risotto was heavenly. Trust me, it tastes way better than it looks in the photo. (I didn't really do a great job with the photos because all I wanted to do was eat!) The risotto was cheesy and the taste of the poblano, corn and cilantro all blended really well with it each other. It was a great compliment to the spiciness of the sauces that came with the fillet. I have to say that I was beyond happy with this meal.  Sorry I can't really comment on the fillet chile relleno. I only had one bite of it. I am not a super big fan of chile relleno, but the 1 bite I did have of this, tasted pretty good to me! It was definitely on the spicy side!  So I would say this choice is perfect for those who like that spicy bite to their Mexican food!


The last course of the evening was the dessert, unfortunately we were in a hurry because we did not want to be late for our show, so we had to request our dessert to go. We chose the banana empanadas.  The empanadas were covered in a rich sweet sauce and garnished with mint leaves. I tasted the dessert a little later in the evening and it tasted pretty good considering it had gotten kinda cold and got a little soggy because of the sauce. However if I had actually eaten it fresh, I think that it would have been a really awesome dessert. I had completely forgotten to take a picture of it since we were in a hurry, so sorry, no dessert photo to share with ya!!


Overall, I thought this place was amazing. It had a wonderful atmosphere and the service was excellent. If you happen to be in Vegas, go check this place out!! It is a little pricey with entrees starting from $19 all the way up to $44, however after tasting the food, I can definitely see why.  Two thumbs up to Mundos and I hope to go there again the next time I get to Vegas!

Crock Pot Mushroom Chicken Marsala

I rarely cook using my crock pot primarily because I am usually gone longer than the usual 4 to 8 hours of cooking time that a standard recipe calls for.  Plus, I am not really a super early riser, so getting up and doing a any meal prep in the morning before I go to work is soooo not my thing. However when I decided to make this, I used my lunch hour to stop home and prepare my planned feast for the evening. Plus my brother was home so it would be a good meal to make for the two of us that would leave plenty of leftovers!  

Let me break down what I did. First I scanned the Internet for different slow cooker recipes for chicken Marsala.  Since I had never made it before, I thought it would be something different and a bit more flavorful as compared to what I might normally make with chicken and cream of mushroom soup.  I found a pretty good recipe that seemed to have a lot of great reviews, so I figured I would use it, but add some of my own little tweaks. 

I used 8 skinless chicken thighs, pretty much because that's what I had in the fridge, however you can use chicken breasts which is most commonly used for chicken Marsala. I coated the chicken with a mixture of flour, garlic salt, pepper and dried basil. I took the time to sear the chicken in a frying pan with some butter.

After I seared the chicken I added it to the crock pot and moved on to the vegetables.  I had fresh mushrooms and some green onions that I had cut up and added to the crock pot.The recipe I found did not call for cream of mushroom soup, but I really wanted to have a thick sauce, so in a separate bowl I mixed a large can of cream of mushroom soup, some Marsala wine and some chicken broth. The recipe called for 1/2 a cup of Marsala wine and 1/2 a cup of chicken broth.  I doubled mine since I was making a bigger batch. I mixed it up then added it to the crock pot as well. I set the crock pot to low and was out the door on my way back to work.  The recipe called for a 5-6 hour cook time on low or about 4 hours on high. 

6 hours later when I finally got home after a nice yoga workout this was the final end result........

Normally chicken Marsala is a little darker however since I added the cream of mushroom soup, of course it gave it a little more of a creamier look and texture.  Since I love white rice (it's that Asian side of me), this was a perfect mix! The chicken was super tender and literally fell of the bone.  I have to say that I really liked it. I think my brother did too, but that's just a guess.  This was a super duper easy recipe and you can change most any part of it to suit your personal taste!!  As my good buddy Caroline always says - Bon Appétit!!



Introduction

Hey Foodies!!  So this technically is not quite a food blog yet.  We just wanted to give you a quick introduction.  For future blogs my brother and I will take turns or blog together about our food experiences.  It could range from some of the best and worst restaurants in phoenix to some of your average everyday foods from the grocery store! It may even consist of our very own home cooking experiences, which by the way might be few and far between, because sometimes I am just too damn lazy to cook!  But hey, it’s a blog, it can be whatever we want it to be, Right?
FYI on some of these blogs you might see 2 separate opinions in the same blog.  Since my brother and I are doing this as a joint sibling thing, we thought it would be cool for you to read about each of our personal experiences.

Keep in mind we are new to the blogging thing and I am still getting used to this site and all the nuances of it.  So if you see any imperfections, let me know!! I hope you enjoy our blog and we look forward to sharing our experiences with you.

The Nibbling Siblings,
Juanita and Anthony