Pulled Pork with Cincinnati Chili

Pulled Pork with Cincinnati Chili at Top Notch Barbeque

topnotchbarbeque.com

B+

Top Notch Barbeque is a caterer/food truck in Las Vegas, casually styled as some sort of west coast-desert-cowboy barbecue cuisine, but the cook has some serious midwest roots. Also, he' s crazy. How else would you explain topping a juicy mountain of a pulled pork sandwich with spicy, volcanic Cincinnati-style chili? It's pure meaty madness, and you won't believe you ate the whole thing. With a fork.

Honestly, Top Notch earns its name as one of the best barbecue suppliers in Vegas, and it's pulled pork is as good as any in the city. You can also get it topped with creamy coleslaw, if you're not in the mood for this monster. But with the chili added, and with the soft egg bun absorbing lots of pork and beef juices, this really becomes more than a sandwich, something like a barbecue/chili version of Philippe's famous French dip. Mighty and tasty.

Grilled Queso Blanco

Grilled Queso Blanco

homemade

B-

It's a safe assumption the original grilled cheese was conceived much like this one, as a quick and tasty sandwich improvisation. We just happened to have some fresh Mexican farmer's cheese in the fridge, and we just happened to have some couple-days-old bread mom baked. Not just any plain bread, but cottage cheese and dill bread, a big, flat, round loaf of it. So we sliced it, tossed it on the griddle, dropped bombs of queso on it, splashed on some Tapatio hot sauce, and there you have it. Slightly spicy, very cheese, and very savory from the homemade bread. Plus, crunchtastic.

Kalbi Burger

Kalbi Burger at Bachi Burger

bachiburger.com

A

Oh sweet lord, my infatuation with Asian burgers continues. Bachi's Kalbi Burger grinds some sweet piggy into the beefy patty, adding to the juicy succulence of this perfectly sized sandwich, and spices things up with soy, garlic, ginger and chili paste. You will definitely notice, with your first bite, that this isn't just some vaguely Asian-flavored burger. It's definitely got that Kalbi short ribs-barbecue-ish tang. On a soft, nicely chewy bun, there's also lettuce, kim chee, green onions and something called Ko Chu Jang mayo. Wonderfulness abounds, with the great texture of the meat swimming in the sharply flavored, distinctly Korean glaze and the slightly funky -- in a good way -- kim chee packing some crisp punch.

Steak Banh Mi

Steak Banh Mi at Tbones

redrocklasvegas.com

B

Hold up, a banh mi sandwich at a fancy Vegas steakhouse? Yep, there it is, smack in the middle of T-bones' special "T-Time" happy hour snack menu: thin-sliced ribeye on a crusty baguette with some zesty mayo, pickled cucumbers, red onions and carrots, and a little crispy taro chip action. It's not authentic, but it's not supposed to be, and it's not spicy but it packs a meaty punch. If a Vietnamese mainstay can make its way onto the finger foods menu in Summerlin's neighborhood casino flagship, that's a good thing.

Green Eggwich

The Green Eggwich

homemade

B-

Sometimes you're too lazy to even throw some pants on and go out to breakfast on a Sunday morning. That's when things like this happen: scrambled eggs with fresh basil and cilantro, dropped on a toasted kaiser roll. Done deal. Not bad, but a little dry. And no, I didn't have any bacon in the fridge. Duh.