China Poblano at the Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, Nevada

After a day at the pool (which I will be recapping), it was time for dinner.  Where is there a better place to get dinner than the Las Vegas Strip?  After a shower and outfit change, we headed out to dinner in Las Vegas.  

        

Skirt (Marshalls), Top (Marshalls), Shoes (DSW).  

Las Vegas is a foodie city. Name a chef and they have a restaurant in Vegas.  At least one restaurant.  On my last trip to Vegas in October, I had some amazing food and several memorable meals, Bobbie Flay's Mesa Grill, and Joel Robuchon, to name a few ;)  Where did I decide?

China Poblano

Jose Andres

Cosmpolitan Hotel,

Las Vegas, Nevada

 I wanted to find somewhere fun and casual to eat.  I immediately thought of China Poblano, a restaurant I had walked by and glanced at the menu during my last trip.  China Poblano is a restaurant serving Mexican and Chinese food.  Not a fusion of the two, but literally a menu with Mexican and Chinese food on it.  Maybe it sounds odd to you, or maybe it sounds like the best idea ever.

A restaurant where I can have chips and salsa tacos, a noodle dish AND fried rice, all in one meal?  That is my kind of wonderful.  And that is exactly what I did.

We started with the Chips and Salsa: fresh tortilla chips/ house-made chipotle salsa ($4)  because we heard it was fantastic and you can never go wrong with chips and salsa. 

The salsa was amazing and the homemade chips made a big difference (sitting at the bar I spent a half hour watching this woman make tortillas).  The good news is that this is off the menu, so you can't just shove your face with free refills, you have to order it.  This was a bonus for me.

 Because lets be honest.......

Next we tried a taco.  

Because... tacos are just absolutely delicious.   

Barbacoa de Res:

Oaxacan-style barbeque beef, guajillo chile, pickled cactus paddle ($5.50).

 After the taco we moved on to the noodle dish.  I chose the Dan Dan Mian: hand-cut wheat noodles/ spicy pork sauce/peanuts ($12.88). The vinegar is to cut the spice of the dish. 

They were good.  Not amazing, but pretty good and different.  

What was absolutely amazing was the 20 vegetable fried rice.

Yes, I said 20 vegetable fried rice.

Maybe you are thinking wow $20 for fried rice or, holy hell how did they get 20 vegetables in there.  A.  It is worth every penny and B.  I didn't count but I am taking their word for it.  

I am one of those obnoxious people that asks the waiter what he orders, or what a first timer needs to try, and he instantly recommended the 20 vegetable fried rice.  He even informed me this is a famous dish featured on a few shows.  Sold, I should get some vegetables in this body, even if its stir fried, and who doesn't love fried rice?

I mean, this dish has its own video as it was featured on "Best Thing I Ever Ate".  Yes, you can watch a video about fried rice here. And yes, they list all 20 vegetables.  You can even find the recipe here thanks to Ellen.

The pops of flavors, the textures of all the different vegetables.  You need to head to China Poblano and order this dish!