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When you think of barbecue, what comes into your mind? St. Louis? Carolina? Memphis? Texas? Las Vegas? Wait a minute... Las Vegas! The world-class destination for gamblers, Elvis look alike's, millionaire-wannabees and entertainment buffs? For barbecue? Think again, as Famous Dave's on North Rainbow Road will change your mind about Las Vegas barbecue.
Left: Here's a scan of Famous Dave's menu, which lets you know that they serve good barbecue. Check out their website at www.famousdaves.com.
Photo above: We decided to chose the "All-American BBQ Feast." This is a small scan from Famous Dave's menu, showing you the meal we chose to eat. At Famous Dave's, you can't go wrong. Famous Dave's will change your mind, or at least alter it, about the Las Vegas barbecue scene. They bill themselves on their menu as Famous Dave's, legendary pit bar-b-que, real honest barbecue. They're located at 1951 N. Rainbow Blvd, in one of the newer areas of the rapidly-growing city of Las Vegas. Famous Dave's is serious about barbecue, specifically the genre known as "Kansas City style," which originated in the barbecue heartland of the country, Kansas City, and is a very popular style of barbecue on the west coast. As an aside, I had such a good time eating and visiting with fellow family members, I forgot to request a tour of the pit, a request that a first-class barbecue restaurant is always happy to comply with. Perhaps on the next visit...
Left: Outside of Famous Dave's, on a Saturday night in March, 2005. Right: Sharlene, Jack and Peggy wait, as I snap the photo. If you're a fan of formal dining, you'll really be disappointed with Famous Dave's, as the place is about as informal as they come; leave your suit in the closet at home. Now, this is Kansas City style barbecue, so don't expect a sawdust floor or the bartender to snip your tie off with a pair of scissors and nail it to the wall, as per the custom in many barbecue joints in the great state of Texas. Instead, you'll find an informal restaurant, that just happens to serve fine barbecue, very friendly staff, a loud-noisy, family-oriented dining room, and mouth-watering barbecue. If you're looking for one of those dingy, hole-in-the-wall barbecue joints, that serve the meat wrapped in butcher paper, like you find in Kansas City or Austin, you'll be disappointed, as Famous Dave's isn't like that, as it's a modern, thoroughly contemporary restaurant, that just happens to serve the best barbecue in Las Vegas.
Left: Famous Dave's features a full-service bar, and they can fix any kind of drink that you can think of. Right: Dave has won a few trophies in his barbecue endevors, and they're displayed at the restaurant. When you arrive at Famous Dave's on a Saturday night, you'll have a lot of company, as it's one of the more popular places in town. We'd made reservation, but, well, you know what can happen on a very busy Saturday night. No problem, as Dave's has benches inside the foyer, and outside the restaurant, and since the place is private property, it's perfectly ethical to purchase a beer at the bar, take it outside, and enjoy it while you wait.
Left: We order our meal. Right: A discussion unfolds outside of the kitchen, between two of the staff. After a pleasant wait of a half-hour or so, our table was ready. We were escorted to our table, and we couldn't help to notice the decor of the place. The place is sort of decorated as a cross between the "Restaurant" on Seinfeld, and a hunting lodge in the Texas hill country. It can be described "Las Vegas funk," and it is both interesting and outrageous, which fits the soul and character of Famous Dave's. For a barbecue joint, they feature an absolutely huge menu. Whatever Kansas City barbecue classics you can imagine, they have them, plus all of the side dishes and deserts. Since we had a party of 5 adults and our 5-year old grandson Paris with us, we chose the "All-American BBQ Feast," which is advertised to serve 4 to 5 adults. What does the meal consist of? Check this out: A full slab of spareribs, a whole chicken, 1/2 pound of chopped pork, coleslaw, "Famous Fries," "Wilbur Beans," four corn-on-the-cobs and four corn bread muffins. We managed to sweet-talk our server to throwing a couple of extra corns, muffins and a bit of extra beans and coleslaw. All of this for $54.99, plus drinks. After ordering our meal, it was time to admire the decor, chit-chat and anticipate the feast that was to come.
Left: Or order arrives on a garbage can lid. Right: We're beginning to pig-out, and you may notice that Paris has perfected his "boarding house" reach. I think the wait was around a half-hour, but it only seemed like a couple of minutes, as there is so much to check out Famous Dave's. I think one of the highlights was that our server brought us 'Dave's sauce in a cardboard O'Doul's six-pack container, and a roll of paper towels that was built on a holder made from 1/2" galvanized pipe, the stuff that you'd see at a hardware store! Informal at best.
Photos: Pigging out on delicious barbecue and all the fixin's from Famous Dave's. We didn't go away hungry! The real surprise: The food arrived on two platters, but not your San Francisco-style, bohemian platters. Not! Famous Dave's uses galvanized garbage can lids for serving platters. Yes, you have 2 servers, a man and a woman, and they bring your food on the "platter," set it up at the table, and make sure you're good to go. Of course, you are provided with real plates and all the silverware and cutlery necessary to consume a good barbecue dinner.
Left: Everybody grabs what they want from the garbage can platters. Right: Jacquie lets the camera know that the ribs are good, as Paris helps himself to a corn muffin. If you're a formal diner, forget the formality. Basically, you just grab whatever you want, throw it on your plate, maybe cut it a little, or why not just use your fingers...? and shovel it into your mouth! The food is good, really, really good. Put a bite of Dave's chicken, beans, ribs, or anything else we were served into your mouth, and you'll swear that you've died and bypassed heaven, and instead have been transported to the best barbecue joint in Kansas City, true barbecue heaven. Las Vegas barbecue at it's best? Look to Famous Dave's, on Rainbow Boulevard. Famous
Dave's Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que
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