There's more to Las Vegas than gaming. Close by the glittery Strip is another attraction that draws top-drawer chefs as well as the local Asian community--Chinatown.
Its center is Spring Mountain Road, which is virtually in the shadow of the tall hotels along Las Vegas Boulevard.
Driving along Spring Mountain is much like driving along Valley Boulevard in Southern California's San Gabriel Valley. Although not as extensive, it has everything the city's growing Asian population might want, from Chinese language books and ginseng to Asian spas, Chinese bakeries, foot reflexology centers, jade shops, a Hong Kong massage place and well-stocked pan-Asian supermarkets.
A 99 Ranch Market anchors Chinatown Plaza, which is like a small version of San Gabriel Square. The Greenland supermarket is in Korea Town Plaza, and Shun Fat Supermarket is in Pacific Asian Plaza.
Restaurants are everywhere, attesting to the Asian love of sharing a meal. Packed into a short distance are Korean, Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese eating places, a Chinese restaurant with live seafood tanks, another that offers Taiwanese cuisine, a place to eat Penang style Malaysian food, a tofu cafe, an Asian grill buffet, Chinese fast food and small places that put out Vietnamese sandwiches, boba tea, even durian smoothies.
I bought delicious nut pastries, a fruit cake slice and cute cookies that mimic panda faces at the Diamond Bakery and wished I had had time for lunch at Pho So 1 (center photo).
The crowd in there, well before noon, indicated that the food must be good. And the Vietnamese crepe, banh xeo, going to one table (at bottom) looked marvelous.
But I was headed to another part of town to eat Indian food at a place my Punjabi taxi driver said was one of the best in Las Vegas. I hadn't expected to find anything Indian there--I'll report on that restaurant later--just as Chinatown was an unexpected discovery.
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