Month: May 2013

China Poblano by José Andrés

When you live in Washington, DC, it’s hard not to run into one of José Andrés’ restaurants.  There are more of his restaurants in Chinatown than there are Starbucks.  Oyamel is easily one of my favorite restaurants period.

When we moved to Las Vegas, knew we had to try China Poblano.  It’s José’s take on a Mexican Chinese restaurant and is in the Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas strip.  It’s not fusion but offers both cuisines on the same menu.  Had a reservation there for last night for Lauren and I for our second wedding anniversary.

The restaurant is absolutely delicious.  Even though putting Chinese and Mexican may not may sense on paper, it absolutely works as a restaurant concepts.    Oh and I want to apologize ahead of time for not having more photos of the different courses that Lauren and I ordered.

For cocktails, I tried the green tea margarita (pictured above) and the avocado smash.    Both were delicious.   The avocado slim kind of reminded me a guacamole cocktail and I love avocado so that excites me.

The chips & salsa tasted exactly like the chips & salsa from Oyamel.  It was filled with amazing smokey chipotle flavor and was a good reminder of DC and the many memories there.

We tried the steamed bbq pork buns “When Pigs Fly.”  They came highly recommended.  They were delicious but felt slightly overrated.   Seemed like any other steamed pork bun that you’d get a dim sum restaurant.

Next we tried the Queso Fundido with chorizo.  It’s the best cheese dip you’ve ever had over house made soft tortillas.

Last we had the Dan Dan Mian.  This was the star of the night for me.   It’s wheat noodles, with a spicy pork sauce and peanuts.    This reminded me a lot of the sauce on the ricotta ravioli at Range in DC.  It was amazing.    I loved the way the pork was mixed into the sauce.

All in all it was a fabulous meal.  We walked away full and it wasn’t that expensive in the realm of nice meals you can get.  I’d highly recommend it.

Just finished “Conscious Capitalism” by Whole Foods Co-CEO John Mackey

One of the amazing perks of living in Downtown Las Vegas is that there’s this constant flow of amazing people coming to town to check things out.    Often, the Downtown Project will ask some of the guests to speak to the community.   A few weeks ago it was Whole Foods Co-CEO John Mackey. 

John had just written the book “Conscious Capitalism.”  In a fireside chat, he shared the story behind Whole Foods and how having a purpose-driven business (beyond just making money) has led to the success of the business.   On the way out, they gave away copies of the book.

I just finished “Conscious Capitalism.”  It’s a great and really easy read.   It’s true that society has told us that business’ single goal is to make money.  John makes the case that that’s just not true.  Businesses are here to change the world in some way for the better and make money.  They’re here to solve a problem.   That mission/purpose is something that affects/changes/touches everything.  It’ll change how you hire, how you relate to you employees, how you relate to your employees, how you lead, and how you manage.

I love how transparent John was about the ups and downs of creating/founding Whole Foods.  Reading this book makes me want to work for John.  He’s a very inspiring leader or seems so from the book.

I’d highly recommend the book to anyone!