There is no earthly reason why a gaming bar can’t serve good food. I know many operators in this town who turn up their collective noses at the idea of hiring a chef for their ventures, despite the fact that they have restaurants in them, because their intention is to exist mainly on slot and bar revenues. So many of them, ironically, seem genuinely surprised when the business goes belly up.
Kevin Gallagher appears to be making all the right moves at Porchlight Grille, a smart new restaurant and bar on the west side.
This is Gallagher’s first foray into the food-service industry, but if he’s still green, it doesn’t show. He’s teamed up with chef Rainer Matz, formerly of Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas, created a postindustrial design inspired by the Old Porchlight Manufacturing Co. of Philadelphia and gotten a location in one of the most promising new gourmet gulches in town, a stretch of West Desert Inn Road already home to eclectic eateries like Sen of Japan, T.C.’s Rib Crib and Sababa.
The sign outside reads “smoker-friendly bar—smoke-free restaurant.” And indeed, the two sections are completely discrete, separated by glass doors. The restaurant side has pop-art paintings, a deconstructed ceiling that shows the duct-work, real brick walls and lighting furnished by long metal shapes that snake down like little aliens. In the bar, meanwhile, you might see the owner fiddling with his pride and joy, a high-tech contraption that manipulates the TVs he’s set up there.
As the place is open 24/7, there is a breakfast menu serving items like Cajun Benedict, cinnamon French toast and various skillets filled with eggs, meat and potatoes, but there is more interesting fare at lunch and dinner, when Matz’s talents are on display.
On one visit here, I just had to have the bratwurst special, a beautifully cooked veal sausage smeared with pungent German mustard, accompanied by both sauerkraut and red cabbage, as well as a huge pile of deliciously lumpy mashed potatoes. If this statement is politically incorrect, I’ll retract it, but if anyone understands a potato, it is a German chef.
I’ve also had the chef’s superb roast pork, crusted with German spices, and would come again for his ham hocks, potato pancakes or sauerbraten, which he says he will put on the menu from time to time.
But the chef’s native cuisine is only a backdrop to the good bar dishes that make up the heart of the menu here. So for now, I’ll just have to content myself with fare like his Baja egg rolls, spicy Thai pasta and fork-tender baby back ribs, available every day.
The egg rolls are the perfect beer dish, spicy, crunchy and rich. The filling is a mixture of minced chicken, avocado, corn, cilantro, onions and peppers, and tastes similar to what you might get if you ordered chicken fajitas. The chef uses wonton skins, smearing them with chipotle-flavored ketchup after frying, serving them on top of an avocado cream.
Another artery-clogging starter is mac ’n’ cheese fritters, squares of the casserole crusted with bread crumbs, then doused with marinara sauce. It’s a nice conceit if you don’t mind the overkill. Personally, I’d rather waste the calories on the egg rolls.
It seems like every neighborhood gaming establishment around here has a pizza oven, and this is no exception. Porchlight serves medium thin-crusted pizzas distinguished by unusual toppings. Spicy Thai pizza, the most eccentric—and best—one, employs cubed chicken, onions, almonds, carrots, cilantro and Thai peanut sauce, which tastes like a combination of Jif and Sriracha. (And who cares, because it works.)
There is something called Gaucho pizza, which, one guesses, is meant to remind us of Argentina, because it has tri-tip sirloin on it. Cilantro pesto, roasted jalapeño, red onion and red pepper give this pizza a powerful, non-Argentine kick.
Salads aren’t neglected, though, so you can eat healthy. Asian chicken salad has a sesame-flavored dressing, and lots of crunchy noodles and nuts. Tuscan salad is your basic chopped salad with accoutrements like sun-dried tomatoes and Gorgonzola. Seared ahi salad is a nice piece of fish on baby greens piled up on a bed of slippery rice noodles.
Matz does steaks, pastas and entrees as well. The same sauce I like on the Thai chicken pizza enlivens the spicy Thai pasta, and there is a take on pasta a la carbonara that adds chicken to the bacon, peas and cream.
Matz does a killer jambalaya with chicken, shrimp and andouille sausage, tender baby backs, with garlic mashed potatoes, baked beans and slaw, and several dishes created in the key of chicken breast.
Meanwhile, his wife, Cerstin, does real German desserts, a huge drawing card, although not what I’d call beer-friendly. Save room for apple strudel with Bavarian cream sauce, carrot cake to die for and a Black Forest chocolate cake layered with whipped cream, cherries and chocolate shavings.
At this rate, you’ll probably never even make it to the video poker machines.
Porchlight Grille
8416 W. Desert Inn Road. 562-3990. Open 24/7. Suggested dishes: Baja egg rolls, $7.75; Tuscan salad, $11.50; spicy Thai pizza, $10.50; apple strudel, $6.50.