A&E

Downtown’s Every Grain offers big comfort in a small menu

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Every Grain’s lu rou fan
Photo: Wade Vandervort

Looking at Sheridan's Su career path, one senses that the chef is quietly building a culinary Asian empire Downtown, one dish at a time. Though he has put in time on the Strip—at places like Joél Robuchon, Wazuzu, Social House and Comme Ça—it's his ventures off the Boulevard and on his own where he has found his footing, and his cult following among the city's food aficionados. He is responsible for putting specific dishes on the mainstream radar—starting with bao in 2011 (at his first restaurant Great Bao and later at Fat Choy inside Eureka Casino). Hainanese chicken became his signature dish at Flock & Fowl, a modest 12-seat restaurant on Sahara Avenue, which has now relocated to the Ogden. By focusing on a few items and doing them well, Su has caught the attention of the larger culinary world, garnering back-to-back James Beard nominations, in 2018 and 2019, for Best Chef: West.

Su has now opened another spot, Every Grain, in Downtown's Huntridge neighborhood. Like its predecessors, Every Grain has a small, focused menu. Lu rou fan ($4.99 small, $8.99 large), a beloved Taiwanese dish of rice and minced pork, takes center stage here. Su uses four kinds of rice—white, brown, black and glutinous—topped with minced pork that has been braised for hours, along with chopped maitake mushrooms, scallions, fried shallots, pickled cucumber and a soft-boiled soy egg. The warm bowl is comfort through and through, with the rice soaking in the gravy from the pork.

Three other dishes use the lu rou fan rice as a base: the crispy skin spring chicken ($12.99), fried marinated pork chop ($12.99) and the vegetarian bowl ($12.99), with roasted broccoli, maitake, kale, cashew and tofu. If grain isn't calling your name, the dan dan noodles ($8.99) come with the minced pork, while vegetarian sesame noodles ($8.99) are enrobed in a creamy sesame peanut dressing, soy, crushed peanuts and cucumber. There are noteworthy appetizers, too, including the cucumbers ($3.99) and the scallion pancakes ($3.99).

Every Grain is small but mighty, and, like Su's other restaurants, it's one you'll want to visit again and again.

EVERY GRAIN 1430 E. Charleston Blvd., eateverygrain.com. Tuesday- Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Tags: Dining, Food
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