What's new in Vegas? Well, quite a lot, but almost all of it is happening off the Strip. Unless you're the sort to get excited about Giada De Laurentiis slapping her name on some fast-casual outlet at Caesars Palace, or Gordon Ramsay phoning it in with something called Hell's Kitchen, there's not much to talk about on Las Vegas Boulevard South.

     On the plus side, Spago's new reboot in the Bellagio has breathed some much needed life into the old Olives space, and the Michael Mina reboot has gone swimmingly. It now gives Las Vegas a second restaurant to challenge Estatorio Milos for serious seafood hegemony.

    Aside from those, things have been pretty quiet on our three-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South for the past three years. NoMad (the hotel and namesake restaurant) will open next month just off the Strip, but, until then, it's the local food scene that is creating all the buzz, and here are the places serious foodies are talking about these days.

    Three separate small-plates restaurants opened this past summer, and lovers of tempranillo, pulpo and patatas bravas couldn't be happier.
    Pamplona Cocktails and Tapas  (5781 W. Sahara Ave.;702-659-5781) is the most authentic of the bunch, with Chef Errol LeBlanc cooking paella Valenciana, pulpo asado, and croquetas so good they will save you a ticket to San Sebastian.

    Start your meal with some jamon serrano on crusty bread, or the spicy sobrasada sausage spread. Move on to some Peruvian snapper ceviche with piquillo peppers, then to the most authentic versions of aceitunas (olives), patatas bravas (baby potatoes), setas al ajillo (mixed mushrooms with lots of garlic), piquillo relleno de queso de cabra (roasted, stuffed peppers) and a tortilla Español that Las Vegas has never seen. The hits keep coming with croquetas de pollo oozing with béchamel, empanadas and gambas al ajillo (shrimp with garlic) guaranteed to drive away all vampires. The dishes are not bereft of subtlety—LeBlanc knows how to balance his flavors—but he skews towards the genuine over trying to coddle the uneducated palate, further proving his mettle with an array of plancha, grilled and skewered meats,  all cooked with care, with honey-glazed pork belly (below) and lamb chops the ones not to miss.

    About the only thing I can't recommend about Pamplona is the wine list. In this era, when so much interesting wine  is coming out of Spain, Portugal and South America (at all price points), the restaurant’s meager selection does no justice to either the food or the atmosphere. And, even though few Americans like to drink it, there should be several sherries offered by the glass, because absolutely nothing goes better with Spanish ham.

    Travel about a mile south and you'll find Edo Tapas & Wine (below; 3400 South Jones Blvd.; 702- 641-1345),  half as big as Pamplona with twice the ambition. Its matchbox size belies an attempt to expand the flavors of Spain beyond conventional boundaries.  It may look unassuming from the front, but Edo has quite a pedigree. Executive Chef Oscar Edo is a Strip veteran (and a survivor of the food truck craze), while partner Roberto Liendo (formerly g.m. at Bazaar Meat) runs the front of the house. Between them, they have a strong sense of the food and service a place like this needs to appeal to gastronauts who demand the new over the tried and true. 

    Four different dressed oysters are offered, depending upon what sort of bath you like your bivalves to take. I preferred the tamarind mole with pickled cucumber, though you might like yours to be swimming in kiwi leche de tigre or braised melon, lemon and mint. Bottom line: they're all fabulous.

    As satisfying as these starters are, it is in the cold and hot tapas where Edo hits his stride.  His fermented tomatoes with burrata and basil both sparkles and soothes the palate the way only super-sweet tomatoes can, making like a super-ripe Caprese at half the weight. Nice big chunks of Maine lobster come "salpicón-style—dressed with more of that "tiger's milk,” which nicely lightens the richness of the crustacean. On the "hot tapas" side, go for the croquetas with kimchi pisto; pulpo viajero (octopus with tamarind mole), buñelos de bacalao (salt cod fritters with squid ink and lime); and something called "Bikini”—a thin, crispy compression of sobrasada and Mahon cheese—which might be the last word in tiny toast. 

    One of the more eye-popping offerings is Huevos Estrellado (left),  a toothsome concoction of olive-oil fried eggs and piquillo peppers sitting atop a melange of mushrooms and fried potatoes; the collection of maitake, shitake, enoki, and king-oysters is terrific in its own right, but top it all off with those eggs and peppers, and some garlic-parsley oil and you have a classic of Spain tweaked in all the right ways. 

    After bombarding your senses with all those oysters, clams, eggs, hams and octopus, you'll need something simple and soothing. The flan here pushes all the right buttons, and the olive oil dark chocolate fudge does the same. If you're looking to go lighter, try the surprising intensity of the strawberry granita with popcorn mousse.

    Mordeo Boutique Wine Bar (5420 Spring Mountain Road; 702-545-0771) is a small-plates purveyor of a different stripe. Where Pamplona shoots and scores with authentic, Madrid-style tapas, and Edo  gives an updated spin to Spanish classics, Mordeo takes the tapas thing in several different directions. What confronts you when you enter is a long, 30-seat, colorful three-sided bar. This counter represents the latest manifestation of the side-by-side dining that has been all the rage since Joël Robuchon made such a splash with it fifteen years ago. Those of a certain age may find it a tad awkward, and there are a couple of high-boy tables in one corner where four to six people can actually talk without leaning in and out with every sentence. Hearing is another matter.

    Once you get comfortable (and to their credit, the staff puts everyone at ease), you will observe the hustle and bustle behind the bar,  all sorts of people moving to and fro, taking orders, mixing drinks, pouring wines, and delivering plates.  It's really quite a scene,  and only a few months into its run, the staff and kitchen seem well synchronized. If you score one of those tables, don't expect to hear any whispered sweet nothings from your dearly beloved though, as that would require a bullhorn over the din.

    A small-but-potent wine list is offered—five whites, six reds, some sake, several sherries—but everything is priced to sell. Strip wine maven Luis de Santos co-owns and runs the libations side of things, and he has tailored his wines to go with the food, but also to be quaffed and enjoyed, not pondered and discussed. You almost get the feeling that he and chef/owner Khai Vu are testing the waters with these wines, as they try out which ones, at what price point, will appeal to their customers. Something tells me the offerings will expand as this place gains its footing, and every bottle won't always be in the $30-$50 range. But for the time being, everything is quite a bargain—even the beer.

    Tasty, inexpensive wine may be what brought you through the door, but the food is what will keep you here. Everyone starts with something called "The Cloud" (above) and it's a worthy way to begin the proceedings. A giant fried chiccarone  is brought to the table festooned with thin strips of jamon iberico. The salty crispiness gets the palate juices flowing and sets you up for a number of dishes that are as attractive as they are savory. The Caesar salad is a worthy version, and the Beet Garden—red and golden beets with a goat cheese mousse—is as wine-friendly (and pretty) as any root veggie dish can get.

    You'll want to follow those with the lomi lomi ocean trout ceviche (above left) and then either the cold, briny oysters, or the ginormous Nigerian prawn (above)—all of which prove chef/owner Khai Vu is serious about his seafood (left). The meaty king crab leg (at $38, the most expensive thing on the menu) is big enough for two, and the La Asada (grilled Angus skirt steak with chimichurri sauce) shows off Vu's facility with grilling denser proteins over binchotan charcoal. A stew of clams, chorizo, and mussels easily feeds two and has quite a kick of its own (left) from the white wine/sriracha sauce.

    Desserts are only two in number and always in flux, but if the mango rice pudding, made to look like a fried egg, is offered, don't miss it.

 
   There is both ingenuity and restraint in these dishes, which is rare these days, and while it's easy to decry the menu's lack of focus, the wild ride you take among these flavors captivates your palate without ever wearing it out. If you squint a little, you'll see a lot of similarities to what Edo is doing just down the street. But whereas Oscar Edo keeps his eye on Spain, Khai Vu lets his wander a little farther, and tosses in everything from Mexico to the Asian kitchen sink. That he does this without ever going one seasoning too far is quite extraordinary. Mordeo, like its competition, may have hit on just the right formula to drive complacent palates down to Spring Mountain Road—interesting, hand-tooled, strongly seasoned, wine-friendly food, the kind Las Vegas off-the-Strip has needed forever, the kind you can now find in three restaurants all within a couple of miles of each other.

    For a city its size, Stamford, Conn., could certainly use a few restaurants that rise above the mediocre, and Kashi, now two-and-a-half years old, does so with a whole lot of pizzazz. Part of a small Long Island chain, this is the only one in Connecticut, strategically located next to a Crowne Plaza Hotel  and across from a Majestic multiplex movie theater. The intent is to attract both those who love modern Japanese food and those who want a cocktail lounge for entertainment.

    Fortunately, the latter, upstairs, does not infringe too much on the former, despite a pounding bass line in the air.  This is a big space, and the downstairs dining room, with sushi counter and bar, is shadowy and pretty dark—the walls and ceiling are painted black—lighted mostly by chandeliers.  Tables are roomy and very comfortable, and the service staff, led by manager Daniel Li, mostly Asian.    

    The menu is very long, rarely a good sign, but, if you leave yourself in the hands of the chef, as I did by asking him to choose his best dishes from several sections of the menu—appetizers, sushi, sashimi, rolls, hot main courses—you will receive Japanese food of a high order, the sashimi and sushi based on pristine seafood, the rest packed with plenty of seasonings and dressings.

    The wine list is short and stocked with nothing but the most commercial bottlings, but there is a good sake list and a whole column of imaginative cocktails with names like “Angry Dragon” and “Cracked Lobster.” 

                      Everything that came from the kitchen had enormous color in its presentation, evoking the snazzy décor. The very first dish, a filet mignon carpaccio with wasabi yuzu soy, ginger and garlic, was one that I would order every time I return. Very balanced in its many flavors, the meat itself was thinly cut and absorbed the other ingredients perfectly.  Grilled octopus ($12) was enlivened with piquillo pepper in a yuzu kosho pepper sauce, and yellowtail was seared and served with cucumber, celery, a lovely gel of yuzo koshi and dashi sauce. Soy paper was wrapped around a spicy lobster salad ($16) and shiitakes, topped with salmon roe, mango chili, along with a classic naruto (with cucumber wrap) with spicy tuna that really worked as an appetite spur ($12).

    Calmer dishes followed in a lavish platter of sushi and sashimi, each distinct from the next, the sashimi lustrous and the sushi well served by the lightly vinegared, slightly warmed rice.

“Deep blue sea” ($16) is a delectable dish of blue crab, avocado and mango topped with seared spicy tuna and eel sauce, and crunchy tuna—really good—with an wasabi aïoli took the name “Valentine roll” ($15).

    Richer flavors were next in a fried King crab with avocado, kani roll of shrimp topped with spicy tuna and sweet Thai chili whose flavors melded but hit all on their own. Thai basil chicken ($20) was a departure, with wok-fried chicken, mushrooms, onion, carrot, basil and chili paste. Portions for everything are very generous.  Desserts are negligible.

    Kashi does have something of a Vegas-style vibe that contrasts with the traditional ambiance of a sushi bar.  So, next time I go, I will sit myself at the counter, nod to the chef and concentrate on his mastery while enjoying Asian food rare in a big city like Stamford. Along with OKO Kitchen in Westport, Kashi gives Connecticut two excellent options for a wide-ranging cuisine.