Between savory spoonfuls of Szechuan noodles, Joe Muscaglione tells me about the upcoming arrival of Hui Lau Shan, a mango dessert chain from Hong Kong and the 15th new dessert shop to open in Chinatown in the last six months. We marvel at the number. How did the Chinatown that started as a few complexes on Spring Mountain Road turn into this juggernaut?
It happened through a combination of more educated eaters, a population boom, and the Strip, says Muscaglione, co-creator of Chinatownvegas.com and co-owner, with chef Jimmy Li, of Shanghai Taste in Shanghai Plaza. “You have access (by occupants) of 148,000 hotel rooms, and every three days they switch with different people,” he says. “There’s no Chinatown like this.”
Today, Chinatown extends north and south beyond Spring Mountain, creating a destination for culinary discovery. Menus go well beyond Asian, and the food has become so localized that diners can find provincial specialties and cooking styles that would have been unheard of a decade ago. For the adventurous, it’s an enticing invitation, but for newcomers, it can be daunting. Here are four sure bets that are hot now.
An example of the cultural niches on offer in Chinatown be found at Shanghai Taste (4266 Spring Mountain Road #104A, 702-570-6363). Li, formerly of Niu Gu Restaurant, comes from a heralded family of cooks who claim credit for introducing sheng jian bao, pan-fried soup dumplings, to America in Southern California Chinese restaurants during the 1990s. At Shanghai Taste, Li applies his dumpling skills to both sheng jian bao, and an assortment of xiao long bao, arguably the city’s best steamed soup dumplings — a status suggested by the restaurant’s majority Shanghainese clientele.
But Muscaglione and I aren’t enjoying noodles at his place. Instead, we’re at Noodlehead, (3419 S. Jones Blvd., Noodleheadvegas.com), an eclectic shop owned by husband and wife Ben Yang and Rebecca Goh that celebrated its oneyear anniversary November 8. They focus on dishes from both their backgrounds: He’s Szechuan; she’s from Malaysia. The combination creates a unique flavor experience. For instance, the Malaysian-influenced crispy tofu satay in peanut sauce is a good lead-in to the Szechuan specialty, Yibin ran mian, also known as burning noodles, full of ground pork and chili oil. Or start with the Malaysian Mee Rebus, a thick vegetarian soup with gravy, and finish with Szechuan pickled vegetable and fish noodle soup, a hot-and-sour sensation.
If you’re looking for a deeper dive, check out Yen Viet Kitchen (3575 S. Decatur Blvd., 702-293-4949), which opened in the summer of 2021. Owner Yen Nguyen cooks every dish herself. “When we came here, we missed the food that we made back home,” Yen’s daughter, Hao Nguyen, says. “Our family comes from the North, but we moved to the South and our grandparents lived on the west side of Vietnam. So, we enjoy the dishes from all over Vietnam.”
That means plates like bánh khot, mini crispy turmeric pancakes topped with shrimp and veggies, and bun bo xao, a bowl of stir-fried beef noodles in house fish sauce. Chef Khai Vu, the restaurateur of famed Las Vegas Vietnamese outlet District One Kitchen & Bar, says his favorite dish at Yen’s is Vietnamese staple bánh cuon. “Rice batter is poured onto a stretched piece of cloth over boiling water,” he explains. “Once steamed, the vessels are filled with minced pork, wood ear mushrooms and served with fresh herbs, golden fried shallots, and fish sauce.” Vu says he loves Nguyen’s authentic — and just plain good — approach.
For something authentically Okinawan, head back to Shanghai Plaza. A few doors down from Shanghai Taste, there’s O.Onigiri (4258 Spring Mountain Road #102, oonigiri.com), which also opened in summer 2021. Owner Diana Lee brings Okinawan comfort food to the masses in the form of onigiri, rice balls (rectangles, in this instance), wrapped in nori (seaweed). A large American military presence in the Okinawa prefecture has given rise to flavors that please both Eastern and Western palates. Most contain spam, egg, and furikake seasoning along with pickled vegetables. From there, diners choose a spotlight item such as unagi (freshwater eel), soft-shell crab, or tonkatsu (fried, breaded pork).
“That sandwich is the perfect street food,” Muscaglione says. “You can have it in your hand while you’re running full speed down the block, and not one grain of rice falls off that thing. It’s perfectly composed.” He adds that O.Onigiri’s small, streamlined profile previews the future of Chinatown dining.
Whatever the future is, Chinatown seems like it’s always a few steps ahead of the rest of the city. Or maybe it’s there already. Either way, it’s another excuse to go on a culinary adventure on Spring Mountain … and beyond.