A café that's just Grand
I don’t know why, but out-of-state friends and relatives somehow think those of us who live in Las Vegas spend all of our time eating at buffets. “Oh, I saw where they opened that new Wynn casino out there—been to the buffet yet?” “I hear the one at Circus Circus is really good and cheap, too.” “Last time I was in Vegas, I must’ve eaten at just about every buffet in town. I bet you have, too, seeing as you live there.”
Well, no, I haven’t. Truth of the matter is, I don’t particularly like casino buffets. Sure, I’ll go if one of my aforementioned out-of-state friends/relatives is in town and wants to get their gluttony on by eating like there’s no tomorrow for one low price, and to come to the mistaken conclusion that they have taken the casino to the cleaners simply because they gorged on $80 worth of food for $10.99. But for the most part—and to maintain my sanity as buffets tend to bring out the “outta my way cuz I want those mashed potatoes” aggressiveness of far too many people—I avoid the buffets.
Early on in my Vegasness, I latched onto the hotel coffee shop as an attractive alternative to the buffet. Of course, these days the term “coffee shop” is a quaint anachronism, as many of these 24-hour eateries are usually called “cafés” or some such puffy moniker. But the thing I liked about them then and that I still appreciate is their relaxed atmosphere and varied, relatively low-priced menu selections. Plus, unlike buffets, they don’t make you feel compelled to eat as if all life as we know it will end by noon the next day. So, on a recent evening, Mrs. Eater and I decided to pay a visit to the Green Valley Ranch Station Casino in Henderson to try out their new coffee shop, the Grand Café.
First, a little bit about Station Casinos and Green Valley Ranch: Station is by far the 8,000-pound Magilla of local casino companies, with several of these establishments scattered throughout the Las Vegas Valley. Without question, Green Valley Ranch is the company’s premier property (a new one called Red Rock Casino is scheduled to open in April 2006, and supposedly will be similar to Green Valley Ranch). Famed as the location of the reality series “American Casino,” it features lots of stone and tile and is all shiny and clean, as opposed to its dowager sister Stations named Palace, Sunset and Boulder. Of course, the fact that is sits next to a tony suburb in Henderson undoubtedly was a factor in its high-end design and décor.
For quite some time after it opened, Green Valley Ranch had no coffee sho—er uh, 24-hour café. Dining options included Italian, Japanese and Chinese restaurants, an Irish pub, some fast-food offerings, The Original Pancake House and—yes—the buffet. Only a couple of months ago did the property open the Grand Café, next to the casino and within a chicken wing’s throw of the buffet.
The first thing you see when entering the Grand Café is pure temptation in the form of desserts. Obnoxiously huge, richly decadent, calorie-laden and brimming with sugar, massive iced fudge brownies, chocolate-covered strawberries, cakes and pies of every manner and then some taunt you even before you have a seat. It’s almost as if the café is thumbing its nose at the buffet, saying, “Hah! You and your dry little square brownies and dull little sugar cookies—look at me! Look at my delights! I got ’em and I am flauntin’ ’em, baby!”
What the Grand Café also flaunts is a wonderful décor, carried over from the casino itself and in some cases, done one better. Artwork with colorful geometric patterns hangs from the walls, and the place is lit with numerous huge, gorgeous pendant lights. Big plasma TV screens also adorn the walls and the tile floor looks, quite literally, clean enough to eat from.
What wasn’t clean was the endless parade of dirty dishes that servers carried past our booth to be washed. See, our hostess managed to stick us in the restaurant’s far corner, next to the entrance to the kitchen. This offered us a vantage point to see what other people ordered as it was carried out, and what they didn’t finish as the plates made their return trip. Once in our booth, though, we surveyed a menu which offered nothing as spectacular as the surroundings, but good old casino coffee shop food nonetheless: burgers, sandwiches, salads, some Asian and Mexican choices, steaks and pizzas, as well as an array of 24/7 breakfast choices. Kristina, our server, delivered a small loaf of sourdough bread for a pre-dinner nosh. Mrs. Eater then chose Pad Thai noodles with chicken ($7.99) and I went the high-protein and cholesterol route with the New York steak and eggs ($10.99) served with hash browns. Our total tab, including tax and two non-alcoholic beverages, was $25.29.
Mr. Eater: I can’t remember the last time I had steak and eggs, but look at this—three eggs! Three eggs! Not one or two! And over easy, very nice, and look at my steak—medium rare, nice and reddish on the inside.
Mrs. Eater: Let me try that. (tastes steak) Wow, that is good. They made that just right.
Mr. Eater: How’s the Pad Thai?
Mrs. Eater: Not as spicy as she (Kristina) said it would be, but still very good.
Mr. Eater: There’s a lot of it, too.
Mrs. Eater (watching a server walk by with dirty dishes and recalling a restaurant in a former home town, where we seemingly always were seated next to the scullery): So why is it we always wind up near the kitchen where there’s all this noise and we get to watch dirty dishes walk by all night? Look, there goes another one!
Mr. Eater: I know, it’s like we throw off some sort of vibe. While we’re at it, when was the last time she refilled your Diet Coke?
Mrs. Eater: She hasn’t, that’s the problem. Maybe they think, out of sight, out of mind.
Mr. Eater: Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, what do you think of the play?
Mrs. Eater: Actually this is quite a nice place. It’s subdued and not obnoxious. (pointing across the room to glass shelves behind the bar) That’s what I want in the family room, something like that, lit from the bottom. You still have that electrician’s number, right?
And now, The Forks (on a scale of 1 to 5):
• Quality of food: 4 forks
• Value: 4.5 forks
• Cleanliness: 5 forks
• Ambience: 5 forks
• Friendliness of staff: 3 forks
• Parking: 5 forks (Full disclosure: We used valet.)
• Accessibility: 5 forks
The Grand Café is located inside the Green Valley Ranch Station Casino, 2300 Paseo Verde Drive, Henderson, NV 89052. Call (702) 617-7777. Open 24 hours. Visit greenvalleyranchresort.com.
