Readers roll out advice for rice balls

Rice balls - also known as arancini - are a fairly obscure delicacy, definitely appreciated by those in the know. And those in the know include Taste of the Town readers, who have suggestions in response to a request from Caroline Laicona.

Robin Vegas recommended The Sicilian Ristorante at 3520 E. Tropicana Ave., Michele Bonelli recommended Cugino's Deli at 4550 S. Maryland Parkway and Mamie Glorioso recommended Montesano's at 9905 S. Eastern Ave., but recommended calling first to check availability. ...

For A. Bailey, who's looking for fresh-baked Italian cookies, Glorioso and Roger Eisenzopf recommended Montesano's, and Glorioso also recommended Siena Italian Authentic Trattoria, 9500 W. Sahara Ave. ...

For Maxine Marcus, Sheila Morse reported finding Pillsbury frozen minibiscuits at Vons at 2511 Anthem Village Drive in Henderson. ...

For Marlene Ferris, Ron Lutz at The Butcher Block, 7625 S. Rainbow Blvd., emailed that he carries whole and half hams with skin and fat. ...

And for Henri Sedenic, Lutz said he makes fresh lamb merguez sausage. ...

More on instant espresso: Laurel Levine reported finding it at 99 Cents Only at 520 Marks St. in Henderson. ...

Here are more reader requests.

Rhonda Schlitz: Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes Tastykakes;

Richard Torres: cottage cheese with chives;

Toney Hudson: a restaurant that serves an East Coast-style Chinese dish called chow gai kew, marinated, breaded and fried chicken breast served with mixed vegetables;

Denise DeBever: 11-ounce bags of Food Should Taste Good multigrain and blue-corn tortilla chips, which she used to find at Costco;

George Gatewood: Private Reserve Royal Kona 100 percent Kona coffee;

Joyce Hanson: Ann's House Wasabi Mix, a rice-cracker snack mix she used to get at Costco;

J.A. Weaver: "real" raisin pumpernickel bread;

Sandy Ziebart: a local source for anasazi beans;

Charleen Taylor: a local source for 12-ounce cans of Faygo orange soda;

Christine Gelardi: LaBrea Bakery Bake-at-Home Artisan Bread Italian Three-Cheese Dinner Rolls, which she used to find at Smith's;

Carol Jenkins: a restaurant that serves crispy waffles, as opposed to Belgian waffles;

The Deans: Grandma Hoerners Big Slice Apple Chunks and Slices, canned figs in juice and spiced peaches;

Mike Stasie: a local restaurant that serves mulligatawny soup, which he remembers from the late lamented Magic Pan restaurants;

And Lee Zalalis: places that serve fried breaded rattlesnake and Rocky Mountain oysters.

Readers?

Submit information to Heidi Knapp Rinella, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070. You also can send faxes to 383-4676 or email her at hrinella@ reviewjournal.com. Include your first and last names and, if emailing, put "Taste of the Town" in the subject line. Because of the volume of mail received, we can't respond to each request.