3 Las Vegas restaurants make Yelp’s Top 100 list for 2024

By Johnathan L. Wright Las Vegas Review-Journal

10 months ago

Mushroom tacos from Milpa, a Mexican restaurant in the southwest Las Vegas valley, Thursday, Ma ... — Mushroom tacos from Milpa, a Mexican restaurant in the southwest Las Vegas valley, Thursday, March 9, 2023. (Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @rookie__rae

Chef DJ Flores at Milpa, his Mexican restaurant in the southwest Las Vegas valley, Thursday, March 9, 2023. The restaurant is one of the few in Vegas that makes corn tortillas from scratch using the traditional nixtamalization process. (Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @rookie__rae

Chef Sterling Burpee, owner of Zenaida’s Cafe on East Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas, on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. @KMCannonPhoto

Tremaine’s Biscuits & Gravy at Zenaida’s Cafe on East Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. The restaurant is owned by Chef Sterling Burpee. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @KMCannonPhoto

Sakura and Hokkaido Boxes from Shigotonin Japanese Tapas & Sake Bar in Chinatown Las Vegas. (Shigotonin/Yelp)

It’s the tortillas.

At Milpa, chef-owner DJ Flores fashions tortillas from imported heirloom corn that is boiled, steeped, milled, formed into dough, pressed and griddled. The stage when kernels are boiled, then steeped, in water and hydroxy chloride (slaked lime) is called nixtamalization, a process that dates to ancient Mesoamerica.

Nixtamalization makes the dough easier to mill, releases nutrients, and improves tortilla texture and flavor. Since it debuted in 2021, Milpa has developed a reputation for the quality of its tortillas, and that quality has helped it land in the No. 22 spot on Yelp’s Top 100 Places to Eat in the U.S. in 2024.

Milpa is the highest ranking of three Las Vegas restaurants on the list. Milpa also ranked No. 7 in 2023 among Yelp’s top U.S. taco spots. The restaurant is at 4226 S. Durango Drive, Suite 101.

Cinnamon rolls and sashimi platters

Zenaida’s Cafe returns to the list, coming in at No. 25. Last year, it was No. 24. The family-owned Zenaida’s (Zeh-NYE-duh) offers art on the walls for sale, a jazz soundtrack and comfort dishes for breakfast, lunch and brunch.

The menu ranges from biscuits draped with sausage gravy to Caprese eggs Benedict, from cinnamon rolls made daily to a vegan po’boy to thick slabs of French toast topped by fresh berries and Chantilly cream. The restaurant is at 3430 E. Tropicana Ave.

Shigotonin Japanese Tapas &Sake Bar, at No. 33, features a sleek, semi-industrial space rendered in white, black and gray, with high ceilings, exposed ductwork and soaring sash windows. The menu offers regional small dishes; sushi rolls and boxes; sashimi plates, bowls and platters; specials; sakes and more. Shigotonin is at 5845 Spring Mountain Road, Suite 7.

To create the Top 100, Yelp analyzed user submissions, ratings, review volume and community input. For full the list, visit here.

Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram and @ItsJLW on X.