Small Plates: Try Asian comfort food; stock up on Hatch chiles

FAT CHOY, INSIDE THE EUREKA CASINO, 595 E. SAHARA AVE.

Fat Choy was opened in early January by chef Sheridan Su, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who formerly worked at L’Atelier Joel Robuchon, Social House, Wazuzu and Comme Ca, and operated the Great Bao food truck. His Fat Choy specialty dishes are pork belly baos, roasted duck baos, roasted duck leg on rice, Fat Choy Burger and Short Rib Grilled Cheese.

Manager Jenny Wong calls Fat Choy “Asian diner meets comfort food” and describes the decor as “casual, kind of like a diner, kind of hip.” Of the menu, she said, “we like to say it’s not one type, it’s just good food.”

Here’s a sample from the menu:

Snacks: Grandma’s Potstickers, $6; roasted marrow with onion jam and grilled bread, $8; pork belly bao, $7; Peking duck bao, $7

Rice and noodles: duck rice, $12; sesame noodles, $8; fried pork sauce noodles, $9

Burgers and sandwiches: Fat Choy Burger (with short ribs, bacon, fried egg, cheddar and onion jam), $10; PBBLT (BLT with pork belly and sriracha mayo), $9; Short Rib Grilled Cheese, $10

Sunday brunch: The Fat Benedict (with pork belly), $9; classic Benedict, $8; kalbi steak and eggs, $9; biscuits and gravy, $7; Vegetable Garden Omelet, $8; chicken and waffles, $10; Nutella roti, $6; strawberries and cream, $6

Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays; 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays. Call 702-794-3464 or visit www.EurekaLasVegas.com.

HATCHING THE HATCH

The official Hatch Chile Festival is this weekend in Hatch, N.M. (www.HatchChileFest.com), but you don’t have to travel to New Mexico to taste the real thing.

When George Halpin, specialty room chef at Garduno’s at the Fiesta, took over two years ago, the restaurant had become more Mexican than New Mexican, which is Garduno’s style.

“With the economy and downsizing, somebody would come in and change this, somebody would come in and change that,” Halpin said. “They weren’t doing a lot of New Mexican things. Some of the recipes were the same, but it was different techniques. Basically, we had lost the flavor of Garduno’s.”

Halpin went to New Mexico to train. When he returned, he found that many of the long-term staff members still remembered the old ways of doing things.

“So we brought back the traditional flavors of Garduno’s,” he said.

These days, he said, 90 percent of the menu is done with Hatch chile, either red or green. The biggest effect, he said, was in the red and green chile sauces, the chile con queso and the salsas.

New-Mexican food icon Carlito’s Burritos, 3345 E. Patrick Lane, has Hatch chile roasting from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Saturday. The 30-pound bags are $37 roasted, $32 unroasted. The restaurant ordered 45,000 pounds. To reserve a bag go to www.Carlitos Burritos.com .

Local Albertsons stores also have been holding roasting events, with one date remaining. The outdoor roasting and sales go from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, while supplies last, at the store at 7350 S. Rainbow Blvd. Chileheads can purchase a 30-pound bag for $34.99, roasting included, with a limit of 10 bags per person .

— Heidi Knapp Rinella