Steve
11-05-2005, 02:59 PM
Rock 'n' roll soup for the soul.
The Rainbow Bar and Grill and Mr. Lucky's battle for chicken broth supremacy
BY AL MANCINI
There are few foods in this world as versatile as a good bowl of chicken soup. Sure there's the old cliche about it being great when you're suffering from a cold. But chicken soup also serves perfectly as both a quick snack and a hearty meal. It's great for lunch or in the middle of the night, perfect to put food in your stomach during a long night of drinking and great when you need something to calm it during the next morning's hangover.
For all of those reasons, Mr. Lucky's at the Hard Rock has always been my mecca for chicken soup. Not only is their soup delicious, it's available 24/7, just a few hundred feet from one of the town's best concert halls, gaming tables and bars packed with gorgeous, scantily clad women. I've eaten it while I waited to interview bands at the Joint, and after plenty of long nights getting my ass kicked at the blackjack tables. I've been such a devotee of the soup at Mr. Lucky's for the past few years that I never expected anyone in town to offer a bowl that could challenge it. But that changed a few weeks ago, when L.A.'s Rainbow Bar & Grill expanded into Las Vegas.
Located just across the street from the Hard Rock, the Rainbow caters to the same rocker crowd. And like Mr. Lucky's, it offers great food around the clock. Furthermore, after their trademark pizza, the specialty of the house is probably their chicken soup -- a damn good chicken soup at that. It's so good, in fact, that it got me wondering whether there was a new champ in town. So I recently assembled a small team of the only people I could find bored enough to spend their night comparing soup, plied them with an offer of free alcohol and set out to see if the challenger could take the belt away from the defending champ.
The participants for the taste test were myself (a journalist and part-time food critic), my wife Sue (an accountant who makes a damn fine chicken soup herself) and Jen (a topless dancer who for some reason had absolutely nothing better to do on a Tuesday night).
The first stop was Mr. Lucky's. Where we ordered two shots of Jägermeister, two beers, and a Bushmills and Coke (note to Mr. Lucky's -- get some Jameson!):
Me: There's a lot of big chunks. You've got to love the amount of chicken they put in here.
Sue: The chunks of chicken are pretty good, but I think the diced vegetables should be bigger.
Jen: I agree, they should definitely use bigger vegetable chunks.
Me: But it's got a great down-home taste.
Sue: Yeah, but it needs to be spiced up a bit.
Me: More pepper. We've all added pepper.
Jen: I think the chicken's perfect, but the noodles could be homemade.
Flash forward an hour and several drinks. The three of us have stumbled across Paradise and are seated at a booth at the Rainbow, soup bowls in front of us.
Me: OK, first of all, the broth is too thin. But the chicken chunks are huge, and I like the addition of potatoes. I also kind of like the zucchini, even though it's in huge chunks.
Jen: This reminds me of something my grandmother would make on a Sunday after church, exactly.
Sue: I say never put zucchini in chicken soup.
Me: I think the broth, even though it's thinner, is spiced better.
Sue: I salted and peppered the Hard Rock's. I didn't put any salt or pepper in this one. None of us did.
Me: They use rice instead of noodles. I prefer noodles.
Jen: The potatoes were perfect.
Sue: We didn't need the rice at all.
Me: Both of these soups use only white meat.
Sue: There should be dark meat.
Jen: I hate dark meat.
Me: OK, let's get another round of drinks and vote.
It was a hard-fought battle, but I am pleased to announce that the winner of the battle of rock 'n' roll soups, and still champion, by unanimous decision, is Mr. Lucky's. I'd like to commend the challenger on a well-fought battle, and commend the waitstaff at both restaurants (particularly Aaron) for putting up with a table full of drunks who ordered nothing but soup.
Mr. Lucky's (inside the Hard Rock)
4455 Paradise Rd.
693-5000
Rainbow Bar & Grille
4480 Paradise Rd. #100
898-3525
http://www.lvcitylife.com/articles/2005/08/06/dining_out/dining.txt
The Rainbow Bar and Grill and Mr. Lucky's battle for chicken broth supremacy
BY AL MANCINI
There are few foods in this world as versatile as a good bowl of chicken soup. Sure there's the old cliche about it being great when you're suffering from a cold. But chicken soup also serves perfectly as both a quick snack and a hearty meal. It's great for lunch or in the middle of the night, perfect to put food in your stomach during a long night of drinking and great when you need something to calm it during the next morning's hangover.
For all of those reasons, Mr. Lucky's at the Hard Rock has always been my mecca for chicken soup. Not only is their soup delicious, it's available 24/7, just a few hundred feet from one of the town's best concert halls, gaming tables and bars packed with gorgeous, scantily clad women. I've eaten it while I waited to interview bands at the Joint, and after plenty of long nights getting my ass kicked at the blackjack tables. I've been such a devotee of the soup at Mr. Lucky's for the past few years that I never expected anyone in town to offer a bowl that could challenge it. But that changed a few weeks ago, when L.A.'s Rainbow Bar & Grill expanded into Las Vegas.
Located just across the street from the Hard Rock, the Rainbow caters to the same rocker crowd. And like Mr. Lucky's, it offers great food around the clock. Furthermore, after their trademark pizza, the specialty of the house is probably their chicken soup -- a damn good chicken soup at that. It's so good, in fact, that it got me wondering whether there was a new champ in town. So I recently assembled a small team of the only people I could find bored enough to spend their night comparing soup, plied them with an offer of free alcohol and set out to see if the challenger could take the belt away from the defending champ.
The participants for the taste test were myself (a journalist and part-time food critic), my wife Sue (an accountant who makes a damn fine chicken soup herself) and Jen (a topless dancer who for some reason had absolutely nothing better to do on a Tuesday night).
The first stop was Mr. Lucky's. Where we ordered two shots of Jägermeister, two beers, and a Bushmills and Coke (note to Mr. Lucky's -- get some Jameson!):
Me: There's a lot of big chunks. You've got to love the amount of chicken they put in here.
Sue: The chunks of chicken are pretty good, but I think the diced vegetables should be bigger.
Jen: I agree, they should definitely use bigger vegetable chunks.
Me: But it's got a great down-home taste.
Sue: Yeah, but it needs to be spiced up a bit.
Me: More pepper. We've all added pepper.
Jen: I think the chicken's perfect, but the noodles could be homemade.
Flash forward an hour and several drinks. The three of us have stumbled across Paradise and are seated at a booth at the Rainbow, soup bowls in front of us.
Me: OK, first of all, the broth is too thin. But the chicken chunks are huge, and I like the addition of potatoes. I also kind of like the zucchini, even though it's in huge chunks.
Jen: This reminds me of something my grandmother would make on a Sunday after church, exactly.
Sue: I say never put zucchini in chicken soup.
Me: I think the broth, even though it's thinner, is spiced better.
Sue: I salted and peppered the Hard Rock's. I didn't put any salt or pepper in this one. None of us did.
Me: They use rice instead of noodles. I prefer noodles.
Jen: The potatoes were perfect.
Sue: We didn't need the rice at all.
Me: Both of these soups use only white meat.
Sue: There should be dark meat.
Jen: I hate dark meat.
Me: OK, let's get another round of drinks and vote.
It was a hard-fought battle, but I am pleased to announce that the winner of the battle of rock 'n' roll soups, and still champion, by unanimous decision, is Mr. Lucky's. I'd like to commend the challenger on a well-fought battle, and commend the waitstaff at both restaurants (particularly Aaron) for putting up with a table full of drunks who ordered nothing but soup.
Mr. Lucky's (inside the Hard Rock)
4455 Paradise Rd.
693-5000
Rainbow Bar & Grille
4480 Paradise Rd. #100
898-3525
http://www.lvcitylife.com/articles/2005/08/06/dining_out/dining.txt