Win A Gold Bar As A New Indian Restaurant Opens in Las Vegas | Neon Las Vegas Review Journal

By Johnathan L. Wright
Neon Las Vegas Review Journal

Although it’s a coastal state, in western India along the Arabian Sea, Gujarat is famed for its vegetarian cooking, not for seafood (although some dishes do feature seafood and other animal proteins). That vegetarian tradition and other Gujarati foodways are celebrated at a Taste of Gujarat, a family-run restaurant opening Wednesday in the Silverado Ranch area of Las Vegas.

Himanshu and Shuchi Patel are the husband-and-wife owners of the restaurant. Tarlikaben Patel, Himanshu Patel’s mother and a lifelong vegetarian cook, is joined in the kitchen by Nilam Patel, her niece and longtime culinary partner. Together, they send out a menu that leads with Gujarati standards.Although it’s a coastal state, in western India along the Arabian Sea, Gujarat is famed for its vegetarian cooking, not for seafood (although some dishes do feature seafood and other animal proteins). That vegetarian tradition and other Gujarati foodways are celebrated at a Taste of Gujarat, a family-run restaurant opening Wednesday in the Silverado Ranch area of Las Vegas.

Himanshu and Shuchi Patel are the husband-and-wife owners of the restaurant. Tarlikaben Patel, Himanshu Patel’s mother and a lifelong vegetarian cook, is joined in the kitchen by Nilam Patel, her niece and longtime culinary partner. Together, they send out a menu that leads with Gujarati standards.

Gujarat and beyond

There are surti stuffed potato patties with green chutney filling or khaman steamed chickpea flour cakes finished with fresh coriander and grated coconut or khandvi snacks made from rolled up chickpea flour, yogurt and ginger pancakes, to start.

There are main courses like undhiyu winter vegetables prepared in spices or a vaghareli kichdi stew of rice, lentils, vegetables and spices. Gujarati thali (the word for “plate”) are served on weekends, featuring round platters with a mix of dishes, condiments and flatbread.

Taste of Gujarat also features more broadly Indian dishes, like pani puri, samosas, masala dosa filled crêpes, chicken tikka masala, butter chicken, biryani and curries. There are even a handful of Indo-Chinese dishes, originating with 19th century immigrants from China, like vegetable dumplings tossed in spicy soy-garlic sauce.

Win a gold bar

The restaurant, 9890 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 16-18, encompasses a main dining room, a private dining room, a full bar, and a hookah lounge open Fridays and Saturdays after 10 p.m. To mark the Taste of Gujarat launch, guests who spend at least $100 or more through Nov. 8 will receive an entry to the raffle of a gold bar. The drawing will take place at 6 p.m. Nov. 9.

The restaurant hours, for its opening period, are 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays for lunch, 5 to 10 p.m. Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for dinner, and 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays for dinner. Visit tasteofgujaratlv.com, follow @tasteofgujaratlv or call 702-291-8011.