Esther's Kitchen

Cuisine	Italian
Price	$$$ (31-50)
Rating	7/10
Last Visit	July 19, 2023
Location	Las Vegas: Las Vegas

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General Notes

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Esther's Kitchen is a delightful modern Italian restaurant in the arts district of Las Vegas. Nice vibes, friendly service, great food, substantial portions, and reasonable prices. The bread was the highlight of the meal for me -- definitely give it a try with one or more of their delicious spreads. I would love to come back for some of their other offerings, particularly the other spreads, like the burrata or the nduja. Honestly, I'd totally come here for just bread + a drink, sounds like a delightful meal.

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Positives

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> I sat at the bar and the service was delightful. I ordered the squash blossoms and it came out very wrong -- the batter on the outside was very thick and chewy, not cooked properly at all. I pointed it out to the bartender, who took it to the cook and verified that it was indeed not prepared correctly. He offered to either take it off of my bill or bring me a new one.

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Dishes Tasted

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• ★★☆☆ Carbonara -- rigatoni, carbonara, egg yolk, guanciale, snap peas, grana. I found it to be a little overly salty, but the texture of the pasta is amazing and the overall flavor is nice. Could use a touch more guancale.
• ★★☆☆ Squash Blossoms -- goat cheese, ricotta, romesco, saba. The flavor combination itself is excellent, unfortunately it was prepared wrong -- the batter was way too thick and ended up with a chewy consistency instead of a crispy exterior. Probably just bad luck on my end -- it'll probably be delicious when you order it.
• ★★★★ Bread + Fegatini -- chicken liver and foie gras + saba + strawberry. The little pieces of marinaded strawberry in balsamic vinegar was a little weird (would have probably preferred just strawberry flavor in the dish), but the overall flavor was incredible, and the bread was amazing. It was flavorful and so soft / fluffy in the middle, while having a perfect crispy exterior.