Slidin' Thru Goes Un-Mobile

Apparently a hazard of inviting a very competitive fellow journalist into the studio as a guest of my show for a debate about his book is that said fellow journalist would go ahead and scoop me in the blogosphere on a breaking news item that occurred on the show. Then again, the show was heard live by many via the Web as we recorded it, I did Tweet about this and I could have blogged it sooner if I hadn't been on a deadline for The Daily Beast. But why quibble when "Eating Las Vegas" co-author Al Mancini turned out to be such a good sport about being routed in our scrum over his book?

Anyhow, the scoop. Well, I invited Ric Guerrero from the gourmet food truck Slidin' Thru to join us by phone for an interview edition of our Top Secret Tourist Tip of the Week because (a) we were wall-to-wall food this episode and (b) guest co-host Amy is a Slidin' Thru fan who got me into it. Basically, it's a truck -- now they have two, Guerrero revealed -- that pops up all over town in parking lots serving up really tasty, fairly cheap little burgers, as you see here from Amy and my visit.

Now, however, Slidin' Thru is adding a brick-and-mortar location. Al and I each asked variations (mine clean, his with the requisite "fuck") of the question as to why they'd do that and doesn't that take the cool, discovery, adventurous factor out of the whole enterprise? Ric, sensing opportunities and predicting perhaps several of these proper stores, was undeterred, as you'll hear when I get a chance to post the show.

Anyhow, the first Slidin' Thru restaurant is not quite up and running, but their chefs are in the kitchen at 955 Grier Road just south of McCarran Airport and are serving the burgers now in a bar called Poker Paradise embedded in a commercial plaza. And to confirm it, Amy and I scootched out there after the show to see for ourselves.

The menu and prices -- 2 for $5, 3 for $7, I think 5 for $9 -- is the same, see:


The bartender said they're serving the burgers from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily, FYI. Here's our food:


We each had a Captain's Order (roma tomato, arugula, bacon, feta, sautéed onion, balsamic reduction), I ordered a Barby (melted cheddar, caramelized jalapeño, fried onion strip, bacon, BBQ sauce) and a Mystery Burger and Amy ordered a Yaya (lettuce, tomato, red onion, feta, tzatziki, red wine vinaigrette). Sadly, Amy ate my Mystery Burger by accident so we're not real sure what it was. Oops.

We ate at the dingy bar...


...which we're quite sure violated the utterly unenforced Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act, which prohibits food service in places where people smoke and vice versa. Slidin' Thru plans to have a proper restaurant open immediately next door by New Year's. This is what it looks like today, pre-renovation:


So that was fun. And while we were there, the other truck "came in," providing this unique image:


The whole show should be up tomorrow. I've got a couple other deadlines AND the in-laws in town. I'll do my best. God forbid Mancini heard the first segment when I spilled beans on scoops I got from Phil Ruffin, Oscar Goodman and Steve Wynn...