Across the river in the casino, “Pearl” recently opened, a “pan-Asian” Vietnamese restaurant in Harrah’s Horseshoe Casino.
Background
I may have some of this a tad off, but the owner lived in Vegas for many years, running restaurants. She wanted to move back home (New Albany area), and did so. She owns the restaurant, but put it in with Harrah’s help in design et al.
While she wanted a Vietnamese restaurant, Harrah’s convinced her to also offer a range of Chinese more standard offerings, which (given the crowd there) account for a vast percentage of her sales (and maybe a third to half of the menu).
The good
The flavors are very light and fresh. We had fresh rolls, Pho, and a special BBQ beef dish, and each was quite good, light, and exhibited a good depth of flavor.
The details
Fresh rolls: cold, crispy noodles, both shrimp and sausage on the outer part, heavy peanut-butter sauce, but inside was 90% noodles with few if any veges. . . Expensive in comparison ($9 for two small-ish rolls, around $1-2 more than competition)
Pho: great flavor, but light on meat (two slices beef, one meatball), and expensive ($9 small bowl, v $8 @ Vietnam Kitchen – large bowl was $14-15 range).
BBQ: beef marinated in lemongrass and various other spices for 24 hours, then grilled, served with rice and salad/cold veges. Again, good depth of flavor, very different, interesting taste profile. Price was reasonable (low $20’s), but portion very small – enough, but half to two-thirds what get elsewhere.
In conclusion
Food is good. If Basa represents the urban, French style of Vietnamese cooking, and Vietnam Kitchen the provinces, rural, street style, then this menu is somewhat in-between. While I would rate Basa definitely better, and Vietnam Kitchen slightly better, this was not bad. It was, however, expensive for what you get, most likely due to the level of rent Harrah’s is charging.
If you are in the casino (or in the New Albany area), I’d eat there way before I’d hit Paula Dean’s (or any other of the restaurants there) or drive across the river in rush hour, but don’t know that I’d make a separate trip from Louisville just to try it.