Groceries and takeout in Las Vegas

Friends and I are renting a house 3 miles west of the airport (Arden neighborhood) for a few days, a Friday to a Tuesday. We’re a large enough group that we can’t eat at restaurants, so plan to cook or shop instead.

Any suggestions for farmers markets or places for fresh produce (dino kale desired)? Any delis or takeout places that shouldn’t be missed by people coming from the SF Bay Area? Our group has vegetarians, vegans, kids, and spice-averse folks in the mix.

In addition to Trader Joe’s and Costco, I was planning to get fresh tortillas from Mariana’s (any better suggestions?), and Ethiopian takeout from Peace Ethiopian Cafe (they said they had tef injera, but other recommendations welcome). We also plan to hit Ranch 99 for Asian ingredients (their produce in the SF Bay Area is mixed quality, is it any better in Vegas and is SF Market preferable?).

Ron’s Market looks good for Eastern European meats and cheeses.

There are farmers markets in LV, but if you’re from the Bay Area, don’t get your hopes up:

I’ve been to the Downtown 3rd and Tivoli markets. This time of year, some greenhouse stuff, and produce from the San Joaquin Valley. Limited selection all around. In the BA, you wouldn’t think of Trader Joe’s as a place to get decent produce, but in LV it’s actually one of the better options for organic produce – certainly better than the grocery stores, and in some instances, better than WF or Sprouts. YMMV.

For Eastern European meats, you might check out Forte European Tapas – they have a cold case with some interesting sausages, etc. in it. If by deli you mean Kosher-style deli, there’s Weiss in Henderson, and Harrie’s Bagelmania near the convention center, but neither are anything special. Nothing I can think of that’s near you.

About the only takeout we do is curries from Lotus of Siam. They’re excellent, but might not be what you’re after.

This is super helpful, thanks!

Our produce supplier in past, more rural, get togethers has been Walmart, so Trader Joes will be a step up :slight_smile:

By “deli” I meant any kind of place with warm, pre-prepared takeout foods.

Oh, man I didn’t realize Lotus of Siam had re-opened. I had a great meal and Chada Thai last month and will hit Lotus of Siam on a future visit.

Sure thing. Lotus just opened in their new location on Flamingo & Paradise a couple of weeks ago. The original location is still being worked on and probably won’t open till at least March or so (they say February, but I’d be astounded).

For pre-prepared takeout, Whole Foods is the only thing that comes to mind at that end of town. Pricey of course.

I just noticed that there is no Trader Joe’s very close to you. I believe the nearest is on Eastern, and it’s close to 10 miles away.

International Market in Decatur has a nice selection of products.

1 Like

Thanks for all the tips! Trader Joe’s wound up being out-of-the-way, and Sprouts was good enough.

  • Mariana’s was a large, well stocked Latino (Mexican?) grocery store and I was able to get freshly made corn and flour tortillas. They also had fresh huaraches and one or two other masa items. Lots of cheap spices. Tamales were available hot, but not refrigerated or frozen.

  • Ranch 99 was in a large, primarily Asian food, shopping center. Produce quality was a step above the Bay Area Ranch 99 I used to go to, but bakery selection was inferior. I didn’t catch the names, but the shopping center had a Taiwanese steam-table takeout place with tasty cold dishes. There are two bakeries in the complex, a Chinese bakery which had stale pineapple buns, and a recently opened Paris Baguette (Korean chain).

  • We got most of what we needed at the above markets and picked up yuppie foods at Sprouts, which was decent for bulk items and had good quality, but an odd stocking of product (e.g., they were out of basil, which Albertson’s had in abundance).

  • The sources of 100% tef injera I had called ahead of time failed to have any the day I needed some. We wound up getting takeout from Merkato Ethiopian. Their injera was made from a wheat and tef mix, and lacked any sour tang, but we all were happy at its freshness. Meat and vegetarian dishes had a good amount of spice heat.