Las Vegas Mixtape v24: Buzzy Burgers, Beautiful Sounds, and a Metal Health Check-up

Track #5: Around Town Medley

All my favorites, including the okra, cauliflower/potatoes, garlic nan, potato-filled nan, and samosas, tasted strikingly light, and the chicken tikka masala was as creamy/dreamy as it needed to be. While you dine, it’s hard not to look up at the TV screen on the wall playing Bollywood films with colorfully costumed Indian actors dancing to pop-dance music. This keeps the mood at Angara lively and fun.

Fast-casual eateries with counter service may not qualify as “fine dining,” but SkinnyFATS is a smart and satisfying choice. This Nevada/Utah chain, with branches all over Vegas, has a menu that favors healthy options but includes fried delights like the “Blazewich” with Nashville hot chicken.

I took the healthy route and ordered the Mangolorian with seared ahi tuna, jasmine rice, Hawaiian mix, mango basil, and cilantro.  This excellent union of flavors was affordably priced at $15—a perfect dish I ate on the eatery’s outdoor patio in downtown Summerlin on a glorious night in the mid-‘80s with only 16 percent humidity and no insects in sight (my idea of paradise).

Walking around after dinner, I happened upon the dress rehearsal for the annual “Parade of Mischief.” The family-friendly Halloween season parade with creative floats runs through downtown Summerlin’s streets every Friday and Saturday at 6 pm through October 26.

Bonus: it was wonderful to hear “Goo Goo Muck,” a 1982 cover tune by the groundbreaking psychobilly punk legends The Cramps, used in one of the choreographed dances. Good music—including this nugget featured recently in an episode of Netflix’s “Wednesday” (a spinoff of “The Addams Family”)—never dies.