FIRST Food & Bar
Palazzo (last visit: July 2009).
American.
FIRST Food & Bar is a bar. Sort of. It serves American food. Sort of. It portrays itself as a trendy neighborhood diner/bar/lounge. First was born in New York in the 1990s, the brainchild of Sam DeMarco; it made quite a splash. The first First is long gone, but Chef DeMarco is now holding court in Las Vegas. And yes, somewhere along the way it was decided that "First" didn't have nearly enough capital letters.
The Menu
The emphasis is on comfort food, but with many a twist. Philly cheesesteak is available - but in the form of dumplings. How about barbecue pork in egg rolls? There are also croque monsieur popsicles (no, not frozen), pastrami Reuben tacos, and for breakfast, a "FIRST Bag O' Donuts." For the traditionalists among us, there are plenty of meat and potatoes choices as well.
The Atmosphere
As you'd expect, it's pretty informal. There's a large bar, composed of dark wood and stone in sparkly cement grout. A large lounge area surrounds the bar. The predominant color is black: chairs are black, the walls are mostly black (with some white, and some caricatures scattered bout), and servers' clothing is almost uniformly black. The dining area is on the other side of the restaurant, and takes up a little more than half of the total space. Very large windows allow lots of light during breakfast and lunch.
At 6 pm on a Sunday in July, the place was nearly deserted; it stayed that way for the hour or so that I was there. That's not surprising, given the day and time. However, it's worth noting that, while FIRST is part of the Palazzo complex, it's way out of the way, and not all that easy to find. People may never even know it's there.
The Meal
I came for a light dinner. I ordered croque monsieur pops, and added an egg; for a buck or two, you can add an egg to almost anything. This turned out to be three small cubes of fried bread, ham and cheese, with dipping sauce. Perhaps the cubes had been dipped in egg, but if so it was pretty subtle. It was OK, but not something I'd order again. Now about the portion size: it was small, but that's as should be expected. Items like this aren't an entree, but are best ordered as a small snack shared by two or three people.
I'd been on a spinach kick this trip, and tried their sauteed spinach. It was lightly sauteed, with a background flavor that might have been bacon. All in all, a good version of a maligned vegetable.
Summary
I've only been to FIRST once, for a small meal, and that was during a quiet time. I like the concept of this place, and really wanted to like my experience. However, the food didn't blow me away, and I'm concerned that FIRST's out of the way location will prevent it from building a following. I plan to return during a busier time to see if my first impression was correct.
The Bill
The meal was $17, plus drinks, tax and tip.