The Vegas Table: A Las Vegas Restaurant and Food Blog

Perhaps you’ve never noticed this, but being a self-declared ranch dressing aficianado, I have a ranch dilemma.  As a vegetarian, I eat a lot of salad.  Now, when we eat out, this usually isn’t a problem.  Most restaurants have delicious, spicy, flavorful ranch dressing on offer.  But when I get to the grocery store, I can’t find a good ranch dressing to save my life!  I must have spent thirty dollars in the last three months searching for a ranch dressing that meets my specifications.  No luck!

To my way of thinking, ranch dressing should taste a little creamy and a lot spicy.  I can’t stand ranch that tastes mostly like buttermilk, or as Mark says, soybean oil-tasting.  Now, I’ve found a few restaurants that really get ranch right, and I’d like to share them with you.

Famous Dave’s (1951 North Rainbow) is the king of ranch.  Delicious on one of their great salads, and also superb as a french fry dip.  For a special treat, dip a fry in a little BBQ sauce, then in the ranch dressing.  It’s a delicious taste sensation!

Buon Gusto (2642 West Horizon Ridge Parkway) is the queen to Famous Dave’s king of ranch.  Theirs is so flavorful and spicy, with a generous helping of garlic (it is an Italian restaurant, after all).  Their salads are delicious on their own, and when combined with their homemade (!) dressing, you’ll have a savory treat you won’t soon forget.

Sweet Tomatoes (375 North Stephanie and other locations) has a great ranch dressing, too.  Ladled over crisp romaine, tomatoes, and hard boiled eggs, it has a spicy but not hot kick that is quite tasty.

Village Pub (4563 East Sunset and other locations) is one of our favorite standbys and never disappoints with its ranch dressing.  The house salad here is cheap but good and is served with a carrot stick that just begs to take a trip down to the ranch.

Souper Salad (4022 South Maryland Parkway and other locations) is another source for ranch done right.  Imagine my horror when they replaced it briefly with some faux-Mexican bastardization during “Fiesta Days”.  Thank goodness Fiesta Days were short-lived.  Just pray they don’t have “Dairy Farm Days,” when I’m sure the buttermilk would come out in full force.  Although so would the straight butter, which is never a bad thing….

I hope by now my devotion to ranch dressing is obvious.  Oh, did I mention Memphis Championship BBQ?  They’ve got good ranch, too.  I love to get a spud there and dip each bite into the dressing.  Anyway, you certainly won’t find another person so dedicated to ranch dressing as a concept, so won’t you help me out in my quest to discover a store-bought ranch that can compete?  I’ve already tried Kraft, Bob’s Country Dressing, and Wishbone, all to no avail.  There’s a big jug o’ dressing at Costco that looks like it has potential, but I’m leery of shelling out seven bucks for a gallon of ranch that tastes like soybean oil.  Please, if you love ranch like I love ranch, hep a sista out and clue me in to what I’m missing on those grocery shelves.

As a postscript, Mark wants me to mention one of his surprises.  At Tacone (2265 Village Walk Drive in the District) he discovered something containing cilantro that DOESN’T taste like dishwashing soap (can I get an Amen?!).  At their dip and dressing bar, try the cilantro ranch dressing.  Even if you loathe cilantro as much as we do, you’ll like this dressing.  Mark did!