Singing For His Supper

Photograph by Robert John Kley

By Grace Bascos

Taylor Hicks dishes on his favorite eats.

From Taylor Hicks’ Southern drawl and easygoing demeanor, you can tell he likes his food with as much soul as his singing. So much so that he even co-owns an acclaimed barbecue restaurant in Alabama, SAW’s Juke Joint, where he still performs from time to time. “Food is one of my passions,” Hicks says. “And being from Alabama, you have three passions: music, football and food.”

When Hicks is in town for his resident show at Paris Las Vegas, he takes full advantage of the Sin City dining scene. “I think it’s amazing: You can get whatever your heart desires and its great-quality food,” he remarks. “Everybody in the world comes here to enjoy the nightlife and the shows, but also the food.I like to visit all the steak houses, and I’ll check out some Thai restaurants; but I also enjoy the off-the-beaten path stuff—the whiskey attics.”

True to his Southern roots, he does enjoy a good cut of meat, ranking Gordon Ramsay Steak at Paris Las Vegas among his favorite steak houses—and not just for what is presented on the rolling meat cart. “The Kobe Rib cap is always fun,” Hicks admits. “But the beef Wellington is one of Ramsay’s specialties. You don’t get beef Wellington too often, and [here] it’s done the right way.”

But it’s not all steaks and beef Wellingtons for Hicks, as he does like to occasionally get down with some soulful, street-style tacos from Mexican taqueria, Tacos el Gordo, a walk-up window located on Las Vegas Boulevard. “That’s the best late-night food there is,” Hicks laughs. “You can tell I’ve lived here for eighteen months.”