Las Vegas – The Final Day

We went for a champagne brunch at The Wynn buffet.  I got it comped for my excessive gambling the night before.  That was a fantastic brunch:  champagne and mimosas free flowing, awesome breakfast selections, and a great waiter.  So now, I have had breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the Wynn Buffet.  It is hard to rate them, since they were all so tasty.

We checked out the Bellagio gardens and Jean Philippe Patisserie.  At Jean Philippe, they have the world’s tallest chocolate fountain.  I wish it was not closed in.  I would love to stick my mouth under the one of the cascades of chocolate.

We all left Vegas around the same time as each other.  I did not want to leave.  I wanted to stay and live at the Wynn buffet.  I will be back to Las Vegas soon.  Next time, I will be staying exclusively at the Wynn.

[Currently Listening to Chris Brown - Forever]

Las Vegas – Day 3

We went to MESA Grill, Bobby Flay’s restaurant in Caesar’s Palace, for lunch. It turned out that they were only serving brunch. We all had our hearts set on something from the lunch menu.

I ordered this great Belgian ale, Pawlek or something like that. The waiter took the bottle away before I could make note of it. I got the salmon and spicy tuna tartare, and Mary and Elliot got the goat cheese fondue (I think). Both of the appetizers were great. Although, I was expecting more spiciness from the tuna. I got the beef tenderloin tartare for my main course. It was good. I forgot what everyone ordered, but I have pictures of it. I will post those in this blog soon. Overall, I was not blown away by MESA. I was expecting more spice (not necessarily spiciness) and heat. MESA gave me the same “eh” impression I got from Emeril’s restaurant in MGM (or wherever it was).

For dinner, we all ate at Bouchon at the Venetian. This was my favorite restaurant of the trip, after the Wynn buffet of course. I got a Bouchon for a drink, I do not remember exactly what is in it except that I substituted the Skyy vodka for Grey Goose. It was a great drink. Mary ordered a delish drink too, it had a raspberry in it, that is all I can remember. Ben was introduced to Woodford bourbon. I really wanted to order the fois gras for an appetizer, but it was $48. Since I have had authentic fois gras before, I saw it reasonable to pass on it this time. I ended up ordering the pâté de campagne. The pâté was very delicious. For my main course I had a trout with haricot verts and almonds. It was great until I stumbled across a few bones. I am not one to make a scene about anything, but I just wanted to make the chef aware of the bones. After making the waiter and manager aware, I was told that there are traditionally some spinal bones near the neck and the middle. If they were not there, the fish would fall apart as it was served. I feel like it was a bull[****] excuse for leaving bones in the fish. I was comped for my dessert, which was three different ice creams on top of brownies. Overall, everything was excellent.

(Click for a bigger picture)

Saturday night, we caught the late show of Zumanity (“The Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil”) at the New York New York hotel. We got sofa seats right in front of the stage. If I go again, I would sit not so close to the stage. Zumanity is somewhat of an interactive show. I really did not want to participate in any of the acts. I did get a rose from a guy that wanted to get out of his g-string. The MC of the show came over and talked to us, but I think she picked up on the us not wanting to get too involved. I really liked the show. I have never seen a Cirque show before, and I am sure that Zumanity is not the typical Cirque show. I want to see all the Cirque shows.

After the show, we explored some more of the hotels and casinos on that end of the Strip where New York New York is and then went back to our hotel to check out that lounge again. Ben and I ended up gambling at the Wynn. That night, I discovered my favorite slot machine. I played enough to get a free Wynn buffet for two.

[Currently Listening to Elias ft. Anne Marie - Day I Die]

Las Vegas – Day 2

We started the morning off with breakfast at the Tintoretto Bakery in The Venetian Hotel.  I got the pain au chocolat (which is my favorite breakfast pastry).  it was pretty delish, as was everyone’s breakfast.

We did a lot of walking and exploring the different hotels and casinos on the strip.  We had lunch at the Wynn Buffet.  It was delish once again.  I think it was about $20 cheaper than dinner.  I forgot how much it was exactly.

(Click for a bigger picture)

For dinner, we took a cab to a restaurant off the Strip.  We went to Lotus of Siam for dinner.  According to a couple of magazines, it is the best Thai restaurant in North America.  I had the tom yum soup, with a scale of 7/10 spiciness, for an appetizer.  I did not like the flavor that much.  They spiced it with chili peppers instead of the tom yum.  I had rad na for my main course.  I found out that rad na in Thai cuisine is equivalent to me katung in Khmer cuisine.  I was very happy with that dish.  I do not remember exactly what everyone else ordered.

We caught about two or three songs at the Bellagio Fountains.  It was quite spectacular to see the fountains going in sync with the music.  Ben and I went gambling the rest of the night.  It was not a good night for gambling.  I lost most of my money that night.  We did catch an awesome band performing in a lounge in our hotel.

[Currently Listening to Michael Bublé - Home]