I spent the weekend at the Mandalay Bay competing in a craps tournament for their invited guests. I didn't have any success in the tournament, but I did make some money doing my requisite gambling (more on that below).

One tasty meal I had was at the Border Grill, located down the long hallway that leads ultimately to the Shark Reef exhibit. The BG is doing some renovations right now, so the main entrance is closed. To get there you have to take a stairway down to the area where the exhibit halls are and then make a right. There are signs. You'll figure it out.

When you first sit down they ask you what type of water you'd like and if you'd like guacamole. I'd suggest ask for the regular tap water, but do get the guac. It's excellent. I make guac at home twice a week. It's one of my favorite dishes so I'm easy to please that way though.

We also ordered the Queso Fundido appetizer. This was very good, although not quite as good as the goat cheese version we consumed at the Mesa Grill a couple weeks prior. (See my Mesa Grill review.)

The highlight of the meal for us were the two entrées. We had the Lamb Barbacoa Tacos and the Grilled Skirt Steak.

These are two excellent dishes which I highly recommend. I don't like bland food and these are anything but bland. The tacos had a great combination of flavors and seasonings. The steak is marinated in garlic, cumin, cilantro, and lime and is very tender and delicious.

If you're into ice cream, they make homemade ice cream daily and they have a dessert tray that has four ice creams and three sorbets on it ... or is it three ice creams and four sorbets? Not quite sure, but they were great. The freshly made strawberry ice cream was my favorite.

The restaurant itself is quite large, with four distinct indoor seating areas (including upstairs and downstairs) as well as outdoor dining by the Lazy River. The decor is modern and cozy.

After lunch it was time to play some video poker to qualify for the weekend tournament. I went to play a little bit of video poker and was playing 26 lines at $1 each. The frequent video poker players out there will know why I was playing 26 lines. Anyway, here was a pretty nice hand I received:

Made for an all around pleasant day!

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