here's how it went....

Ok, I asked a few questions here recently about reality show winners playing in Las Vegas and had some good responses so I figured I would let you know how it went....

I was trying to decide who my wife might want to see for a show in Las Vegas without actually asking her. It was coming down between Terry Fator (America has talent) and Taylor Hicks (American Idol). I went with Taylor Hicks for three reasons #1 The price ($59 for a meet & greet) #2 The fact that it was a meet and greet #3 A singer interested "me" more than a ventriloquist.

While studying Taylor Hicks, I stumbled upon the fact that Hell's kitchen winner last year (Christina) was running Gordon Ramsey's new steak house in the same casino that Taylor Hicks was playing in, the Paris Casino, so I decided to make a night of it.

The web site says that the average price for a meal in the steak house was $80 each and the attire was business casual. (this is important later). I actually bought a new shirt and pants for the occasion.

I decided to make a night of it and through the "open table" web site, I made reservations for Monday Feb 4th at 6:00 pm, which would give us 2 hours before the Taylor hicks show started.

On Monday, everything we did kind of revolved around the fact that we had these reservations. At about 4:30 we decided to start getting ready. After my shower I started to get dressed and found out that I had left my one and only set of dress pants at home (&^%$#GRRRR!). I had to run down to a men's shop in the Monte Carlo and had to buy another pair of Khacki pants for $79 dollars!

We drove to the Paris Casino and found the steak house with no issues. Once there, a very cute young lady in a black dress showed us to our table. Chris our waiter figured out very quickly that we had no clue of what we were doing in a fine dining facility and worked his butt off to help us.

Nothing was served to us...everything was presented with a story of where it came from, what it was made of, etc. The uncooked meat comes to you on a rack and Chris explained each cut (cured for 28 days in a moisture free environment, etc) we chose a bone in rib eye and shared it.The water glass's never got below 1/2 full.

The 3 different kinds of bread that were ok, nothing to write home about, The appetizer was flat out awful (some damned concoction with a quail egg on top), a small chef salad ($12) that was good (unremarkable) the steak was cooked to perfection and tender enough to cut with a fork ($105), they cut it up for us. The steak also came with a house Worcestershire sauce that was great ($6). I had a puree'd potato ($6) which sucked, and my wife had a huge baked potato with cheese and bacon on top ($6) that very good. No desert. The bill with tip came to $221. My wife and I both agreed that this was cool to do and say we did it but cannot say we would do it again.

We then wandered across the casino after the meal and found Napoleon's which is where Taylor Hicks plays. They ushered 10 of us into a small smoking room off to one side of the room. Taylor came in shortly thereafter and signed autographs and joked around a bit...nice guy

Napolians is a joke! it's small (250 people?) bar. The stage is about one foot tall and he has no room to move around, In fact he has to get off the stage to get to the organ (which he also plays). Guitar cords are all over the little area he has to move around in after putting all of the instruments on it.

Anyway, I made the major mistake of sitting 3 feet from the stage just off to Taylors left side, which is where one of the 4 foot tall loud speakers is! At one point I was rolling up a napkin into a small ball and sticking it in my ears to help deaden the music....god was it loud there!

Funny thing....because of the angle that I was on (Taylors profile) and the angle of the lights, I could see him spit while he was singing....and I mean spit!!! The poor lady in front of him actually held her hand over her wine glass and you could see her face kind of wince when he sprayed in her direction!

The show itself was good and he puts his heart into it. For $59 how could you go wrong?


Weggie

I find at those big name restaurants the experience is more what you are paying for as you can get just as good, and sometimes better food at some of the steakhouses.

Sorry to hear your special evening was a disappointment. Thanks for letting us know how it went.

A little too close for comfort at the concert.... sometimes seat are too good.

Yeah, I knew I would be out of place at the steak house but I wanted to impress the wife so I booked it. I was actually a little more uncomfortable than I thought I would be.
I watched a lot of those food reality shows and thought I knew all the buzz words and could fake my way through an evening, but people talked about wine cheese and bread in there like I talk about sports with my buddies.
As far as the music goes, I am a product of the 1970's and love hard rock, but that damned speaker 2 feet from me and Taylor screaming into the mic was just ridiculous!
If I was a little more refined foodie and I sat a little farther away from the stage at the concert it would have been a great night. I gave it a C for a grade.

weggie

If you ever want to do a "Celebrity Chef" restaurant in the future, call ahead and ask if they have tasting menu.
They consist of numerous small courses that are designed to showcase their talent - and you don't need to be a foodie - they will introduce each course - you can also get them with paired wines - they basically display their best to you without you having to wade through a menu that you may not understand. Recommended.

Tonyrob.....you are 100% correct. They actually started the whole night with two menus. The 1st was a tasting menu from the food that they made on the Hell's kitchen TV show that I probably should have gone with, but as you can tell I don't get out much and went with a salad, steak and potatoes and an appetizer. Who would have thought that could get screwed up?
puree'd potato....yuck! (It was closer to potato soup)

***Please do not take what happened to me as advice not to go to either place, in fact I do recommend both places----Just try not to make the mistakes that I made****

weggie

That's great to know that they have a tasting menu! I think I'm going to try it! Great post!

My wife and I did the same "special evening" during our last trip to Vegas in October, only we did Taylor first (at Ballys) and then Gordon Ramsay's. It was Taylor's first night back since the summer and he seemed a little stressed at the meet and greet. They told us it was one autograph per person but when we asked, he gladly signed three things. After the show he was waiting to sell items and I slipped through the line to get a picture. My wife was having trouble with the camera and I apologized as we stood there smiling. He said, "Don't worry about it, I've got no where else to go." He sounded like he meant it! That theater was very small too....can't imagine it held more than 150 people or so.
I would defintely see him again.

Gordon Ramsay's place was the most I've ever spent on a meal. My wife wanted to try the Wellington and to see if we could see Christina from the show. By luck they sat us about 6 feet from the line where she was working, so we got a lot of good pictures. At one point I went up to see if I could get close enough for a better picture. She saw me and came around to talk. I asked if she would take a photo with me and she said sure. My wife also came up for a photo and then the poor girl was stuck there taking photos for the next ten minutes. Very gracious, she was. The meal was ok. My wife said she loved it. I don't know if she did or was just being kind. I told her I wouldn't go back if my meal was $25. It was a fun experience and I'm glad I tried it, it just wasn't for me.

One more funny thing, on the way from Bally's to Paris we saw America's Got Talent's Turf (dancer) performing on the street. We took some video and also posed for pictures. He was very kind and sincere as well, obviously working for tips but not asking for a dime for the photos and conversation.

It was our Reality TV night..

Holy cow, that's really cool! I didn't think Turf deserved to win (I thought the dogs who did win were awesome) but I'd certainly pay $1 to have my picture with him!!!