I drove up to Vegas on Friday and had a friend flying in from Eureka on Saturday Morning. The I Heart Radio festival was on and I didn't want to spend a fortune so I stayed at the Tropicana on Friday and Saturday nights and Bally's on Sunday and Monday.
Friday Night: Ate at the Italian restaurant at the hotel named "Bacio". Ordered Caesar salad for the appetizer and veal scallopini Marsala for my main dish. The veal comes with some angel hair pasta on the side. With wine this was an $80+ meal. The Caesar salad tasted like it had a pre-made dressing and was only average. The veal was delicious, but the angel hair pasta was slightly overdone. 3.5 forks out of 5.
Saturday: Had a beer at 32 degrees (M Resort) with a pastrami Reuben and a gorgeous waitress. The Reubens at M Resort are not stacked so high with meat that you feel you have to take some off of the bread. Watched some college football. (4 forks out of 5 for the Reuben sandwich)
Cocktails and Happy Hour at the Blue Martini in Town Square. Ordered the cheese and fruit appetizer and the baked brie appetizer along with a couple of martinis. We ordered too much food. (3.5 forks)
Went to go see Joan Osborne at the M Resort. She sung her rendition of "What becomes of the Broken Hearted" that she sung with the Funk Brothers Joan and the Funk Brothers. What a voice. Although I would not ordinarily go to Joan Osborne concerts, this one was a smaller audience and more intimate. She has passion and she sung her ass off.
Went to The Golden Steer for dinner. This is an old school steak house on Sahara in a strip mall. This place was a favorite of Sammy Davis Jr. and the Rat Pack would frequent it in their day. There is old fashioned wood paneling and the waiters are all in tuxedos. They had Caesar Salad tossed at the table. The 12 oz fillet I had was as good as any steak I've ever eaten. We had a$60 Groupon voucher. 4.5 forks
Sunday: Went to the Gospel Brunch at Mandalay Bay. What a place. The food was incredible and the gospel singers were just pure fun. While I would not ordinarily attend a gospel concert, these people sung their asses off and were incredibly talented. 5 forks
For an afternoon snack we went to Diablos at the Monte Carlo and had an order of chicken nachos and a bucket of beers. They brought the beers out in a miniature Corona cooler which you get to keep. The nachos were okay, but we regretted ordering them because they put a damper on dinner. 3 forks
For dinner we went downtown. We went to a small hole in the wall place called the Carson Kitchen. Chef Kerry Simon opened this place. We love the place at the Palms so we wanted to try this place. This place is on 6th street and Carson. It wasn't easy to find. It is small. We started off with the bacon jam. Unbelievable appetizer. I had the butter burger and my friend had the jerk turkey burger. Unbelievable. Maybe one of the best five burgers I've ever had. I don't usually order dessert but my friend had the Bourbon Fudge Brownie with brown butter bacon ice cream. I liked the ice cream, I thought the brownie was average. I will not mark a restaurant down for dessert. 5 fork rating. This is a place you must visit. We brought our own wine (no corkage fee) and the meal was $48 for two. If there was no dessert it would have been $40. That is an incredible price for a gourmet restaurant.
Monday: Went to the Omelette House for breakfast. Unbelievable Omelettes. Had to split one because we were stuffed from the day before. 4 fork rating
Went to Milos at the Cosmopolitan for lunch for their $25 preset meal. This is a gourmet lunch at a very high end restaurant and one of my favorites. I had the smoked salmon for appetizer and the sea bass for lunch. Outstanding (5 forks)
Went to Charlie Palmer's Steak House at the Four Seasons in the Mandalay Bay for dinner. Had the preset menu with a flat iron steak. The meat was perfect and the meal was wonderful. 4.5 forks
Went to the Foundation Room afterwards. I won passes for two from MyVegas. Unfortunately the store at House of Blues where I am to redeem the ticket was closed. I went by the elevator guy and he let us up. I tipped him $20. This was my first time up there. We went out on the balcony (63 floors up) and looked at the strip while sipping on wine. What a great place and I still have 60 days to redeem my original passes.
Tuesday: Went to the Griddle House at SLS. The pancakes are disgustingly huge. We split an order of the banana ones with caramel sauce and strudel on top. We finished one pancake of the three. The waiter said he hasn't seen a single person finish a stack yet. The pancakes were perfect so in the pancake world I give them 4.5 forks (left room for some chef up there to top them).
We tried to stop by Kerry Simon's gourmet burger place at Harrah's called KGB but it was closed for lunch. We headed back to Pasadena and had dinner on the floor of the Rose Bowl for the annual kickoff dinner.
Bottom line we probably ate too much but had a great time.
There is a little hole in the wall bar across the street from the Bally's Sports Book. Bud Lights were only a buck there. We were coming back from the Link and stopped in. There is a blonde bartender there, that is missing out on making a lot of money. She had short shorts and the money makers sticking out with a very low zipper. Even if she did no sex, she could be making a lot more as a waitress or bartender is some high end joint rather than some hole in the wall bar. Check her out if you get up there in the next month or so.
That is it for now.
Friday Night: Ate at the Italian restaurant at the hotel named "Bacio". Ordered Caesar salad for the appetizer and veal scallopini Marsala for my main dish. The veal comes with some angel hair pasta on the side. With wine this was an $80+ meal. The Caesar salad tasted like it had a pre-made dressing and was only average. The veal was delicious, but the angel hair pasta was slightly overdone. 3.5 forks out of 5.
Saturday: Had a beer at 32 degrees (M Resort) with a pastrami Reuben and a gorgeous waitress. The Reubens at M Resort are not stacked so high with meat that you feel you have to take some off of the bread. Watched some college football. (4 forks out of 5 for the Reuben sandwich)
Cocktails and Happy Hour at the Blue Martini in Town Square. Ordered the cheese and fruit appetizer and the baked brie appetizer along with a couple of martinis. We ordered too much food. (3.5 forks)
Went to go see Joan Osborne at the M Resort. She sung her rendition of "What becomes of the Broken Hearted" that she sung with the Funk Brothers Joan and the Funk Brothers. What a voice. Although I would not ordinarily go to Joan Osborne concerts, this one was a smaller audience and more intimate. She has passion and she sung her ass off.
Went to The Golden Steer for dinner. This is an old school steak house on Sahara in a strip mall. This place was a favorite of Sammy Davis Jr. and the Rat Pack would frequent it in their day. There is old fashioned wood paneling and the waiters are all in tuxedos. They had Caesar Salad tossed at the table. The 12 oz fillet I had was as good as any steak I've ever eaten. We had a$60 Groupon voucher. 4.5 forks
Sunday: Went to the Gospel Brunch at Mandalay Bay. What a place. The food was incredible and the gospel singers were just pure fun. While I would not ordinarily attend a gospel concert, these people sung their asses off and were incredibly talented. 5 forks
For an afternoon snack we went to Diablos at the Monte Carlo and had an order of chicken nachos and a bucket of beers. They brought the beers out in a miniature Corona cooler which you get to keep. The nachos were okay, but we regretted ordering them because they put a damper on dinner. 3 forks
For dinner we went downtown. We went to a small hole in the wall place called the Carson Kitchen. Chef Kerry Simon opened this place. We love the place at the Palms so we wanted to try this place. This place is on 6th street and Carson. It wasn't easy to find. It is small. We started off with the bacon jam. Unbelievable appetizer. I had the butter burger and my friend had the jerk turkey burger. Unbelievable. Maybe one of the best five burgers I've ever had. I don't usually order dessert but my friend had the Bourbon Fudge Brownie with brown butter bacon ice cream. I liked the ice cream, I thought the brownie was average. I will not mark a restaurant down for dessert. 5 fork rating. This is a place you must visit. We brought our own wine (no corkage fee) and the meal was $48 for two. If there was no dessert it would have been $40. That is an incredible price for a gourmet restaurant.
Monday: Went to the Omelette House for breakfast. Unbelievable Omelettes. Had to split one because we were stuffed from the day before. 4 fork rating
Went to Milos at the Cosmopolitan for lunch for their $25 preset meal. This is a gourmet lunch at a very high end restaurant and one of my favorites. I had the smoked salmon for appetizer and the sea bass for lunch. Outstanding (5 forks)
Went to Charlie Palmer's Steak House at the Four Seasons in the Mandalay Bay for dinner. Had the preset menu with a flat iron steak. The meat was perfect and the meal was wonderful. 4.5 forks
Went to the Foundation Room afterwards. I won passes for two from MyVegas. Unfortunately the store at House of Blues where I am to redeem the ticket was closed. I went by the elevator guy and he let us up. I tipped him $20. This was my first time up there. We went out on the balcony (63 floors up) and looked at the strip while sipping on wine. What a great place and I still have 60 days to redeem my original passes.
Tuesday: Went to the Griddle House at SLS. The pancakes are disgustingly huge. We split an order of the banana ones with caramel sauce and strudel on top. We finished one pancake of the three. The waiter said he hasn't seen a single person finish a stack yet. The pancakes were perfect so in the pancake world I give them 4.5 forks (left room for some chef up there to top them).
We tried to stop by Kerry Simon's gourmet burger place at Harrah's called KGB but it was closed for lunch. We headed back to Pasadena and had dinner on the floor of the Rose Bowl for the annual kickoff dinner.
Bottom line we probably ate too much but had a great time.
There is a little hole in the wall bar across the street from the Bally's Sports Book. Bud Lights were only a buck there. We were coming back from the Link and stopped in. There is a blonde bartender there, that is missing out on making a lot of money. She had short shorts and the money makers sticking out with a very low zipper. Even if she did no sex, she could be making a lot more as a waitress or bartender is some high end joint rather than some hole in the wall bar. Check her out if you get up there in the next month or so.
That is it for now.
