las-vegas

From Saturday, Februrary 16 through Saturday, February 23, 2008, Wendy & I were in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. We stayed once again with our friends Doug & Kelly in their lovely condo about 20 miles off the strip. Wendy was attending a veterinary conference, which left me free to explore the strip after dropping her off at Mandalay Bay each morning.

Since this was our second trip to Las Vegas, I approached things a bit differently this time. Last trip, my goal was to do a “survey” of all the hotels on the strip, spending just a few minutes in as many of them as possible. I largely met that goal last time, so I wanted to delve a bit deeper into Las Vegas this trip.

I explored several hotels more completely, including Mandalay Bay, the Excalibur, Imperial Palace, Rio, Stratosphere, Treasure Island, and Luxor. While in the Luxor, I visited the production offices of Criss Angel’s Mindfreak television show, which was very cool. I also drove into downtown Las Vegas (scary) and visited the Freemont Street Experience (also scary), plus a few downtown casinos (very scary).

We had several good meals while in Las Vegas… L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, La Provincal (with Doug & Kelly), Bouchon, Marrakech (with Scott, Emily, and Sarah), Andre’s (downtown), and a couple different buffets (hey, it IS Vegas!). The meal at L’Atelier, which was the most anticipated meal, was very good but not excellent (and certainly not worth the price). Expect a full report soon.

The conference opener for Wendy’s conference was Howie Mandel. I wasn’t a huge fan of him before, but his 75-minute set was very funny and very tailored to veterinarians (unlike Jay Leno’s set a couple years ago which was a standard monologue). Our friend Emily hooked us up with free tickets to see Billy Joel in concert. They were great seats and we all had a great time.

Doug & I went ”wheeling” in his Toyota FJ and all was swell — it was big fun climbing over non-navigable terrain — until Doug decided to take me “dune jumping” and wrecked his vehicle. :(  Still, we got great pictures!

A giant highlight of the trip was a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. It was a 45-minute flight out, with 30 minutes IN the Canyon (amazing), and a 45-minute flight back to the strip. More info and pictures soon.

Tonight’s dinner was actually lunch before our plane ride home from fabulous Las Vegas. We ate airport food while waiting for our plane. Nothing special.

VEGAS PICTURES ARE HERE. 

Wednesday February 22 was another early day, dropping Wendy off at her conference before heading to Cravings, the buffet at the Mirage Hotel & Casino. I met “Big Al” on the tram. Al is an elderly gentleman who was a dealer for 25 years and now spends his time navigating his walker around the casino as a self-appointed goodwill ambassador. He showed me the shortcuts to getting to the buffet (not all of them were successful) before unceremoniously ditching me in line while he zipped in the VIP line. I greeted him inside the buffet and it was as if he’d never seen me before. Since I was in Vegas, I figured I had to eat at a buffet, and Cravings has been highly reviewed, though since I arrived while it was in ‘breakfast buffet’ mode, I felt like I didn’t get the full ‘buffet experience’. Still, my breakfast (pizza, Eggs Benedict, cottage cheese, cereal, juices, and more) was fresh, hot, and tasty and fueled me for a day of walking around the Strip and into most of the casinos, just for a visit.

Some observations about the Strip at Las Vegas… The older casinos have lower ceilings and are somewhat smokey, close places. The newer casinos do not have these issues. Everything in Las Vegas is huge. The scale is just incredible. Wendy’s convention — 12,000 veterinarians — was in one wing of the Mandalay Bay (along with a realtor’s convention (6,000 people) and a couple smaller (approximately 2,500 people each) conventions in the same wing!). Buildings in Las Vegas look close together, but they’re not — they’re just huge. It’s critical that you wear good walking shoes. I wore gym shoes and they were fine and comfortable for a week’s worth of walking. Vegas is clean, well-lit, and not at all seedy. I’m sure there are seedy spots, but we didn’t see any of them. To go to Vegas and do anything except fine dining or gambling is pretty affordable, and only tourists pay list price for anything. There are ALWAYS ways to get discounted or free tickets to anything.

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From Saturday, February 18 through Friday, February 24, 2006, Wendy & I were in fabulous Las Vegas Nevada. Wendy went to attend the Western Veterinary Conference, the largest veterinarian convention in the United States, and I tagged along with her. Our friends Doug & Kelly generously offered to put us up at their house, so we saved the expense of a hotel room.

Wendy was in conference all day most days, so this article is mostly about Drew’s experiences in and around the Strip. Because I did so many different things most days, this won’t be a chronological recollection, but rather a bunch of impressions and thoughts. Please read on for the whole story…

VEGAS PICTURES ARE HERE.

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We arrived at the comfortable restaurant and were immediately shown to our table near the front of the room. As we were settling in, we were greeted warmly by Joe, our server, and the sommelier, C. Houston Smith, who helped us decide on a bottle of wine to get started with. We ordered appetizers — a monkfish cheek special (out-of-this world), the country-style pate with watercress, cornichons, and radishes, and a couple different soups. We knew from these offerings that we were in for a treat. Entrees were the Poulet Roti (roasted chicken), Porc Braise (braised pork), and Croque Madame (sandwich), and  few side items including Macaroni au Gratin and Haricots Verts. Wendy’s dish came with Pommes Frites and everyone sampled them. Desserts included the Lemon Tart (awesome), Brana Framboise to drink, and Bouchons, little cork-shaped chocolate cakes and more. We were presented with a bag of salted caramel popcorn as a take-away.

After dinner, the sommelier took us on a tour through the kitchen. The kitchen is big, bright, and quiet, everyone working efficiently. Kitchen staff stopped and greeted us as we went through. When we met the pastry chef, he gave us another bag of popcorn — this one chocolate and hazelnuts — to take with us, a nice suprise.

On the ride back to the house, I ‘hit the wall’ and completely ran out of steam, nodding off a bit. Fortunately, Doug was driving!

Tonight’s dinner was our ‘date night’. Based on the recommendation of Jean-Robert, we ate at Le Cirque in the Bellagio Hotel & Casino on the Strip in Las Vegas Nevada. This ‘jewel box’ of a restauarant seats 80 guests and overlooks the fabulous fountains of the Bellagio. Passing through the tiny bar area, rich with polished woods, you enter the small dining room with its swooping, silk-tented ceiling and whimisical circus scenes in muted colors on the walls.

Wendy & I decided to go to Le Cirque based on the recommendation of Jean-Robert. He trained the executive chef, Jeremy Lieb, at the Maisonette. Based on that recommendation, we made reservations. When I called to confirm our reservations, I inquired if it was possible to greet Chef Lieb and was told that he was no longer with the establishment. A little snooping, and I found out that there’d be quite a shake-up in the restaurant just a few weeks prior, so my expectations of an earth-shattering meal went out the window. I expected it to be good, but a kitchen in transition doesn’t produce amazing food.

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