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I ate tons of food in Vegas! And also almost met Doug Judie!
Here's my trip write-up for Vegas! What's funny is, I've been on soooooo many trips this year that they're all blurring together and I'm getting the timelines mixed up. I could have sworn Vegas was after KCON but before LA... but nope, it was even after LA. Wow. (Now that I think about it, I recall actually considering staying in LA and going straight to Vegas from there, but my mom's birthday was happening in between so I ended up returning to Seattle first.)
Obviously, no one cares about work stuff. I barely remember why I was even there, lol. What's important is what I did in my free time and where I ate! :D
Day One
I left the morning of Friday the 13th and arrived around noon. After checking into Mandalay Bay, where I was staying, I took a Lyft to Estiatorio Milos, because I'd read that they had a great lunch prix fixe.
The Lyft was one of FIVE Lyfts I would get during that trip that featured a self-driving car. The software company (can't remember their name) had partnered with BMW to do these tests on the Strip. It wasn't as cool as it sounded, because rather than being fully automated, the cars always had two people in them -- the driver, who had to take over when not driving on the Strip (because it was illegal to do the self-driving function on private property, i.e. the hotels), and the overseer, who took notes on what circumstances would make the driver have to disengage auto-driving mode (one time the car mistook shadows of palm trees as other cars, while another time it didn't seem like it was going to stop in time to not hit the car in front of us). So in addition to the usual awkward I-don't-know-you-but-I'm-in-your-car thing, there was this whole spiel that they tried to give me every time about their experiment and all that. I learned to simply say that this was the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th time I'd been in one, in order to head it off. The only "good" thing about getting those Lyfts was a) riding in a BMW; and b) they don't allow you to tip.
Anyway, Estiatoria Milos did, in fact, have a great prix fixe lunch. It was $29 for a 3-course meal, though depending on your choices there could be an upcharge. I chose the octopus appetizer ($10 upcharge), because it looked like the kind of place that would do octopus really well (they did), the Dorade Royale entree, and Greek yogurt with black cherry sauce as the dessert. The fish could have used a little more seasoning, but the octopus was really good, and the Greek yogurt was AMAZING. It seemed a little boring to pick yogurt for dessert, but the server recommended it, and I'm so glad I took her advice. It was so thick and rich, but without that sometimes weird-tasting aftertaste that rich yogurt can have.
I had some time, and realized I'd forgotten to bring my Roku, so I Lyfted to Fry's Electronics and bought one there, lol.
For dinner I met up with C. and L. for a Korean BBQ dinner. Korean BBQ is something that C. and I have done on work trips all over the country, but usually it's me who finds the restaurant. He recommended this one, though, and it felt churlish to second guess him. Less awesome was L.'s presence. L. is C.'s fiancee, and while I don't care about her one way or another, she was in town on the down low so they could basically have a mini-vacation together, which I thought was kind of inappropriate. C. never knows when to draw lines; it's one of the most maddening things about him, and while I had initially thought it might be okay -- he'd been making the right noises about how he and L. recognized he was supposed to be there for work and yadda yadda -- the rest of the trip did not bear this out. He basically ditched all work-related functions (outside of actual work) in order to be with her, and that was just not cool. People kept asking me where he was, which really put me in a tight spot because I wasn't supposed to say that L. was there, and yet there was no explanation for why our coworker wasn't at any of our dinners and such. UGH.
Apparently I only took a picture of the corn cheese.
ANYWAY, the place where we went was Gangnam Asian BBQ. This was C.'s deal, so I had done no research or planning myself. He didn't bother to make reservations, so of course when we got there, there was a long wait. I was suuuuuuper annoyed. He had ONE JOB. I had planned out the other meals in Vegas (many of them), and he had THIS ONE. And he couldn't even make a fucking reservation!! Ugh. Anyway, so then we had to settle for the dumbest thing possible, which was that we sat at the bar and we ordered a BBQ set meal, but they cooked it all in the kitchen and brought it out to us. Which, of course, is not really KBBQ at all. The food was only OK. Here was another annoying part: L., who is stick thin, insisted that she was SO HUNGRY we had to get the meal for 4 people. And then she BARELY ATE ANYTHING. OMG, I was so done with the both of them! I didn't feel like I could immediately escape them, though, when they wanted to take a walk after dinner, so I trudged along with them until we could flag a Lyft and go back to our respective hotels. It was really, really hot in Vegas while we were there, so even after the sun had set, it was still in the mid-80s. Terrible.
View from my hotel room at night.
Day Two
Lunch was at Viet Noodle Bar. I loooooove Vietnamese cuisine, and this one was very highly rated. I over-ordered so I could try a bunch of things, but unfortunately indigestion hit me after this meal. :/
After lunch I went to a movie theater (inside the Orleans hotel) to catch Skyscraper. I suffered through the movie in more ways than one; I was incredibly uncomfortable due to the indigestion, and also, the movie was terrible. I hadn't even had a lot of hopes for it; it just seemed like a fun action romp, but it wasn't even that. Bleargh.
Dinner that night was at District One with M., D., and J. (who I was meeting for the first time that night). District One was also Vietnamese, but more upscale and fusion. I ordered the black pepper lobster on top of garlic noodles, as did D. It was freaking delicious, though I wish they had either cracked the lobster a bit more for us, or just used the meat, because it was really messy to eat. Miraculously my indigestion seemed okay (usually it lasts from after lunch through dinner).
I had also purchased a ticket to see Michael Jackson One on Stubhub, and got an amazing seat for $150 (would have cost over $250 retail). After this experience, and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
adelagia's with the GOT7 concert, and my BTS one, and most recently, my coworker and I got show tickets to the Harry Potter play in NYC for $300/pp for both nights, I'm thinking waiting until the last minute and getting tickets off Stubhub is ALWAYS the way to go.
At some point during this day, I can't remember when now, M. and I had a celebrity sighting. We were at one of the hotels' player's club areas, when JAKE PERALTA'S BFF DOUG JUDIE (AKA CRAIG ROBINSON) WALKED UP AND ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS TO THE FOUR SEASONS! He had gone up to the person helping M., so I didn't even notice him until he was walking away and M. mentioned it. Oh MAN. I wish he had been next to me, because I so would have been like, "OHMYGOD DOUG JUDIE!!!!" and asked for a picture. He was with his family, so maybe it was a good thing he hadn't come up next to me, but on the other hand, I don't think he's an A-list actor who gets recognized all the time, so maybe he would have enjoyed it! Oh well.
Day Three
For lunch M. and I went to Holstein's, also at the Cosmopolitan. It was a highly rated burger place, but like all highly rated burger places, it was a disappointment. I ordered the "Prime Time Burger," which had a kobe beef patty, shaved prime rib, gruyere cheese, borracho onion, creamy steak sauce, asparagus and bearnaise sauce on a toasted Italian roll. I mean, sounds amazing, right? But it was only OK. M. and I also got shakes. I got a virgin version of the "Donutella," which was a hazelnut/chocolate concoction that was topped with a nutella-glzed donut. It was so extra. I don't think I was even able to finish 1/4 of it, lol.
Dinner I had by myself at L'Atelier, one of Joel Robuchon's restaurants at the MGM Grand. I knew this was going to be a super-pricey meal, and I was prepared to splurge, because it was possibly the one and only time I was going to be able to eat there. I was honestly prepared to order their Seasonal Discovery Menu, which was 10 courses for $195. HOWEVER, my stomach was starting to feel funny again, and I wasn't all that hungry, so instead I went with the $108 option, which included an amuse bouche, two appetizers, one main course, and a dessert. I took my server's recommendation on the appetizers and got the Iberico ham ($10 upcharge, which they were slicing right off the hock -- I was seated at the "bar" so I could see it) and oysters. For my entree I chose the lobster pasta (I don't know why, but lobster was everywhere in Vegas, and I was really feeling it). I don't know what happened, but instead of the ham they served me the kampachi belly. I enjoyed it, and debated whether to say anything. Finally I decided that this was too upscale an establishment to be making mistakes like this, so I said something. The server was less apologetic/willing to accept blame than I would have liked, but they "fixed" it by giving me a few complimentary slices of ham, so I was mollified. Still, I didn't like feeling like they might've thought I made up the mistake in order to get the ham for free. -.-
In any case, everything was FREAKING DELICIOUS AND AMAZING, and it's always nice when you pay a lot of money for a meal like that and it meets your expectations. The other thing that was super delicious was the raspberry yuzu drink I ordered. I'm normally not much of a beverage person, but this was so good I ordered TWO of them at like $10 a pop (for a non-alcoholic drink!!). I was incredibly full after the meal and couldn't even finish the dessert, which was a delicious chocolate mousse/ice cream thing. I wish I could do this meal all over again, WITHOUT the indigestion. :////
This looks like butter, but it was mashed potatoes. That was probably mostly butter.
Day Four
Lunch was once again Estiatorio Milos. Yes, I had enjoyed it that much. ;) This time I brought C., who was terrible company so I actually regretted bringing him. -.- But in any case, I changed things up a bit this time. I started with the tomato salad, and followed it with the lobster pasta (I'm telling you, Vegas was all about lobster and so was I). I had the yogurt again because ... well, if I'm honest, it was probably a big reason why I had wanted to go back, lol. C. ordered exactly what I had the first time I'd been there.
After lunch, good old Aunt Flo decided to pay me a visit. I bought some Aleve, tampons, and pads at the hotel sundries shop. Guess how much it cost me? Did you guess $42? Because that is the outrageous amount that I was charged for that. THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. BUT THEY AREN'T.
View from my hotel room during the day.
Dinner that night was at Bouchon, located in the Venetian. It's, of course, the Vegas version of Thomas Keller's famous SF restaurant, and it's fancy in a really understated way. The prices aren't outrageous like they are at L'Atelier, but the quality is high and the service is impeccable. M. asked for a dark napkin, which they did not blink an eye at. Why? Did you know that at upscale restaurants, you can ask for napkins that match your pants? White napkins potentially leave little bits of white lint, and thus they always have dark napkins on hand for people who are wearing dark trousers or whatever. I have never known that, which I guess just shows how few upscale places I actually frequent.
Inside the Venetian. So pretty!
It was a lovely dinner, because M., D., and L. were there. L. was someone I was meeting for the first time -- very young, but nice and fun to have dinner with. We ordered a bunch of apps. For my entree I ordered steak, but actually the best thing that night was the pork chop L. ordered. If we'd had more time in Vegas I would have gone back to Bouchon just for that. Everything else was also good. Not as good as at L'Atelier, but the company was fun, and we had a really great (and funny) waiter, who shared the same name as M. One of them was "M., by the way" and "M., also." LOL.
Tomato and burrata salad
Salmon rillette
Escargot, below the puff pastry
Some kind of gnocchi with shaved black truffle
My mediocre steak
I can't remember what this is or who ordered it, lol. Looks like a different kind of steak? All I know is, it wasn't the pork chop, which I didn't get a photo of but wish I had.
Dessert: Bouchons (of course... though actually we like the ones served at one of the cafes at work, more. O.o) and creme brulee, which I am completely over.
Day Five
Lunch was a sad affair. M., L. and I went to Tom's Urban in New York New York. It was a simple diner type place, and the food was mostly forgettable. The one surprise was the lobster mac and cheese (I didn't order it, okay!), which was actually quite tasty. Everything else was blah.
I was supposed to go that night to Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab with C., but I was so sick of him that when he suggested that we go with L., I told him I was going with L. (the one I'd met at Bouchon) and he could do whatever he wanted. Joe's is one of those places, like KBBQ, that C. and I have made a point to go to, and it was super irritating that he was trying to turn our work trip into a paid vacation for him and his gf.
Joe's never disappoints... except this night, when they disappointed me by not having any jumbo or large crab claws. Like... urgh. Getting smaller size claws than that isn't worth it, because then you're just mostly paying for shell. So instead, we ended up getting an order of King Crab legs, which were expensive ($70/order), but soooooo delicious. I also ordered rib eye, and the must-have thing to get at Joe's is their key lime pie for dessert. It's amazing.
So before dinner, I had been running through Caesar's Forum Shops (where Joe's is located) to get to the restaurant on time, and had raced by a Furla store. I noticed they had some cute Hello Kitty purses in the window, and told myself that if they were still open after dinner, I would go take a look. Well they WERE still open, and I ended up buying three new purses and a new wallet. >.> Two of them were the limited edition Hello Kitty ones, while one of them was half off. I have a purse sickness. It's fine. Everything's fine.
Day Six
Lunch was at Shake Shack (in New York New York, where else?) with K. and K. Since I no longer bear Shake Shack the same resentment as I used to, it was an okay meal. I wasn't really enthused about going, though, because it's not like we can't have that any time we're on the east coast (and do). When in Vegas, I would have preferred something more unique. Well, unique to me, at least. I realize that Vegas basically has copies of things that are other places. :)))))
Dinner that night was at Hell's Kitchen with M., D., D.'s friend who I can't remember, so let's call her Michelle, and J. (who I first met at District One). Gordon Ramsay wasn't there that night, sadly. ;) Michelle apparently thought that this was some large group gathering, and not a private dinner for a small handful of us, so she was super late. And then there was an awkward moment at the end, when we were splitting the bill, because I think she thought that our team was covering it. Like... it wasn't a group event so we weren't? This was just friends having dinner? I felt a little bad, but mostly I felt this was on D. for not informing her own friend more clearly of the situation.
Sadly, this cut-off view of the meatballs is the only shot I have of them.
Anyway, the food was okay. It was probably on par with Bouchon. That's pretty good, I realize, but I expected more since it was Gordon Ramsay and all. We ordered some apps, and I got the prix fixe dinner, with scallops as the appetizer and the famed beef wellington as the entree. The beef wellington was good but kind of boring. The truth is, filet mignon doesn't have a ton of flavor -- it's mainly known for its tenderness -- and this preparation doesn't actually add much flavor to it. The best things were the wagyu meatballs (divine) and the sticky toffee pudding -- but this was so large none of us could finish our portions. M. ordered the pineapple carpaccio, and that both looked amazing and tasted great. If I go again I'm just getting the meatballs and dessert, lol.
Afterward, we all went walking around the outdoor mall area by Caesar's and Flamingo (I think?). It was really nice. There was an In-N-Out there, as well as a Sprinkles Cupcakes. Yes, despite being totally full from dinner, we went there and got more dessert. I ordered a mini cupcake sundae, as did K. I can't recall exactly now, but I think I got a vanilla cupcake and strawberry ice cream -- pretty boring, but those are generally my preferred flavors. They put the cupcake bottom in the cup, then add ice cream, then put the cupcake top on top. Genius!
My flight was at 11:20am the next day, and I don't have any more pictures, so that must've been the last of my meals in Vegas, lol. I doubt I did anything interesting for breakfast.
I did also gamble, with M. primarily, but didn't win anything. I think I ended up losing close to $300... if you think about that, the purses weren't a bad purchase. At least I got SOMETHING for my money. That said, I try to think of gambling as payment for entertainment. I whiled away some hours playing, and that's what it cost. One time M. and I were playing blackjack (actually, that's all we played, along with some slots at the beginning), and some ahjussis sat at our table. They were really rowdy, but funny, and it was fun having them there. There was a particularly amusing moment when either M. or I said something in Korean, and they were like, "Are you Korean?" and I said "아니요." Then they looked at each other, flummoxed, and one of them was like, "I asked her if she was Korean and she said '아니요.'" LOL.
Despite how it seems, there WAS actually working in between all this, haha. It was just lucky for us that many of our mealtimes were free, so we were able to enjoy what Vegas had to offer in between the work stuff.
Obviously, no one cares about work stuff. I barely remember why I was even there, lol. What's important is what I did in my free time and where I ate! :D
Day One
I left the morning of Friday the 13th and arrived around noon. After checking into Mandalay Bay, where I was staying, I took a Lyft to Estiatorio Milos, because I'd read that they had a great lunch prix fixe.
The Lyft was one of FIVE Lyfts I would get during that trip that featured a self-driving car. The software company (can't remember their name) had partnered with BMW to do these tests on the Strip. It wasn't as cool as it sounded, because rather than being fully automated, the cars always had two people in them -- the driver, who had to take over when not driving on the Strip (because it was illegal to do the self-driving function on private property, i.e. the hotels), and the overseer, who took notes on what circumstances would make the driver have to disengage auto-driving mode (one time the car mistook shadows of palm trees as other cars, while another time it didn't seem like it was going to stop in time to not hit the car in front of us). So in addition to the usual awkward I-don't-know-you-but-I'm-in-your-car thing, there was this whole spiel that they tried to give me every time about their experiment and all that. I learned to simply say that this was the 2nd/3rd/4th/5th time I'd been in one, in order to head it off. The only "good" thing about getting those Lyfts was a) riding in a BMW; and b) they don't allow you to tip.
Anyway, Estiatoria Milos did, in fact, have a great prix fixe lunch. It was $29 for a 3-course meal, though depending on your choices there could be an upcharge. I chose the octopus appetizer ($10 upcharge), because it looked like the kind of place that would do octopus really well (they did), the Dorade Royale entree, and Greek yogurt with black cherry sauce as the dessert. The fish could have used a little more seasoning, but the octopus was really good, and the Greek yogurt was AMAZING. It seemed a little boring to pick yogurt for dessert, but the server recommended it, and I'm so glad I took her advice. It was so thick and rich, but without that sometimes weird-tasting aftertaste that rich yogurt can have.
I had some time, and realized I'd forgotten to bring my Roku, so I Lyfted to Fry's Electronics and bought one there, lol.
For dinner I met up with C. and L. for a Korean BBQ dinner. Korean BBQ is something that C. and I have done on work trips all over the country, but usually it's me who finds the restaurant. He recommended this one, though, and it felt churlish to second guess him. Less awesome was L.'s presence. L. is C.'s fiancee, and while I don't care about her one way or another, she was in town on the down low so they could basically have a mini-vacation together, which I thought was kind of inappropriate. C. never knows when to draw lines; it's one of the most maddening things about him, and while I had initially thought it might be okay -- he'd been making the right noises about how he and L. recognized he was supposed to be there for work and yadda yadda -- the rest of the trip did not bear this out. He basically ditched all work-related functions (outside of actual work) in order to be with her, and that was just not cool. People kept asking me where he was, which really put me in a tight spot because I wasn't supposed to say that L. was there, and yet there was no explanation for why our coworker wasn't at any of our dinners and such. UGH.
Apparently I only took a picture of the corn cheese.
ANYWAY, the place where we went was Gangnam Asian BBQ. This was C.'s deal, so I had done no research or planning myself. He didn't bother to make reservations, so of course when we got there, there was a long wait. I was suuuuuuper annoyed. He had ONE JOB. I had planned out the other meals in Vegas (many of them), and he had THIS ONE. And he couldn't even make a fucking reservation!! Ugh. Anyway, so then we had to settle for the dumbest thing possible, which was that we sat at the bar and we ordered a BBQ set meal, but they cooked it all in the kitchen and brought it out to us. Which, of course, is not really KBBQ at all. The food was only OK. Here was another annoying part: L., who is stick thin, insisted that she was SO HUNGRY we had to get the meal for 4 people. And then she BARELY ATE ANYTHING. OMG, I was so done with the both of them! I didn't feel like I could immediately escape them, though, when they wanted to take a walk after dinner, so I trudged along with them until we could flag a Lyft and go back to our respective hotels. It was really, really hot in Vegas while we were there, so even after the sun had set, it was still in the mid-80s. Terrible.
View from my hotel room at night.
Day Two
Lunch was at Viet Noodle Bar. I loooooove Vietnamese cuisine, and this one was very highly rated. I over-ordered so I could try a bunch of things, but unfortunately indigestion hit me after this meal. :/
After lunch I went to a movie theater (inside the Orleans hotel) to catch Skyscraper. I suffered through the movie in more ways than one; I was incredibly uncomfortable due to the indigestion, and also, the movie was terrible. I hadn't even had a lot of hopes for it; it just seemed like a fun action romp, but it wasn't even that. Bleargh.
Dinner that night was at District One with M., D., and J. (who I was meeting for the first time that night). District One was also Vietnamese, but more upscale and fusion. I ordered the black pepper lobster on top of garlic noodles, as did D. It was freaking delicious, though I wish they had either cracked the lobster a bit more for us, or just used the meat, because it was really messy to eat. Miraculously my indigestion seemed okay (usually it lasts from after lunch through dinner).
I had also purchased a ticket to see Michael Jackson One on Stubhub, and got an amazing seat for $150 (would have cost over $250 retail). After this experience, and
adelagia's with the GOT7 concert, and my BTS one, and most recently, my coworker and I got show tickets to the Harry Potter play in NYC for $300/pp for both nights, I'm thinking waiting until the last minute and getting tickets off Stubhub is ALWAYS the way to go.At some point during this day, I can't remember when now, M. and I had a celebrity sighting. We were at one of the hotels' player's club areas, when JAKE PERALTA'S BFF DOUG JUDIE (AKA CRAIG ROBINSON) WALKED UP AND ASKED FOR DIRECTIONS TO THE FOUR SEASONS! He had gone up to the person helping M., so I didn't even notice him until he was walking away and M. mentioned it. Oh MAN. I wish he had been next to me, because I so would have been like, "OHMYGOD DOUG JUDIE!!!!" and asked for a picture. He was with his family, so maybe it was a good thing he hadn't come up next to me, but on the other hand, I don't think he's an A-list actor who gets recognized all the time, so maybe he would have enjoyed it! Oh well.
Day Three
For lunch M. and I went to Holstein's, also at the Cosmopolitan. It was a highly rated burger place, but like all highly rated burger places, it was a disappointment. I ordered the "Prime Time Burger," which had a kobe beef patty, shaved prime rib, gruyere cheese, borracho onion, creamy steak sauce, asparagus and bearnaise sauce on a toasted Italian roll. I mean, sounds amazing, right? But it was only OK. M. and I also got shakes. I got a virgin version of the "Donutella," which was a hazelnut/chocolate concoction that was topped with a nutella-glzed donut. It was so extra. I don't think I was even able to finish 1/4 of it, lol.
Dinner I had by myself at L'Atelier, one of Joel Robuchon's restaurants at the MGM Grand. I knew this was going to be a super-pricey meal, and I was prepared to splurge, because it was possibly the one and only time I was going to be able to eat there. I was honestly prepared to order their Seasonal Discovery Menu, which was 10 courses for $195. HOWEVER, my stomach was starting to feel funny again, and I wasn't all that hungry, so instead I went with the $108 option, which included an amuse bouche, two appetizers, one main course, and a dessert. I took my server's recommendation on the appetizers and got the Iberico ham ($10 upcharge, which they were slicing right off the hock -- I was seated at the "bar" so I could see it) and oysters. For my entree I chose the lobster pasta (I don't know why, but lobster was everywhere in Vegas, and I was really feeling it). I don't know what happened, but instead of the ham they served me the kampachi belly. I enjoyed it, and debated whether to say anything. Finally I decided that this was too upscale an establishment to be making mistakes like this, so I said something. The server was less apologetic/willing to accept blame than I would have liked, but they "fixed" it by giving me a few complimentary slices of ham, so I was mollified. Still, I didn't like feeling like they might've thought I made up the mistake in order to get the ham for free. -.-
In any case, everything was FREAKING DELICIOUS AND AMAZING, and it's always nice when you pay a lot of money for a meal like that and it meets your expectations. The other thing that was super delicious was the raspberry yuzu drink I ordered. I'm normally not much of a beverage person, but this was so good I ordered TWO of them at like $10 a pop (for a non-alcoholic drink!!). I was incredibly full after the meal and couldn't even finish the dessert, which was a delicious chocolate mousse/ice cream thing. I wish I could do this meal all over again, WITHOUT the indigestion. :////
This looks like butter, but it was mashed potatoes. That was probably mostly butter.
Day Four
Lunch was once again Estiatorio Milos. Yes, I had enjoyed it that much. ;) This time I brought C., who was terrible company so I actually regretted bringing him. -.- But in any case, I changed things up a bit this time. I started with the tomato salad, and followed it with the lobster pasta (I'm telling you, Vegas was all about lobster and so was I). I had the yogurt again because ... well, if I'm honest, it was probably a big reason why I had wanted to go back, lol. C. ordered exactly what I had the first time I'd been there.
After lunch, good old Aunt Flo decided to pay me a visit. I bought some Aleve, tampons, and pads at the hotel sundries shop. Guess how much it cost me? Did you guess $42? Because that is the outrageous amount that I was charged for that. THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. BUT THEY AREN'T.
View from my hotel room during the day.
Dinner that night was at Bouchon, located in the Venetian. It's, of course, the Vegas version of Thomas Keller's famous SF restaurant, and it's fancy in a really understated way. The prices aren't outrageous like they are at L'Atelier, but the quality is high and the service is impeccable. M. asked for a dark napkin, which they did not blink an eye at. Why? Did you know that at upscale restaurants, you can ask for napkins that match your pants? White napkins potentially leave little bits of white lint, and thus they always have dark napkins on hand for people who are wearing dark trousers or whatever. I have never known that, which I guess just shows how few upscale places I actually frequent.
Inside the Venetian. So pretty!
It was a lovely dinner, because M., D., and L. were there. L. was someone I was meeting for the first time -- very young, but nice and fun to have dinner with. We ordered a bunch of apps. For my entree I ordered steak, but actually the best thing that night was the pork chop L. ordered. If we'd had more time in Vegas I would have gone back to Bouchon just for that. Everything else was also good. Not as good as at L'Atelier, but the company was fun, and we had a really great (and funny) waiter, who shared the same name as M. One of them was "M., by the way" and "M., also." LOL.
Tomato and burrata salad
Salmon rillette
Escargot, below the puff pastry
Some kind of gnocchi with shaved black truffle
My mediocre steak
I can't remember what this is or who ordered it, lol. Looks like a different kind of steak? All I know is, it wasn't the pork chop, which I didn't get a photo of but wish I had.
Dessert: Bouchons (of course... though actually we like the ones served at one of the cafes at work, more. O.o) and creme brulee, which I am completely over.
Day Five
Lunch was a sad affair. M., L. and I went to Tom's Urban in New York New York. It was a simple diner type place, and the food was mostly forgettable. The one surprise was the lobster mac and cheese (I didn't order it, okay!), which was actually quite tasty. Everything else was blah.
I was supposed to go that night to Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab with C., but I was so sick of him that when he suggested that we go with L., I told him I was going with L. (the one I'd met at Bouchon) and he could do whatever he wanted. Joe's is one of those places, like KBBQ, that C. and I have made a point to go to, and it was super irritating that he was trying to turn our work trip into a paid vacation for him and his gf.
Joe's never disappoints... except this night, when they disappointed me by not having any jumbo or large crab claws. Like... urgh. Getting smaller size claws than that isn't worth it, because then you're just mostly paying for shell. So instead, we ended up getting an order of King Crab legs, which were expensive ($70/order), but soooooo delicious. I also ordered rib eye, and the must-have thing to get at Joe's is their key lime pie for dessert. It's amazing.
So before dinner, I had been running through Caesar's Forum Shops (where Joe's is located) to get to the restaurant on time, and had raced by a Furla store. I noticed they had some cute Hello Kitty purses in the window, and told myself that if they were still open after dinner, I would go take a look. Well they WERE still open, and I ended up buying three new purses and a new wallet. >.> Two of them were the limited edition Hello Kitty ones, while one of them was half off. I have a purse sickness. It's fine. Everything's fine.
Day Six
Lunch was at Shake Shack (in New York New York, where else?) with K. and K. Since I no longer bear Shake Shack the same resentment as I used to, it was an okay meal. I wasn't really enthused about going, though, because it's not like we can't have that any time we're on the east coast (and do). When in Vegas, I would have preferred something more unique. Well, unique to me, at least. I realize that Vegas basically has copies of things that are other places. :)))))
Dinner that night was at Hell's Kitchen with M., D., D.'s friend who I can't remember, so let's call her Michelle, and J. (who I first met at District One). Gordon Ramsay wasn't there that night, sadly. ;) Michelle apparently thought that this was some large group gathering, and not a private dinner for a small handful of us, so she was super late. And then there was an awkward moment at the end, when we were splitting the bill, because I think she thought that our team was covering it. Like... it wasn't a group event so we weren't? This was just friends having dinner? I felt a little bad, but mostly I felt this was on D. for not informing her own friend more clearly of the situation.
Sadly, this cut-off view of the meatballs is the only shot I have of them.
Anyway, the food was okay. It was probably on par with Bouchon. That's pretty good, I realize, but I expected more since it was Gordon Ramsay and all. We ordered some apps, and I got the prix fixe dinner, with scallops as the appetizer and the famed beef wellington as the entree. The beef wellington was good but kind of boring. The truth is, filet mignon doesn't have a ton of flavor -- it's mainly known for its tenderness -- and this preparation doesn't actually add much flavor to it. The best things were the wagyu meatballs (divine) and the sticky toffee pudding -- but this was so large none of us could finish our portions. M. ordered the pineapple carpaccio, and that both looked amazing and tasted great. If I go again I'm just getting the meatballs and dessert, lol.
Afterward, we all went walking around the outdoor mall area by Caesar's and Flamingo (I think?). It was really nice. There was an In-N-Out there, as well as a Sprinkles Cupcakes. Yes, despite being totally full from dinner, we went there and got more dessert. I ordered a mini cupcake sundae, as did K. I can't recall exactly now, but I think I got a vanilla cupcake and strawberry ice cream -- pretty boring, but those are generally my preferred flavors. They put the cupcake bottom in the cup, then add ice cream, then put the cupcake top on top. Genius!
My flight was at 11:20am the next day, and I don't have any more pictures, so that must've been the last of my meals in Vegas, lol. I doubt I did anything interesting for breakfast.
I did also gamble, with M. primarily, but didn't win anything. I think I ended up losing close to $300... if you think about that, the purses weren't a bad purchase. At least I got SOMETHING for my money. That said, I try to think of gambling as payment for entertainment. I whiled away some hours playing, and that's what it cost. One time M. and I were playing blackjack (actually, that's all we played, along with some slots at the beginning), and some ahjussis sat at our table. They were really rowdy, but funny, and it was fun having them there. There was a particularly amusing moment when either M. or I said something in Korean, and they were like, "Are you Korean?" and I said "아니요." Then they looked at each other, flummoxed, and one of them was like, "I asked her if she was Korean and she said '아니요.'" LOL.
Despite how it seems, there WAS actually working in between all this, haha. It was just lucky for us that many of our mealtimes were free, so we were able to enjoy what Vegas had to offer in between the work stuff.