If you do stay at the Flamingo, ask for a “Go” room. Go rooms have been remodeled and compared to the non-Go rooms, the Go is paradise in comparison. I do like that there is a TV in the bathroom mirror so I could watch the “Today” show while showering. The bed wasn’t bad and I like having a flat screen TV in my room. The hallways do have a tendency to smell like diapers after a few days, so beware.
Whatever you do, do not eat at the Flamingo. Every meal I had made me sick for hours afterwards. I hear that Margaritaville isn’t bad there, but I wasn’t willing to risk it.
I did eat very, very well while in Las Vegas, as long as I didn’t eat at the Flamingo (I keep repeating this so the food must be bad).
My first night I went to Postrio in the Venetian. Postrio is a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. I ate at Postrio in San Francisco (which is now closed – I thought the food was good but according to chowhound.com it is “1980’s”) and I thought I would give it a try. I didn’t find the menu as diverse, but I did enjoy the food. Any place that serves gnocchi is fine by me.
The next night I wanted to try a buffet. I think you are legally obligated to eat at a buffet while in Vegas. I decided to try The Buffet at the Bellagio since I love that place and I figure the food would have to be delicious. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed. Everything was okay it just didn’t seem to be better than any other buffet. I guess I had higher expectations from the Bellagio. Word on the street is that the Wynn stole the Bellagio’s chef away and now the Wynn has the best buffet.
Since all the famous chefs have places in Las Vegas, I decided to head over to Caesar’s Palace and eat at Bobby Flay’s, Mesa Grill. My time in Vegas was a parade of famous TV chefs. I spent days deciding if I would eat at Mesa Grill as it is a bit pricy and there were so many items on the menu I wanted to try. I liked the Mesa Gill a lot. The creamy wild mushroom grits are fantastic. I also ordered the cornmeal crusted chile relleno (I love chile rellenos) was very flavorful but a bit too spicy for me. I am such a baby when it comes to picante foods, but I don’t regret anything that I ordered. The hardest part of the Mesa Grill was trying to figure out what to eat, most menu items had some ingredient that interested me.
I ended up eating at the Paris a few times. My students told me that there was a crepe place in the Paris. I love crepes, especially Mathieu’s crepes and the sweet and savory crepes at Crepes-a-Go-Go in the SF Bay Area. Le Creperie was fine, but they didn’t have the selection I was hoping for and it was $10.00 for a sweet or savory crepe. So you order both, but you just can’t eat both. It was a nice change of pace from the heavier food I had been eating all week.
My boss, John, recommended that I try Craftsteak. Craftsteak is owned by Tom Colicchio of Top Chef fame and I have been wanting to try his food since I walked passed Craft in Chelsea, NYC. The sweet smell of steak filled the air and I wanted to be a part of it. The food was amazing. The homemade rolls had a sprinkle of sea salt on them – who knew that would make such a big difference in flavor? The warm frisee salad that initially sold me with all the blue cheese was also full of bacon. I had to force myself to stop eating the potato gratin so I could save room for my steak. My NY Strip was perfectly done and didn’t need any steak sauce to make it flavorful. It was one of the best meals I have ever had. It was also one of the most expensive. I made it out of there for just under $100.00. Worth it.
My students recommended Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris for breakfast. They have a very good eggs benedict. It was so nice, even in December, that I was able to eat my breakfast outside. Life is good sometimes.
After I finished work, I headed down to Phoenix to see my friend Elise. Elise is crazy smart and she graduated (the day before I arrived) with her PhD. I was hoping that her brother would also be in town as Elise has already planned our wedding, but no such luck.
It was great to just spend time with Elise and her mom, Julia. We didn’t do anything dramatic like bungee jumping or getting tattoos, but we did something more our style - like eating and watching movies. I am so proud of Elise and how hard she has worked to finish her dissertation and graduate. You make me look like a chump Elise.
I was one lucky girl on this trip. I missed a huge snow storm that hit DC in December. Thanks to my boss and his extra first class upgrade, I was able to catch my flight and return to DC, in first class with people that had been waiting for days to get a flight to the east coast. I even saw a girl from Gilmore Girls on my plane. Her name is Krysten Ritter. She played one of Rory’s annoying Yale friends in the last season. She seems like a nice person and was very polite and never brought up that she was an actress. I have to admit that I was totally creepy and stared at her quite a bit because I was trying to make certain that it was her. I have become "that" person.
