Vegas Log, Day 2 OR The Best Meal of My Life
Today started off pretty placidly. I woke up quite a few times during the night (hallways at midnight and the naturally at 5, 8, and 9), and finally got up around 11 for a pretty ridiculous 14 hours of sleep.
I met up with my parents and headed down to Paris for lunch, and ate at a little sandwich bar I once again have forgotten then name of. I suspect I'll go back a few times, they gave more food than I might have preferred, but it was all very good and pretty authentic french. I ended up getting a "L'italen Sandwiche", which was a bunch of meats and cheese with some leek and red onions and some other muck I didn't really recognize in a baguette, which was pretty spectacular. We went around Paris a bit looking for the pool (which we didn't find anyway), and I took the sights in a bit. Mike implied there'd be a piece in PW where I'd want to write about a specific location, and Paris is one that has struck me as a place I'd enjoy working with. Much like a lot of places(and people) in Vegas, it's trying to be something it isn't, with it's fake sky ceiling, which I've always thought is strange in that the lighting inside is all from streetlights based on what you'd find in Paris, which you'd see on at night, but the ceiling is that of day... something to encourage gambling, I'm sure. There's also the fake Eiffel tower, and a bunch of really nice floor tiling... I'll go into it more later, I guess - I intend to take some pictures to use later anyway, so I'll make more sense with those.
After this we met up with some family members in Bally's lobby, in order to buy tickets for Wednesday's endeavor, a trip to the Valley of Fire. After this I headed off with my parents to pick up our Phantom tickets from... wherever Phantom shows at, which I'd been kind of pleased about since it let us walk around outside a lot, which is one of the draws of town to me. I felt kind of depressed the whole day (I'm not sure if it's the trip or just me, I'm prone to it in streaks and I've been fighting with it for a while now) so I wasn't paying as good of attention as I'd have preferred, but there were some interesting sights along the way.
Among the most notable were an absolute army of Mexicans trying to solicit a prostitution service, mostly all outside of Harrah's. They had little cards with the number on it they kept rapping together to try to get your attention and then they'd literally hit you with the card (if you had a penis) as you walked by in hopes you'd take it, or something. They were pretty impressively obnoxious, but whatever. I'll get a picture at some point (although I don't feel too comfortable with my blackberry out near them) just because I think it'll piss them off and they deserve it.
There was also some sort of music/drinks/dancing outdoor area, which wouldn't have been particularly notable except they were playing "Staying Alive" and my mom got into it and went up and like shook her ass or something. I'm not sure if I regret not getting a picture of this one or not. I was kind of embarrassed.
I think that last line actually describes much of my depression with this trip, and most vacations I take. It is not so much that I don't like vacationing, or the locales I visit (actually Vegas at 20 is probably not helping at all) - but who I'm going with. I've always very much bought into the idea that it is not so much you're doing as who you do it with, and this is a good example. If I had you guys here, or even Mike, I think I'd be having a lot more fun, but I'm basically in myself in an unfamiliar time, I'm exploring on my own, and while I'm always a bit of a loner there's a level it goes too far at, for sure. The fact I keep checking my phone for texts, and facebook, and whatever it s a pretty good sign. I'm lovely at home, let alone here. Whatever.
We did a lot of pretty unremarkable walking to and between casinos for most of the day, and I went down to the sports bar to place some more bets, because if I'm in Vegas I'm going to fucking gamble on something. I ended up betting on the Leafs (10 for a win of +17) and the Rangers (10 for a win of +13), because I need to make up for yesterday's -10! I didn't realize the Rangers weren't playing Lundqvist which might have affected my betting but, whatever... Ended up losing both games to bring me to a cool 0-3, but shit happens.
It was 3ish at this point so I headed back to the room for a bit to piss and relax a bit, and maybe watch some of the games I bet on before we headed to Craft for dinner. Craft is at MGM so we wanted to leave around 5:30, but since games start at 4pm here it left me with quite a bit of time to see the beginnings of the games I bet on and chat a bit on facebook, as well start this post since these wall of texts take a long time to write.
After my pit stop, we took a cab to MGM. My dad chatted with the cabby a bit about some condos that were being pushed pretty hard on customers (some free tickets/timeshare scam that is pretty obviously), and the drive gave a knowing laugh. We got to MGM an hour early, but it took us about forty minutes in spite of directions to actually find Craft Steakhouse because it was in a back corner (right next to Emeril's - no wonder they got him on Top Chef) we hadn't been aware of, and they let us in a little early.
The ambiance was really amazing, it was pretty dim, with candles on the tables and some lights coming out of the ground occasionally(like you'd see at a pool) as well as a few dim ones on the ceiling. The staff was incredibly good, getting the "Mr. Glaza" etc with correct pronunciation immediately, pulling out chairs, being incredibly polite, giving intelligent suggestions, making pretty engaging banter... the staff was incredible.
What really impressed me, thankfully was the food! We ended up doing the winter tasting menu, which was a multiple course family style menu. The menus change daily since they use ingredients from nearby farms and such, but fortunately the one for tonight is still posted, so for reference:
FIRST COURSE
Grilled Quail with Vincotto
Mixed Baby Lettuces
Roasted Red Pepper
Baby Beet Salad
MAIN COURSE
Roasted Prime Flat Iron Steak
Certified Angus Beef Skirt Steak
Diver Sea Scallops
SIDE DISHES
Yukon Gold Potato Purée
Sautéed Shiitake Mushrooms
Brussels Sprouts with Smoked Bacon
DESSERT
Chef’s Selection
Pretty much everything was just unbelievable. The quail was the appetizer I'd been most excited about and it absolutely did not disappoint, could have eaten it all day. I'd never actually had quail before but it definitely won't be the last time - the sauce was superb, and outside of the fact I felt retarded in how I consumed it(it was shaped similarly to a hooters wing), it was superb. The roasted red pepper was garnished with a greenery of some sort and sliced very thin and was extremely good as well, starting a strange trend of me absolutely loving dishes I normally won't even eat. The beets, too, followed this pattern - while still not something I would normally order, they were very good and something I would have eaten a lot of in a normal meal. The lettuce salad was the meal's weak point, being pretty bland (one of the restaurant owner's subordinates referred to a contestant's salad as "an airplane salad" and it fit pretty well here, although at least it was crisp), but considering the rest of the appetizers I wasn't too interested in a plain salad anyway...
The next round continued the excellence set by the previous course. The main courses were almost upstaged by the Potato Puree, which was just unbelievably good. It was creamy and delicious, and melted in my mouth in a way I'm only used to something like a thin chocolate doing. It looked almost watery at a glance, so I was a little concerned, but the waitress had recommended getting it even if we ordered off the menu so I thought it would be good and my god was it. Easily the best potato dish I've ever had, could eat it forever.
The other two side dishes were great, but with the unbelievably potatos and the main courses they didn't get much attention at our table. The brussel sprouts/bacon had a nice almost teriyaki sauce on them that made them grand, and while I normally don't like brussel sprouts this was another dish that at basically any other restaurant - like say, Zhender's family style deal - that I would have eaten until the dish was gone, but here there was just so much else that I didn't get a chance for seconds. The mushrooms were similar - I normally love mushrooms, but they were merely good mushrooms, and on this table...
The main courses, for their part, did not disappoint. I suppose the low point would be the scallops, but that's kind of like saying the low part of your million dollars was the first zero - there was a cheesy thing on top of them, and they were rich and cooked just perfectly. My parents split one so there was one leftover none of us ate, and I would have got it myself but... it was just so filling... I feel regrets at not finishing it off.
The steaks were both prepared medium rare at the chef's request, and I'm glad I listened - both were fantastic. The flat iron steak was pretty typical fancy restaurant steak - three inch wide, one third of an inch good cuts. But it was merely good steak - and good steak barely got eaten in contrast to the amazement that was the beef skirt steak. It came in a dish of like 20 little inch and a halfish cuts of steak, but it was slightly thicker than the other steak, and in a good sauce, and juicy, and ugh... they seemed to have accidentally given us 2 dishes of it, getting us around 30-40 pieces, and even in spite of that we whipped nearly all of it. Between that and the potatoes, it was probably the best meal of my life.
But it wasn't over! Desert brought three more dishes - an apple cake, a chocolate one, and a caramel/nut/coffeecaketypething hybrid, all served with appropriate ice cream. My dad got most of the chocolate cake, it was good but a little too rich for me, which as I suspected meant that he absolutely adored it - he commented on it being the best he'd ever had. The apple cake was my personal favorite, with an apple flavored cake batter cake thing with warm apples cooked inside. I didn't eat too much since I was super full at this point and I'm not much of a desert guy, but it was good enough for even me to order in a normal situation. The last cake had so many flavors I have a hard time describing it, but it was the best of the three in my opinion and really memorable... ugh
The bill ended up hurting (250$), but my dad commented that were was a 6 oz. steak on the menu for 360$. He said something along the lines of "for 360 I don't want a 6 oz. piece of meat, I better get the entire cow!" I responded with something along the lines of "well, I could think of a type of 6 meat I might pay 360 dollars for, but it wouldn't be from a cow" which he didn't seem to like very much. Straight over my mother's head, of course.
The food, all three courses, the service, the ambiance... it was all just incredible. Great experience.
On the way out we stopped at a tourist trap shop in MGM and I ended up snagging a couple shirts (which I fronted the bill for, considering the dinner). They are Tommy Bahama, which I'm normally not a fan of but the shirts are made pretty well and I found a couple faux-Hawaiian shirts that were pretty cool. I actually have the same pattern on both, but it seems a lot less vibrant on one because of the colors so they'll be good in different situations. The highlight of the store was definitely my dad and I arguing with my mother about whether or not yellow shirts work with tan pants/khakis/etc. Which they don't. I greatly enjoyed the two males explaining something pretty fashion obvious to the female.
We ran into some kids (like 6 years old) wrestling around on our way out of the casino, and my mom commented "this is why you people don't want kids that age in Vegas! At least by high school age kids aren't wrestling around." I'd been in a mood, and responded "well, depends on what part of Vegas..."
We opted to walk back from MGM even though it's pretty chilly since after that meal we all needed a little exercise! My parents whined a bit, but whatever, it'll do 'em good... On a slightly sadder note, the peddlers for that prostitution line were out in full force again, and they were all bundled in winter coats, which I would have enjoyed, except I noticed one of the ones peddling this time couldn't have been older than eleven. Sad...
Think I'm going to go for a little more walking of my own! I'd like to be in bed by 11 or so, so I'd best get on that...