Sunday, August 31, 2008

Vegas: Day 3

Tuesday I awoke a new man, replenished with a good night's sleep and plenty of fluids. After another Starbuck's run, we headed back to Planet Dailies in time for breakfast. I had the eggs benedict while Dan ordered an omelette. Both came with tasty home fries.



I'm a big eggs benedict conoisseur. This one rates in the middle. Eggs were cooked well, and not too much sauce (a good thing), but the english muffin was a little too thick and overwhelmed the dish.

After breakfast, we walked around and did a little shopping at H&M and the Ben Sherman Store. We then headed back down to the pool. We sat next to a girl from Dallas who asked us where we were the night before. When we told her we had stayed in and watched a movie in our room, she was a little shocked and bewildered. Vegas is different things to different people, I guess. As I was getting ready to go work out, Dan ordered us frozen margaritas that really hit the spot in the heat. I then checked out the hotel's fitness center and spa. It had a fair number of machines and some mats. After a quick work-out I used their sauna and shower and then headed back to meet Dan in the room.

We didn't want to spoil our appetites since we had reservations at a hot restaurant that night so we had cocktails for lunch at Trader Vic's in Miracle Miles Shops.



The drink menu was inspired and fun. I had their classic mai tai and then went with some other fruity drink with Bastard in the title. Both were well made, and worth the cost. Dan's first drink was the "Menehune Juice" and came with a little menehune doll!

This was our third experience at a Trader Vic's, having been to the one in Bellevue, WA twice. They do a nice job. It's a nice blend of tiki kitsch and Polynesian class if that makes any sense.

After changing into our suits (the wedding ones), it was time to head over to the MGM Grand where we had dinner reservations at L'Atelier by Joel Robuchon. Robuchon is a famous French chef, one of the most renowned in the world and he has two restaurants at the MGM. One is a more traditional, fine dining experience while L'Atelier allows the diner to peer into the inner-workings of a gourmet kitchen. Seating is around a bar, with the chefs preparing the dishes right in front of your very eyes. Angry French epithets and all!

We went with the Discovery Menu, which was 9 courses served over the course of the evening (roughly 2 hours). Dan will discuss this in greater detail with enticing photos on his blog so I won't ramble on too much.

Let's just say that at $148 per person it was well worth it. Perhaps my favorite dish was the Capuccino of green asparagus with parmesan.



Or was it the first of TWO desserts, strawberries with basil infusion and olive ice cream? Or perhaps the chilled leek soup with Maine lobster? Or the free-range quail stuff with foie gras and served with truffle-mashed potatoes?

Clearly, this was one of the major highlights of the trip. To accompany the meal, I had two glasses of a very nice white wine, though I cannot remember the name. As the cheapest on the menu, it was $15/glass.

Highly recommended for an indulgence!



How does one follow up such a meal? First we stopped at Trader Vic's for a nightcap. and watched some Olympic diving. Then, spent and full-but-not-gross-full, we trotted back to our room and watched another movie. This time we went with another comedy, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" that was pretty funny and was filmed on the North Shore of Oahu and featured some great Hawaiian musicians.

God I love French food.

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