wish I never left
07-17-2008, 10:30 AM
If you've already read this on TOB, there is no reason for you to read this again.
I have to say that I am happy to start the first Vegas thread on the new new board.
Thursday late lunch: Palio (Pastry shop at the Bellagio): counter service at this crowded shop, but it was a great choice for a quick bite to eat without filling up before dinner. Our friend had a crab salad and the tiramisu. She said both were very good. My wife had a smoked salmon sandwich that was delicious. I had a very good roast beef sandwich. We shared a cherry Danish for dessert and it was excellent.
Thursday dinner: Bouchon (The Venetian): The décor here is nice and the atmosphere is a bit more casual than I had expected. The service was very good in all respects. We shared a bottle of sparkling wine from J Winery and enjoyed it throughout the meal. For our first course, we had the petit plateau of the Fruits de mer. This consisted of mussels, lobster, clams, oysters and shrimp. I loved the mussels, clams and oysters. I am somewhat indifferent to lobster, but there was certainly nothing wrong with what we were served. The shrimp were very good, but I think it’s a bit ironic to travel over a thousand miles from Houston to eat Gulf shrimp. Next we shared the salmon rillettes with toasted slices of baguettes. This dish was also very good, the smoked salmon and the salmon mouse were a great combination. We ended up running out of the baguettes and started using the excellent dinner roles to consume the last of the dish. For her entrée, my wife had the salmon. This was cooked nearly to perfection, but I didn’t care for some of the flavors. I had the trout amandine and it was fantastic. The brown butter provided a wonderful richness in combination with the fish. This was the perfect finish to a meal. It is always nice to have each course of a meal build to an even better one. If I had to cavil, I would say that they may have piled the haricots verts just a bit too high on top of the fish. We were too full for dessert, but the table next to us had ordered a sampling of all of the desserts and they looked like they were delicious.
Friday lunch: Mesa Grill (Caesar’s): We started with two margaritas as we surveyed the slick design. A traditional for me and a watermelon flavored one for my wife. These were both quite nice, but when it was time for a second round, she switched to the traditional. To start, we shared the tamale with shrimp and roasted garlic cream sauce. The shrimp and tamale were delicious, there was nothing wrong with the cream sauce except that whatever flavor of roasted garlic was there did not come through in the dish. This did not stop me from sopping some of it up with the jalapeno bread they served at the table. (Also included with the bread was a very disappointing corn bread muffin that disintegrated on contact and a raisin walnut bread that was OK.) For my wife’s entrée, she ordered the Cuban sandwich burger. For some reason, we didn’t pick up on the ‘burger’ aspect of this and were expecting a southwestern take on a Cuban, not a burger with Cuban sandwich toppings. In any case, my wife liked it just fine. I had been informed that the burger here was supposed to be the best in town. As I love great burgers, I had to try it. Unfortunately, I am fairly certain this is not the best burger in town and the tip I received was in error. The burger was good however, cooked to order and accompanied with some delicious ‘Southwestern’ fries. The main fault was a bottom bun that arrived soggy and failed to serve its purpose. I would definitely come back to try some of the other appetizers and to order a bit more wisely from the entrees as the rest of the menu looks very good. Service was very friendly if prone to a few minor slips.
I have to say that I am happy to start the first Vegas thread on the new new board.
Thursday late lunch: Palio (Pastry shop at the Bellagio): counter service at this crowded shop, but it was a great choice for a quick bite to eat without filling up before dinner. Our friend had a crab salad and the tiramisu. She said both were very good. My wife had a smoked salmon sandwich that was delicious. I had a very good roast beef sandwich. We shared a cherry Danish for dessert and it was excellent.
Thursday dinner: Bouchon (The Venetian): The décor here is nice and the atmosphere is a bit more casual than I had expected. The service was very good in all respects. We shared a bottle of sparkling wine from J Winery and enjoyed it throughout the meal. For our first course, we had the petit plateau of the Fruits de mer. This consisted of mussels, lobster, clams, oysters and shrimp. I loved the mussels, clams and oysters. I am somewhat indifferent to lobster, but there was certainly nothing wrong with what we were served. The shrimp were very good, but I think it’s a bit ironic to travel over a thousand miles from Houston to eat Gulf shrimp. Next we shared the salmon rillettes with toasted slices of baguettes. This dish was also very good, the smoked salmon and the salmon mouse were a great combination. We ended up running out of the baguettes and started using the excellent dinner roles to consume the last of the dish. For her entrée, my wife had the salmon. This was cooked nearly to perfection, but I didn’t care for some of the flavors. I had the trout amandine and it was fantastic. The brown butter provided a wonderful richness in combination with the fish. This was the perfect finish to a meal. It is always nice to have each course of a meal build to an even better one. If I had to cavil, I would say that they may have piled the haricots verts just a bit too high on top of the fish. We were too full for dessert, but the table next to us had ordered a sampling of all of the desserts and they looked like they were delicious.
Friday lunch: Mesa Grill (Caesar’s): We started with two margaritas as we surveyed the slick design. A traditional for me and a watermelon flavored one for my wife. These were both quite nice, but when it was time for a second round, she switched to the traditional. To start, we shared the tamale with shrimp and roasted garlic cream sauce. The shrimp and tamale were delicious, there was nothing wrong with the cream sauce except that whatever flavor of roasted garlic was there did not come through in the dish. This did not stop me from sopping some of it up with the jalapeno bread they served at the table. (Also included with the bread was a very disappointing corn bread muffin that disintegrated on contact and a raisin walnut bread that was OK.) For my wife’s entrée, she ordered the Cuban sandwich burger. For some reason, we didn’t pick up on the ‘burger’ aspect of this and were expecting a southwestern take on a Cuban, not a burger with Cuban sandwich toppings. In any case, my wife liked it just fine. I had been informed that the burger here was supposed to be the best in town. As I love great burgers, I had to try it. Unfortunately, I am fairly certain this is not the best burger in town and the tip I received was in error. The burger was good however, cooked to order and accompanied with some delicious ‘Southwestern’ fries. The main fault was a bottom bun that arrived soggy and failed to serve its purpose. I would definitely come back to try some of the other appetizers and to order a bit more wisely from the entrees as the rest of the menu looks very good. Service was very friendly if prone to a few minor slips.