Two meals in the last full day in Las Vegas

Brunch was our traditional stop at Bouchon, Thomas Keller's wonderful bistro.  We enjoyed mostly breakfast foods, but we always split the pastry board.

Click an image to see a larger version.

Dinner took us to Jaleo, Jose Andre's Spanish restaurant in the Cosmopolitan, another traditional stop of ours.  No trip there would be complete without some Jamon Iberico de Bellota Fermin and some pan con tomate.

Wow, was this a delicious combination--and my most frequent snack in Barcelona whenever I can get it.

In between, we walked shops, people-watched, and had a little gelato. 

After dinner, we took in the La Reve show at the Wynn.  A magical, water-based show, it was a great conclusion to a fun trip. 

By the way, for those who noticed, I am posting this Sunday morning because I had to get up in the sixes and so crashed as soon as I could after I returned to the room and caught up on work.

Sunday goes to flying home!

Keeping it simple and delicious at Bouchon

My colleagues and I dined tonight at Thomas Keller's lovely Bouchon in the Venetian. The bread and butter are so good that I could almost live on them, but instead I opted to add the steak frites, a dish in which the steak is good but the frites are better. I made them better still by asking to have truffles on them--a standard offering of the restaurant.

Wow, was it good.

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In a stunning display of self-control, I scraped the butter off the steak and gave a chunk of my frites to a colleague. I still didn't come close to finishing them. The small steak, though a tough cut, proved to be perfectly prepared and delicious.

You really cannot go wrong with a Thomas Keller restaurant.

If only I'd had the time to eat brunch at Bouchon, my time there would have been complete.

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 3

It's going on five in the morning back home.  I'm on a plane to Miami, where I will catch a connection that will get me home in time for me to grab two or three hours of sleep before my company's annual Seasonal Celebration, our biggest event of the year. 

So, once again, I'm going to cut this blog extremely short.  I hope to get back to better entries soon.

Today, I awoke very early after very little sleep so I could join a work call and then do some work.  After that, I was able to doze a couple of hours, and then I did some more work. 

At that point, our little group  headed over to Bouchon for our traditional brunch, which was, as always, delicious. 

From there, we walked for a bit, I did some work, and then we grabbed a taxi to the Palms, where we spent the next six hours watching the finale of The Ultimate Fighter.  The fights were generally strong, and the evening ended with Carla Esparza becoming the first UFC women's strawweight champion. 

Now, to hope I can doze on the plane. 

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 2

I logged a lot of rack time last night, which was great.  I also woke up every hour coughing and wheezing, which was less great.  Still, the time in bed had to help.

Brunch today was at the delightful Bouchon, where we all ate entirely too much and left feeling distended and sated.  From there, we headed to the Hard Rock for The Ultimate Fighter 16 finale.  As it turned out, the time on the tickets was when the doors opened, not when the fights started, so we spent more time there than was necessary, but we amused ourselves with conversation and the superb people watching. 

We even had time for a few happy snaps, such as this one of Kyle with the UFC "ring girls."

As always, click on an image for a larger version.

The fight card was excellent, with almost all of them finishes and very few boring rounds.  We had excellent, cage-side seats, so the MMA celebrity viewing was superb. 

Afterward, we cabbed to the Bellagio for a little sightseeing, dinner at Fix, and dessert gelato.  Here's Sarah in front of the hotel's enormous Christmas tree.

A long day, but a good one.  Now, I see if I can sleep.

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 3

Any day that begins with brunch at Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bistro immediately has an edge over most other days.  Eating perfect eggs, some of the best bacon ever, delicious sausage, and amazing pastries was just a wonderful way to start the morning.  Of course, it also left us all insanely full, so we spent the next several hours wandering the high-end stores and watching people.  People-watching is amazing here.

We then taxied over to the Bellagio for more gawking and a small amount of tasty gelato.

Dinner was at the absolutely wonderful Jaleo, Jose Andres new restaurant here.  The food was beyond good; it was full of joy.  We found ourselves smiling uncontrollably.  Kyle likened biting into a croqueta to being hugged and made to smile by someone who loved you, and he wasn't exaggerating; it was that good.  I've tasted more different croquetas than I can remember, and this one completely redefined for me how good this wonderful little item can be.  The flan was similarly amazing, a dish I thought I knew redefined and made more perfect than I thought it could be.

More walking, a few art galleries, and then we hopped into a cab to the Rio to see Penn & Teller.  I've seen them multiple times before, but this might have been my favorite show.  They're both so very good and so very smart.  I highly recommend this show if you haven't seen it.

Tomorrow, I hope to sleep a great deal, because the downside of working and also sightseeing is that I am getting very little rest.  The results are worth the cost, but I do look forward to sleeping without an alarm. 

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 2

I slept enough last night that I awakened feeling a little rested, which after the previous night's minimal sleep was quite a welcome change. After some work and a shower, I joined our group at the appointed time, and we headed over to the Venetian for brunch at Bouchon. Damn but it was good, with every dish tasty and food spilling off the table.

Afterward, we dragged our food-clogged selves around the high-end shops, a trip that included a stop at the Louboutin store.

From there, we caught a cab to the Palms and the Ultimate Fighter Finale, the event we came here to see. The fights were almost all quite entertaining, with a handful being very exciting. The guy I had hoped would win it all--Jonathan Brookins--did so, which was a nice treat.

Dinner was at Craftsteak, where we'd also dined on the same night last year. The meat was amazing, the sides good, and we all had a very nice meal.

A little more work, and then I shall crash.

The overdue Odd Saturday report

Last Saturday was one of those days of excess that I love but cannot afford to do often. After sleeping late, we headed out to dip into the river of cheese (i.e., eat at a favorite local Mexican place, where the queso is plentiful and good, and the marinade on the beef in the fajita quesadilla steak is strong and flavorful). We then put in some Halo time, followed by a little work.

Everyone arrived about 4:15, and the festivities began in earnest.

First stop was Dorton Arena for a Carolina Rollergirls double-header. The opening game was a blow-out, with the visiting Dixie Derby Girls taking the Carolina Bootleggers 86 to 76. (The final score is closer than the game ever was.) Less than five minutes into the second match-up, however, we realized that we'd been seeing the junior teams before, because these women were faster, stronger, better skaters, and far more effective users of various strategies. The Steel City Derby Demons started with a 26-0 scoring run, and it looked for a bit like the home team, the Carolina All-Stars, were done. Carolina came back, though, to win it 144 to 143 in a truly exciting and excellent match.

We didn't see the last several minutes, however, because we had to leave to make our nine o'clock reservation for a dozen at The Pit. After several shared plates of Barbecue Fries and an additional couple of pans of cornbread, followed by heaping plates of 'cue, we were all so stuffed we could barely move.

We rolled into our cars and headed home, where through the combination of Spike TV's free broadcast and the UFC's PPV event, we were able to watch all but one of the fights. Somewhere after midnight, we took a break before the main event and tore into many pints of various flavors of Jeni's ice creams, as well as trays of two different types of cookies and the namesake bouchons from Thomas Keller's Bouchon mixes. Yes, cookies from mixes--but Keller mixes, so they were awesome.

When the fights ended and most of the crowd headed out, a hardy few of us stayed up for a little more entertainment, and then off to work I went.

It was a great evening, but, as I said, not one I could do very often.

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, day 7

Dinner last night was my first meal in one of Keller's newer establishments, Ad Hoc, where the motto is, "for temporary relief from hunger." The emphasis here is on comfort food, with everything served family style and a single menu with no options. We had squash salad, Catalan beef stew, a cheese and fruit course, and poached pears and ice cream. It was all very good, even the squash salad (and I am no squash fan, to put it mildly), with the stew simply outstanding. The casual atmosphere was fun and relaxing.

Lunch today continued the Keller theme, as we ate at Bouchon, a French-style bistro where I have eaten once before, many years ago. We grazed by sampling sides and appetizers, and as one would expect, it was all wonderful.

The hours between meals were entirely work, the beauty and the curse of the modern world being that one is never unable to do sales calls and email. Still, I am currently one hundred percent up to date, which is good heading into a day filled with travel.

Tomorrow, I will report on dinner at the Keller mothership: The French Laundry.

Viva, Las Vegas, day 3 - I danced

Another late sleep gave way to a lunch at Thomas Keller's Bouchon in the Venetian. A friend of Sarah's joined us, and after a half hour wait we were sitting in a lovely booth. We all enjoyed our food greatly, with Keller's justly renowned pommes frites reminding me that even common dishes can achieve greatness. My Wagyu burger was superb, as were the "Bouchons," three miniature chocolate cakes, each with a different bit of ice cream atop them.

After some time and a movie (Superbad) in our room, we headed out to a gelato snack at Bellagio and our second Cirque show, O. Tonight marked the fifth (I think; I may be off a bit) time I've seen it, and every time it has been glorious. I watched the entire show with a slight smile on my face and magic and wonder filling my heart. I know it's all scripted, and I know they do it ten times a week, week in and week out, but it's still proof of the magic and joy the human heart can feel and human endeavor can produce. We sat in the front row, and we were mesmerized.

An amazing thing also happened. One of the clowns came into the audience and beckoned me to join him onstage. I did. He put out his hands, and I took them, and we danced. In front of 1,800 people, with a man in a clown suit, I danced--and I was not self-conscious for even an instance. I was amazed afterward, but in the moment I was fully present. As a person who's almost always observing, even narrating himself, I'm astonished at how fully immersed I was. Amazing.