Eating Las Vegas

Oh, Las Vegas, how much did I love you? You are food heaven. Where you can find any kind of food, and stuff your face, and it's all delicious, and probably made by a chef you've seen on TV. Then on top of that there are insane pools, spas, gambling and the best people watching ever. I cannot wait to go back and eat my way up and down the strip again. Here are some meal highlights.

The first morning, we went to Hash-House-A-Go-Go for some epically large and legendary breakfasts. I had the biggest and most delicious pancake ever, it had this amazing and irresistible brown sugar crust, and was bigger than my head. The boyfriend had the as seen on Man vs Food fried chicken Benedict (and yes, you read that correctly). So delicious and we were full for a very long time after. However, that night we had a light dinner and some drinks at Todd English's Pub in the City Center. It is a pub, grill, and carvery, the carvery is the coolest part. You order a 1/2 lb or a lb of meat and it comes with thick slices of bread and two dipping sauces of your choice, I got brisket and it was amazing.

The next night we started our day with some delicious but very over priced pastries and coffee at Jean Phillipe shop in the ARIA (where we stayed), enjoyed the one super warm day poolside, and then headed to Jose Andres's China Poblano in the Cosmopolitan for some Chinese/Mexican tapas, sounds like a crazy combo but it was pretty delicious. Lots of creative tacos, Chinese noodle dishes, fresh (and amazing) guacamole, and some tres lychees (tres leches cake with lychees) for dessert.

Saturday, we had a delicious French themed breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi, at the Paris, you can sit outside, right on the strip and watch everyone walk by, fantastic people watching. Later we hit up Pink's for some famous hot dogs. We finished the day at Fleur, by Hubert Keller in the Mandalay Bay. This was by far my favorite restaurant of the trip. The food was insanely good, creative, and beautiful. I loved the Steak tar tar, and of course the "In the shower" mac and cheese (which won 10k on Top Chef Masters), and the trio of creme brulees for dessert (that was my favorite). The restaurant was fantastic, but it was also very dark, so I didn't get good pictures. But here are the cheesecake lollipops (half eaten), our other delicious dessert.

Sunday, we hit the Cosmopolitan's Wicked Spoon Buffet for brunch. Wow, is all I can say. Buffets by nature are insane, but this was totally over the top. It's not your typical Vegas style, mountain of crab legs buffet. It's tapas style (my favorite type of food), they have a ton of different things portioned out into little servings, of which you can eat as much and as many as you want. The real treat/draw though, is the dessert "station" (using that loosely as it's about 1/3 of the buffet). It has beautiful and creative concoctions of every kind, some of my favorites were the gelato with mini cones, the french macaroons (I ate like 7 of them), chocolate covered kit kats, and I'm not sure what it was called but it was a chocolate cookie crust, filled with coffee filling and topped with a meringue cookie.

As you can probably tell by the dessert plates, we were full all day. But we had a late night snack/dinner of pallea and oysters at Julian Serrano Tapas. Next time, I will definitely be heading back there a bit more hungry.

Our last day, we went back to Mon Ami Gabi for lunch and people watching, then headed over to the Venetian to see Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery so I could get a TKO (Thomas Keller Oreo), definitely worth the walk, and possible the $3.25 it cost. We also got a cupcake, but that was not nearly as delicious.

We ended our trip with some insane hamburgers at Holstein's Buns and Shakes at the Cosmopolitan. Don't miss the fried pickles appetizer, it was ridiculously good, just like the burgers.

Overall, it was a foodie Paradise vacation and had a blast and can't wait to go back and eat some more. But to recap:

My favorite meal: Fleur
My favorite hotel/shopping area: The Cosmopolitan
My favorite Casino: ARIA (this is totally biased, bc it's the only place I won, but it is beautiful)
Where I'm staying next time: Mandalay Bay, it's pool is beyond epic (wave pool with a fake beach), it has an aquarium, and a ton of restaurants.
Don't Miss: Hash House, it's too insane not to eat!

Happy Eating