September 16th, 2009 by Sha
Our first dinner was at Todd English’s Olives inside the Bellagio hotel where we were staying. The restaurant had a great ambiance, and perfectly dim dinner lighting. (I think lighting plays a huge part in a dining experience, and good lighting is always a treat that I appreciate.) This was where Pete had a fabulous Salmon BLT (pictured at left) and I had the Sea Scallops with wild mushroom risotto and spinach. The Salmon BLT was so pretty, and Pete said the fish was perfectly cooked. He also really enjoyed the flavorful heirloom tomato, much different than the unripe tomatoes we get in B.F.C., and the apple wood bacon was the perfect topper. My scallops were also perfectly cooked, tender and moist, and the wild mushroom risotto was delicious. I have not had a good risotto since I worked in West Hollywood and was eating at all the wonderful restaurants in the area. It made me remember how much I like risotto, when it is made correctly, and mushroom has always been my favorite. The spinach was slightly wilted and tossed in champagne vinaigrette; it was wonderfully light and fresh tasting.
The next day we took a drive through Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 20 miles northwest of the Strip. It’s a 13 mile scenic loop, and costs $5 to enter but it is well worth it if you have never been there before. Of all the rocks I have seen and taken photos of I have never seen rocks like these before. We stopped at the first view point where the sign was to find out what these rocks were all about. It turns out that about 180 million years ago the area was one of the largest sand dunes that has ever existed on earth, and covered almost the entire Southwest. Over time underground water washed away the red color and left calcium carbonate, turning the sand into rock. The plant life was also very interesting; desert plants that look like they lived under water at one time and even pine trees in one area of the park. Pete and I both really enjoyed the time we spent at Red Rock Canyon, where I took lots of photos of rocks that you can see here, but we were getting hungry so we headed back into town and had lunch at a local sushi restaurant called Yama Sushi. It was really good; we especially enjoyed their house special Harry Potter roll. There were other great names like Hand Job, Who’s Your Daddy, Happy Ending, and Strip Tease! (I’m not kidding, just take a look at their menu.) They also had a yummy spider roll (soft shell crab), and an excellent unagi roll (barbequed eel). Mmm, makes my mouth water just writing about it. Okay, I have to stop now. Next up: Mesa Grill and Yellowtail.
September 10th, 2009 by Sha
Where do two foodies go on vacation? To a place with ridiculous amounts of fabulous restaurants, of course! There are probably several destinations that fall in that category, but for us Las Vegas is the closest so that’s where Pete and I spent our ten year anniversary last week. When we arrived we found out it was also Restaurant Week, how perfect! We stayed at the Bellagio, and ate several meals in the hotel restaurants which turned out to be my favorites of the trip. The first morning we went down to have breakfast and chose the Cafe Bellagio, where we had an incredible Bellagio Classic omelet stuffed with lobster and asparagus. It was sumptuous; I could definitely get used to this every morning. The coffee was very good, dark and strong but not bitter. And they served real cream. Yum. We’re off to a great start.
Outside of the Café is the botanical garden so after breakfast we walked around and checked it out, along with the pretty birds in the aviary – click here to see the Bellagio photo album. The animals they made out of flowers and plants were so cute! Then we were off for a walk around the Forum Shops @ Caesar’s. It was the first time for both of us, and we had a great time looking at everything; all the shops and restaurants, the blue sky ceiling, and even the moving statues show on the third floor. Yes, it’s a bit corny and the “statues” are more like moving mannequins but it was entertaining nonetheless, and the fire explosions at the end of the show were pretty damned big for being in what is basically a mall. Our favorite was a store called Villa Reale; it was filled with things that Pete and I both loved. We started talking to a sales man and when I mentioned that the store reminded me of Arte de Mexico he told us that it is a division of Arte De Mexico – I nailed it. Not surprising though. Arte is one of my favorite home stores in So Cal and a place I frequented often while decorating the NoHo house, and I never missed their annual sale. Anyway, after the Forum Shops we walked over to Treasure Island to see if the statue I posed for years ago was still there – and it was! That story is for the next post, along with photos and more tales of good eats.
September 6th, 2009 by Sha
Last week Pete and I went to Las Vegas to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. (Wow, it’s still hard to believe that he and I have been together that long!) We went all out and got a suite at the Bellagio on the 29th floor in the newer Spa Tower. The room was in front of the famous fountains, and we had a great view of the Eiffel Tower across the street at hotel Paris Las Vegas. It was fabulous! We has some incredible food while we were there, did lots of walking around at the hotel shops and on the Strip, took the scenic drive through Red Rock Canyon, and (of course) did a little gambling. I have to sort through the photos we took so I grabbed an image of the world famous Las Vegas sign for this post; plus I definitely will be writing more about the food that we enjoyed while we were there – that was the primary reason we chose Las Vegas for our trip. We are total foodies, so what better place to go than Las Vegas? There was not enough time to go to all the restaurants on our list, which was almost a page long, but we did our best and ate as much as we could. Not ones to give up, we’re already planning which places to eat at on our next trip!
