Isla...great tequila and snacks

After Beijing Noodle, we walked through Bellagio and the new city center. After losing money at Aria's casino, we went to Treasure Island. I'm not a big fan of the hotel/casino but we wanted to pick up our Love tickets at the Mirage, so we decided to walk through TI first. The one thing going for it is an upscale Mexican restaurant called Isla. When we were in NYC, we went to its sister restaurant Pampano. Isla is more casual than Pampano, but they both have wonderful margaritas in common! I had a strawberry margarita, which they prepare more like a mojito and muddle the fresh berries and lime and then add silver tequila and triple sec. We split the guacamole and salsa appetizer (which came with three different types of delicious salsas). We got our last drink to go and headed back to the Palazzo (and enjoyed a bottle of champagne in the room!).

Day 2...snacking our way through mid-day

After our amazing breakfast at Bouchon, we headed down the strip towards Caesar's. We window-shopped through the Forum Shoppes and gambled at Caesar's Palace, working up a small appetite. We decided to check out Beijing Noodle No. 9. When we were in Las Vegas last time (staying at Caesar's), we wanted to eat here but never found the time. We decided to just get the pork and scallion dumplings and go from there. The rest of the menu sounded good, but overpriced for Chinese food. Would I return? Probably not...

Day 2- Bouchon, a must do!

Despite our bellinis and various other cocktails, we were still up at sunrise (darn time change), so this allowed us to get ready and make it to the Venetian for breakfast before the Sunday morning brunch crowds rolled in. It is a bit of a challenge to find Bouchon, but boy are we glad we did! It's tucked away by the pool in the Venezia Tower at the Venetian. I had read a lot of reviews saying that this Thomas Keller restaurant was really outstanding, so I had high hopes for our meal. Even Ryan, who's not a big breakfast person, really enjoyed the food. Believe it or not, the June weather was so gorgeous we sat outside on the patio next to the pool (featured in one of the pictures).
For our breakfast, I had another bellini (I'm beginning to get used to this lifestyle) and the french toast (which is made with a brioche bread and served like bread pudding...it is absolutely the very best thing I've ever had for breakfast...I've literally been dreaming about this!). Ryan had the skillet ham, potatoes, and eggs. He liked his, but regrets not getting the french toast. We ordered profiteroles for dessert, and due to their delay we got complimentary mimosas.
Bottom line, go here and order the french toast!!

Day 1- dinner at Yellowtail

We really hated to leave Petrossian, but our hunger forced us to go meet our reservation across the casino at Yellowtail. We had made reservations about a month in advance, and we still had to wait almost 45 minutes for a table. Once we got to our table the view almost made up for the wait. We were a little disappointed in our experience at Yellowtail. The wine list wasn't that impressive and our waiter seemed bummed that we weren't a table full of bachelorette party-goers. We finally got our food: we started with gyoza and split a few rolls of sushi (California rolls, spicy tuna, yellowtail/scallion roll, and their signature spicy crab with pop rocks instead of row). All of the sushi was good, but by no means spectacular. It ended up being a really expensive dinner, and not really worth the price. Would I return? Probably not. Unfortunately the rest of our evening was full of more disappointments (gelato at Venetian was tastless and Lavo was unimpressive). But we didn't care because we were on vacation and having a great time!

We're in Vegas, now what...drinks and gamble please!

After we unpacked, uncorked a bottle of champagne, and freshened up...we took off to Bellagio to spend our first night. We gambled a bit and then made our way to the Petrossian Bar where we had a fantastic time. We had the most wonderful British bartender (John I believe) and drank sinfully delicious bellinis. We also met a terrific couple from Australia. What started as a quick drink, turned into two hours of bellinis and comparision politics with our new found Australian friends. Petrossian is a really great place to go. You almost forget you're in one of the busiest hotels/casinos. They also had an entertaining piano player. Supposedly they do a wonderful afternoon tea, but we weren't lucky enough to experience that. We really intended to return to Petrossian, but never made our way back.

Day 1 Las Vegas!

Just like our vacation summary (aka food) from NYC, I will try to re-create our dining experiences from Las Vegas. Ryan and I traveled there after the end of the school year (yay) from June 12-16th. We stayed at the Palazzo, and I can't recommend it highly enough! We got a fantastic deal from hotels.com that included a rental bar (bonus tip: none of the major hotels in Vegas charge for parking). We had a beautiful room that faced the Wynn golf course and mountains. Our flight from Atlanta to Vegas was late, but luckily we had personal TV's and takeout from the airport Chili's (how gourmet...but hey, every now and then their queso dip is pretty darn awesome).

So, it's been awhile...

Okay, I know I know, I have been a complete and total slacker! We've been to Vegas and Miami Beach and I haven't written about either. I'm not even working this summer! I promise I will try to write more...I have tons of pictures and updates from Vegas...yay!