Vegas!
As you know from my ooey-gooey post last week, Chris and I
celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on 11/29. While, technically, the trip we took to
Scotland in August was to honor this milestone, we really felt it was
appropriate to go to Las Vegas for the actual dates of our anniversary, you
know, just because.* We had a great Thanksgiving
at home, and on the morning of the 29th, headed northwest for the
rest of the weekend.
We stayed at the Aria this time, which is a newer property
on the Strip (2-3 years old), closer to the southern end of the larger
resorts. It’s part of the City Center
complex, which includes the Cosmopolitan and Vdara, an upscale mall called
Crystals, some residential condos and whatnot as well. Overall, we really liked Aria. Our room was on the 14th floor, **
so we had nice views of the traffic cul de sac below (ooh, fancy). It also had curtains that you opened with
buttons on the wall OR a remote control (I know, right?). The
casino floor was a bit smaller than some of the other resorts, so you couldn’t
get too lost, although all of the games and machines were available right when
you came off the elevator. There was a
good selection of restaurants and nightclubs (although we didn’t utilize any of
the latter), as well as a theater for the Cirque de Soleil show in residence
there, Zarkana (which we also didn’t attend).
Also, when we checked in and told her it was our 10th
anniversary, the front desk attendant sent us a plate of chocolate covered
strawberries and macaroons.***
After we checked in, we unpacked a few things and perused
the spa menu, making note of a few services to schedule for Chris:
Kidding. He’s more of a massage type of guy.
Dinner wasn’t until 7, and we were a bit peckish from the
drive,**** so we visited Julian Serrano’s place in Aria, where they have
tapas. And sangria. And martinis.
Yum!
We had a few bites to eat (some tuna tempura, oxtail, and
crispy artichokes), then headed back up to the room to relax and get ready for second
dinner.
All gussied up.
We ate dinner that night at Sage, also in the Aria, and it
was delightful. We decided to splurge
and do the tasting menu, which was eight courses.
So.Much.Food.
We declined the wine pairings (we’ve done these before, and
you just end up so full of wine at the end of the thing that it’s really not
that much fun. Yes, Virginia, there really
is such a thing as too much wine), but we ended up ordering two half bottles of
wine, one white for the beginning of the menu, and one red for the latter
courses. We hadn’t heard of either of
them, so we took pictures to remember them for later. They were both good, and
the red was from Lebanon.
Apparently, they make wine in Lebanon!
Good wine!
Full of food and drink, we went back to the room and fell
asleep. On Saturday morning, we were up
decently early and headed to one of our favorite eateries on the Strip, Mon Ami
Gabi in the Paris hotel. It’s a little
French bistro, and we’ve eaten there at least once almost every time we’ve been
in town. It’s a cute little place, plus
if you sit on the patio, you have some great people watching
opportunities. It also faces the
Bellagio, so if you get your timing right, you can watch the fountains dance. I had an omelet with brie, mushrooms, and
chives, and Chris had an eggs benedict topped with braised short ribs. I also had a chocolate croissant and we split
an order of the date-glazed bacon.*****
After our light breakfast, we hoofed it over to Bellagio to
see their observatory exhibit, which is one of my favorite things to do on the
Strip. Each season, they change things
up, and I was hoping that their Christmas decorations would be in full
swing. Sadly for me, the fall harvest
decorations were still on display, but they are impressive nonetheless.
An ent from the display.
After the Bellagio, we drove over to the Rio (it’s just a
mile off the Strip) to redeem vouchers we’d bought to see the Penn and Teller
show that evening. Unfortunately, we
were under the impression (given by a conversation on the phone with the folks
at the Rio, natch) that the box office opened at 10, which was inaccurate by an
hour. Thus, we had an hour to kill in
the Rio. Super (it's kind of a crap-hole). Thankfully, the FSU-UF game was on quite a
few tvs, so we were able to secure a seat and see a bit of the game. After redeeming our vouchers (finally), we
headed back to the car.
Now, in addition to housing the Penn and Teller theater, the
Rio also hosts the Chippendales review.
If you’re inside the Rio (or outside, anywhere near it), this is hard to
miss, as there’s a lot of posters of gigantic men with abs going on, if you
know what I mean.****** When we walked
into the casino from the parking garage, I glanced at the Chippendales’ poster
and thought, “those guys look familiar.”
And then I figured out why – because two of the guys from the
Chippendales’ review were on The Amazing
Race a few seasons ago, and they were front and center in the picture. After telling Chris this and having him
recognize them, this happened:
Chris – You want a picture with the poster, don’t you?
Me (quietly) – Nooooooo.
Chris – Yes, you do.
Me – OKAY!
This is where watching too much reality tv pays off.
After dropping the car back at the Aria, we hoofed it to
Caesar’s Palace to make our lunch reservation at Mesa Grill. Although Caesar’s contains lots of great
things, it is a royal pain in the rear to navigate around. Although we ended up on time for lunch, it
took at least five or six scourings of the resort map, an interaction with a
kind old lady who tried desperately to sell us a timeshare, and a mini, hunger-induced
snit fit on my behalf (thankfully, the old lady was out of earshot at the time,
as my snit-fits generally make it sound like I’m suffering from Tourette’s). Anywhoodle, we ate a great lunch at Mesa
Grill, with an ahi tuna starter and two salads – a grilled, spicy chicken
breast over mixed greens with goat cheese for me and a Cobb topped with lamb
for Chris. We skipped dessert (shocking,
I know), as we had a later reservation for another spot in Caesar’s, Max
Brenner’s Chocolate Restaurant. However,
our timing was a bit off and we didn’t want to wait for 45 minutes for the
chocolate, so we cancelled and headed back to Aria.
As those of you who are familiar with the Bellagio may
remember, just behind the observatory, there’s a wonderful
candy/crepe/chocolate shop, Jean Philippe Patisserie. We were thrilled, upon checking into our room
at Aria, to find that a larger location is now there as well (right in
front of the guest elevators, so it smells like sugar every time the doors
open). We stopped back into the
patisserie to grab a sweet to go and took it back to our room for noshing. Apres nosh, we took a much needed nap before
heading out on the town again.
Dinner on Saturday was at the Estatorio Milos inside the
Cosmopolitan. This is a newer place on
the Strip that specializes in Mediterranean/Greek flavors, and it was the
highlight of our trip. I was wondering
what I might find on the menu, since I don’t normally enjoy cooked fish, but I
figured with a few beef options and some good looking veggies and salads, I
would be fine. As the chef explained to
us, the normal procedure is to go over to the iced area to pick out the fish
you want, at which point the kitchen cooks the fish in a butter, caper,
and herb sauce, and then filets it tableside onto your plate. Since each fish is enough for two people, I
figured it wouldn’t hurt to try something new, so I agreed to share one with
Chris. He picked out a nice mild fish
for us, and it was seriously good. I was
happy to finish my portion, along with half of the grilled veggie side we
ordered (leeks, zucchini, eggplant, red onion, complete with a portion of
grilled halloumi cheese and a lightly mint flavored tzaziki).
We didn't take this picture, but this is what the seafood spread looks like.
Impressive, right?
Since dinner was light, we were both ready for dessert, and
we were beyond thrilled to see that loukoumades were on the menu. For those not familiar with loukoumades,
they’re essentially balls of fried dough drizzled with honey and sprinkled with
cinnamon sugar – Greek donuts, really – and they are delicious. At Greek festivals, we’ve each been known to
each a good dozen or two before heading back for more. When the chef came to take our dessert order,
the following exchange occurred:
Us – How many loukoumades are in an order?
Chef – About eight or so.
Us – Yeeeeah, we’re going to need more dessert than
that. We’ll take this dessert, too.
Chef – (brief pause, appraising look) I like your style.
Just like the rest of our meal, the desserts were
incredible, and we left the restaurant full and happy. Since we’d each had two glasses of wine, we
took a cab to the Rio to prepare for the Penn and Teller show, which was
incredible as well. Funny,
thought-provoking, and intriguing at turns, we really enjoyed the interplay
between Penn and Teller themselves as well as with members of the audience, and the illusions that occurred up on stage were neat. I’d highly recommend the show to anyone who
enjoys that sardonic style they often use.
After the show, we headed back home to the Aria where Chris enjoyed a
quick nightcap in one of the bars. Off
to bed!
The next morning, we packed up our stuff and headed out,
stopping for breakfast at the Aria Café with mixed reviews (Chris’ was good,
mine was meh). The trip home was
uneventful, and a successful anniversary trip was enjoyed by both of us!
Later!
Amy
*Because we’re travel
junkies, truly. That’s why.
** Probably the 13th
floor actually, as the elevator jumped from 12 to 14. Aria, we’ve cracked your code!
*** It’s like she’s
met us before.
****Eating only turkey
sandwiches, Doritos, a package of Mint Milano cookies, pretzels, and oranges
for the entire five hours. Oh, and we
stopped in Wickenburg at the Chaparral for ice cream along the way. THE HUMANITY!
***** VACATION. Lay off the judgment, people.
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