Saturday, March 8, 2008

Vegas - Day 2

There is something about the sunrise (even though I can't see it, I can just see the sunlight spreading) in Vegas that I just love. I love being up early in the morning in Vegas. Probably because my internal clock still says it's 8am when I wake at 6am....

Or, it might just be that I always get woken by the loud drunk fratboys who are in the hall at 6am. Donno.

Yesterday was lots of fun. Picked up the Shelby and we rode down to the Strat (forever now known in my head as "Stretchy Pants Land") to go up to the viewing area. Now, I have a fear of heights. Vegas gets me, because I'm not big on being super high up (really, anything higher than the over the street walkways and I'm a mess) but I'm usually pretty good in enclosed spaces. I don't have problems with tall buildings.

But, as I ventured out of the elevator at the Strat and over to the window to take a peak out, I recalled the very well known shape of the building. And at some point, somewhere between me and the ground, there was a lot of air and not a lot of structure. After that, I preferred to stay a little closer to the interior of the viewing area.

Yep, the hubby laughed at me and called me a big chicken. I'm fine with that.

After the Strat, the hubby said he was getting hungry, and suggested In N Out. Far be it from me to argue. And far be it from me to tell him that we were only about a mile from one, I knew he wanted to head to the one down on Trop. So we took a nice ride down the Strip with the top down. Traffic actually wasn't too terrible. Got to In N Out, I waited outside at a table and the hubby got the food, and the fries did not suck this time. The hubby is still a Fatburger person, and I think I slowly am becoming one also... but it was a good burger.

We toyed with the idea of heading over to Red Rock or the Shelby plant to see the museum, but the hubby suspected I wouldn't be OK with the way he drives that car in more open spaces. We actually ended up heading down to the Attic, which we've wanted to check out for awhile. Cool place, and some cool stuff... but um, owner dudes, WAY overpriced. You might consider being more realistic and bringing down some prices to move some of that dusty old crap. I love a vintage store as much as the next person and used to frequent them often, but this one was a little sad, like walking thru the home of a hoarder who had put price tags on everything.

I did end up getting some leopard sunglasses, and they did have some neat stuff, and now that I've done it I'll never feel the need to do it again.

It was mid afternoon by then, and hubby was getting frustrated by the traffic, so we headed back to the Flamingo. Putzed around the room for a bit, and finally headed out at about 5:30 over to Guy Savoy to try the Bites & Bubbles menu.

Oh my word. Oh. My. Word. There is a reason this guy is famous (isn't there usually??)

Hubby had been worried, all he brought were jeans and Converse, that he'd be a little like a bull in a china shop there. But we were very graciously welcomed and headed in to the "bar" area, which is more just a few small tables that likely function as a waiting room during busy times. Not a traditional bar... we had drinks, but they did not come from within that room. And I think the hubby best described the decor as "stark". No fooling!

Hubby didn't have to worry about the Frenchies looking down on him long, as a (very, very drunk) guy and his wife busted in to the place shortly after us and the guy insisted that he wanted some great food for his wife and he wanted to have her fed truffles and hey didn't that look like a great table over there (I'm sorry sir, that table is reserved... that one too...). They finally managed to wrangle him in to the bar, but he continued to be entertainment for us through the tasting.

We each had a gin & tonic, and ordered 3 items off the "small bites" menu. He had the Foie Gras en Terrine and I had the Artichoke and Black Truffle Soup. Oh my lordy lord. Was my soup good. About a shotglass full of this soup, with artichoke and the wonderful, earthy truffle. Hubby said the foie was great. There was no sharing of plates this time around.

Next up, hubby did the Scallop with Parsley All Around and I did the Ravioli of Beef cheeks w/ Foie GrasVelouté”. Wonderful. My dish was so perfectly matched, and the beef was like butter. Hubby declared it was the best scallop he's ever eaten in his life.

Next up, we both had the rabbit, which this time was stuffed with foie and truffles. Yeowza. We both love rabbit, I can buy rabbit at a couple of the local markets, and I think I need to and I won't be happy until I can cook rabbit this well. It was just perfect. The little kidney, a shank (and by the size of the shank... these ain't no couple year old rabbits they're using, I think what we were eating was bunny) and the loin rolled and stuffed with foie and truffles. Every bite was wonderful. Hubby was a little sad he didn't go for the big boy portion of that one, which he said he'd happily have any time.

Three cocktails (he had a refill) and three "bites" each came to a hundred bucks. Very well worth it, IMHO. I'd likely do this again, and explore more dishes, before I'd do a formal meal there. I would have liked it to be a little faster, but that's just me. I wish every place had this.... a great way to get a bit of the experience without the huge time or money investment.

After that, back to the Flamingo and a costume change for me (I'd worn a dress) and down to the casino. There was some tweaker dude at my machine and I lost about $60 before he finally moved. I went over, started playing, having fun, and tweaker dude comes back to the area and throws out the "This is gonna sound really odd but I'm totally serious.... " - Note to everyone. If that is the opening line of your pitch, you suck at trying to grift people - "... but I'm like stranded here and I ain't go no friends...." I tried to politely tell him to move on. He eventually did. But then the dumbass came BACK. After I'd seen him having a fairly close coversation with some other dude who he was obviously there with. This time, the guy was really being a jerk (and he had NO clue he'd already tried me) and I eventually thew up the "talk to the hand" and challenged him. "No friends, huh? Who was that guy I saw you talking to ten minutes ago in this very spot? Leave me alone, now, or I'm getting security."

Tweaker boy was gone after that. I suspect security did finally get him.

I didn't do so well at the casino, but the hubby did. A couple of great hands and he is on top of the world.

Back up to the room and sleep. And now it's the last day here... Fatburger for dinner. And who knows what the rest of the day will bring??

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