Vegas highlights

I got back yesterday from yet another sleep-deprived, smoke-filled Vegas trip.

This time, I did head back to the Fashion Outlets in Primm this time, and had a productive shopping day.

On the food side of things, I finally got to try Bouchon Las Vegas, where I had a yummy bucket of mussels, accompanied by French fries. I topped that off with a plate of cheese; I've forgotten the other two (one was sheep's milk, one was cow's milk) but my favorite was the Garotin, which is a fairly mild, soft cheese made of goat's milk.

The next night, we ate at Rosemary's Restaurant, which is a good 15 minutes off the Strip, but is well worth the drive. I had a $49 prix fixe, with a parmesan souffle and wild mushroom ragout appetizer, roasted rack of lamb entree (+$10 surcharge), and a chocolate bread pudding, espresso ice cream, and vanilla creme anglaise dessert. All three of the dishes were extremely good; I felt the souffle was the most creative, and the lamb had no aftertaste at all (like New Zealand lamb), but I enjoyed the dessert the most. We were also treated to a savory bread pudding amuse, and homemade sweets after dessert.

I was finally able to eat again the next day at around 1:30pm, and at that time we headed to the Paris Sunday brunch. It was $25 per person, and well worth it. My favorite dishes were the puff pastry with the chicken stew inside, the king crab (of course), and the chocolate tart dessert.

The non-food activities mostly involved drinking and gambling. On the first night, we went to Caramel, a lounge inside of the Bellagio, and had lots of expensive drinks. I think I spent over $100 buying a round of Lemondrops for six people. Afterwards, we were fairly tipsy, and managed to entertain ourselves playing nickel slots for a couple of hours before heading off to bed.

The next night, I actually meant to get a decent amount of sleep, but three of my friends entered a poker tournament starting at 11pm, and after three hours, two were still in it, so of course I had to stay and watch. On the bright side, one of them finished third in the tournament, making a couple hundred dollars. On the other hand, the tournament finished at a quarter past 4am, so I didn't get to sleep until sometime after 5am.

Right before we left for the airport, one person (who had lost a lot of money over the last few days) decided on a whim to put some money on roulette. He walked up to the nearest table, and put $20 on 24, and $20 on 28. He wasn't watching the wheel, but several of us were, and we were completely stunned when the ball hopped in and out of 0 and landed on 28, netting him $720. It was a great way to leave.