It's Vegas Baby!

Due to some medical appointments, I was unable to get a week or two of blogs out but I am back in the saddle so to speak and can report on a recent Las Vegas culinary and wine trip with recommendations on places to go in Vegas. I have been going to Las Vegas for years, my last trip was in 2016. In each and every trip the amount of building and expansion of Las Vegas has been epic and nonstop. I remember going a few years ago and the hype then was wow Aria is getting ready to open and it is the first billion-dollar casino, shopping, dining destination every built. Well, surprise last week I saw two or three more "new" billion" dollar complexes being built. It is just an orgy of building going on right now. Every celebrity chef in the world has multiple restaurant venues to visit now. The possibilities seem endless. I was only there for 4 nights so I really did not get to see much new as the main purpose of the trip was to eat at Picasso's at the Bellagio. In my opinion, Picasso's should be on your bucket list. If you don't order expensive wine and stick to the basic Prie fixe menu's the cost is more than reasonable, less than $150 a person. Surrounded by millions of dollars of original Picasso artwork you simply cannot beat the atmosphere. Julian Serrano, a great friend, has been the head chef since opening. He was recruited out of Masa's in San Francisco where he started as the sous chef then being promoted to head chef of Masa's after the original chef, Masa was killed. I met Julian and his Maitre D' Ryan Worell at Masa's in the late 1980s. Julian has always had an original unique cuisine with a Spanish flair. In 30 years of having dinner at both places, Julian has been in the kitchen cooking and supervising each and every time. I often ask him when does he take time off. This trip he came out to greet us before dinner, still in the kitchen. Julian is passionate about gourmet cuisine and you will not find a better meal in the world. We had many of his specialties which include lobster, Foie Gras, scallops, and fallow deer. All meals are prepared to perfection and the presentation is a work of art. For our dinner this trip Julian had fresh shaved White Truffles we added to a dish or two. We brought our own wine and the wine highlight of the evening was 1990 Chateau D'Yquem Sauternes served with the Foie Gras as well as dessert. Do yourself a favor and get to Picasso's once in your lifetime. He also has a second-place at Bellagio Lago's that our friends highly recommend and he has a tapas place at Aria called "Julian Seranno's" that I have eaten at and can recommend highly. 

We also got to have dinner at Jose Andre's new place "Bazaar Meats" at the Sahara Casino on the strip. It was ok, and the concept is interesting but it was not a great meal that maybe we had expected. The restaurant is large and in the center is a huge fire pit where they cook the meats on a grill. Meats and seafood are displayed very nicely and will wet your whistle so to speak. The menu is extensive and sort of reminded me of Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa's menu. There are many choices of meats to choose from including Japanese Kobe. The appetizer list is also extensive and you can get lost in it. We never figured it out but our server was a little beyond "pushy" trying to get us to order multiple appetizers before the entree's which we did not want to do. He must get a commission on appetizers. He was also sort of rude. He told us well if you just order entrees you are going to have to wait at least 45 minutes for your food as we take a long time getting entrees out? What does that have to do with anything? In any event, we ordered one appetizer then our entree and then dessert and the entree's came out in about 25 minutes, not 45. The food was prepared as ordered and the meats were very tender, you could cut them with a fork. I would go back at least one more time. It was a fun place and it is definitely a place for meat lovers but service could probably be improved. 

My next recommendation is the Bacchanalia Buffet at Caesar's Palace. I can hear it now, you are kidding me? right? yanking my chain? a buffet???? Well, yes I am recommending a buffet. Years ago we had breakfast at the buffet at Caesars and were impressed. Years ago we had fresh prepared eggs Benedict and thought what great food. So travelzoo.com had a coupon for both breakfast and dinner there so we bought a couple of coupons and went. All I can tell you is WOW. Number one there are somewhere in the vicinity of 500 items on Caesar's buffet. Most regions of the world are represented, Japan, Mexico, France, etc. My major surprise was they had fresh stone crab for breakfast! I would never consider having a stone crab for breakfast. Multiple egg courses and preparations, the same eggs Benedict as before all prepared fresh and wonderful. There was only one problem, we had so much wonderful food for breakfast we did not need to eat the rest of the day. We ended up giving away our dinner coupons as we just were not hungry. I suspect if you were to go a little later and just have lunch it would fill you up all day. I must emphasize the food was freshly prepared and cooked in my opinion perfectly, another reason to recommend it. We didn't go anywhere else this trip but on past trips, we have also enjoyed the buffet at Paris Casino. 

It is important to be clear that Las Vegas is a fantasy and adult playground and cannot be duplicated elsewhere. One reason there are so many superior places and chefs to visit is the restaurants and kitchens can only be replicated in Vegas. Year ago Herbert Keller gave us a kitchen tour at Mandalay Bay and told us the casino paid close to $20 million to build just the kitchen. Think of what chefs can do with a $20 million kitchen. But outside of Vegas no one can afford that kind of kitchen and turn a profit and stay in business. So you go to Vegas to take advantage of the outstanding food there as you won't get it back home. The truth is the gamblers subsidize the restaurants and pay for your meals.

We stayed at the Platinum Hotel & Spa that we also highly recommend directly behind Bally's.  We had a one-bedroom condo around 900 square feet lots of room, clean and comfortable and had breakfast one morning in their restaurant on the 5th floor that was wonderful and well prepared with great service.  It is a 15-minute walk to the strip or a 5 minute Uber ride.