I'm in Las Vegas, B17@#!!

(Yes, I know using that bad cliche should get me smacked...but really, it sums up the weekend nicely!)

I am not one to write out long, detailed reports. I just don’t have it in me to do that much typing. (which really, reading all this, is detailed enough and took me quite a bit of time to type up...and why doesn't my spell checker know how to spell good food????)

That said, here are the highlights…

Flights: Got our standby flights on AA out of HSV quite easily. Got to DFW and had enough time to tram over to the earlier LAS flight but there were still 10 people on that standby list and it didn’t look good. We decided not to put our names on that list and went back to relax and wait for the next flight. We stopped and had breakfast and bloody marys at the Tequila bar…not bad, but not great either. Got our standby seats (not together, unfortunately) and arrived in Vegas a full 7 hours than originally scheduled. Flights home were on time and uneventful. We did a favor for the poor guy waiting on a cab that would accept his credit card for a ride to the airport. We let him ride with us and just paid the fare. Good karma…and since we‘re going back in December I figured we could use it.

Hotel: We stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay. Two nights comp, one night discounted. Surprised we got the deal as it was both a Britney weekend and the Wine Amplified was going on at the Beach. Requested a king and was offered a high floor (30th) with two queens that was available immediately. We took the queens and headed off to the room. Very nice hotel and we’re really excited that we already have reservations for a V-suite in December.

Food:

We ate at Border Grill on Friday for dinner before heading out to a party to meet some friends. Just wasn’t that impressed with the meal and was thankful that we had a discount certificate.

We did an early Breakfast on Saturday at Raffles. Service was adequate, food was pretty good, and the Drama Party group seated next to us was just priceless. There were tears, some yelling, some talking…all pretty funny to us.

We did lunch on Saturday at Burger Bar. Quite pleased with our meals and will certainly be back in December. I had the American Burger, husband had the same with bacon and avocado. He got fat fries and I got the zucchini fries, which I loved.

Dinner on Saturday was at Mix. I will have to write up a separate review just for Mix, but suffice it to say it was absolutely amazing and I will be back there in December in a heartbeat! We had drinks at the Foundation Room before Mix (probably not the best idea for someone in heels!) and enjoyed the views from up there as well.

Sunday we slept in (will be covered under gambling, trust me!) and ended up at Noodles for a somewhat late lunch. Had the special and we were both quite happy with our meals. Huge portions and good food.

Dinner Sunday was at Red, White, & Blue at MB and it wasn’t memorable, but it wasn’t bad either. There was no line and that ended up being the deciding factor.

Gambling:

I like to play the slots, and any money that we bring with us I’m just as happy if we don’t bring it home with us. The best part of our system is that usually one of us is doing way better than the other so we can share the winnings. We don’t go over the daily budget at all. Put over 5000 points on my card so I’m happy with that…until my husband convinced me to play craps at about 2am on Sunday morning.

Holy cow, what took me so long to play this game??!! We ended up staying up alllllllll night on Saturday night playing at a few tables. I even had a run of five throws in a row that were either 7 or 11. Yes, the table went wild, especially on the last one where I looked at my husband, smiled, said “I’m gonna throw that one more time!†and did so. Of course, I crapped out after that, but we’d had a nice little run and a very nice increase in our chip count.

We played craps and some of the slots on Saturday night and were down to our daily budget ($300 total) for that day in the safe. We laid down and took a nap, woke up at midnight Sunday night/Monday morning and took showers and packed up our things. Then we set the alarm on my watch and went off to play craps. Had some amazing runs and ended up coming home with well over $600, which is going into the “Save for the December trip†account today. We played craps for five hours before flying home.

Conclusion: Brought home over half our gambling budget, so we’re calling it a win! We ate some really amazing food at Mix and I have to have the time to do it justice. We both told each other quite a few times “I think this has been our best Vegas trip ever!!â€


We now bring you the Mix review...

What I ate:
SEARED DUCK FOIE GRAS, DAIKON CONFIT AND BEETS, PORT REDUCTION
BEEF TENDERLOIN, BRAISED LETTUCE, POTATO MACAIRE, BEARNAISE

What John ate:
DUNGENESS CRAB SALAD, WATERMELON RADISH, MANGO & SPICY POMELO / ORANGE CONDIMENT
DUCK “A L’ORANGEâ€, BREAST & LEG, BABY TURNIPS
ELBOW PASTA, HAM, GRUYÈRE CHEESE (shared)
MIX CANDY BAR (shared)

We had two others in our dining party, Jody & Robert (J & R from here out), who joined us not only for drinks in the Foundation Room but also our dinner at Mix.

To start the evening off we met at about 630 in the Foundation Room. J & R had gotten there a little early and called to let me know that my name wasn’t on the list. Thankfully I had resent myself the email confirmation to my BlackBerry so was able to get that cleared up with the doorman and head up. To say the view was amazing would be an understatement. We sat outside and took a few pictures, and J & R shared a small flatbread appetizer as they hadn’t eaten all day.

At a little after 8 we headed over to Mix for our 830pm reservation. We didn’t check in downstairs but rather took the elevator up and spoke to the desk up there. Got seated promptly though it was obvious it wasn’t the best table in the house. (Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the worst, either! But I had told them we were celebrating my husband’s birthday.) I won’t get in to a bit by bit description of the evening. I will tell you that the service was attentive but not overly solicitous. The tasting menu looked to be amazing but the whole table needed to participate and we were dining with a pescetarian.

The bread basket included a kind of pimento bread that was just scrumptious. I sadly only had half a hunk because of my appetizer.

The seared foie gras was absolutely to die for, as anyone who knows me will attest. I let J and my husband each sample a bite and both also thought it was amazing. It just melted in my mouth, which was appreciated. I did not eat the vegetables that came with the dish but my husband sampled them and stated that they were quite delicious.

His Dungeness Crab Salad was amazing…but not anywhere near as good as my foie gras! Just enough heat to make you pay attention, but nothing that overwhelmed your mouth.

My entrée was the Beef Tenderloin with some braised vegetables and a lovely bernaise sauce. It could have been cut with a fork it was so buttery tender! I requested it Medium-Rare and it was cooked to perfection. J joked with the waiter about my not wanting my tenderloin to mingle too long with the grill….which is actually true…I don’t want them to be close to a first name basis!

John’s entrée was the Duck a la Orange with baby turnips. His duck was also cooked to perfection and the turnips were absolutely wonderful (though I should never, ever eat them again!). John was also nice enough to also order a side of the macaroni and cheese, of which I was only able to take a few small bites, but oh such wonderful bites! We also tried bites of the potato and spinach sides, but both of us preferred our choice.

Dessert both parties got the Mix Candy Bar to share. It also came with a coconut/lime ice cream on the plate. The kitchen did write out Happy Birthday John on his dessert plate, which was a very nice touch.

Totally a meal to remember and we are looking forward to coming back on our trip in December!

Now...during this trip I pulled my small camera out of the bag exactly NO times. All I have are BB pics and the ones that other people have taken, so if you read this and took pictures of me, of John, or any combination thereof, please be a doll and email them to me at gmail so that I can have the full-size resolution *MWAH* thanks!

 

Thanks for sharing your report - another craps addict! BWAAAHAHAHA!!!! Your review of Mix makes me so hungry! Wish I had some foie gras in the fridge!

 

THEHotel is one of our favorite places to stay, glad you enjoyed your stay there. We've never had the V-Suite yet, but I'm thinking of calling our host to see if we can have it for our trip in a couple weeks since we're there celebrating hubby's birthday.

Totally agree about Border Grill, we ate there for the first time a year ago and said never again.

We'll be eating at the Mix for the 4th time this upcoming trip, and one of the outstanding entrees is actually their cod. Who knew cod could be so delicious, since usually when I think about cod, I remember fish sticks from childhood. We would have never tried the cod if it hadn't been one of the entrees on the tasting menu the first time we dined there. After that wonderful $500 plus dinner, we now order ala carte, but it was great to do it that first visit.

If you haven't eaten at China Grille there at Mandalay Bay, you might want to try it during a future visit, the food is excellent.

I'm basically a slot player so if I come home with half my bankroll, I also call it a win. :wink

 

Thanks for posting your report and review.

later, GVJ

 

Wonderful to meet the two of you.

 

Nice TR RowEn! I'm also a fan of TheHotel

Great to meet you and the hubby! Come back again anytime.

 

rowEn, thanks for the great report. It was truly great to meet you.

 

Very nice to meet you Michelle. See you in March?

 

Enjoyed your report - and now I know what a "pescetarian" is - had to look it up on Google.

 

Thx it was great!

 

All night craps and a good long hot streak. Nice. Thanks.

 

Thank you all! I would have replied earlier, but as stated in another thread I am sick as a darn dog. Called in sick for the third day today and drug myself to the doc this morning. No H1N1 but I do have lovely raging cases of bronchitis and laryngitis. Directed by the doc no talking at ALL (stressed by him, not me) for at least 24 hours. The dry erase board is my new bestest friend! Tomorrow's Alabama game should be interesting for me! Writing out YAY! doesn't quite feel the same as yelling it out!

I loved meeting you all, and I swear in March that not only will we NOT drink before showing up, I'll use a shot glass when mixing drinks...or better yet, just let hubs mix mine so that he doesn't have to take me home like a petulant school child I'm a champion drinker...until I'm not, which happens when I least expect it!

I shall now go about obsessing over the March trip, finding free airfare for me and cheap airfare for him. I'll assume that after I win thousands of dollars at MB this NYE they'll want us back...or not Is there a usual hotel HQ for MM?

 

Special shout-out to Patti who was awesome and helped me clean up the drink I spilled! Love ya babe! Hope to see you again soon!!

(And, thinking about it, please let that be the ONLY drink I spilled!!)

 

Mix looks fabulous! I just have to get there next trip!
Thanks for sharing!

 

Great TR

glad you both had a good time

Mix sounds yummy!

 

I'm suddenly starved after reading your TR; Mix sounds wonderful!!! I'm also curious about zucchini fries.....I've never had them but will definitely give them a try if I ever see them on a menu. Sounds like a wonderful trip - craps is a blast and such a "team sport" that it's hard NOT to have fun while playing.

 

Thanks for writing up the TR. Sounds like you had a great time. Maybe I should give craps another shot.

It was so nice meeting you! Hope you two can make it out again in March!

 

Great report. Not only did you make me hungry with your review of MIX; but, you also expanded my vocabulary. I had to look up "pescetarian" to find out what the word meant.