May 10-13 Vegas Uncork'd, L'Atelier, Mandarin Oriental

May 2012 Trip

This trip was planned around Vegas Uncork'd, specifically the Grand Tasting. Originally there were some others that were going to come on this trip but they had to back out so I was left to fend for myself.

The first plan was to stay at Bally's with the crew, but since they backed out, I moved over to Mandarin Oriental as I ended up with a good rate there. This was my fourth time staying there and it is my favourite hotel in Vegas

Travelling
A non eventful trip via Westjet. Less then an hour from my front door to the gate. For the first time in a couple trips I lost out on the empty middle seat.

On landing I checked out the cab line before picking up my luggage. The one nearest to the Westjet Carousel wasn't open yet. My bag was one of the last ones out, and by then they had the cab line open, but it was way backed up. Took about 30 minutes and I ended up at #7. Hopefully that luck would continue the rest of the trip.



A quick cab ride, no tunnel and I was pulling up to MO.

Somehow they greeted me by name as they opened the cab door and picked up my luggage.

Up the elevator to the Sky Lobby to check in. Got the cold towel and Tea as I was checking in. Unfortunately the room wasn't ready, it was a bit before check in time but that's the second time my room hasn't been ready at 1:30ish. It worked out well for me though as I had wanted to head over to ESTIATORIO MILOS at Cosmopolitan for their lunch special.

During the check in process they asked if they could take my picture. They have a central database of pictures of frequent guests and circulate a sheet each day to the staff to help them remember names. Kind of a nice touch. It may also work across properties so if they greet me by name in New York I'll know how they did it.

ESTIATORIO MILOS

Milos runs a 3 course lunch special for $20.12 which is great value on the strip.

To start with I had one of the seasonal cocktails, a Grapefruit and Elderberry Vodka concoction that was way too sweet.

Bread service hit the spot as I was starving and put off the coming drunkeness at least a little.



Fresh Diver Scallop Skewer
with green bell pepper, sweet onion & couscous

A simple preparation of a perfectly cooked Scallop, juicy and tender, the same consistency throughout. The couscous was buttery smooth and I really enjoyed the interplay between the two.



Lavraki
grilled Mediterranean bass

This dish let the fish be the star with a simple butter sauce with a caper garnish. The butter and capers added just a little accent to the lushness of the fish. I had switched to a Hellas Beer by then.



Yogurt Martini
I almost changed my order to the Carrot Cake as the table next to me ordered it but ended up staying with this. The yogurt had a little tartness with the fruit providing a bit of sweetness. The yogurt was creamier then a normal yogurt.



The service was a bit indifferent but this could of been because it was close to closing time for lunch.

The lunch itself was great, a nice simple start to my culinary adventures. It's a great deal if you don't spend twice the amount of the meal on booze, oops.

Book and Stage
After lunch I wandered down to the Book and Stage bar. Jenny the bartender recognized me from previous trips and I was sucked in much longer then originally planned. Their beer selection has been cut way back, but Jenny managed to wrangle up some good beer from the back. Unfortunately since this day doesn't end to much much later I don't remember the name of it.

I didn't get anything going here gambling wise and wandered down to Caesars to pick up my ticket to the Grand Tasting. Us foreigners couldn't get the tickets mailed to us apparently.

This year the pick up was less dodgy then last year as it was in a ballroom in the Octavius Tower.

Tickets in hand I hiked back to MO.

The Room
Picking up keys to my room in the Sky Lobby, I asked if the room I had been assigned was a connecting room. Last trip we had a bit of an issue with noise through the connecting door. It turned out that the room was a connecting one, so they changed it for a non connecting room and made a note in my profile. My luggage had already been setup in the first room but the front desk dispatched a bellman to move it for me.

MO instituted a Golden Access Fee aka Resort Fee this year and it included free wifi. I had set it up on my original room and it ended up charging me when I set it up with my new room and it took a trip to the front desk to fix it. Also the fee included a free newspaper but the choices were pretty weak, USA Today, Wall Street Journal or the LV Review Journal. I actually complained about it on twitter and come the next morning the New York Times magically appeared in the Valet Closet.

The room had a decent view North down the strip. It looked like they were working on installing a massive LED screen at the new Walgreen's by Planet Hollywood.



The room was the standard type with the hallway off the entry with the closet.



Continuing from the entry the bathroom is there and then the hall opens into the bedroom.



The bathroom has a tub with a glass enclosure so you can look out the window. There is a divider that can be slid across to block the bathroom from the bed area.




There's a separate shower and water closet. The shower has a separate head to reach those hard to reach places. Toiletries are Aroma Therapy Associates.



The bed area was large and had a sitting area next to it. The bedside touchpanel controls the room. My favourite feature is the sleep mode where you can setup the curtains to close and tv to turn off on a timer. This lets you go to sleep with a view down the strip without being woken in the morning.




The Pool
One of my favourite things about MO is the pool. It's more relaxing then some of the big hotels, an attendant will setup a lounger with towels for you and an umbrella if you want. The music isn't blaring and it's great to just sit back and relax. After settling into my room I headed down to the pool. I didn't worry about bringing my iPhone down and leaving it at my chair when I took a dip.

I had a couple glasses of Sangria enjoying the pool as the sun went down. Hitting the pool late afternoon it was a perfect temp as it was too hot at midday. It was a little cold if you were half in and out of the water, but the hot tub was awesome.



Sirio

After freshening up I headed over to Sirio at Aria for dinner. I had dinner here before and enjoyed it so I stuck with what I knew. I sat down at the bar, and the one bartender recognized me from last time. Seems like there's plenty of bartenders in town that recognize me.

Zuppa di Pomodoro e Basilico
Roasted Tomato & Genovese Basil Soup with Fresh Ricotta

A simple tomato soup with delicious ricotta cheese. Sorry mom but much better then you made, the tomato sharp and tangy, the ricotta cool and smooth.



Pici Toscani al Ragu
Hand-Rolled Thick Spaghetti, Three-Meat Ragu

This was the dish that the bartender had recommended last time and I had come back for it. It's a recipe from Sirio Maccioni's Grandmother and it's delicious. The spaghetti is thick and cooked perfectly al dente, the Ragu pretty much the perfect meat sauce. Two slices of parmesan cheese complete the dish.



I had a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with dinner.

Another simple meal executed perfectly, the bar was super busy so not much time to kibitz with the bartenders.

Mandarin Bar
After dinner I returned to the hotel and hit up my favourite bar in Vegas, the Mandarin Bar. It's on the 23rd flood next to the Sky Lobby and Tea Lounge and has great views down the strip.



Michael the bartender welcomed me back and as I knocked back a beer contemplated the choices on display. It turns out beer had been reduced in price recently so I took advantage of that with some more Sierra Nevada. The Bar used to have live music but the apartments above complained about the noise.



The bottle on display at the bar had a cool case. It turned out it was Glenmorangie Pride, a pricey $450 a pour, so a little out of my price range.



Some fun conversation with the bartenders and fellow patrons a couple more drinks and I head out on a downtown adventure.

Downtown

I was decently drunk by this time but managed to get a cab down to the Golden Nugget and to navigate from the Golden Nugget to the Golden Gate. I got a new card and found out I had a $15 food comp and $15 in free play. Forgot to use either of those doh. Walking down the main pit I'm struck by a $5 Pai Gow Poker table. In the middle of the party pit. That's pretty ridiculous

PGP is a super slow game, so being able to play it for $5 a hand while sitting in the party pit and drinking free drinks is almost like stealing money. The game was pretty new to Golden Gate(1 month) and the first dealer I had had only been dealing it for 20 minutes. The Golden Gate has the automatic card reader but the dealer was surprisingly good without it. Better then some of the dealers I've had at Aria where a lot more then $5 a hand was on the line. Way way way better looking too. I worked that for a couple hours before getting bored and moving over to craps. It was probably around 2am or so by now so they weren't that busy and I think i ended up playing mostly by myself. My arm is still sore in fact. Didn't really get much traction here but lasted 2 hours or so without losing much money.

At this point I sat down at a black jack table. They have a new hi-limit room at Golden Gate, with a $25 table but the rules weren't any better than the main pit so I played in the main pit. I only rather recently embraced the joys of wildy varying my bets at black jack and I have to say it's way more fun. I managed to go on several crazy runs before getting knocked down and building back up. I had a decent size spread going on from $10 to $300 and again I outlasted everyone else in the pit. At some point in the early morning the hot girls in minimal clothing change into older asian ladies but I ended up doing better with them. I was up a bit until my last progression of $100, $200, $300 crashed and burned and I left with only a small loss. I asked for a limo but they couldn't find one at that time so somehow I found a cab that took me back to MO around 10 AM. I think I should have some decent comps there now, wouldn't mind checking out one of their new suites.

Rookie Mistake
Will have to say it was a total rookie mistake staying out to 10 AM the first night. I was pretty much wasted the next day and had to rally to get up and out to the Grand Tasting.

Grand Tasting

The Grand Tasting showcases a bunch of restaurants as they serve a small dish in booths around the Caesars' Pool.

Luckily the House Car, a Mercedes S550 I think, was available to run me down to Caesars. Even better was the free bottles of water in the back. I was meeting up with Peath and theoretically Claired (she ended up getting waylaid by the siren of "free" champagne at Cosmo). Got to the bar at Central and ordered a beer. It got served in a small plastic cup and was the same price as the Mandarin Bar. Lame.

Peath and her husband showed up and we hung out for a bit at the bar before moving over to line up.

Lining up wasn't as bad as I remembered, it was good people watching. The women who came up with creative ways of dealing with their high heels was entertaining and I was impressed by the one lady's dress that managed to perfectly frame her tattoo in an awkward place.

We were let in a bit early and managed to snag a picture with some centurions and Cleopatra, well and Charlie Sheen (I'm the one on the left)


This year it was cool that they gave you a plastic plate with a holder for your wine glass. I wasn't feeling that great yet so I actually skipped the alcohol at first.

My memory is a bit hazy as to what everything in so here's my best recollection.

Started with a Mango/Papaya Ice concoction, which was a nice palate cleanser. I think this was from miX



This was a Lamb Slider (upper right), A Spicey Sausage (either marguez or chorizio I think) in a cous cous salad (bottom right) and a Bison Carpaccio with Taro chip (upper left). I think my favourite was the Sausage/Cous Cous salad. The cous cous wasn't quite as good as Milos but the flavours were a little more complex. I think these came from Stripsteak/Auerole but again not sure. It actually worked out well as we were working a bit as a team bringing each other different things.



Thai Coconut Rock Shrimp with Orzo, Cilantro and Kaffir Lime Leaf (And yeah I stole that from Peath's pictures). I'm pretty sure this was good, I know I liked the texture of the Orzo if nothing else. It looks like this was from Fleur de Lys.



Bacon Wrapped Scallop (Left) Tenderloin on a Potato Cake (Right) The scallop might actually have been my favourite dish of the night. Of course I'm biased towards Scallops, my favourite dish ever was a Scallop Dish. The Tenderloin wasn't really memorable. These were from Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab.



This was some Ravioli from Spago and a cookie from somewhere. Neither were very memorable. The ravioli was probably from Spago.



A couple different Sliders from the Burger Bar I think.



Some sort of seafoody Salad



This must of looked good because it seems pretty filling for how full I was at this point



Beef Wellington from Gordon Ramsey. Meh nothing too special, but it's gotta be tough to cook at a pool.



Mushroom/Truffle Soup, Pea Salad and Mushroom Brioche from Guy Savoy. I was expecting this to be better then it actually was. I usually love soup and wasn't blown away by this dish.



Sushi and Miso Cod from NOBU. Solid presentation.



A mushroom/seafood dish? And some Macaroons



The View



At some point I split from Peath and her DH and made my own way. I wasn't feeling great by the end so ended up calling it a night fairly early.

I do have to say I didn't enjoy the Grand Tasting as much as I did last year. All of the Wynn restaurants were missing and a lot of MGM restaurants were missing as well like L'Atelier, anything from Aria or Bellagio. Also I was kind of realizing I enjoy the whole dining experience rather then walking around a pool. Of course getting in at 10 am didn't help.

Stomach wasn't feeling so great so took it easy the rest of the night.

Turn down service presentation:


Pool Time Part II
Waking up early, feeling fresh now I hit up the pool. Setup in a shady area and watched as the sun crawled across the deck to my chair. Read the NYT by the pool while enjoying some frozen grapes they sent around. Left once it hit noon and the entire pool was bathed in the blazing sun.



I may or may not have sent the pool pictures to our very pregnant Accountant at home who didn't really appreciate them.

Dragon Noodle Company
For Lunch I hit up the Dragon Noolde Company at Monte Carlo. I got some dim sum standards, Steamed Pork Siu Mei, Steamed Shrimp Har Gow and BBQ Pork Steamed Buns. They hit their mark and it was pretty cheap.




Book and Stage, Once More with Feeling
After lunch I was drawn back to the Book + Stage Bar to hang out with Jenny and play some Video Poker. Good people watching here as the Marquee crowd wanders past. The VP didn't start off so good and I was stuck a couple buy ins when in short order I hit these:





Yay! Played through that until I was even and then it was time to get ready for dinner.

Grabbing a cab to dinner from the hotel, it was funny the lady behind me was embarrased to ask for a cab to Hooters from Mandarin.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

I had eaten at the Big Brother next door but wanted to try out the more relaxed L'Atelier. One of the main reasons I booked in here was following their twitter account @RobuchonLV and all the food porn they post on there.

I was a bit early so managed to lose a bit at the blackjack table before going in.



The restaurant is open to the kitchen and mostly consists of a long black bar. As a single I was sat in the corner but it was cool as I could survey the whole operation. There was a big casino exec a couple seats down who the Chef knew (He looked really familiar but couldn't place him) so the chef was over in my area a lot. A little way through the dinner a couple sat right next to me. They were actually from Las Vegas and had celebrated their anniversary every year at L'Atelier. It was cool to be able to talk food with them as they were quite knowledgeable and they were happy I wasn't a Comp who knew nothing about the food.

I ended up going with the Discovery Menu with wine pairing and let the chef and kitchen do their magic. Since you're sitting at the bar all of the service takes place over the bar. It seemed most of the staff were on the taller side to accommodate the reach.



The sommelier was new to the restaurant and had redone a lot of the pairings, which is why you see a lot of hand written corrections on the menu.

To start with was a glass of Champagne, Bruno Paillard "Brut Premiere Cuvee"



Bread Service
A nice selection of breads, though about 1/10th of the selection of next door. This might be a good thing


Amuse-Bouche
Foie gras parfait with port wine and parmesan foam

Foie with parmesan in liquid form. So Good. So Rich. So Good. One of my favourite dishes of the whole night.



Les Legumes
Confit of Mediterranean vegetables with fresh mint in a cannelloni

These were little bites of pure freshness.



Wine: Sancerre, Domain Hippolyte Reverdy 2010



Les Huitres
Poached baby Kusshi oysters with French Butter

A trio of oysters. The Butter really made the dish and I ended up slurping it out of the empty shells. This dish was served by chef personally.



Les Langoustines
Langoustines cooked in their shells with green curry and coconut milk

I like Langoustines and these were good, though I didn't get much of the green curry.



Wine: 2009 Francois Carilion Puligny - Montrachet
This was my favourite wine of the night. I kind of remember it being a bit smokey and carmelly maybe. It definitely changed as it opened up and was complex.



La Cebette
White onion tart with smoked bacon, quail egg "mirror" and green asparagus

This was my favourite dish of the night. The egg bursting over the tart, lending it's richness to the bacon and asparagus, amazing.



Le Saint Pierre
John Dory and baby leeks, buttery shellfish sauce with lime and ginger.

The fish was good, but the start of this dish was the bed of ginger mashed potatoes it rested on. I think I enjoyed them more then the classic pomme puree served with the next dish.



Le Caille
Foie gras stuffed free-range quail with mashed potatoes

I was really looking forward to this dish. The mashed potatoes from Robuchon are legendary and really how could you go wrong with quail and Foie gras. While not disappointing, the dish didn't blow me out of the water. The quail was rich and moist, the potatoes technical perfection but for some reason I liked the tart better.



Wine: 2009 Morey Chassagne - Montrachet

La Fraise
Carmel panna cotta topped with fresh strawberries and yogurt foam

Somehow despite the description and the gorgeous presentation of the dish, it didn't really work for me at all. It was just kind of there.



La Mure
Fresh blackberries infused with cassis, tender chocolate cake

On the other hand this dessert was amazing. The blackberries playing off the heaviness of the chocolate cake, truly delicious.



Wine: Chateau Lamoth Guignard 2eme Cru 2006 (I actually think this might of been differen then what was listed on the menu too)



To end with I had my traditional Americano



Chef at work


The service here was great. There was a bit of a problem with the computer and I ended up with an extra glass of wine while I waited. They also ended up comping the bottle of sparkling water I had just because I mentioned the first dessert wasn't my favourite.

I got Chef Benjamin to sign the menu as well to add to my collection.



I again have to say I much more enjoyed this meal then the Grand Tasting. Getting to see the kitchen at work, as well as Chef occasionally making his wishes known forcefully was great. It's hard to compare this to Joel Robuchon next door as they're almost entirely different things. L'Atelier is a lot more accessible and more relaxed but the food is pretty close to being as good. I would say Joel Robuchon is worth doing once while I could see myself going back to L'Atelier multiple times.

Paying for Dinner
AFter my dinner at Joel Robuchon I ended up winning enough that night to pay for it. I aimed to replicate this feat after L'Atelier. Walked around a bit at MGM and found a S17 table that was $15. Seemed like a pretty good deal. Again I was working with widly varying my bet and was doing pretty good, I think I was up a couple hundred after the first couple hours. It seemed every really big hand I needed to win worked out for me. I think I had 1 progression of losing $200, $300 and then managed to squeak out a $400 win on a dealer bust. It was a little after that that I realized I didn't have my phone on me, ACK!

I ran back to the restaurant and I had left it there but they had already turned it into security. About half an hour looking for the security desk I found it and they had it there. They liked my home page photo of the Bellagio fountains shot from Cosmo.

Going back to my table, they had put a glass box over my chips which was nice.

At this point a couple hot french chicks had sat down at the table as well as an older guy who was steaming after having lost a buy in at the next table. Anyway the french chicks were completely clueless but made good company and steaming guy was really gun shy and wasn't doubling when he should.

I went on a pretty good roll now and just kept winning and winning. I had one of those hands where I had a big bet out, got aces, split got another ace split, ended up with 13 on all three hands and the dealer managed to bust. Yay! I then had 1 stretch where I had 15 or 16 three straight times and hit safely on all of them. Unfortunately the fourth one didn't work out as I had pressed it each time.

The roll continued to run and I had a nice stack set aside. I did lose three hands in a row so figured it was time to go. That's been my biggest weakness, not sensing it's time to go but I managed to get it mostly right this trip, well this session and locked up a win that double my buy in. Enough to pay for dinner and the hotel, Yay!

It was a really fun night of gambling, I was by far the loudest person there, yelling for monkeys. I could tell the french chicks were super impressed too.

At this point I locked up the win and headed back to the hotel.



I spent a couple hours up at the Mandarin Bar before calling it a night.

Last Day
I actually ended up getting up early on my last day, a first for me. Went to the pool and enjoyed the Sunday edition of the New York Times.

After a couple hours I headed back to the room, packed up and was off the airport.

Ended the trip with my traditional lunch:


The flight back was good, no empty middle seat though.

Summary
A fun relaxing trip. I ended up gambling way less then normal, though I should have decent comps at Golden Gate now. I'm not sure I'd do the Grand Tasting again, I'd rather hit up a place like L'Atelier. Mandarin Oriental cemented it's place as my favourite hotel as it fit my needs perfectly. I had got a free night for this trip and then got an offer for another free night at any of their hotels and it worked with my upcoming trip to New York. At this point I'm actually getting better comps from Mandarin then anywhere else. I can live with this.

Here's a link to the complete photo Gallery I took. Pictures are bigger then in the report:
http://s901.photobucket.com/albums/ac217/alexanbo/Vegas%20May%2010-13%202013/

 

Ok so I'll have to read this after I take the kids to school, but I assume with your big hits and BK meal there are the end you are bankrolled to make our trip this weekend as a surprise guest with JNCVH???

Skimmed the pictures as a good appetizer, will enjoy the main course in a bit!

 

Wow, really enjoyed this with all the pics. I know how much effort it takes to get it all down and the pics sorted etc. so much appreciated.

I'm kinda hungry now...

 

Well done on the blackjack session near the end of your trip. And thanks for the pics of "baby Robuchon." It's on my radar for later this year.

Sorry I couldn't join ya for the grand tasting, but it sucks to hear a lot of the nicer establishments weren't represented.

 

Nice report, very entertaining. Smart hotel, top dining and gambling wins make a decent combination.

Mandarin Oriental does sound excellent. I am going to take a look at the place next trip but I doubt I will end up staying. Vegas has too many comp rooms! Mandarin Bar definitely seems worth a visit.

Book & Stage is always good. Good service and well presented top shelf booze. Do they still have the beer menu with fewer options or has that disappeared?

 

Impressive TR, a foodie's dream to read for sure!

 

Great report!

I laughed when I saw that Burger King pic at the end of all of those high-end, artful displays of food.

So funny. Thanks for sharing your trip.

 

Great report! I loved all the food pictures and it's only 9:30 AM and now I'm starving.

BK picture at the end...didn't see that coming.

 

absolutely loved your report! the pictures were great, and i was impressed with your memory for everything you tried throughout the trip. i especially love reading reports like this because i will probably never have a trip like this, so i get to experience a different side of vegas than i normally would.

 

Great report! How full were you after leaving L'Atelier? I've been to e and haven't left feeling like Violet from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but this seems a bit more indulgent and rich.

 

Well, thanks. I'm really HUNGRY now! Seriously, thanks for the TR. I've been intrigued by the Mandarin for a while now, I'd love to do tea there one afternoon. Glad you have found a place you really love to stay.

 

That is because you are obviously in the training video for Bartender Licenses in Nevada now.

The video was shot the opening night of Aria, when the cocktail waitress refused to serve you and the bartender let me mix up a concoction of juices which we convinced you was alcoholic. :evillaugh

continuing to read now.....

 

I've heard from a few people, how disappointed they were in the Uncork'd event. I enjoyed reading your report, along with all the pic, thank you for sharing.

 

Thanks Andre for another fantastic installment.

I could not drive fast enough to McDonalds after finishing this read, where coincidentally I ran up a check for $20 and change. That was for the whole family though. Except the Chipotle snob.

I think we should out the "backer-outer" as Macker with his lame excuse of training at his new job or whatever. Once they found out he wasn't coming, I can only imagine numerous restaurants cancelled. At a minimum the total portions were halved.:evillaugh

 

Actually his exact excuse was "I have to move out of my parent's basement" but I wasn't going to throw him under the bus... oops

 

Great report, thanks for sharing - as I was seriously pissed to find out that I was arriving just as uncorked had ended - but, now thanks to you I can feel like I was there after all!

 

I am glad he moved out of his parents place. After leaving his mom's room in the morning it was always so uncomfortable. You feel like you should tip him for flagging down a cab, but that sorta feels like your giving your son his "allowance". I can only imagine you feel more comfortable drinking your "after" Americano in the morning at your leisure sans-Macker.:evillaugh

 

Great trip report. Thanks

 

Great trip report thanks very much, it must have taken a lot of effort/time to get all those pictures together and is something I must learn how to do.

I love eating at great restaurants but never have learnt how to post, nor remember to do so when I'm actually eating. On my list to do over the next few weeks before I need to try it out.

Have to love an airport Burger King as the final culinary experience before the trip is over too:evillaugh

 

Airball missed you out there, there was no one to pick up and lick beads off the floor at Golden Gate. I think I might of liked Le Cirque a little more then L'Atelier but it's all razor thin.

Kaufman: I was pretty full, I had considered adding the Foie Gras slides with french fries but couldn't fit that in. e I don't remember being as full, but that was longer and the dishes were less rich, and we really took our time.

Marky: The pictures weren't that hard to get together, just took them all on my phone, uploaded to my computer, picked the best ones and threw them up on photobucket. I did resize the ones in the trip report using a batch resizer though.