There are two places that we try to travel to regularly each year – the Caribbean and Las Vegas. While our other trips represent exploration and adventure, trips to these two places represent relaxing and familiarity.
I’m not sure why Vegas has won the honor of a yearly visit from us, but we always have so much fun each time we go. I will also admit that living two years in South America does help you deal with crowds of people much more easily. Something about that lack of a personal bubble thing.
Over the years Vegas has transitioned from a cheap eats kind of place to a gourmet food haven. When we go we do our best to seek out those rare cheap eats for quick meals, but then pick one or two special places to go to for nice meals. This way we don’t break the bank, but still have the chance to splurge a bit.
As much as I like a good deal, I look forward to these special meals so much. We tend to pick places that fall somewhere between casual dining and the super fine dining where you can easily drop a paycheck. Some hotels name it contemporary dining. Our new pick this year was
Olive’s in the Bellagio. We’d read mixed reviews before going, but were determined to try it out ourselves. To sum it up, we’ll be going again on our next visit.
We made a reservation and were able to sit out on the patio to watch the fountains during our dinner. Even though I had taken a look at the menu before our dinner I still had a hard time making a decision. There were too many good options available.
The drink was easy – a gin martini with blue cheese olives and a sprig of rosemary. My favorite way to have it; nice and simple and the olive gives you a nice flavor surprise.
I finally decided on the Veal Agnolotti with wild mushroom ragu, robiola rocchetta burro fuso and black winter truffle. This dish was incredibly rich, a little on the salty side, but I enjoyed every bite, especially the black truffles. I think this was the first time I have tried them and I’m hooked. The blend of veal in wrapped in the pasta was excellent. Although due to its richness I’m glad my husband and I shared our entrees.
He went for the Pan Seared Jumbo Sea Scallops Á L’Orange with chestnut risotto, orange agrodolce, brussel sprout and fried collard green salad.
Wow! Tender scallops on a risotto that burst with orange flavor. It was topped with crispy collard greens which they flash fry to get them so crispy (or so I learned from the server, a super nice guy). I’m finally coming around with Brussels sprouts. I can’t remember having them until a couple months ago. No bad childhood memories. I just hadn’t had the opportunity. These were slightly undercooked for my taste, but the seasoning and overall flavor were delicious.
Our dinner at Olive’s took the place of our usual outdoor dining at Mon Ami Gabi in Paris, however, we ended up squeezing it in for lunch. I’m not sure if it is the French food or the atmosphere I like the most, but we love going there while we are in Vegas.
My husband started with the French Onion soup. It is just beautiful there.
I wanted cheese. It was all I could think about when I knew we would dine there. I ended up deciding on the Baked Brie. It was fantastic with black pepper honey, roasted garlic and hazelnuts.
For lunch we both got the Steak Sandwich that then turned into an open faced sandwich and then just steak. There was a lot of bread! It had the perfect sweet and salty combo with all the caramelized onions.
Okay, now for the sweet stuff.
Ever since seeing the movie Serendipity I have wanted to try the Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3 in New York. Our travel plans haven’t taken us there yet, though. Well, imagine my surprise when we saw that they opened a Serendipity 3 in Las Vegas right outside of Caesar’s Palace! I know it is technically not the original, but I had to go anyway.
To be honest we were prepared for disappointment seeing how we had built it up over the years. To our surprise, however, we weren’t disappointed at all. I know it is from a mix and the topping wasn’t exactly real cream, but we did enjoy every sip. I thought it would be like a milk shake, but it was very different to me. The frozen part has a lot of texture maybe like little tiny Dippin’ Dots. That’s the best way I can describe it. My husband already has it on the list to try the peanut butter one on our next visit.
So now to the top dessert of the trip.
We like Cheesecake Factory. Again, I know it’s not at all local or sustainable, but when in a place like Vegas that caters so much to the tourist we find we can split meals there or get a small something (because their portions are huge!) at a reasonable price.
Add to that the fact that we don’t have one where we live now and we certainly didn’t have one in Brazil. So it ends up being quite a treat for us when visiting highly touristy cities.
And, well, let’s be honest. I am in love with their cheesecake. I do give them credit for that. I’m not sure I have had better.
The one that caught our eye this time was a special feature Stefanie’s Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake™. Twenty-five cents of the sale of each piece goes to Feeding America. That helped make the decision as it isn’t too often that you donate much of anything to anyone in the process of buying a piece of cheesecake except for maybe the extra hours you might donate to the gym afterward.
The picture doesn’t do it justice because it was taken with my iPhone, but I have to tell you that this was one of the best desserts I have had in a very long time. The flavor was unbelievable! It was layers of cheesecake separated by layers of red velvet cake. It was honestly the moistest red velvet cake I’ve had the pleasure of trying. Along the top was a thin layer of cream cheese frosting.
This is one I want to recreate in some shape or form in the future. Although, I have no idea how they prepared it or assembled it. It is worth giving a try though to experience it again.
Now that we have so many favorite foods in Vegas it gets harder and harder to find new things each time. We just want what we had the last time. I’ll keep trying though. Who knows what next year will turn up!
For our main course we couldn’t pass up the Crispy Duck, the dish the restaurant is known for. It was unlike anything I’ve had before. To say the duck was crispy is an understatement. It was almost like duck jerky and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It was an incredibly unique dish, different from anything else we had on our trip.
