It's Not a Mirage

The Mirage Hotel

Our culinary tour of Las Vegas commenced today at Cravings, an all-you-can-eat buffet at The Mirage Hotel. Phew, all you can eat, and I don't just mean that in an "eat-till-you're-full" sense. I mean they had so much food on this buffet it was almost impossible to decide where to start.

Once we'd been well fed, we went to our final stop on the whirlwind Las Vegas tour, to Siegried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat.

The dolphins were so cute. (Don't come expecting a Sea World-esque array of tricks and jumps, though. The trainers work with the dolphins, but there are no "shows" per se.) After communing with the dophins we headed into the Secret Garden.

The giant lions and tigers inside totally reminded me of my own kitty cats waiting for me back at home. They were just as lazy, just as playful and just as cute. Although we had uncommonly breezy weather (for Las Vegas), the Secret Garden should be a great place to visit year-round. It's perfectly shaded and the kind of rereat where you can just sit back, relax and and enjoy the peace and quiet.

And suddenly we were done with our trip. I soon found myself on the road back to Los Angeles with a ton of great new memories, and a bag full of press kits I would need to spend some quality time reviewing.

Shine On Las Vegas

I’m dragging a bit today, but clearly not enough to pass up the Belgium Waffles at Payard, a Patisserie and Bistro at Caesar's Palace. Um yeah, and the chocolate truffles afterwards. Hopped up on caffeine and sugar, we started our tour of the Flamingo Hotel.



Flamingo Hotel

Now if you haven’t been to this property lately, as they say, you haven’t been here at all. The designers have taken a few pages of what looks like a Barbie design book to design the new Flamingo Go Room. These rooms are designed in an electronic pink, mixed with some old-school browns and whites. The rooms are peppered with photos of the original Flamingo and the overall effect is sort of a fun, quirky “what’s old is new again” feel.

If your Las Vegas budget doesn't allow for some of the higher-end properties on the strip, this is absolutely the place you should check out. If you want more bang for your buck, you might consider the GO Metropolitan Suite, which has an amazing view of Las Vegas.

After our tour, we were served a light (thank god) luncheon, in one of the pool-side cabanas. I pretty much sprawled out on a lounger and watched the world go by, but did manage to interact some with the Sopranos look alikes from the the Soprano's Last Supper show that came to pay us a visit.

The Wynn Hotel

In the evening we had the opportunity to tour the delightful Wynn Hotel. For some reason, this property really captured my attention. From the whimsical parasols marking the lobby bar to the fine service to the Lake of Dreams show, I really enjoyed our visit here.

We were slated for another dine around tonight, but fortunately we only had two restaurants on tap. We over consumed a giant platterful of appetizers at the Wing Lei, the only Chinese restaurant in North America to be awarded a Michelin star. Next, we were served an unlimited arrray of meat and side dishes at SW Steakhouse. Here in the photo you see Carole, one of our group, making friends with Travis, the restaurant manager. (I did mention how hospitable the staff is here, right?)

High-Flying Las Vegas

Tonight’s evening festivities, once again took top billing, as we were treated to an amazing helicopter ride over the Las Vegas strip by Maverick Helicopters. My camera was not up to the challenge of taking any shots worthy of looking at, but this one will give you at least a general idea of what we saw.

We had a few helicopter virgins on our ride, but despite a few lingering fears, once we were airborne, they were totally into the ride. It wasn't as scary they thought it would be. If you've ever considered taking this trip, you absolutely must do it.

After all that flying, what else could we do but enjoy a few late-night drinks? We made our way to The Luxor.

We started our imbibing with a few beverages with such names as "Liquid Lust," "The Vixen," and "Love Potion" in Liquidity, a bar located in the center of the Luxor casino. Next we moved on to LAX, a two-story hangout for the young and beautiful. We enjoyed SKYY Vodka drinks in our private, ultra-VIP loft, while overlooking the activity.

Finally, we made our way to Noir Bar, entering through their private entrance. Reservations are required at this bar, and there's a rumor that you can't get in unless you (or your concierge) know the right people to call. Lucky for us, we were hanging out with the right crowd.

Our late-night schedule got us back to the hotel by around 1 a.m., pretty late, but still enough time to take a quick soak in the Jacuzzi.

Oh What a Night

Town Square Las Vegas

This morning we enjoyed a shopping tour of Las Vegas’ newest mall, Town Square Las Vegas. This outdoor plaza is located near (across the strip) from McCarran Airport. Fortunately for us it was a cool, breezy day, perfect for outdoor shopping. The center is anchored by Borders (yay) and Fry’s is at the far end (another yay), which should give you your bearings if you’re at all familiar with the Las Vegas landscape.

The place has really been designed to be a relaxing experience (such a novelty in high-octane Las Vegas) and is well suited for families. Even Fido is totally welcome, and the center has doggy bars set up throughout. After an hour of shopping it was time to eat. Today we would participate in what is known as a dine-around, where we would sample food from several different restaurants to get an overall feel of the center.

Oh lordy, did I say sample?

I can honestly say that I’ve NEVER eaten as much food as I did today in my whole life. We started out with a snack platter at Tommy Bahama’s (coconut shrimp, goat cheese, tuna poke, key lime pie), and then made our way to the Yard House. I’ve eaten at the Yard House in Long Beach and Pasadena so I’m already a fan of their cuisine. However Yard House went ALL out and served seven sampler dishes to each person. We had Chinese chicken salad, pasta with garlic lobster sauce, a half hamburger, orange chicken, and so on. Urp.

Next we made a brief stop at Louis’, a fine seafood restaurant only open for dinner. A couple of appetizers later, we were escorted to Louis' Fish Camp, a casual seafood facility across the way. I promised myself that no matter what, I wasn’t going to eat what they served here. Sadly deep-fried, softshell crab is one of my favorite favorites and so I was forced (forced I tell you) to eat half of it. Finally we ended up at Brio, a Tuscan style restaurant where we enjoyed desserts and coffee around an open fire pit.

The good news is that visitors to Town Square won't ever feel like there aren't enough food options to make them happy!

City Center

After our extended lunch, we waddled our way back to our bus, and were then brought on to tour the pre-opening offices of the new City Center project.

This project will, in essence, change the entire landscape of Las Vegas. It is so overwhelming, I'm not sure I can find the words to do it justice, so I'm stealing verbiage from their press release.

A joint venture between MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World, CityCenter is a (more than) $8 billion mixed-use development, built on 76 acres along the Las Vegas Strip between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts. The groundbreaking design introduces a dazzling vertical city in the heart of Las Vegas’ sprawling horizontal grid, and will include a 57-story condo-hotel called Vdara, two residential high-rises known as Veer Towers, the city's first Mandarin Oriental, The Harmon Hotel and a 4,000-room resort casino. CityCenter represents the most significant privately financed project in the United States.

Phew, even the sales center was overwhelming. We got to wander through life-size model rooms of every part of the project and watch a multimedia display of the ongoing progress of this community.

We were given a three-hour break this afternoon, which some people spent using their free Las Vegas Monorail passes to tour other parts of the city. I’m embarrassed to admit that I wasn’t nearly that ambitious and I spent most of my free time napping and working in my room.

The Palazzo Hotel

In the late afternoon, we were given a tour of the posh new Palazzo Hotel. Inside we toured Jay-Z's sports bar 40/40, which should have felt very "boys only" but was quite accessible and comfortable inside. If I could do my 40th birthday all over again, I'd probably have it here.

We also toured the Palazzo Pool Deck, which had amazing views overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, and was particularly brilliant at sunset.

All too soon it was time to eat, again. Hard to believe but there I was munching my way through Tortilla chips at Dos Caminos, an upscale Mexican restaurant located in the Palazzo. I’m embarrassed to admit that I did end up eating most of my grilled steak. Someone, please, help me find my stop button.

The Jersey Boys

The great thing about Las Vegas is that no matter how much fun you’re having, things can always get better. After dinner this was certainly true, as we were hosted to a preview performance of The Jersey Boys, the musical based upon the life story of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. A warning to the big girl, the seats in the theatre are tiny, so try to get yourself a place on the aisle, but other than that, this is a definitely must-see show. The singers were so incredibly talented and by the time the performers transitioned into the Act 1 Finale of “Oh What a Night,” even the Korean grandma and grandpa sitting next to me were up and rocking out.



The late show got us back to our hotel about 1 am, and I was so tired that I barely had the strength to take a dip in my Jacuzzi tub. I didn’t even notice the hotel had given us a bottle of red wine until the next morning.

60,000 Pounds of Shrimp

I'm off to Las Vegas today, and facing the age-old question, do I drive or fly? It usually takes me about four hours to drive (lead foot, I know) but on the other hand by the time I drive to the airport, park, take the shuttle, check in, etc., it seems like the whole process takes me just as long. So even with gas prices being what they are, it’s the open road for me.

The Signature Tower

I’m staying at the Signature at MGM Grand, a series of high-rise condominiums behind the MGM Grand Hotel. Once I got over the weirdness of staying at a property that doesn’t have a casino, I really got into the Signature, especially with its no-smoking policy. It was really unique being not hearing the ching ching of slot payouts as I made my way to my room. Also, my 17th floor room, complete with mini-kitchen and living area, had an excellent view of the strip.

Mandalay Bay

Our welcome function was hosted at a conference room at the Shark Reef attraction at Mandalay Bay, where we served yummy seafood snacks (oysters, sushi) while watching Shark Reef visitors looking in at us from the other side of the wall-size aquarium.

The cuisine was hosted by Chef Rick Moonen, a fabulous chef who runs Rick Moonen's RM Seafood here in Las Vegas, and before ran a few Michelin-rated restaurants in New York City. Among Chef Rick’s many claims to fame, he is well known is Las Vegas for his commitment to sustainable seafood. He gave us an energetic talk about the importance of not overharvesting (and overeating) endangered seafood. In Las Vegas alone, for example, more than 60,000 pounds of shrimp are eaten every day, which is more than the rest of the country put together.

Now Chef Rick is working with up-and-coming chefs in Las Vegas to create citywide programs that prevent stressing out our endangered delicacies. What was really great about his talk is that Chef Rick does say we have to give up on certain fish forever, just that we should give the endangered species a break in order to let them rejuvenate themselves. If you are interested in the this topic, Chef Rick just released a book called Fish Without a Doubt: The Cook's Essential Companion.

After the reception we were hosted to a tour of the fabulous Shark Reef. I can’t recommend this attraction highly enough. If you find yourself in Las Vegas, it is well worth taking a break from your other pursuits to get over here and see the fish collections, which include sharks, moray eels, and jelly fish, among others.

Koi at Planet Hollywood

In keeping with our seafood theme, we were then escorted over to Planet Hollywood, where we enjoyed a deluxe dinner at Koi. Although I’ve been to the sister restaurant in LA, which I love, nothing can beat the Las Vegas view from the restaurant. We had a zillion food courses (spicy tuna on crispy sushi rice, Kobe beef carpaccio, miso baked cod) followed by an obscenely huge dessert platter.

We capped off our lovely evening with a stop at Prive, Planet Hollywood's newest night club. Although the club just opened a few months ago, there are already waiting-room only lines, winding their way through the Planet Hollywood casino, to get in. What I especially liked about the club was the open feel to it. There were no roped off areas, and none of that "even though you made it through the doors, you better watch your step inside" feel that plague a lot of the clubs here in Hollywood.

I guess I’m not as hip as I once was (geez, I really am getting old) but I was totally thrilled by the young woman who brought us our champagne bottle, complete with a sparkler attached. I’ve admitted before that I truly am a gay man trapped in a woman’s body because I love all things sparkly, so the sparkler champagne bottle seemed like the coolest thing EVER to me.

Most of my fellow travelers and Las Vegas hosts were like “um, sparkler, alcohol, been there done that” but I’ll never forget my first time. I’m thinking about instituting that at a future dinner party at my house.

Finally, we staggered back to our hotel at about 11 pm. I'm not sure if I was happier jumping into my Jacuzzi-brand bath tub, or the bottle of champagne waiting for me. (no sparkler though). Actually the hotel had laid out a huge snack spread in all of our rooms, including a giant tray of nuts (like 18 inches by 9 inches, people, this thing was enormous) as well as a tray of dried fruits, cookies, and other goodies. If that wasn’t enough we were also served a huge platter of chocolate covered strawberries.