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.