Viva Las Vegas

I was recently in Las Vegas on business with my buddy and co-worker Cory. Our trip was very quick, as we came in on a Thursday and left the following morning but we packed as much in as possible. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, which was awesome.

Such a cool resort. Not nearly as "casino-y" as a lot of the resorts on the strip. As you would expect, there was music memorabilia everywhere, there was also a great music hall called The Joint. (We're going to get to do some work with The Joint because Verizon has a sponsorship, really cool). Anyway, there's much more of a party scene as the Hard Rock. Would definitely like to go back when I've got more time.

Check it out.... http://www.hardrockhotel.com/ (click on nightlife to see The Joint)

After our meeting Thursday afternoon, we made our plan for the night. THE PLAN: 1) have a great dinner & 2) walk hotels until our legs couldn't go any more. I've been to Vegas before but it was Cory's first time so we wanted to see as much as we could.

We decided to eat dinner at Aureole at the Mandalay Bay Resort based on Joy's suggestion. When we were trying to decide where to eat, I called Joy to get ideas and she reminded me of Aureole. I'd heard of it before and have seen pictures of its multi-story, all glass wine tower with wine angels that move up and down the cellar on cables retrieving wine. It's also been showcased on Food Network. It's owned by Charlie Palmer and has a sister restaurant in NY, although, I don't know if it has a similar wine tower.

Dinner was great. I had a 3 course tasting menu they called the "Theatre Menu".

- First Course: Thai Style Popcorn Shrimp spicy coconut broth, cilantro coulis.

- Main Course: Berkshire Pork Scallopini lemon chives, fettuccini, sautéed rapini.

- Dessert: Caramelized Banana Bread Pudding, butterscotch sauce.

My favorite dish was the first course. It was really a soup where they poured the spicy coconut broth in the dish table-side over the shrimp and coulis. Amazing aroma and flavor.

Cory had a different tasting menu that had "parallel" plates, where each course had two small portions of two different dishes made with similar ingredients. It looked really good and Cory said it was great.

After dinner we began walking and made it through 7 Casino/Hotels before we couldn't walk anymore. We saw the Mandalay Bay, the Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York, MGM Grand, and the Bellagio. The Bellagio is definitely my favorite on the strip. The lobby is awesome. And due to the price of that hotel, the lobby is as far as I would get other than the casino floor. The also have the best sportsbook I've seen so far.

The trip was far too quick. Hopefully, I'll get to go back soon.

-- Jeff