Vegas Round 3

Vegas lured me into its grip once again this weekend.  This time, we stayed at the Cosmopolitan, a relatively new high end hotel/casino.  It was SO NICE.  When I think of the Bellagio/Venitan or other pricy Vegas hotels all I think of are overpriced gaudy looking rooms.  The Cosmopolitan was none of these. Maybe pricy, but worth it.  I'm a self proclaimed hotel snob (don't blame me, blame my mom), and this place was perfection. Modern, chic, and no KIDS spotted anywhere in the hotel.  Don't get me started on the kids thing.  Why do so many people bring their kids to Vegas? HELLO it's called SIN city! Move your damn stroller out of my way, I'm trying to drink excessively and gamble away my savings.

View from our suite on the 68th floor

We planned our meals ahead of time, using Urbanspoon and Yelp to gauge the hottest spots.  Here are the highlights/dissapointments:

We'll start with the bad:

Todd English's OLIVES: Located in the Bellagio, this celebrity chef's restaurant overlooks the famous Bellagio fountains.  The fountain show happened to be going on when we sat down, which was awesome!  But the food didn't deliver quite like the fountains did.  I ordered a lobster carbonara which was terrible. The lobster was overcooked and the carbonara flavorless.  The service was rude and everything was way overpriced for what it was. 

And the GREAT:

Thomas Keller's BOUCHON:  Not only do some say Thomas Keller owns arguably the world's greatest restaurant (The French Laundry in Yountville aka wine country, California), but he also happens to have this cute french bistro in the Venetian hotel. You have to make reservations to French Laundry months in advance, not to mention shell out $300 per person for a meal there (not including wine).  Bouchon's brunch menu is a bargain in comparison. I ordered a croque madame with the best mimosa EVER to wash it down.  When in Paris with my family 15 years ago, my siblings and I lived on croque madame's and frites.  We were kids, with no appreciation for escargot, frog legs, or the like.  While my palate has become much more refined since then, I couldn't shake the desire for my favorite childhood French dish.  It was heaven on a plate. 

I stole this picture from Bouchon's Urbanspoon, this is exactly what it looked like. And tasted even better.

Jose Andres' JALEO: Jose Andres is a James Beard Award winner, Iron Chef, and Spanish tapas specialist. He owns several restaurants in my hometown of DC which I'd never been to (read: DC friends, GO!!)  Jaelo is one of his spots in Vegas, located in The Cosmopolitan.  What's great about tapas is you can try so many different things at once.  We got quite a few tapas including lightly battered eggplant drizzled in a honey reduction washed down with a delicious rose cava. Here were my favorites:

Paella- Jaleo is most famous for it's paella, which rotates nightly.  The night we went was a vedura, or vegetable paella

Warm brussels sprouts salad with apricots, apples, and Serrano ham.  

The star of the show in my opinion- braised veal cheeks with morels atop an olive oil potato puree.  Look up "melt in your mouth" in the dictionary, this picture will be there.

This round in Vegas was so fun and filling.  It's time to hit the gym HARD, not to mention live on canned soup for a few weeks to make up for such an expensive getaway!