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!

Spicy Crab Linguine

The combination of spicy chiles with mint was one I wouldn't have put together before, but it works beautifully in this crab pasta dish. The best part of this recipe is that you can make it in under 20 minutes, what takes the longest is for the water to boil!  I am a self-proclaimed expert crab cracker. It's almost therapeutic to sit with a glass of white wine, listening to great music and cracking crab.  Am I crazy or am I crazy?

I used one medium sized Dungeness (straight from the Oregon coast, of course) to serve two, which was more than enough. Following is my version of Bon Appetit's recipe.


Spicy Crab Linguine (serves two)


8 ounces linguine (I used fresh whole wheat- makes all the difference)
olive oil
1 minced shallot
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 red jalapeños sliced into thin rounds
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus 2 teaspoons lemon zest
8 ounces cooked, shelled crabmeat
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, julliened 

1. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.

2.  Pour 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and stir until just soft, 3–4 minutes. Add garlic and 1 chile and cook about 1 minute.

3. Add 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice and 3 Tbsp. pasta cooking liquid to shallot mixture; add a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir until liquid is almost evaporated, about 1 minute.

4. Transfer pasta to skillet and add 1/2 cup reserved pasta cooking liquid. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook, tossing pasta or stirring with tongs, until liquid is almost evaporated about 2 minutes. 

5. Add the butter, 1 Tbsp. oil, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, 1 tsp. lemon zest, crab, half of mint. Stir pasta until butter melts.  If pasta looks dull, add olive oil until glossy. 

6. Divide between bowls; top with remaining 1 tsp. lemon zest and mint. Sprinkle with more lemon juice

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Happy New Year!

Ok, I admit it, I really lagged on blogging for a while there.  But it was the holidays!  Everyone is busy! Cut me some slack.  Here's a quick update of what's been going on since October:

I spent Thanksgiving with Zephyr's dad & family in San Antonio.  The warm(er) weather was a nice escape, and we enjoyed touring the River Walk and Alamo.

 My favorite part was making kolache- his family's Eastern European tradition.  We made a healthy version, but his adorable grandmother begged the whole time for more butter in the dough.  We filled the dough squares with apricot, cherry, and nut mixtures.  I got his grandmother to hand write me the recipe so we can carry on the family tradition (the full-fat version of course, as his grandma insisted)!

Early December brought a visit to Atlanta for my cousin's wedding.  It was a blast.  I absolutely adore being around my birth dad's side of my family, and it meant so much to me that Zeph finally meet them.

Cousins, sans Geoff, with the bride (yes, I know I the bride and I look more alike than my sister and I!)

I headed "home" for Christmas to D.C. later in the month.  I did a ton of cooking, and was most proud of the dessert I made for Christmas day.  A sour cream white cake, layered with peppermint cheesecake, topped with white chocolate mousse frosting a la Southern Living Magazine.  I don't care how long I've lived on the West Coast, I am a true southerner at heart, and will never give up my Southern Living magazine!

A messy cutting job, but delicious!

The biggest surprise of Christmas was a family trip to the Bahamas on the 26th.  It was so great to relax in paradise!

Dad, Geoff and I at the Atlantis aquarium

View from our hotel, the historic British Colonial Hilton in downtown Nassau. So beautiful!

Sipping a Bahama Mamma in the sand isn't a bad way to end another great year.

Happy 2012! Recipes to come!