We had an early pre-show dinner at 808 at Caesar's Palace. It's a Hawaiian fusion restaurant, apparently famous in Honolulu but not so much on the mainland. 808 is Honolulu's area code, which I think is a pretty terrible name for a famous restaurant, like I can't think of anything interesting about my restaurant except it's area code. The decor was boring and low ceilinged, and as far as I remember bore little resemblance to this photo. So they may have redecorated. Service was nice, but weirdly, everyone that worked there looked like circus freaks, to be politically incorrect. I don't think this was intentional, but each and every server had a very prominent (insert politically correct word for defect here, because it's escaping me at the moment). Weirdly, we had just finished a long lunch a few hours ago, and we were in a rush to see a show, so, we decided on a multicourse tasting menu, an exceedingly bad idea. Since we had little time, the obliging staff sped through the menu, piling dish after dish of food, for which we had absolutely no appetite. Their signature deconstructed Ahi roll is excellent, their big mass of lukewarm raw tuna, not so much. (Food-15, Decor-9, Service-12).

We celebrated with a very expensive bottle of champagne at the hotel's Mon Ami Gabi restaurant. It's a perfect recreation of a Paris bistro, with an added bonus of sidewalk dining, a rarity in Las Vegas. Of course you're overlooking a busy highway instead of the Champs Elysees, but other than that the illusion is perfect. Our waitress was the oldest person in Las Vegas, and a very colorful character. Food was traditional bistro fare, steak frites, oysters etc. Definitely recommended. (Food-15, Decor-17, Service-15),

We gambled a bit more at the Venetian, with Somchai winning another $1,000, this time at the Monte Carlo slot machine, but I lost enough to balance things out. We also had a very good dinner at Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay's new (at the time) Las Vegas outpost. I had been to his New York restaurant and liked it but wasn't wowed, and this place had just opened yesterday, so it could easily have been a disaster, but it was actually one of our best Las Vegas meals. Service was a strong point here, and the restaurant itself was very nicely designed, cleverly divided to mask the fact that it's a pretty cavernous place, and with plenty of interesting design touches to keep everyone entertained. Food was typical Bobby Flay, a nouvelle Tex-Mex. (Food-16, Decor-18, Service-18).

We stopped for a quick lunch at Tsunami Grill along the canal. Nothing much to write here, just a cheapish sushi and noodle joint. (Food-12, Decor-10, Service-7). The name reminds me of a Japanese restaurant in Bangkok, Tsunami, that opened up about a week before the real tsunami devastated southern Thailand (among other places.) Since they had invested so much in publicity, signage etc they were reluctant to change the name, but it would be in pretty poor taste to keep the name. So the restaurant split in two, with Tsu being a sushi bar, and Nami being like a Benihana kind of place.

tsunami grill777

We had a late night dinner at Mandalay Bay's China Grill, the Las Vegas outpost of a New York restaurant I never really got excited about. This version is all dark lighting and sexy vibe, and attracts a pretty cool crowd. But it inexplicably serves massive portions, which makes it seem like the Good and Plenty restaurant in Pennsylvania Dutch country. The food is actually pretty good, with an ambitious fusion menu, but the revoltingly large servings are really hard to take. Whatever you do, don't order the Shanghai lobster, which comes on a foot long tray and piled over a foot high with food. (Unless of course you want to eat a cubic foot of food). Food-13, Decor-16, Service-15)

We had lunch a Olive's, yet another restaurant at the Bellagio. I know this is a famous chain run by Todd English, but he and his restaurants seem to have become famous while I was overseas because I had never heard of him/them. And I don't see how it could be famous, as it's an extremely casual affair, focused on sandwiches and pizzas. It's a nice room, with harried service, which is understandable because it's perpetually jam packed. (Food-13, Decor-17, Service-13).

All you can eat buffets are a staple of any Las Vegas trip. Even though I despise them, I figured we had to do it once as part of the "Vegas, Baby" experience. So we picked the Bellagio, which got rave reviews for being a super-luxe version of a typical buffet. I don't know how it got that reputation, as it's a very typical spread, lots and lots of choices all served lukewarm in an offputting cafeteria setting. And you have to stand in line for an hour for the privelege. (Food-7, Decor-5, Service-14). The service rating is a bit weird, but there are people who come around and clean up, serve drinks etc and they had a remarkably good attitude considering the constant crush of hungry people and squalor of the surroundings.

Had lunch at Chinois, a highly rated Asian fusion restaurant at the Forum, run by the wildly successful Wolfgang Puck. It was pretty terrible. Service was goofy and really slow, and the food was gross. It's supposed to be fusion, but it was just superheavy Chinese food covered in gagging thick sauce. (Food-4, Decor-12, Service-7).

Walked back to the Bellagio, about a 45 minute walk. The neon and bizarre architecture made the walk enjoyable, much more so than during the day. We had a very late dinner at the Bellagio's signature restaurant, Picasso. Its gimmick is that is has some Picasso paintings on the wall, but that adds very little to the overall experience. The room itself, however, is quite elegant, faux rustic beams, handsome pillars and dark, sexy lighting. We enjoyed a well designed tasting menu, including a foie gras preparation that I hadn't had before and really enjoyed. Unfortunately, I didn't write down what it was that made it unique. Another highlight was a black truffle encrusted lamb dish, a lowlight was Somchai's overcooked halibut. (Food-18, Decor-19, Service-18).

Had a disappointing lunch at Circo, the less formal sibling of New York's Le Cirque. It's a pretty room with a colorful circus theme, and nice, airy views over the Bellagio's lake. Food, though, is very standard Italian fare, and was way too salty and cheesy. (Food-11, Decor-16, Service-16)

Despite our jet lag, we had dinner at Michael Mina's restaurant at the Bellagio. Like most Vegas restaurants, it's an offshoot of a famous parent, this time from San Francisco. In general I don't like the concept, since it's really not going to be the same, and Vegas is a very challenging place to do fine dining. There's such a mass of people, so there's constant pressure to churn the tables, and restaurants generally feel like war zones there.



Mina was no exception, but the waiters handle the constant crunch with a very good attitude, and were surprisingly professional. It's a seafood restaurant, which I usually think means high quality but timid flavors, but if anything this food was overly rich. Somchai had the tasting menu, while I went ala carte. My starter was small but great, perfect scallops with foie gras. My main course was their signature dish of lobster pot pie (pictured here with the top cut off). It's quite a production at tableside, but was a bit too heavy and creamy for me. Somchai's favorite dish was the miso seabass, also pictured here. But that's cheating, because I think miso is the perfect way to prepare fish, so any combination of fish and miso automatically scores a home run. (don't know if you've had that stoli, but you should try it given your aversion to seafood. It tastes more like dessert than fish). Speaking of dessert, also pictured here, the highlight was the root beer float, mainly because I hadn't had a rootbeer float in 30 years. (Food-17, Decor-17, Service-18)