Vegas Recap (finally)

Husband and I go to Las Vegas every year with another couple (for the purposes of this blog post I will call them Bob and Betty). The past two years we have stayed at MGM Grand, but this year we decided to change things up a bit so we stayed at Caesar's Palace. At check-in we got upgraded (no charge) to a suite. Bob and Betty got the upgrade too, but they paid an extra $40 per night for the upgrade. Here is the view from our room.

Yes, those are the Bellagio fountains you see. Not a bad view of the strip.

We always go to a few shows while we're in town. We really like all the Cirque du Soleil shows. Well, not really all of them. Last year we saw Zumanity and did not enjoy, but we have seen Ka, O, La Nouba (Orlando, FL) and Mystere and they were all wonderful. Anyway...this time we went to see Criss Angel's Believe and Jerry Seinfeld. We were severely disappointed in the Criss Angel show. It was cheesy and the magic/illusions were not great. The one plus was that we were in the third row (and could see how he did some of his "magic"). We saw Jerry Seinfeld at Caesar's at the end of the week and he was great. Very funny. We had pretty good seats for that one too-about 15 rows back.

Another thing we do in Vegas is EAT. Really good food. There are sooo many amazing restaurants in Las Vegas and we find new favorites every year. We always joke that our trips get longer and longer because we keep adding restaurants to our "must eat" list. Husband and I are fairly adventurous diners. We like to try new things. Bob is pretty adventurous too, but Betty...she eats chicken. As plain as it can get. Without the skin. Basically as flavorless as possible. So it's always a gamble (ha!) whether she will find something on the menu to order. The most amazing restaurant in Vegas (according to Husband and Bob) is Mesa. For those of you Food Network fans, this is Bobby Flay's Vegas restaurant.

I'm not a huge fan of spicy, southwestern fare, but the margaritas are really good (and by good I mean strong). Here are some drinks we ordered before being seated. Note the pretty pink one on the far right. That is what Husband ordered--Cactus Pear Margarita. He says he knows it's girly and he doesn't care...it's that good.

Every year Husband and Bob order the same thing, New Mexican Spice Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon Ancho Chili Sauce and Sweet Potato Tamale with Crushed Pecan Butter. It is always amusing to see them eat this dish. Pure joy on their faces and then determination trying to finish the entire dish after having had a couple margaritas and appetizers. Husband ate every bit of his and bragged about it for the entire trip.

I ordered a special sea bass that was not on the menu and it was fabulous! The dishes I usually order at Mesa are good, but this was by far the best thing I've had there.

We also eat at Craftsteak each year. For the Top Chef fans out there this is Tom Colicchio's restaurant and it is exceptional. Great dishes: lobster bisque, mushroom risotto (and pretty much everything else on the menu). We ended up having the same waiter that we had two years ago and he brought us a free creme brulee (mine and Betty's fav) for dessert. Yum! Other restaurants we tried this year were Olives at Bellagio (I did not go but heard it was pretty good) and Bradley Ogden at Caesar's (OK but not great).

Husband and Bob planned a surprise for Betty and myself one night and took us to the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at Paris. It was beautiful and very yummy! The way the restaurant is situated you have a perfect view of the fountains in front of Bellagio and you can see the beautiful mountains that surround Las Vegas. We were there at sunset and it was gorgeous! What a great romantic surprise! This restaurant is a keeper. We'll definitely go back.

Overall, we had a wonderful time (as always). I didn't do much shopping this time. Maybe I'll make up for that next year. I actually got to sleep a lot and we didn't lose too much money so I think it was a pretty good vacation.