Vegas Baby!

Vegas is a place people from the valley are familiar with.  I have talked to MANY life long Arizona's who have never been to the Grand Canyon but few who've never been to Lost Wages!...'sup wit dat!?  This will be a recurring topic but here are some more recent things we love about Sin City. 

Aria Hotel and Casino:

I used to be a Bellagio / Wynn kind of guy until we discovered Aria. It is alarming to me that you can stay in a legitimately Five Star room for $150 a night...sometimes less!!  

We love the restaurants, proximity to Crystals Mall, and it's City Center location. Julian Serrano, Pub and Jean Phillipe are all in heavy rotation. 9/10 Stars

**pro tip. ALWAYS ask for a room upgrade at check in and have a $20 out and visible to the person assigning your room.  If they move you from a 5th floor parking lot view to a high floor city view they become $20 bucks richer. A lot cheeper than paying full price online. 

The Bar at The Mandarin Oriental

The Mandarin Oriental is the crown jewel atop the City Center empire. The Bar at the MO is Hawt! Spectacular views in an elegant, adult and very non Vegas setting. 

Food was impressive too.  Presentation and quality were destination worthy. 8/10 Stars

Joel Rubuchon:

By a country mile the most decadent dinning experience we've had to date.  20 plus choices of bread, wine pairings which go up to $1000 per person, 500 different petit fours...food-gasim! Since I didn't fancy selling a kidney, we opted for the "village" wine paring for the bargain basement price of $290 per person. The plating and prep of every dish here was through-the-roof great.  If they fell down in any area here it would be (just barely) on service.  It wasn't bad but it wasn't Micheln 3 star perfect either. Fantastic place but the price alone may prevent me from returning...I am still going back weekly to wash dishes there. 9/10 Stars

**pro tip. Just next door is l'atelier de joël robuchon which gives you a sense of JR without the insanely high pricing.  Grab a glass of wine and some small plates at the bar for literally a tenth the price!!

Rose. Rabbit. Lie. :

Part restaurant, part dinner theater, part theater.  There is a lot going on here and it's ALL good.  Brought to you by the same folks who did Absinthe (tent show outside of Ceasars which try's too look low rent but is absolutely not. Think Carny meets Cirque Du Soliel) You can make either a dinner reservation and/or a show reservation...but if you just have dinner there's kind of a show during dinner.  Confused yet!? Exactly!!  9/10 Stars

Thanks for reading!

Doc Jay