Sin City Spectacular - Part 1

We arrived in Las Vegas after a long but uneventful flight and met up with my Dad at the New York New York.  Now yes, Ben and I like to gamble.  But as growing foodies we were as excited about the food as any of the rest of the Sin City experience.  And we wasted no time getting into it.  First night, dinner at Aureole, a Charlie Palmer restaurant located in the Mandalay Bay.  Any Top Chef fans out there may recognize the restaurant as one this season's chef cooked in, complete with the most incredible wine cellar run by "wine angels" who rise through its vertical construction in harnesses.

Our meals were fantastic - burrata and heirloom tomato caprese, grilled salmon with corn succotash and crispy potato, perfectly frenched and prepared rack of lamb, even my dad's chicken was exceptional.  But the highlight of the evening was the wine. It stands out as perhaps the best Pinot Noir I've ever tasted.  2006 Talbot Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Pinot Noir.  It retails for about $30 a bottle (with nauseating markup at any restaurant) and is worth every penny.  We capped our night off with some roulette and for the first and last time that weekend Ben walked away from the roulette table a winner.

Monday morning started with a trip to the spa.  Massages and facials! The perfect way to start a vacation.  After, we enjoyed lunch at Caesar's Palace at Bobby's Flay's Mesa Grill.   Not as upscale a selection and we were worried that my very picky dad would struggle with the Southwestern food, but he hung in with us, enjoying what he called, "the best burger he'd ever had."  Highlights of this meal include Goat Cheese Queso Fundido with a myriad of peppers and a blue corn pancake filled with barbequed duck.  Again - YUM!

Interior of the Mesa Grill, complete with open kitchen

Goat Cheese Queso Fundido and Blue Corn Pancake filled with BBQ Duck

We spent the afternoon at Caesar's playing roulette and then the sports book with my dad at Mandalay Bay betting on dog racing.  Part of me struggles with the playing the puppies because I know they often aren't well treated, but my dad consoled me by pointing out that there was nothing I could do for those dogs in that moment so I might as well put down my dollars in hopes that a bigger purse would keep the winning, showing and placing dogs well kept and cared for another day.  I realize this is a rationalization if I've ever heard one, but someday I'll rescue a greyhound and balance my puppy karma again.

We ended our evening with Phantom of the Opera: The Vegas Spectacular! at the Venician.  For all of you classic Phantom lovers, you wouldn't object to this show.  Essentially, it's the same Phantom less one or two of the more boring songs but including all the favorites, "Think of Me", "Angel of Music", "Masquerade", "All I Ask of You" and "Music of the Night."  And true to its billing, we didn't have to wait long for the "spectacular."  Every performance of Phantom begins with the auctioneer introducing the chandelier and its history and offering the bidders some "illumination" at which time the chandelier rises from its covered home on the stage to hang in its original place.  This is standard.  What this production added however, was a sight to behold.  Rather than just raising the original chandelier to the ceiling they assembled a FOUR TIERED chandelier (the additional three tiers had been suspended in various places across the theater's ceiling) over our watching heads.  By the time our eyes had returned to the stage, all the coverings had been removed and we were seated again in the Paris Opera House waiting to hear Carlotta sing "Think of Me."